This article is for sellers who want to rethink the monthly fee for the Professional selling plan, whether because sales have leveled off or because they plan to list fewer products. We lay out how to think about fees and profitability, which features you lose on the Individual plan, what to check before switching, the steps involved, and how to verify your charges after the switch. We also compare switching plans with pausing your listings and closing your account.
How fees differ between the Professional and Individual plans
Amazon.co.jp offers two selling plans: Professional (大口出品) and Individual (小口出品). Seller Central Help calls them "selling formats" (出品形態), while the official Amazon selling services website calls them "selling plans" (出品プラン).
The information in this article was confirmed from the official website and Help pages as of September 2026. Fees, policies, and on-screen labels can change, so check the latest fee pages and screens before you switch.
Fee comparison table
| Item | Professional plan | Individual plan |
|---|---|---|
| Selling plan fee | Monthly subscription fee of ¥4,900 (excluding tax). A flat fee regardless of how many items you sell | No monthly fee. A per-item closing fee of ¥100 (excluding tax) for each item sold |
| Approximate amount including tax (example calculated at a 10% tax rate) | ¥5,390 per month | ¥110 per item |
| When charges begin | From the day you sign up for the Professional plan | When a sale is completed |
| Referral fees | A rate set for each category | Same as Professional |
| Category closing fees for media products | ¥140 per item for books, music, DVDs, video (VHS), and PC software | Same as Professional (in addition to the ¥100 per-item closing fee) |
Except for the row with tax-inclusive estimates, the amounts in the table exclude tax, which is charged separately. The tax-inclusive figures are examples we calculated, so check your actual charges on your fee invoice.
Costs that stay the same after switching
The referral fee is the greater of the minimum referral fee or your total sales amount (including shipping charges and the like) multiplied by the rate for the category, and the rate is typically between 5% and 15.4%. The rate is the same on the Professional and Individual plans. FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon, where you store inventory in Amazon's warehouses and Amazon handles shipping) fees are also charged separately from your selling plan. Rates are subject to revision, so check the official fee pages.
The monthly subscription fee is prepaid and charged even when you have no sales
The Professional plan's monthly subscription fee (shown as 月額登録料 under Payments > Transactions (ペイメント > トランザクション)) is defined in the Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement as payable "monthly in advance and non-refundable." Keep the following characteristics in mind.
- It is one of the fees deducted when your sales proceeds are disbursed. According to Help, the fee for your first month on the Professional plan is deducted from your seller account balance, and any shortfall is charged to your registered credit card
- It is charged even in months with no sales, and there are no refunds on the grounds that nothing sold
- Even if you have stopped your listings with the vacation setting (status: Inactive (停止中)), you are charged on the payment date
- Amazon states that you are not charged for months in which your account is blocked or suspended (check your fee invoice for the actual charges)
Amazon's official materials are inconsistent on when the fee is charged: some pages say it applies "if you have an ASIN (a unique identifier for each product) available for purchase on the billing date," while others say it applies "regardless of whether you list or sell." In addition, Help states explicitly that simply stopping your listings does not change your selling plan. If you want to stop the subscription fee, switch the selling plan itself.
Don't decide on "49 items a month" alone: a three-step profitability check
Amazon's official fee page recommends the Individual plan if you sell fewer than 49 items a month and the Professional plan if you sell 49 or more. That is because ¥4,900 ÷ ¥100 = 49 items, the point at which the selling plan fees are equal. However, this compares only the selling plan fees, so work through the following three steps.
Check 1. Compare selling plan fees based on the number of items sold
Before switching, use the order report or similar data to total the number of items sold each month over the last few months (save these reports now, because the order report is not available on the Individual plan), then compare "number of items × ¥100" with "¥4,900." The table below is a hypothetical example that illustrates how this works, not a real case (amounts exclude tax).
| Items sold per month | Individual per-item closing fees | Professional monthly subscription fee | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 items | ¥1,000 | ¥4,900 | Individual costs ¥3,900 less |
| 30 items | ¥3,000 | ¥4,900 | Individual costs ¥1,900 less |
| 49 items | ¥4,900 | ¥4,900 | Same |
| 70 items | ¥7,000 | ¥4,900 | Professional costs ¥2,100 less |
Referral fees and category closing fees are the same on either plan, so they do not affect this comparison.
