If you’re a distributor looking to grow your sales in 2026, Amazon is a powerful sales channel with high volume potential. But it works differently to traditional wholesale and DTR — so you’ll need a strategic approach to be successful.
High competition, strict policies and tighter margins can make Amazon selling a challenge when you’re not the brand owner. In fact, many distributors will fail on the platform because they don’t have the right capabilities or knowledge to navigate Amazon’s unique ecosystem.
The key thing to note is that distributors have less control than brands. This can make it hard to compete, stand out, and gain visibility. In this guide, we’ll explain what you can and can’t control, how the Buy Box works, how to choose a fulfilment option, and how/when to get help from an agency.
Unlike brands, distributors will usually sell via existing Amazon listings. Therefore, removing the opportunity to have full content control.
A shared catalog model means that product detail pages are owned by Amazon, not sellers — and multiple sellers can sell using the same ASIN.
The following content is controlled by brand owners (or Amazon itself):
In practice, this means you have no influence over how the products are presented from a brand point of view. Selling successfully depends on how well you manage operations and things like pricing, not through effective branding.
One of the things you can influence is maintaining good account health in order to win the Buy Box. However, winning the Buy Box is no easy task, and only one distributor can have the Buy Box at any one time.
Having a product listing is not enough. Without the Buy Box, your chance of achieving high-volume sales is pretty slim.
This is the section of a product listing with the ‘Add to Cart’ and ‘Buy Now’ buttons. It’s where around 80% of Amazon’s sales are made.
The thing is, brand owners enrolled in the Brand Registry are usually more likely to win the Buy Box (although brand ownership doesn’t guarantee them winning). Their advantage means other sellers need to work harder.
To win the Buy Box, distributors need to meet a number of core requirements:
Another important thing to note is that distributors are only able to access Amazon’s advertising tools if they have active eligibility for the Buy Box. You don’t always need to be the Buy Box winner at the time of advertising, but you do need to be eligible to compete for it. However, it’s only really worth the cost and effort output if you’re the winner — so this should always be the goal.
This is how it works…
Buy Box eligible sellers can run the following Ads:
However, these Ads will only convert if you hold the Buy Box at the time of click-through. Losing the Buy Box means you’re essentially paying for an ad that helps a competitor convert.
This makes managing account health an important part of your strategy. Things like pricing and fulfilment choices are critical for ensuring your advertising is profitable.
When it comes to distributor-friendly ASINs, FBA puts you at an advantage for Buy Box success. This is because FBA strengthens account performance. It does this by improving delivery speed. This includes all customers, but especially Prime members who can choose fast and free one-day or same-day shipping options.
It also reduces seller-controlled fulfilment errors. This leads to better customer satisfaction, reduced Order Defect Rate (ODR), more positive reviews, and improved overall account health.
Winning itself is also a positive factor for account metrics — a high Buy Box win rate increases your chance of winning the next time around.
So for high-velocity or Buy Box-driven products, FBA is often the best option (even when margins are tight).
Amazon is operationally complex compared to a traditional wholesale model. Unlike the business model you’re used to (high-volume and low-effort), Amazon is highly competitive and fast-paced.
It’s likely you’ll need to manage dozens, or even hundreds, of SKUs at the same time. All of these products will need to be managed. This is where an agency can add value. Here are the ways, an agency can help:
An agency can look after pricing, monitoring competitor prices in real time and creating intelligent repricing strategies to help you maximise profit. This is done using AI tools that look at competition, sales velocity, and inventory levels.
These automated tools leverage data to optimise for Buy Box too, such as raising prices when competitors sell out so you can increase margins without Buy Box loss. Partnering with an agency ensures margin protection, while balancing Buy Box wins.
A dedicated agency also prevents race-to-the-bottom pricing scenarios, which ultimately leads to unsustainable margins and brand devaluation, impacting the brand itself and all associated sellers.
An agency can also help distributors get brand authorisation when they need it. They take care of the whole process, such as managing LOA (Letters of Authorisation), reviewing documentation, and appealing rejections by asking Amazon to review the application manually.
If you’re a distributor with exclusive access and the mandate to manage a brand, an agency can help you get registered on the Brand Registry and support with strategic brand management on Amazon.
Furthermore, agencies can help sellers manage “gating” on popular products and advise on paperwork. Just because you have the stock doesn’t mean you can automatically sell on the marketplace. Amazon gates many of its popular categories to prevent counterfeits, so sellers will be required to get approval.
