Anyone can become an online seller with a marketplace like Amazon. All you need to do is get the requirements together, submit them, and wait to get approved so you can list and sell products. But there are different tiers on Amazon.
Individuals and companies can enjoy different levels of product visibility, access special product categories, and get other perks depending on what type of seller they are. The coveted Platinum Seller status opens the doors to the highest level of marketplace visibility and the widest array of items to sell.
Seller Levels
Your seller level will determine how and what you can sell on Amazon and what per item fee structure applies to you on your marketplace sales. For instance, if you’re selling items that Amazon already sells, then you probably don’t have to pay monthly fees for listing these items for sale. You just pay a fixed closing fee plus the usual Amazon commission.
Here’s the difference between being a Professional Seller and a Platinum Seller:
Professional Seller
When you subscribe for Pro membership, you pay a monthly fee to upgrade your account status. In exchange, you no longer pay a fixed closing fee but instead pay a variable closing fee on sales. You can also create your own product pages as long as Amazon isn’t selling the same items. In addition, you get access to tools that help you manage your listings more conveniently, which helps a lot now that you have permission to post as many items as you want under existing listings or product pages.
Platinum Seller
Amazon used to have a Gold Seller status, but it’s being phased out. The benefits are growing less and less attractive, presumably to bridge the gap that it would leave between the Pro and the Platinum Seller statuses.
The Platinum Seller status is the highest seller tier on Amazon. The precise details aren’t open to the public, but we can say that Platinum Sellers can create custom Amazon storefronts and get the best product page and item listing visibility as compared to other seller types. They can therefore easily outshine lower tiered merchants. A Platinum Seller also has access to categories that are restricted to this tier exclusively, which Amazon does to guarantee that only sellers with proven records for outstanding quality are handling items like clothing and computers.
It has also been reported that Platinum Sellers get weekly payouts, can add keywords to their listings that other types of sellers are forbidden to use, and may have a better chance of winning the buy box.
How Be a Platinum Seller
You can gain Platinum Seller status by invite or by applying, as long as you are already a Professional Seller. To apply, contact Amazon directly to ask them to consider you for Platinum Seller status. The chances of getting accepted by request are slim, so you need to make sure that you are prepared.
Basically, you need to have an outstanding seller performance record stretching back years to be considered for Platinum status. The marketplace uses criteria such as a minimum sustained monthly sales volume and customer feedback rating to review Platinum Seller potentials. The full list of criteria is, as usual, undisclosed. To learn more, you can look at existing sellers at this tier to see what they’re doing right.
Alternatively, you can simply be a great seller and wait for Amazon’s invitation. When Amazon spots a good candidate for the Platinum Seller program, they send out an invitation to join this highest tier. Usually, it’s existing merchants who get invited. Amazon has been known to reach out to major retailers who aren’t yet on Amazon, however. These retailers, should they choose to sell on Amazon, will get immediate Platinum Seller status.
Final Thoughts
Getting to the Platinum Seller tier is a marathon. If you’re interested in climbing up to this level, you need to be willing to prepare for at least three years. Focus on increasing your sales beyond the million-dollar mark (yearly) and providing the best customer service for each sale. If you can maintain awesome metrics for this period of time, then you have a shot at becoming a Platinum Seller.
Author
Julia Valdez is a professional teacher and long-time lover of the art of words on paper and the stage. She has an entrepreneurial heart and spends most of her time doing marketing and management, freelance content writing, volunteer work, and sharing lots of laughs over little crazy things.
