Do I have to leave Vendor Central to sell as 3P?

No. The same company can run 1P and 3P at the same time. Many brands start 3P with part of the catalog and keep 1P for the rest.

Do I lose my ASINs and reviews when I move to 3P?

No. The ASIN belongs to Amazon's catalog. You create your 3P offer on the same ASIN, and the reviews stay on the product page.

Do I need a registered trademark to get Brand Registry?

No. A pending USPTO trademark application is enough for Brand Registry. Reporting infringement of your brand is only available once the trademark is registered.

Once I leave 1P, can I go back?

Not on your own. Vendor Central is invitation-only: Amazon selects the brands for the 1P model.

Is 3P margin always higher than 1P?

Per unit, it usually is, because you get the retail price. But 3P also carries Amazon fees, advertising and inventory costs. That's why the assessment compares net margin under both models before you decide.

Moving from Vendor (1P) to Seller (3P) on Amazon

Moving from 1P to 3P means trading one wholesale customer for thousands of end customers. You set the price, manage the inventory and keep the retail margin — along with the work Amazon used to do for you. This page helps you decide whether it's worth it, and what happens at each step if it is.

What actually changes

On Vendor Central (1P) you sell wholesale to Amazon, which resells to the customer. On Seller Central (3P) you sell directly to the customer, using Amazon as a marketplace. The switch changes five things:

Margin. On 1P you get the negotiated wholesale price. On 3P you get the retail price, minus Amazon fees (referral fee, plus fulfillment if you use FBA) and your ad spend. Margin per unit usually goes up — but only if the cost of operating (Ads, inventory, customer service) fits inside it.
Price control. On 1P, Amazon decides the retail price and when to discount. On 3P, the price is yours.
Content control. On 3P, with Brand Registry, you edit your brand's title, bullets, images and A+ Content directly.
Order predictability. On 1P you get purchase orders (POs) from Amazon — and they can fluctuate or stop. On 3P there are no POs: demand comes from end customers, and inventory planning becomes your job.
Payment terms. On 1P, payment follows negotiated terms, usually Net 30, 60 or 90. On 3P, payouts are recurring on a short cycle — cash turns over faster.

When 1P still makes sense

Not every brand should leave 1P, and an honest page has to say so. 1P still makes sense when:

the business doesn't have (and doesn't want to build) the team for day-to-day advertising, inventory and customer service;
PO volume is steady and the wholesale margin already meets the company's plan;
the product's retail margin is so thin that 3P fees and Ads would eat up the gain.

If the pain is pricing out of control, unpredictable POs or wrong content on the product page, 3P usually solves it.

What happens to your existing ASINs

The ASIN belongs to Amazon's catalog, not to whoever sells it. When you switch, you create your 3P offer on the same ASIN — no need to recreate the product, and you don't lose reviews. Two points need attention:

Amazon may keep selling the 1P inventory it already bought until it runs out, so for a while both offers coexist;
page content still belongs to the catalog: with Brand Registry, the brand gets priority to correct it.

Brand Registry: what you need and who the administrator is

Brand Registry gives the brand control over its own catalog and access to Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, A+ Content and a Brand Store. To enroll, a pending USPTO trademark application is enough; reporting infringement of your brand is only possible once the trademark is registered. The verification code goes to the correspondent email on the trademark filing — make sure you have access to it before you start.

Before switching, check who the brand's administrator is in Brand Registry. Brands that came in through Vendor sometimes had the registration done during onboarding, with access tied to an account or email the team no longer uses. It's the first item in the assessment, because without that access the 3P account starts with no control over its own brand. See the step-by-step guide in How to create and register your brand on Amazon.

Hybrid: when it makes sense to keep both

Many brands don't swap one for the other — they run both. A common setup: fast-moving lines with steady margins stay on 1P, while launches, bundles and items that need price control move to 3P. Hybrid takes discipline so the two offers don't compete for the same customer at different prices.

A realistic timeline

Assessment: which ASINs, what margin under each model, who administers the brand in Brand Registry.
Account and brand: Seller Central account open and Brand Registry with the right administrator.
Inventory and logistics: choose FBA or self-fulfillment (FBM) and send the first shipment.
Offers and content: create 3P offers on the existing ASINs and review the content.
Advertising: campaigns from day one — on 3P, visibility depends on them.
Transition: track the sell-through of Amazon's 1P inventory and the volume of the new offers.

Total time depends mostly on Brand Registry and logistics, which is why they come first.

What you can't do

You can't choose to go back to 1P whenever you want: Vendor Central is by Amazon invitation only.
You can't pull back the inventory Amazon already bought on 1P — it's Amazon's and Amazon will sell it.
You can't guarantee 1P volume in your first month on 3P: demand now depends on price, the Buy Box and advertising.

How EcomVision runs 1P and 3P in one dashboard

EcomVision connects Vendor Central and Seller Central accounts on the same platform, with the same product costs and suppliers. During the transition you see the real margin on each side — Net PPM on 1P, net profit per ASIN on 3P — without switching systems. See the Vendor Central (1P) integration and the difference between the models in Seller Central vs. Vendor Central.

Leaving Vendor Central: when to move from 1P to 3P