Amazon Seller Central: Complete Guide

As an Amazon seller, long-term success depends on how well you understand and use the tools Amazon provides. At the center of this ecosystem is Amazon Seller Central — the control panel where you manage products, orders, performance, and growth.

Seller Central allows you to list inventory, fulfill orders, track payments, run advertising campaigns, and continuously improve your selling performance. However, many sellers underutilize its capabilities simply because they don’t fully understand how it works.

This guide explains:

• What Amazon Seller Central is
• What you can do inside it
• How each section works
• How to start selling step by step
• What you need to monitor to scale profitably

Related:

• How to Sell on Amazon for Beginners – Complete Guide
• How to List Products on Amazon – Complete Guide

What Is Amazon Seller Central?

Amazon Seller Central is a web-based dashboard used by third-party sellers to manage their Amazon business. When you register to sell on Amazon, you create a Seller Central account, which serves as the operational backbone of your store.

Through Seller Central, you can:

• Create and manage product listings
• Control inventory and fulfillment
• Process orders and returns
• Run advertising campaigns
• Monitor performance metrics and account health
• Receive payments from Amazon

Seller Central is required whether you sell via FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) or FBM (Fulfillment by Merchant), and it supports both local and international selling.

What Can You Do in Amazon Seller Central?

Amazon Seller Central is the central hub for running your Amazon business. It consolidates all operational, financial, and performance-related activities into one interface.

By clicking the hamburger menu (three lines) in the top-left corner, you access all core sections that control your seller account.

Below is a clear breakdown of each section and what it enables you to do.

Overview of Seller Central Sections

Catalog

This is where your products live. You can:

• Add new products
• Edit titles, bullet points, descriptions, and images
• Create variations (size, color, bundle structures)
• Optimize listings for discoverability and conversion

A well-optimized catalog directly impacts traffic, conversion rate, and ad performance.

Inventory

The Inventory section lets you:

• Monitor stock levels
• Manage FBA and FBM inventory
• Update prices and availability
• Track stranded or suppressed listings
• Manage inventory across multiple marketplaces

Proper inventory control prevents stockouts, overstocking, and unnecessary storage fees.

Shipments

This section controls how your products move:

• Create and manage FBA inbound shipments
• Track shipment status to Amazon fulfillment centers
• Monitor receiving progress and discrepancies

Efficient shipment management ensures inventory becomes sellable quickly.

Pricing

Here you can:

• Review pricing health and competitiveness
• See Amazon’s pricing recommendations
• Set manual or automated pricing rules

Smart pricing protects margins while maintaining Buy Box eligibility.

Orders

The Orders section allows you to:

• View and manage customer orders
• Process refunds and returns
• Upload order-related documents
• Track fulfillment performance

This is the operational heartbeat of your daily sales activity.

Advertising

Advertising tools help you increase visibility and sales. You can:

• Create and manage PPC campaigns via Campaign Manager
• Build A+ Content for enhanced product pages
• Enroll in the Amazon Vine program for reviews
• Create deals, coupons, Prime discounts, and promotions

Advertising is essential for scaling beyond organic sales.

Stores

Stores lets you create a branded Amazon storefront:

• Fully customizable multi-page layout
• Brand storytelling and product grouping
• Traffic destination for ads and external marketing

This is especially valuable for private-label and brand-focused sellers.

Growth

The Growth section provides expansion insights:

• Personalized product and marketplace recommendations
• Demand signals for international marketplaces
• Program suggestions to increase revenue

It helps identify where and how to scale.

Analytics

Analytics provides performance intelligence, including:

• Business reports
• Inventory and fulfillment reports
• Advertising reports
• Return and customer behavior data
• Tax document library

Data-driven sellers use this section daily.

Payments

Here you manage cash flow:

• View available balance and payout schedules
• Download payment and transaction reports
• Use Amazon’s currency converter

Understanding payments is critical for profit control and accounting.

Account Health

Account Health protects your selling privileges. You can:

• Monitor Account Health Rating (AHR)
• Track policy violations and performance metrics
• Manage feedback, A-to-Z claims, and chargebacks

Ignoring this section can lead to listing suspensions or account deactivation.

Apps and Services

This area lets you:

• Connect third-party tools via the Selling Partner Appstore
• Manage app permissions
• Extend Seller Central functionality

Advanced sellers rely heavily on external tools for automation and analytics.

B2B

If you sell to businesses, B2B Central allows you to:

• Set business pricing and quantity discounts
• Manage quotes and case-pack opportunities
• Add business certifications

This unlocks higher-volume orders and institutional buyers.

Brands

For brand owners, this section includes:

• Brand development tools
• Enrollment in Amazon Brand Registry
• Brand analytics and protection features

Brand Registry is essential for private-label sellers.

Learn

Learn provides education and updates:

• Seller University training
• Community forums
• Amazon announcements and policy updates

Continuous learning is key to long-term success.

How to Start Selling with Amazon Seller Central

Below is a structured roadmap to start selling on Amazon correctly.

Steps to Selling with Amazon Seller Central

Step 1. Choose Your Selling Plan

Amazon offers two plans:

• Individual Plan ($0.99 per item sold)
• Best for casual sellers with low volume
• Professional Plan ($39.99/month)
• Designed for serious sellers; unlocks bulk uploads, advertising, and advanced tools

Most scalable businesses use the Professional plan.

Step 2. Create Your Seller Central Account

1. Go to https://sell.amazon.com/
2. Click “Create your Amazon seller account”
3. Provide:

• Business information
• Tax details
• Bank account information

1. Select your selling plan and complete verification

Once approved, you gain full access to Seller Central.

Step 3. Research and Source Products

Product research is the most critical step in selling on Amazon. Poor product selection leads to low margins, high fees, and unsellable inventory.

Instead of relying on manual spreadsheets or single-market analysis, advanced sellers use automated intelligence tools like Arbigain to make data-driven sourcing decisions.

Arbigain analyzes product prices across multiple Amazon marketplaces simultaneously, calculates all Amazon fees, and shows only products with real net profitability.

With Arbigain, you can:

• Compare prices across up to 7 Amazon marketplaces
• Automatically calculate fees, VAT, and net profit
• Identify the most profitable buy-and-sell routes
• Filter out unprofitable products before investing

This eliminates manual Excel calculations, reduces sourcing risk, and significantly accelerates decision-making.

Step 4. List Your Products

Once you’ve sourced products:

• Create or match product listings in the Catalog
• Add optimized titles, bullets, descriptions, and images
• Set pricing and fulfillment method (FBA or FBM)

High-quality listings directly impact ranking and conversions.

Step 5. Ship Inventory or Fulfill Orders

• Send inventory to Amazon if using FBA
• Or manage shipping yourself with FBM

Reliable fulfillment ensures customer satisfaction and account stability.

Step 6. Launch Advertising and Optimize

After your product is live:

• Launch PPC campaigns to gain visibility
• Optimize listings based on performance data
• Monitor analytics and adjust pricing and ads

Scaling is an ongoing optimization process.

Final Thoughts

Amazon Seller Central is far more than a listing tool — it is a full business operating system. Sellers who understand each section, use data intelligently, and rely on automation rather than manual work consistently outperform competitors.

Mastering Seller Central, combined with smart product research and profit intelligence tools like Arbigain, is the foundation of a scalable and sustainable Amazon business.