Owning Multiple Amazon Seller Accounts
You can have multiple Amazon seller accounts if you have a “legitimate business need” for opening additional accounts. Amazon states “Selling Partners who have a legitimate business need can operate multiple Selling Accounts and do not require Amazon’s approval. However, you may open a second selling account if you have a legitimate business need and all of your current accounts are in good standing. Amazon’s statement in Seller Central is as follow…
“You may only maintain one Seller Central account for each region in which you sell unless you have a legitimate business need to open a second account and all of your accounts are in good standing. If any of your accounts are not in good standing, we may deactivate all of your selling accounts until all accounts are in good standing.”
So what qualifies as a “legitimate business need”? As long as you are not creating an additional Amazon account because your other account is suspended (or at risk of being suspended), then you should be able to open up a second Amazon account. Amazon lists the following as examples of legitimate business justifications…
- You own multiple brands and maintain separate businesses for each
- You manufacture products for two distinct and separate companies
- You are recruited for an Amazon program that requires separate accounts
Amazon also states “If any of your accounts are not in good standing, we may deactivate all of your selling accounts until all accounts are in good standing.”
Creating Multiple Amazon Seller Accounts
Each one of your Amazon accounts must be registered with a different email address and phone number. You will also need a separate bank account and credit card, however it can be in the same company name as your existing cards/accounts.
If you’re using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), you’ll also need to create a separate FBA account for each seller account.
Why Use Multiple Amazon Seller Accounts?
Examples of a “legitimate business need” for having multiple seller accounts include things like…
- Owning multiple brands and maintaining separate businesses for each
- Manufacturing products for two different companies
- Recruitment for an Amazon program that requires separate accounts
Having multiple Amazon seller accounts can be helpful if you want to sell different types of products or if you’re targeting different markets. For example, if you have various brands operating under the same company with different products, branding, etc then it would make sense to separate them into different accounts.
You could also have different accounts for different target markets. For example, you could have one account for selling to customers in the United States and another for selling to customers in Europe.
Another reason to open a second Amazon account is to improve metrics such as your IPI (Inventory Placement Index) score. If your seller account has inventory issues and gets stuck at a low IPI score, it can be hard to improve quickly and will effect your ability to restock and subsequently increase sales. Some sellers have resorted to opening a completely new Seller Central account to start from scratch with their metrics and get a new IPI score.
The desire to improve account metrics may or may not be considered a “legitimate business need by Amazon, however, it is likely a fine practice as long as you are not deliberately breaking Amazon’s Terms of Service with a new account.
There are both pros and cons to having multiple seller accounts! We’ve gone over the reasons why an additional or new account may be useful, however managing multiple has its downsides. Operating a second Seller Central account will increase your accounting work and overall maintenance. While there’s no technical limit to the number of seller accounts you can have, keep in mind that managing multiple accounts can be time-consuming and expensive.
Support Selling on Amazon
Navigating the Amazon ecosystem can be overwhelming for any seller. For sellers looking for additional support, Envision Horizons offers a solution. myHorizons is making selling on Amazon less stressful and more profitable by automating Amazon brand management. For more information on myHorizons, visit our site. Or schedule your own personal consulting call here.