Maintaining a healthy seller account is essential on Amazon, especially for distributors who have no control over branding or content. An agency can monitor performance metrics daily, make essential tweaks and changes if necessary, and prevent Buy Box suppression or other listing issues.
Most distributors do not have the time to dedicate to complete account management. This can lead to overlooked policy risks and warnings, which could ultimately lead to account suspension.
Buy Box success is most often linked to FBA due to the improved delivery times/prices and customer satisfaction, leading to better metrics and account health. But moving SKUs to FBA isn’t always straightforward. Agencies have experience across all different product categories and fulfilment models, meaning they can help you decide which SKUs are best for FBA.
They can review cost tradeoffs between FBA and FBM, ensuring the right model is used and increasing long-term scalability across your product range.
Furthermore, agencies can manage Removal Orders and Liquidation for any stock that’s “unsellable”. For instance, any returned stock that is damaged will take up storage space. We can help distributors automate the movement of stock back to their warehouse.
On top of managing your account health and strategies, an agency will be the first to know about any changes on the marketplace and can help you get everything in order. For instance, commingling (pooling inventory with other sellers) is ending on March 31, 2026. This means the EAN (manufacturer barcode) will no longer be in use. Instead, sellers must apply for an Amazon-specific barcode.
At Seller Presto, we can manage this transition to ensure you stay compliant, avoiding unwanted fees.
While FBA increases your chance of winning the Buy Box, it’s important to point out that FBA isn’t always the right fulfilment option or distributors. In fact, this where so many distributors fail!
Unless you’re confident that you can consistently win the Buy Box, FBA can actually cause operational issues and create financial risk.
This is because there’s no way of testing Buy Box eligibility without committing to Amazon inventory. If products are not suitable for the Buy Box and you don’t shift the stock quickly enough, you’ll be hit with long-term storage fees.
So what’s the right starting point?
If you’re testing new ASINs on Amazon, you’ll likely be better off starting out with FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) or SFP (Seller Fulfilled Prime). These models are safer and more flexible, giving you an opportunity to test the waters first.
While they don’t come with the delivery benefits of FBA, FBM and SFP do give you the following advantages:
A number or risks can arise with premature FBA adoption. This includes your inventory being tied up in Amazon warehouses, aged inventory fees eating away at your margins, reduced ability to compete when it comes to pricing, and deadstock leading to unprofitable SKUs.
This is especially common in the following scenarios:
1. A brand owner or seller consistently wins the Buy Box – leaving little opportunity for you to successfully compete.
2. You’re competing against Amazon Retail – Amazon has superior metrics and plenty of price elasticity, so it can be hard to compete for the Buy Box.
3. MAP policies enforced by brands – if the brand owner sets a pricing policy that restricts you from lowering the product price, it can be hard to get the sales velocity you need. Your pricing strategy is one of the most important factors for competitiveness when you’re not the brand owner.
At the same time, you don’t want to trigger a race to the bottom just to win the Buy Box as this can severe brand relationships. So it’s important to have an agency on board that can help you strike the balance. At Seller Presto, we use intelligent repricing to protect pricing, nurture brand partnerships and improve Buy Box eligibility.
FBA becomes effective for your strategy after you can prove stable account metrics. If you have consistent Buy Box wins through FMB or SFP (and you have a competitive landing price), it may be time to consider FBA for fulfilment.
It’s important to have predictable sales too, because your metrics need to be consistent.
If you tick all of these boxes, FBA adoption could be hugely beneficial. You could:
Fulfilment mistakes can make it impossible for distributors to succeed on Amazon. Choosing the wrong model can be costly and when marketplace success depends on operational excellence (rather than branding), it’s vital to get it right from launch.
This is why it pays to have an expert team on your side. An Amazon agency can help you test Buy Box performance through FBM or SFP options first, reducing inventory risk. They can also advise on the best products for FBA, helping you choose the ones that actually have Buy Box potential.
The bottom line is — FBA works best when it is well-timed, and products have been tested. It shouldn’t be a default choice for distributors without sole access to the brand. And with the help of an agency, you can get the timing right across every product category.
If you’re an overseas seller looking to expand to Amazon UK, remember that hiring a local agency is key. As an agency based in the UK, we have knowledge of VAT, consumer rights, and how the fulfilment network works here.
At Seller Presto, we have years of experience helping distributors sell successfully on Amazon for the first time — including international sellers looking to open a UK account.
To find out more about our services, contact our team today. Call 01642 054694 or email info@sellerpresto.com and we can discuss your exact requirements.
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