Amazon vs Amazon Marketplace: What’s the Real Difference?

You hop on Amazon to grab something simple—a phone case, maybe a pair of sneakers. A few days later you check your credit card statement and notice something odd: instead of “Amazon.com,” the charge shows up as “AMZN MKTP.” At first, it looks suspicious, like maybe your card got hit with fraud. Then you realize it was your own order.

That little code is your first clue that shopping on Amazon isn’t always as straightforward as it looks. Sometimes you’re buying from Amazon itself, and sometimes you’re buying on Amazon through a third-party seller. To you, the checkout feels identical. You click “Buy Now,” the box arrives, and life moves on. But behind the scenes, the two setups are very different—and those differences affect sellers, buyers, and even the way Amazon makes its money.

What Amazon Actually Sells?

If you think of Amazon as one gigantic online store, you’re not wrong—but that’s only half the story. Before we dive into the Marketplace side, let’s get clear on what Amazon itself actually sells and how it works.

Amazon as a Retailer

When you see “Ships from and sold by Amazon.com,” that’s Amazon acting like a traditional retailer. The company buys products at wholesale prices from manufacturers or distributors and then resells them to customers. Just like Target or Walmart, Amazon owns this inventory—it’s sitting in their warehouses, managed by their logistics machine.

Always New, Always Amazon’s

One key detail: products Amazon sells directly are always new. No used goods, no gray areas. If Amazon is the seller, it’s brand-new stock that Amazon itself has purchased and stored. That’s part of why shopping “from Amazon” feels so consistent—you know what you’re getting.

Programs Behind the Scenes

This retail model runs through special programs. Vendor Central is invite-only, where manufacturers or big wholesalers sell in bulk to Amazon. Amazon Advantage works more like consignment, used mostly for media like books or DVDs. In both cases, once Amazon has the product, they own the sale—and all the profit goes straight to them.

Amazon Prime

Finally, there’s the Prime effect. Products Amazon sells directly almost always qualify for Prime’s one- or two-day shipping. That little blue checkmark has trained millions of shoppers to expect speed and reliability. For many buyers, it doesn’t matter who the seller is—if it says Prime, they trust it.

What is Amazon Marketplace?

Now that we’ve looked at what Amazon itself sells, let’s talk about the other half of the story—the Amazon Marketplace. This is where things get bigger, messier, and much more interesting.

A Platform, Not a Store

The Marketplace isn’t Amazon selling to you directly. Instead, it’s Amazon acting like a landlord, renting out space on its site to millions of independent sellers. These can be small side hustlers running a one-product shop or global brands moving thousands of units a day. To the shopper, though, it all looks the same because the entire buying process happens on Amazon.com.

Amazon Seller Central: The Gateway In

Most sellers join through Amazon Seller Central. From here, they can create product listings, manage inventory, and choose how to ship orders. Sellers either handle fulfillment themselves—what’s called Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM)—or they can outsource it to Amazon under Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA). FBA is popular because it unlocks Prime shipping and gives products a better chance of being seen.

A Marketplace on a Massive Scale

The sheer size of Marketplace dwarfs Amazon’s own retail catalog. Amazon directly sells about 12 million products. Add Marketplace into the mix and that number jumps to over 3 billion listings. This is why Amazon often feels like it has “everything”—because it’s not just Amazon’s warehouse behind the curtain, it’s millions of third-party sellers stocking the shelves too. If you’re looking to source Amazon products for dropshipping, check out Spocket.

Why Most Shoppers Don’t Notice

Here’s the twist: most buyers can’t tell the difference between Amazon and Marketplace sellers. Unless you look closely under the “Buy Now” button at the “Ships from” and “Sold by” line, you’d never know. For shoppers, that seamlessness feels convenient. For sellers, it’s both a blessing and a challenge.

Amazon FBA vs Amazon FBM

If Amazon Marketplace is the stage, sellers still have to decide how to play their part. That choice usually comes down to two fulfillment models: FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) and FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant). Both get your product in front of customers, but how the order is packed, shipped, and serviced makes all the difference.

Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA)

Let’s start with the popular option. With FBA, sellers ship their inventory to Amazon’s warehouses. From there, Amazon takes over—storing the products, handling orders, and delivering them in those familiar Prime-branded boxes. Customer service and returns? Covered by Amazon too.

For sellers, the biggest perk is scale. You can sell hundreds of items a day without touching a single box. Plus, FBA products get the coveted Prime badge, which often means higher visibility in search results and a better shot at the “Buy Box.” The tradeoff? Fees. Storage, packing, and shipping costs can eat into margins—sometimes heavily.

Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM)

On the flip side, FBM means the seller handles it all. When a customer places an order, the seller packs and ships it directly. This gives more control—over packaging, brand experience, and sometimes costs. It’s especially useful for bulky or heavy items where FBA fees can skyrocket.

The downside? More work. Sellers need systems for logistics, customer service, and returns. Without Prime eligibility, conversion rates can take a hit too, since many shoppers filter for Prime-only products.

Choosing Between the Two

So which is better? It depends. Let’s say you’re selling small, fast-moving items like phone chargers. FBA probably makes sense because speed, Prime visibility, and scale will outweigh the fees. But if you’re selling a 50-pound set of dumbbells, FBM might save your margins.

Some sellers even mix approaches—using FBA for certain products while running FBM for others. The key is finding the balance between convenience, cost, and control.

