Close or downgrade Amazon seller account in Australia

Customers’ needs change. Goods and services go out of fashion rapidly, and businesses often need to change their processes.

Amazon's marketplace is a common way businesses sell and distribute their products. The professional account has a fixed monthly fee and a range of services.

But what happens if the monthly fee is now higher than your transaction revenue, or when you no longer want to continue this activity? You have 2 options. Close the account or downgrade it. Here’s a look at the pros and cons of each and how to activate the changes.

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What’s an Amazon business seller account, and how is it different from an individual one?

Amazon’s individual seller account is designed for sellers that sell less than 50 products a month and don’t want access to marketing and other tools. There is a $0.99 AUD fee per item sold.

The Amazon business seller account has a monthly fee of $49.95 AUD, regardless of the number of items sold, and offers the following features¹:

• Apply to sell products in additional categories
• Qualify for top placement on product detail pages
• Upload multiple products at the same time via spreadsheets
• Advertise your products and run promotions, including free shipping
• Add multiple users to your account
• Increase selling efficiency with API integration
• Become eligible to win the Featured Offer

What’s the difference between closing and simply downgrading your account

Closing an account isn’t a decision to make lightly. You lose access to a whole range of things. Downgrading your account, on the other hand, keeps it open and allows you to still conduct business via Amazon, only as and when you want to.

The advantage of downgrading to the individual account is that you can use it for one-off orders and only pay the $0.99 fee per time. And you still have access to all your previous history of transactions.

Keep in mind that downgrading your account may also cause you to lose access to certain product categories which require Amazon approval to sell in.

How to downgrade an Amazon professional seller account to an individual one

Downgrading from a professional account to an individual one is straightforward. Follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Amazon Seller Central Account
2. From the Settings menu in the top right-hand corner, choose ‘Account Info’
3. Partway down the page, next to ‘Your Services’ click on the ‘Manage’ button
4. Next to ‘Sell On Services, ’ you’ll notice your account is set to ‘professional’
5. At the bottom of that cell is a ‘downgrade’ button; click it.
6. A pop-up will occur, asking you to confirm once more, hit ‘proceed’

Your account is now set to individual status. If/when you want to switch to a professional account, repeat this process by selecting ‘upgrade’.

How to close or cancel an amazon seller account in Australia

If you’ve decided that closing your account is the proper business decision, here’s what you need to do.

First, before you start the actual ‘closing the account’ process, there are some steps to take.²

• Ship all your remaining orders
• Resolve any customer issues (returns and refunds)
• Cancel and remove all your listings
• Empty out your Amazon account balance

Once you’re ready, here’s the process to close the account permanently:

1. Go to the settings drop-down menu in the top right-hand corner
2. Choose ‘Account Info’
3. Scroll down to ‘Related Links’ and select ‘Close account’
4. You’ll be asked to give a reason why you want to close the account
5. Give as much detail as possible, then click ‘send’

In due course, you’ll receive an email from Amazon stating whether your account has been successfully closed or if you need to follow some additional steps.

Read more: Amazon FBA in Australia.

Are there any fees to close an Amazon business seller account, or is it free?

Apart from fulfilling existing orders, there are no fees to close the account.

What to do if you have inventory stored in Amazon FBA (fulfilment by Amazon)

You must have a seller account to use Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA). If you’ve decided to close it, you must first request the removal of all stored inventory. Fees apply for every product that you remove.³

Here are the steps to remove inventory:

1. Navigate to the Manage Inventory page
2. From the ‘Action on selected’ dropdown, choose ‘Create removal order’
3. Click ‘Begin removal process’
4. Select ‘Ship-to-address’ and provide a physical location for delivery (post boxes are not accepted)
5. Click ‘continue’
6. Then ‘place order’

Reasons why you’d want to close or downgrade your seller account on Amazon

There are several reasons businesses decide to close their Amazon accounts; these include:

• Going out of business
• Too many negative reviews creating a poor profile
• Taking over their own selling and logistics processes

Downgrading, however, could be for different reasons:

• Business has slowed down
• Still want access to customer and transaction history
• May have new products to sell in the future

What to keep in mind when you close or downgrade your amazon seller account

Closing/deleting your Amazon seller account is a big move, and it’s an irreversible action. Once closed, you’ll no longer have access to customer, transaction, product, or payment history.⁴

You can still access all of this if you choose to downgrade instead. Think seriously about closing the account. If you ever decide to sell products again via the platform, you’d need to open a brand new account and start from scratch.

Wise Business account

If you’ve closed your Amazon account but still wish to do business globally, the Wise Business Account can help.

Receive payments, pay staff, and manage your cash flow across international borders.

For a small account opening fee, you get local Australian account details and the option for others in 9 major currencies. There are no monthly fees.

A debit card is provided with the account, and you can request additional ones for team members.

International transfers are made with the mid-market rate, the same one you’d see on Google, plus a small up-front fee.

Find out how the Wise Business Account can help your company.

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Please see Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise Fees & Pricing for the most up-to-date pricing and fee information.

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Sources:

1. Amazon selling plans
2. Amazon learn - FAQs
3. Amazon sellercentral remove inventory from FBA
4. Amazon delete account

Sources checked on: 27 February 2023