Check 2. If you fulfill orders yourself, add the difference in shipping charges
Individual sellers cannot change shipping charges or create shipping templates. Buyers are charged the shipping rate set by Amazon, and the seller receives the same amount. You must still ship the item even if your actual shipping cost is higher. As examples of standard domestic shipping rates at the time we checked, books are ¥262, and other categories are ¥472 plus ¥53 per kilogram (these rates are subject to change). Note that books, music, video, and DVDs are excluded from the categories for which sellers can set their own shipping charges, even on the Professional plan. If these make up most of your sales, the difference in Check 2 will be small, and the item-count comparison in Check 1 becomes the main basis for your decision.
As a hypothetical example, if you sell 30 items a month and your actual shipping cost is ¥150 higher per item, you would absorb ¥4,500 a month on the Individual plan. Assuming the Professional plan lets you set shipping charges that match your actual costs, then even after subtracting the ¥1,900 that Individual saved in Check 1, the Professional plan would cost ¥2,600 less per month in this scenario. Conversely, if many of your products cost less to ship than the rate Amazon sets, that difference works in favor of the Individual plan.
Check 3. Estimate the impact of the features you would lose
Count the orders that came through advertising and promotions, as well as gift orders, for each month, and estimate the gross profit you would lose without them. Also write down, in hours per month, the extra time needed to list items one by one and to replace price adjustments and inventory syncing done with external tools with manual work. Finally, compare "items sold × ¥100 + shipping costs you absorb (Check 2; subtract the amount if you save on shipping) + gross profit lost (Check 3)" with "¥4,900," and put the added work hours alongside it. That gives you everything you need to make a decision.
Features you lose and operations that change on the Individual plan
Even after switching to the Individual plan, you can keep selling from the same account. However, features intended for Professional sellers are no longer available. The table below summarizes the main differences, based on the comparison tables on the official website and in Help.
| Feature or operation | Professional | Individual |
|---|---|---|
| Bulk listing, and inventory management with inventory files and reports | Available | Not available. List items one at a time by matching them to existing product pages |
| Order management with order reports | Available | Not available |
| API integration (SP-API) | Available | Not available |
| Setting shipping charges and shipping templates (for categories other than books, music, video, and DVDs) | Available | Not available. Shipping rates are set by Amazon |
| Managing handling time, holiday settings, and weekend shipping | Available | Not available. Items must ship within 2 business days after the order confirmation |
| Gift wrap and gift messages | Can be offered | Cannot be offered |
| Promotions including free shipping, and advertising tools | Available | Not available |
| Applying to sell in additional categories | Available | Not available |
| Adding multiple users and setting user permissions | Available | Not available |
| FBA, creating new catalog listings, and temporarily pausing listings with the vacation setting | Available | Available |
The Help table also lists support requests to Technical Support as "not available" for Individual sellers (you will need to check the screens for the actual scope of inquiries you can make). In addition, because seller-fulfilled orders must "ship within 2 business days," keeping a setup that relied on extra handling time could lead to late shipments. When reviewing your operations, see also how to improve your late shipment rate.
Official information on the Featured Offer (Buy Box) is inconsistent
Help states that seller eligibility requirements for the Featured Offer have been removed and that all sellers' products are evaluated for the Featured Offer (the timing of this change is described differently in different notices, so check the latest announcements). On the other hand, the FAQ on the official website and the table on the fee page still say that the Professional plan is required. Factor in the possible loss of sales if you cannot win the Buy Box, and after switching, check whether your products are being shown as the Featured Offer.
Check anything not covered in official materials beforehand
We could not confirm how the following points are handled in official Help. If they are likely to affect you, check the screens or ask the provider of each service before you switch.
- What happens to categories you were approved to sell in while on the Professional plan after you switch to Individual
- When API-integrated external tools, running ads, promotions, and points settings stop
- How user permissions granted to employees or outside contractors are handled
Checklist before you switch
Before switching, confirm the following items.
