How to Set Up Your Amazon Seller Account in 2026

1. What You Need Before You Start

Setting up an Amazon seller account is the easiest part of starting FBA. The setup itself is roughly 90 minutes if you have your documents ready. The reason most beginners take a week to get verified is that they start the application without all the inputs at hand, get bounced halfway through, and have to restart.

Pull these together first:

• A government-issued ID (passport or driver's license). The photo has to match the name you use in the application.
• A credit or debit card that's accepted internationally (Amazon charges the monthly Professional plan fee to it).
• A bank account in your name (or your LLC's name) for payouts. Routing number and account number.
• A phone number for SMS verification. Use one you actually own and can receive texts at instantly.
• A tax ID. For US sellers operating as sole proprietors that's your Social Security Number. For LLCs, your EIN. How to get your EIN and business bank account.
• A utility bill or bank statement showing your residential address dated within the last 90 days. Amazon's identity verification often asks for this.

If any of those aren't ready, get them first. Restarting a half-finished Seller Central application is the most painful version of this process.

2. Step 1: Decide Sole Proprietor or LLC

For day-one setup most beginners go sole proprietor. You list yourself as the business entity and use your SSN. Faster, cheaper, no waiting on state paperwork. You can switch to an LLC later, though Amazon makes this annoying because they require re-verification.

If you already have an LLC or you're certain you'll form one within 30 days, set it up as an LLC from the start to avoid the re-verification. Full LLC vs sole proprietor breakdown.

"You don't necessarily need an LLC. If you don't have one that's fine. You don't need to have your LLC set up. You can sell at some point. I mean you don't need it. You can run your business without one. You can just run it under your own name. It's fine. If you want to switch, which I mean, it's always better. That way you have your business account set up. It's different. You separate finances, and all that stuff's always better." Chris, paraphrased from a recent beginner TSS coaching call where a student asked the exact same question

I run my own personal Amazon account through an LLC because I'm doing $100K+/month and I need the asset protection. A first-time beginner doing $500/month in sales does not need that protection on day one.

3. Step 2: Go to sellercentral.amazon.com

Open a fresh incognito Chrome window. Go to sellercentral.amazon.com. Click "Sign up." You'll see a giant marketing page. Click through to the actual signup.

Use an email address you want tied to your business forever. Most pros create a dedicated email like sales@yourdomain.com or amazon@yourname.com. You do not want to use your personal Gmail because Amazon notifications, account warnings, and customer messages will pile up there for years.

Amazon will ask you to log in with an existing Amazon account or create a new one. Create a new one for selling. Do not link your personal shopping account. Mixing the two is a long-tail headache and Amazon's terms technically prohibit using a buyer account for selling.

4. Step 3: Choose Professional

Amazon will offer you the Individual plan (free, $0.99 per item sold) or the Professional plan ($39.99/month, no per-item fee). Pick Professional. It's not close.

"There's one other big fee, right, that you would pay per unit if you don't have a professional account. If you don't have a professional account and you have an individual account, that's where you pay the 99 cents. As long as you have less than 40 sales a month, you can stay with the individual account, you're actually saving money. Once you get above that, get the professional account. You just pay no fees at all." Chris, Amazon FBA Fees Explained: The Ultimate Guide to Costs & Fees (2026)

Two reasons to go Professional from day one even if you won't hit 40 sales in month one:

1. The buy box. Individual sellers cannot win the Amazon buy box. The buy box is what fires when a shopper clicks "Add to Cart." If you can't win it you don't make sales at scale. This alone is worth the $40.
2. Bulk listing and reports. Most of the seller tools (sales reports, inventory reports, repricers, scanners) require Professional API access. You can't run a real business on Individual.

5. Step 4: Enter Your Business Info

Amazon will ask for your business legal name. If you're sole proprietor that's your full legal name as it appears on your ID. If you're LLC, your LLC's exact registered name.

Business address: your real residential address or your LLC's registered address. Don't use a UPS Store box. Amazon flags virtual addresses during verification and can suspend the account.

Phone number: a real phone you have access to right now. Amazon sends an SMS code immediately.

Tax info: SSN for sole proprietor, EIN for LLC. They'll also ask whether your business is a US person for tax purposes. For most readers that's yes.

