3P vs. 1P: the business model behind each
Seller Central is the 3P (third-party) model: you list the product, sell directly to the customer through Amazon's marketplace, and keep control over price, inventory, and listing content. Vendor Central is the 1P (first-party) model: you sell your inventory wholesale to Amazon, which becomes the owner of the product and resells it to the end customer, handling pricing, marketing, and customer service from there on.
Access: open vs. invite-only
Seller Central is open: any seller can create a Professional or Individual account and start selling. Vendor Central is invite-only: Amazon itself selects brands and manufacturers for the 1P model, typically after seeing consistent volume and performance as a 3P seller. There is no application form you can submit on your own to become a vendor.
Who controls price, inventory, and purchase orders
In Seller Central, the seller decides the selling price, controls their own inventory levels, and decides when to restock. In Vendor Central, the flow is reversed: Amazon sends purchase orders (POs) stating how much it wants to buy from the supplier and when, and Amazon decides the retail price to the end customer, including when to run a discount or promotion. In 1P, that decision no longer belongs to the supplier.
Payment terms
In Seller Central, payouts follow a short, recurring cycle (every two weeks, in practice). In Vendor Central, payment follows net terms negotiated in the supply agreement, usually Net 30, Net 60, or Net 90. In other words, the supplier gets paid 30, 60, or 90 days after the invoice, a much longer cash cycle than 3P.
Advertising access: what changes and what doesn't
Sponsored Products is available to both 3P sellers and 1P vendors, even without Brand Registry. Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display require Brand Registry, and that requirement applies equally to both models: a 1P vendor and a 3P seller with a registered brand have the same access to these two formats; neither has access without brand registration.
How EcomVision helps
EcomVision supports 3P and 1P businesses on the same platform, including accounts that run both models at once, with different brands or the same brand in different channels. It brings real profit, inventory, and performance from both sides into one dashboard, without a separate login for each model.