Prerequisites for the procedure
- Has verification of your identity documents been completed?
- Are you enrolled in any service that requires the Professional plan, such as Amazon Business (selling to businesses)?
- Is your account a unified account linked with stores in other countries? Which regions will you switch to Individual?
- Have you noted the date of your most recent monthly subscription fee charge? (You will need it to check your statements after switching and for the 90-day deadline if you request a refund)
Operations
- Do any of your tasks rely on bulk listing or API-integrated tools? Have you asked the tool providers how to stop the integration?
- Have you saved the order reports you use for accounting and analysis before switching?
- Can you ship seller-fulfilled orders within 2 business days? Have you estimated the difference in shipping charges?
- Do you have any running ads, ongoing promotions, or gift settings?
- Have you given user permissions to employees or outside contractors?
If your identity verification is not yet complete, see how to complete identity verification for your seller account; if you have been asked for additional documents, see preparing additional documents for identity verification, and finish those procedures first.
How to switch from the Professional plan to the Individual plan
The process described in the Help page "Switch to an Individual selling plan" (小口出品に切り替える) is as follows. Menu names may change with updates and are not labeled consistently across pages, so treat the steps below as a guide and follow what actually appears on your screen.
STEP 1. Open Account Info from Settings
In Seller Central, open Account Info (アカウント設定) from Settings (設定), the gear menu.
STEP 2. Select your selling plan under Manage Your Services
Under Manage Your Services (サービスの管理), click your selling plan and choose to change from the Professional plan to the Individual plan. For a unified account, selecting "All regions" (すべての地域) changes all stores at once, while selecting "Current region" (現在の地域) changes only that region.
STEP 3. Confirm with Apply changes
Click "Apply changes" (変更を適用), review the terms of service, and click "Yes, downgrade" (はい、ダウングレードします).
STEP 4. Save the confirmation email
The confirmation email you receive includes information about your new selling fees (such as referral fees and category closing fees). Save it as a reference for checking your charges.
If things don't go smoothly
- You see the message "You do not have permission to change your registration status": Check whether verification of your identity documents has been completed.
- The option to change is not shown: You may be enrolled in another service that requires the Professional plan, and you will need to cancel it first. Help gives "closing a business account" as an example.
- You sell in stores outside Japan: Each store has its own rules. For example, with a North America unified account, you cannot switch to Individual if your main store is Amazon.com.mx.
Help also notes that switching to the Individual plan may change your payment cycle, but it does not specify whether this refers to disbursement of sales proceeds or billing of the subscription fee. Under the agreement, sales proceeds are generally disbursed once every two weeks (14 days) after fees and subscription charges are deducted. After switching, check both your next scheduled disbursement and your charges under Payments.
What to check after switching: follow through to the next month's statement
We could not find any explicit statement in official Help about when the change takes effect (at the time you make it or at the end of the billing cycle). Verify the result in the following order.
- Confirmation email: Check that your new fees reflect Individual plan pricing
- Payments: After the next billing date, go to the Payments tab (支払い) > Payments > Transactions, select the transaction type "Service Fees" (サービス料金), click "Update" (更新), and check that 月額登録料 (monthly subscription fee) does not appear in the product details column
- Fee invoice: Under the Reports tab (レポート) > Tax Document Library (タックス関連文書ライブラリ) > Fee Invoices (手数料明細書), check the "Selling fees" (出品手数料) on the statement for the billing date
- Stores outside Japan: If you changed only the "Current region," and you still have a Professional account and active listings in other stores, the subscription fee for those regions will still be charged (it is prorated by country or region, so it is easy to overlook)
- Active listings: Unless you have paused your listings with the vacation setting, sales will continue, so be ready to ship orders within 2 business days
Will you get back that month's subscription fee?
We could not find any official statement on whether fees are refunded on a prorated basis. Under the agreement, the fee is prepaid and non-refundable, and the FAQ lists only the following two cases as eligible for a refund.
