1P (First Party)
1P (First Party) is the wholesale route onto Amazon: you sell your inventory to Amazon itself through Vendor Central, and Amazon becomes the retailer. Amazon issues purchase orders, takes legal ownership of the stock the moment it hits their distribution hubs, sets whatever retail price their algorithms fancy, and fulfils every order to the end customer. Your listing wears the “Ships from and sold by Amazon” badge — still one of the strongest trust signals on the platform.
What is 1P?
1P (First Party) is the wholesale route onto Amazon: you sell your inventory to Amazon itself through Vendor Central, and Amazon becomes the retailer. Amazon issues purchase orders, takes legal ownership of the stock the moment it hits their distribution hubs, sets whatever retail price their algorithms fancy, and fulfils every order to the end customer. Your listing wears the “Ships from and sold by Amazon” badge — still one of the strongest trust signals on the platform.
The trade is control for volume. You get predictable bulk orders and none of the per-order referral fees, but you hand over retail pricing, wait Net 30 to Net 90 for your money, and watch co-op allowances and chargebacks get deducted before the payment lands. For brands with manufacturing scale and thin appetite for retail operations, 1P works. For brands that live and die by price integrity, it’s a slow leak.
How 1P differs from 3P
The difference is who owns the inventory and who the customer is. In 3P (Seller Central), you are the retailer of record: your stock, your price, your customer service, Amazon takes a referral fee per sale. In 1P, your customer is Amazon itself — a B2B wholesale relationship. Amazon buys low, retails high, owns the customer relationship, and decides when to reorder.
That reorder decision is the hidden variable. Amazon’s automated systems generate purchase orders based on their demand forecasts and their own capacity constraints. A strong quarter can mean nothing if their model decides to draw down inventory. 1P vendors manage supply chains and negotiations; 3P sellers manage listings and ads. Know which game you’re playing.
What the money actually looks like
The 1P fee structure isn’t referral fees — it’s deductions. Co-op allowances (marketing, freight, damage funds) come out as a negotiated percentage of wholesale revenue. Vendor chargebacks arrive as automated penalties when shipments are late, labels are wrong, or pallets don’t match spec. On top of that, Amazon’s repricing engine continuously scrapes the web and matches any lower price it finds — including a liquidation sale some retailer ran without telling you — which can drag the retail price below your wholesale cost and ignite channel conflict with every other distributor you have.
Payment lands on invoice terms — typically Net 30, 60, or 90 — minus all of the above. Successful vendors run a monthly deduction audit the way 3P sellers run search term reports: line by line, recovering everything that wasn’t contractually owed.
1P net wholesale profit
Run the whole relationship through one formula and see what’s actually left:
Should you run 1P, 3P, or both?
It’s not a marriage decision. Plenty of enterprise brands run hybrid: 1P for high-volume legacy SKUs where bulk wholesale economics work, 3P for new launches and price-sensitive products that need tight control. The 3P account doubles as insurance — if Amazon pauses purchase orders on a core SKU (it happens), your Seller Central listing keeps the lights on and the ranking history alive.
In practice
A cookware manufacturer gets a purchase order for 10,000 units of a 10-inch skillet at a $25 wholesale price. Amazon lists it at $49.99 as “Ships from and sold by Amazon,” fulfils everything, and pays the invoice 60 days later — minus a 12% co-op deduction. The brand never touches a customer, never funds an ad, and knows exactly what month four’s revenue looks like before it happens.
How Harpy Media helps
We run hybrid 1P/3P structures for brands and audit vendor deductions line by line — most vendors we meet are leaving recoverable money on the table. If Amazon is your biggest customer, treat the relationship like your biggest customer: measured, negotiated, and audited.
1P FAQ
What is First Party (1P) on Amazon?
A wholesale vendor relationship: you sell inventory to Amazon via Vendor Central, and Amazon retails it, sets the price, and fulfils orders under the “Ships from and sold by Amazon” label.
Is Vendor Central better than Seller Central?
Neither, universally. Vendor Central (1P) gives predictable bulk volume and buyer trust; Seller Central (3P) gives you pricing control, richer data, and usually better margins if you can run the operations.
How do 1P vendors get paid?
On invoice terms — typically Net 30, 60, or 90 days — after deductions for co-op allowances, return reserves, and any operational chargebacks.
Can 1P vendors set their own retail prices on Amazon?
No. You can suggest a price, but Amazon’s repricing algorithms hold full authority and will match lower prices found anywhere on the web.
Related terms
FBM (Fulfilment by Merchant)RSP (Retail Selling Price)3P (Third-Party Seller)3PL (Third-Party Logistics)Want these numbers watched for you, every week?
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