More than 60% of Amazon sales now come from independent sellers, not Amazon itself. That shift means brands face a choice: hand Amazon off to someone who buys your products and resells them, or keep control and hire outside help to run your seller account.
Both paths work. The right answer depends on whether you care more about cash flow and operational offload, or margin and control.
This guide explains the real tradeoffs so you can pick the model that fits your brand's current team, margin goals, and Amazon strategy.
Cash flow + offload
Sell wholesale to a retailer or 3P reseller. They buy your products, you ship them, they handle everything else on Amazon.
Margin + control
Work with an agency. You own the seller account, inventory, and listings. The agency runs ads, catalog work, content, and account management.
Some of both
Use a hybrid model. Keep high-margin SKUs in Seller Central with agency help, and let a wholesale partner handle the rest.
Here's how the models compare:
| Factor | Retailer / Wholesale | Agency | Self-Managed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing control | Low | High | High |
| Content control | Low | High | High |
| Margin | Lower | Higher | Highest |
| Cash flow speed | Fast (PO terms) | Slower (sell-through) | Slower (sell-through) |
| Operational burden | Low | Medium | High |
| Reporting visibility | Limited | Full | Full |
| Best for | Cash flow, operational offload | Margin + control without internal expertise | Teams with Amazon fluency + bandwidth |
The rest of this guide unpacks each model and shows you how to choose.
When you work with an Amazon retailer, you sell products in bulk to a third party who resells them on Amazon. There are two main versions:
1P / Vendor Central: You sell wholesale to Amazon. Amazon becomes the seller of record. You ship products to Amazon on purchase order terms. Amazon controls pricing, listings, and the customer relationship.
3P wholesale partner: You sell wholesale to another marketplace seller. That seller operates a Seller Central account and resells your products as a third-party merchant. You still ship on PO terms, but the reseller (not Amazon) controls the account.
In both cases, the retailer takes over:
You hand off the inventory and step back.
What you gain:
Purchase order cash flow. You get paid when you ship, not when the product sells.
No daily Amazon workload. The retailer handles catalog updates, ad management, customer questions, and account troubleshooting.
Potentially simpler internal operations. Your team ships to one or a few wholesale buyers instead of managing a seller account.
What you give up:
Lower margins. The retailer takes a cut, or (in the case of 1P) Amazon sets wholesale terms that reduce your unit economics.
Weaker pricing authority. Even with MAP agreements, you have less direct control over promotions, lightning deals, and pricing changes.
Less content control. The retailer owns the listing. If they change product titles, images, A+ Content, or brand messaging, you may not find out until after it's live.
Limited reporting visibility. You see what the retailer shares. You don't have direct access to conversion rates, search term reports, advertising performance, or customer review patterns.
Slower response time. If a listing goes down, inventory runs out, or a competitor undercuts you, the retailer has to act. You're one step removed.
When you work with an Amazon agency, you keep the Seller Central account. The agency acts like an extended part of your team.
You still own:
Depending on the scope of the partnership, the agency can handle:
The agency runs the day-to-day execution. You stay in the loop and make the final calls.
Agency partnerships work well for brands that:
Here's what actually separates the two models in practice.
Retailer: Lower margins, faster cash. You sell wholesale, so your unit economics drop. But you get paid on PO terms, which can help brands with cash flow constraints or inventory financing needs.
Agency: Higher margins, slower cash. You sell at full retail price (minus Amazon fees and ad spend). But you don't get paid until the product sells and Amazon remits your payout.
If cash flow matters more than margin, wholesale wins. If margin matters more than cash timing, agency wins.
Retailer: The retailer sets the price. You can enforce MAP, but you don't control promotions, coupons, or lightning deals directly. If the retailer wants to discount to clear inventory or chase the Buy Box, they can.
Agency: You set the price. The agency can recommend changes, but you approve them. You decide when to run promotions, how aggressive to be on pricing, and how to respond to competitors.
Retailer: The retailer owns the listing. They can change titles, images, bullet points, A+ Content, and brand messaging without asking. If their changes hurt conversion or dilute your brand voice, you have to negotiate to fix it.
Agency: You own the listing. The agency builds content, but you approve it. You control tone, imagery, product positioning, and brand consistency.
Retailer: You see what the retailer shares. Most wholesale partners provide regular reports, but you don't have direct access to Seller Central, search term data, conversion metrics, or granular advertising performance. If you want to know what's working, you ask.
Agency: You have full Seller Central access. You can pull reports yourself, review search term performance, track conversion rates, and see exactly where ad spend is going. The agency typically provides analysis on top of that, but the raw data is yours.
Retailer: Minimal. You ship products on PO terms and stay out of the day-to-day. Your team doesn't need to know how Amazon works.
Agency: Medium. The agency handles most of the execution, but someone on your team still needs to review reports, approve content, coordinate inventory shipments, and make strategic calls. You're involved, just not doing the tactical work yourself.
You don't have to pick one model for your entire catalog.
Some brands use a hybrid approach:
This lets brands prioritize margin where it matters and simplify operations where it doesn't.
Another version: brands with existing 1P/Vendor Central relationships keep core SKUs with Amazon but launch seasonal, limited-edition, or long-tail items in Seller Central with agency help.
It depends on your priorities. An agency preserves margin and control but requires more involvement from your team. Wholesale simplifies operations and speeds up cash flow but reduces margin and control. Neither is universally better.
Vendor Central is Amazon's wholesale program (1P). You sell products to Amazon at wholesale prices, and Amazon becomes the seller. An Amazon agency helps you run your own Seller Central account (3P). You keep the seller relationship, and the agency provides execution support.
Yes. Some brands use a hybrid model: wholesale for part of the catalog, agency-managed Seller Central for the rest. This works well when different SKUs have different margin profiles or strategic importance.
Agency. When you work with an agency, you own the Seller Central account and approve all pricing and content changes. With a retailer, the retailer controls pricing and listings (within any MAP agreement you have in place).
If you're trying to decide between wholesale, agency support, or a hybrid approach, we can help you think through the tradeoffs.
At SupplyKick, we offer both:
Wholesale partnership: We buy your products and handle Amazon end-to-end.
Agency partnership: We run ads, catalog, content, and account management while you keep control.
Want to talk through which model fits your brand? Start a conversation with our team to compare your options and find the right fit for your Amazon strategy.
Last updated: March 2026