- You were charged in error because of a technical problem on Amazon's side
- You never used any Professional tools or benefits after signing up and are ending your use of the Professional plan (one time only, for up to three months; you must contact Technical Support within 90 days of the payment date)
Having signed up for the Professional plan by mistake does not by itself qualify you for a waiver. The second condition applies only if you have never used any Professional tools or benefits since signing up, so if you have used Professional features such as bulk listing, advertising, or order reports even once, you will normally not be eligible. Do not submit a request with inaccurate information; describe how you have used the account truthfully.
Also, because support requests to Technical Support are listed as "not available" on the Individual plan (as noted above), consider making your request before switching to Individual, while you are still on the Professional plan. It is safest to confirm in advance which contact point to use and whether to make the request before or after switching. Below is an example outline of a request, for use only if you meet the conditions. It is not a real case, so rewrite it to fit your own situation.
I would like to confirm whether the monthly subscription fee for the Professional selling plan is eligible for a refund. I signed up for the Professional plan on [date], and the payment date for the monthly subscription fee was [date]. Since signing up, I have not used any Professional plan tools or benefits (usage: [details]). I plan to switch to the Individual selling plan on [date].
For how to organize your inquiry, see organizing your request to Technical Support.
Switching to Individual vs. pausing listings vs. closing your account
Here we compare three procedures that are easy to confuse when you want to stop paying fees.
| Procedure | Professional monthly subscription fee | Listing status | Can it be reversed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Switch to the Individual plan | No longer charged (confirm on your statement that the change has taken effect) | Sales continue | You can switch back to Professional |
| Stop listings with the vacation setting (status: Inactive) | Charged on the payment date | Removed from product detail pages and search results within 1 hour. FBA listings remain active | You can set them back to Active |
| Close your account | If your goal is to stop the subscription fee, Help recommends switching to Individual first | The account is closed | Cannot be reopened. To sell again, you must register a new account and go through review again |
Even with the vacation setting on, you must respond to return requests and buyer messages within 24 hours, and pending orders are not canceled automatically. If you plan to stop selling altogether, see preparing to close your seller account.
Steps for temporarily pausing your listings (vacation setting) and switching back from "Inactive"
If you want to stop your listings only for periods when you can't ship, such as vacations, use the vacation setting without changing your selling plan. As the table shows, the monthly subscription fee is still charged while the vacation setting is on, so if you also want to stop paying fees, compare it with switching to the Individual plan.
- Before pausing, check your unshipped orders and pending orders, and plan how they will be shipped
- Under Settings (設定) > Account Info (アカウント設定) > Store Status (ストアのステータス), set your listing status to "Inactive" (停止中). Help also describes a way to do this from Edit (編集) for Listing Status (出品ステータス) under Seller Account Information (出品用アカウント情報), so use whichever one appears on your screen (only users with inventory management permissions can make the change)
- After about an hour, check that your listings no longer appear on product detail pages or in search results (FBA listings remain active)
- To end the pause, set your listing status back to "Active" (出品中) on the same screen. Your listings reappear within an hour
If your listings show as "Inactive" even though you have not turned on the vacation setting yourself, this may be the result of the "Close listing" (出品を終了) action or of an action by Amazon. For how to tell which it is, and the entry points for an appeal if it was an action by Amazon, see how to tell what an "Inactive" status means when you face a listing suspension.
If your listings will be paused for a long time, also check the expiration date of the card registered to your seller account. Even a card that used to work can fail verification if its expiration date is approaching or has passed (how to check card-related restrictions).
If your account is suspended, don't rush to close it
Since Amazon states that the monthly subscription fee is not charged for months in which your account is blocked or suspended, there is little reason to change your selling plan during a suspension to save money. We also could not confirm whether the plan can be changed during a suspension, and given that support requests are listed as "not available" on the Individual plan, it is safer not to rush a switch until you have a clearer path to reinstatement. If you close your account in a hurry, you cannot reopen it, and you may shut yourself off from any chance of reinstatement. See also the difference between account suspension and account closure and an overview of the process from suspension to an appeal for reinstatement.
What to avoid
- Assuming you won't be charged if you delete all your listings: Official pages are inconsistent about the billing conditions, so relying on this is risky. If you want to stop the subscription fee, switch your selling plan.