Why Buyers Should Care About These Differences

From the shopper’s side, Amazon feels simple: search, click, receive. But the split between Amazon retail and Marketplace sellers can actually shape your experience more than you’d think. Here’s why it matters.

The Credit Card Surprise

Plenty of shoppers first notice the difference when they check their bank statement. A purchase directly from Amazon might show up as Amazon.com, while a Marketplace order can appear as AMZN MKTP. Same website, same checkout, but coded differently behind the scenes. For rewards cards or cash-back promos, that difference can even affect how much you earn.

“Ships From” and “Sold By”

The clearest way to know who you’re really buying from is to look just under the Buy button. If it says “Ships from and sold by Amazon.com,” that’s retail. If it shows another company name, that’s a Marketplace seller. It’s easy to miss, but it can explain why one order arrives lightning-fast and another takes a week.

Shipping, Returns, and Service

When you buy from Amazon directly—or from a Marketplace seller using FBA—you’re getting Amazon’s streamlined shipping and return process. But with FBM sellers, shipping speeds can vary and return policies may feel less consistent. Amazon tries to standardize this with its A-to-Z Guarantee, which refunds buyers if something goes wrong, but the journey to a resolution can take longer.

Why It Matters

So why should buyers care? Because knowing the difference helps set expectations. If you need something tomorrow, you’ll probably want to stick with Amazon retail or an FBA seller. If you’re looking for a hard-to-find item or even a cheaper used option, Marketplace may be your best bet. Either way, that little line under the Buy button tells you more than most shoppers ever realize.

Amazon Retail vs Amazon Marketplace: Where the Money Really Comes From

We’ve seen how the shopping experience looks almost identical whether you’re buying from Amazon or through a Marketplace seller. But behind the scenes, these two sides of Amazon’s business work very differently—and one of them is far more profitable than the other.

Amazon Retail: Big Sales, Slim Margins

When Amazon sells products directly, it’s essentially acting like any other retailer. It buys inventory at wholesale, stores it, and sells at retail prices. With millions of products moving through Prime every day, this side of Amazon generates enormous sales volume. But here’s the catch: retail margins are thin. Storing, shipping, and managing that much inventory is costly, and profits can get squeezed fast.

Marketplace: Fees, Not Just Sales

Now flip to the Marketplace. Instead of buying products upfront, Amazon lets third-party sellers handle the inventory. Amazon still earns plenty—through referral fees on every sale, FBA storage and fulfillment fees, and even advertising fees sellers pay to stand out in search results. And because Amazon doesn’t have to own or risk the inventory, these revenues are much higher margin than retail.

The Shift in Balance

Not long ago, Amazon’s retail business was the star of the show. But today, Marketplace sales make up well over half of the items sold on the site. That shift matters: while shoppers think of Amazon as “the store,” Amazon itself is increasingly a platform, making money by charging others to do the selling.

The Controversy

Of course, this success hasn’t been without criticism. Sellers often accuse Amazon of competing against them by launching its own private-label versions of popular products. Regulators in the U.S. and Europe have raised antitrust concerns, questioning whether Amazon uses its Marketplace power unfairly. For shoppers, it’s invisible; for sellers, it can feel like competing against the house in a casino.

Amazon Digital vs Amazon Marketplace

By now we’ve seen how Amazon operates both as a retailer and a platform for third-party sellers. But there’s a third identity that often sneaks up on people: Amazon Digital. If you’ve ever checked your bank statement and found a charge labeled “Amazon Digital,” that wasn’t a random Marketplace seller—it was Amazon billing you for one of its many digital services.

What Amazon Digital Really Is

Amazon Digital covers everything from Kindle eBooks and Prime Video subscriptions to Amazon Music, Audible, and cloud storage like Amazon Photos. These aren’t physical products at all; they’re digital subscriptions and downloadable media, owned and delivered entirely by Amazon. When a charge says “Amazon Digital,” it’s tied directly to these services, not a third-party seller.

Marketplace in Contrast

Now, compare that with the Amazon Marketplace. Let’s say you order a yoga mat from “FitGear Co.” on Amazon.com. Amazon didn’t make that mat. The company is just the middleman, taking a cut from FitGear’s sale. The order might be fulfilled by Amazon (shipped from their warehouse), but the seller is still the one making the sale. Amazon profits by charging fees instead of owning the product.

Why the Difference Matters

For buyers, this explains why your bank statement can look confusing. “Amazon Digital” = a subscription or digital good. “AMZN MKTP” = a Marketplace purchase from an independent seller. For sellers, it shows two completely different games. A writer selling an eBook uses Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)—Amazon Digital. A brand selling headphones uses Seller Central—Amazon Marketplace. Both are “Amazon,” but the rules, revenue models, and levels of control couldn’t be more different.

Amazon Digital locks you into Amazon’s ecosystem—your Kindle library, your Prime Video catalog. Amazon Marketplace opens the door to millions of outside sellers. Together, they reveal just how many identities Amazon wears at once.

Conclusion

At first glance, Amazon feels like one giant store where everything shows up in the same smiling box. But once you peel back the layers, you start to see the split between Amazon retail, Amazon Marketplace, and Amazon Digital. Each one plays by different rules—sometimes for your benefit, sometimes for Amazon’s.

At the end of the day, Amazon isn’t just a retailer. It’s a store, a marketplace, and a digital services empire—all rolled into one. The next time you hit “Buy Now,” take a second to notice who’s really selling to you. The answer says a lot about how Amazon runs the modern economy.