6. Step 5: Bank Account and Credit Card

Bank account for payouts: routing and account number. Amazon pays you every 14 days by default. They will verify the account by asking you to confirm two small test deposits, which take 1-3 business days to land.

Credit card for the monthly fee: this is the card that gets charged the $39.99 every month. Use a business credit card if you have one. My breakdown of the right business banking setup for Amazon sellers.

If you don't have a business bank account yet, you can start with a personal account. Switching the payout account later is a few clicks. Switching the monthly fee card later is also fine.

7. Step 6: Identity Verification

This is where most beginners get delayed. Amazon launched stricter identity verification in 2023 and tightened it again in 2025. The process now includes:

1. Upload a government photo ID. The photo of the ID has to be clear and uncropped, and your face has to be visible. Most rejections are because of glare or because the photo cuts off an edge of the ID.
2. Upload a recent utility bill, bank statement, or other proof of address. Must be dated within 90 days. Name on the bill must match the name on your seller account exactly.
3. A live video verification call with an Amazon agent. This is a recent addition. They schedule a 5-10 minute Zoom-style call where you show your ID on camera and answer basic questions about your business.

The video call catches most fakes. If you're a real person, just show up, be clear, be patient. The agents are reading scripts and they're not trying to trip you up.

Total time from application start to verification completion is typically 24-72 hours. I've seen students get verified in 4 hours and I've seen students take 2 weeks. The variance is mostly which agent reviews the application.

8. Step 7: Tax Interview

Amazon will walk you through a tax interview. They're collecting the equivalent of a W-9 from you. Be honest. Sole proprietors check "Individual" and enter their SSN. LLCs check "LLC" and the LLC's tax classification.

If you're a US person (US citizen or resident alien) and your business operates in the US, this is straightforward. If you're outside the US, the form changes and you'll need to provide tax info for your country plus potentially a US ITIN. Talk to an accountant who specifically does Amazon sellers before you start the international flow. Wrong answers here create messy long-term tax reporting problems.

9. Step 8: Account Approval and the First Login

Once Amazon approves the account you get a confirmation email. Log into sellercentral.amazon.com. The Seller Central dashboard will load. It looks overwhelming for the first 20 minutes. It's not. Most beginners only use 6-8 of the dashboard's 200 menu items.

The first thing to do inside Seller Central is configure your Settings > Account Info section completely. Add your shipping address (typically your prep center's address if you're using one), your default tax settings, and your payout preferences. Shipping plan setup tutorial.

Second thing: install the Amazon Seller mobile app. Free. Lets you scan barcodes in stores, check listings on the go, respond to customer messages. Most pros use it 15-20 times a day.

10. Step 9: Connect Your Tools

Connect your scanner (RevSeller or SellerAmp) to your Seller Central via API. Both have step-by-step setup walkthroughs. Connect Keepa next. Connect your repricer if you have one already (most beginners don't need this for the first 60 days).

Full breakdown of which tools to add and in what order is in my best online arbitrage software guide.

11. The 4 Traps That Delay 80 Percent of Beginners

I've watched my students get tripped up by the same 4 setup issues for years.

1. Using a buyer account email to sign up. Don't. Create a fresh email. Amazon now actively prevents you from using a buyer account email for a new seller account in many cases.
2. Wrong address on the ID vs the application. The address on your ID has to match the address on your application. If you moved recently and your driver's license still shows the old address, get a new ID first.
3. UPS Store mailbox as business address. Amazon's algorithms flag commercial mail receiving addresses. You'll get an extra verification round and possibly a denial.
4. Trying to verify on a sketchy VPN. If you're connected through a VPN when you submit identity docs, Amazon often flags it as risk. Disconnect the VPN for the application.

Avoid those four traps and you'll be verified within 72 hours.

12. What to Do Once You're Approved

The order of operations from approval to first sale:

1. Connect Keepa and your scanner.
2. Spend 4 hours studying Keepa graphs. Keepa tutorial.
3. Source your first 5 buys. How to find profitable products.
4. Place the orders. Ship to your home or prep center. Prep center vs DIY prep.
5. Create the shipping plan in Seller Central. Shipping plan walkthrough.
6. Ship to Amazon. Wait 24-72 hours for live listings.
7. First sale.

If you want the full step-by-step plan, read Amazon FBA for beginners: step-by-step next, then the full pillar guide.