- Delaying or canceling shipments because shipping costs put you in the red: Seller-initiated cancellations also affect your performance metrics. Review listings for products that aren't worth it before you switch (see how to reduce your pre-fulfillment cancel rate).
- Creating another account to avoid subscription fees or a suspension: This violates Amazon's policies and makes the problems with your existing account worse.
Things to watch when switching back from Individual to Professional
Amazon states that you can switch selling plans at any time as needed (provided that identity verification and other requirements are complete). To switch back, go to Settings > Account Info > Manage Your Services, select your selling plan, click "Professional," review the terms of service, and click "Apply changes."
- Your Professional subscription starts immediately, and links to Professional features are added right away, but some billing features may take up to 2 days to become available
- You cannot change your status again until the change has finished processing
- Subscription fee charges begin as soon as the process is complete (except with promotional offers; the first month's fee is paid as described above)
Because the subscription fee is prepaid, switching back and forth at short intervals can mean paying for periods you don't use. There have been posts on the Seller Forums saying upgrades were temporarily suspended in the past. It is unclear whether this still happens, but it is safer not to plan on being able to switch back on the exact day you want.
Frequently asked questions
Q. Will my active listings disappear if I switch to the Individual plan?
A. According to Amazon's official guidance, you can keep listing from the same account after switching to Individual, and sales continue unless you pause your listings with the vacation setting. However, how products in categories you were approved for on the Professional plan are handled is not specified, so check your listing status on the inventory screen after switching.
Q. Can I use FBA on the Individual plan?
A. Yes. FBA has a program that offers gift wrap on eligible products at no additional fee to the seller, but we could not confirm in official Help whether it can be used for products sold on the Individual plan. If you receive many gift orders, check Help before switching.
Q. I mainly sell books and DVDs. What happens to my per-item fees on the Individual plan?
A. Books, music, DVDs, video (VHS), and PC software incur a referral fee and a ¥140 per-item category closing fee on either selling plan, and the Individual plan adds a ¥100 (excluding tax) per-item closing fee on top of that. As noted in Check 2, books, music, video, and DVDs are also unlikely to show a difference in shipping charges, so the main comparison is "items sold × ¥100" versus the ¥4,900 (excluding tax) monthly fee.
Q. Can I create new product pages on the Individual plan?
A. Yes. According to the comparison table in Help, you can add new products that are not in the catalog on either the Professional or the Individual plan. However, bulk listing is not available, so you will have to add them one at a time.
Summary
Switching from the Professional plan to the Individual plan can reduce your fixed costs, but it also changes how shipping charges work and which features you can use.
- The Professional plan costs ¥4,900 per month, and the Individual plan costs ¥100 per item sold (both excluding tax). Referral fees and FBA fees do not change
- The 49-items-a-month benchmark is based on selling plan fees alone. Factor in the difference in shipping charges and the impact of losing features such as advertising, gift options, and bulk listing
- Before switching, check identity verification, services that require the Professional plan, API integrations, user permissions, your shipping setup, and whether you have a unified account
- After switching, save the confirmation email and use Payments and your fee invoices to confirm that the next subscription fee has stopped
- Refunds are available only in limited cases, and when you request one, describe your usage truthfully
- The vacation setting does not stop the subscription fee, and closing your account cannot be undone
Rather than deciding on fees alone, identify first which features you can't do without. This helps prevent confusion after the switch. If you are unsure because an account suspension or warning coincides with these cost issues, consider consulting a specialist.
Need help switching between Professional and Individual selling plans?
If an account suspension or warning coincides with these cost issues, we can help you sort out your situation at no cost. Consultations are free, as often as you need.
Free consultation, 24/7 *This article provides a general explanation. The appropriate response in individual cases depends on the circumstances.
Further reading
Distinguishing Amazon seller account suspension from closure: notices and reinstatement inquiries Read article → 
Preparing to close an Amazon seller account: outstanding orders, inventory and payments Read article → 
Before closing an Amazon buyer account: balances, orders and linked services Read article →