Merchant of record (seller of record)

Merchant of record and seller of record name the same role in most ecommerce conversations: the business that sells goods to the shopper in its own name. It is responsible for the sale, sets the price and answers for refunds. On a marketplace such as Amazon, three other parties sit around that role: the importer of record, the brand owner and the marketplace itself. They can be four different companies, and mixing them up makes reseller, agency and software contracts hard to compare.

What is a merchant of record?

The term comes from card-payment rules. Stripe's documentation describes the merchant of record as the party that receives the customer's payment, appears on the card statement or receipt, bears responsibility for the goods, and is liable for disputes and refunds (checked September 25, 2026). Marketplaces more often say "seller of record" for the business that sells the goods in its own name, and Amazon uses that phrase in its annual report. In most conversations between brands, agencies and resellers, the two terms mean the same thing.

Public filings show what the role involves in practice. Pattern's Form 10-K for 2025 says that in the vast majority of its contracts it is the principal in the sale: it controls the product before the customer receives it, takes responsibility for the goods, assumes inventory risk and has discretion over prices on the marketplaces (checked September 25, 2026). Those signs are worth checking in any proposal: a partner that buys your stock, carries the inventory risk and sets the retail price is selling your goods on its own account, whatever the contract calls the arrangement.

Who is the seller of record on an Amazon listing?

Look under the Buy Now button. Amazon's shopper help page on ordering from a third-party seller says the Sold by and Ships from lines show who sells and who fulfills an item (checked September 25, 2026). Sold by (seller name) with Ships from Amazon is a third-party seller using Fulfillment by Amazon: Amazon stores and ships the unit, but the seller in the Sold by line is still the seller of record. Sold by Amazon with Ships from Amazon means Amazon is selling the item itself.

The same page says each seller sets its own prices, and when several sellers offer the same item, the New & Used option lists each seller's condition and price separately. So the seller of record belongs to the offer, not to the product: one ASIN can have several at once. Amazon is direct about its own role. In its Form 10-K for 2025, it says of its seller programs: "We are not the seller of record in these transactions." It reports goods it buys and resells as product sales, recorded gross, and from third-party sales only its commissions and related fulfillment and shipping fees, as service sales (checked September 25, 2026).

Payment is where the two terms can drift apart. Amazon's help page says the shopper's payment is processed when the order is placed or when it ships, and that Amazon sends the funds to the third-party seller without sharing the shopper's payment details. Stripe's Connect documentation adds that for most marketplaces built on Stripe, the platform is the merchant of record for the payment. That is why "merchant of record on Amazon" confuses people. For a brand, the role that matters is the seller of record, because the price, the sale and the account history follow it.

US law also puts the seller's identity in front of the shopper. Under the INFORM Consumers Act, once a high-volume third-party seller has $20,000 or more in annual gross revenue on a marketplace, the marketplace must disclose the seller's full name, physical address and contact details on its product listing pages, or in order confirmations and account histories, as the FTC's guidance for third-party sellers explains (checked September 25, 2026). A seller that works from home can ask for only its country and state to be shown, plus a way to contact it.

Who holds what on one Amazon listing?

Four roles meet on every third-party offer in the US store. The table shows what each role holds on a typical offer, from the price and the payment to sales tax, customs, ratings and the trademark, and what stays where when a reseller contract ends. Read it across a row to see which party answers for that part of the sale, and down a column to see everything one party holds.

The first three columns can be three companies or one. A brand that imports its own goods and sells them on its own Seller Central account holds all three itself, and Amazon holds the fourth. Seller ratings attach to the seller: Amazon's page on seller feedback and ratings says each seller's average rating appears beside its name, and that product reviews belong on the product detail page, not in seller feedback. Reviews attach to the product: Amazon's page on customer reviews and ratings says it calculates a product's star rating with machine-learned models rather than a simple average (both checked September 25, 2026).

Why does it matter who is the seller of record?

Much of what builds value on a marketplace attaches to the seller's account, not to the product. The seller of record sets the price, receives the payouts, and builds the offer's sales history, its seller rating and its account health. If a reseller sells your product, the reviews stay with the product page, but the account, its seller rating and its sales history stay with the reseller when the contract ends. If you relaunch on your own account, the reviews are still there, but your own seller rating and history start from zero.

Reseller accelerators show the difference. Pattern's 3P Accelerator page says Pattern buys a brand's inventory upfront and keeps buying as it sells, and that brands set the strategy and have the final say on major decisions (checked September 25, 2026). Pattern's 10-K adds that its 1P Accelerator works without Pattern buying inventory, so the brand keeps a first-party selling model. MarketLeap's FAQ says it buys at an agreed wholesale price, sells under its own account as importer and merchant of record, charges no monthly retainer or percentage of revenue, and runs a rolling 30-day contract that either side can end with 30 days' notice (checked September 25, 2026).

In both reseller models, the reseller is the seller of record and carries the stock. That trade can suit a brand that would rather sell wholesale than run a marketplace or a new country itself, and a reseller that also acts as importer takes customs work off the brand. The cost is that the offers and their history sit on the reseller's accounts. Our Pattern comparison and MarketLeap comparison go through each model. The table below shows who holds each role in the common setups.

The five-model comparison adds aggregators and SaaS and follows each model through pricing, margin, data, code and exit terms. The ecommerce accelerator entry sorts out the four different things that go by that name, from resellers that buy your inventory to tech-led partners that work on your own accounts, so you know which kind of offer you are reading.

Is the brand owner always the seller of record?

No. The brand owner holds the trademark; the seller of record holds the sale. Amazon's Brand Registry requirements say applications must come from the trademark owner, and a brand can enroll even if it does not sell in the Amazon store (checked September 25, 2026). Without a selling account, it can still use protection tools such as Report a Violation, but not A+ Content or Brand Stores. So a brand can own the name on the box while a reseller, a distributor or Amazon itself is the seller of record on every offer.

When those roles split, get each one in writing. Ask whose seller account the offers will sit on, who holds the admin role on the Brand Registry account, who is named as importer on the customs entries, and what happens to listings and unsold stock when the contract ends. MarketLeap's FAQ lists brand registry among the costs it covers, which is one more reason to confirm who holds that access and who keeps it if you leave. This is not legal advice; have a lawyer read the contract before you sign or give notice.

Does collecting sales tax make Amazon the seller?

For sales tax, partly; for everything else, no. Amazon's Marketplace Tax Collection page lists marketplace facilitator laws in 46 states plus DC and Puerto Rico, in force from Washington (January 1, 2018) to Missouri (January 1, 2023), and says Amazon calculates, collects, remits and refunds sales tax on third-party sales shipped there (checked September 25, 2026). California's guide to the Marketplace Facilitator Act goes further: since October 1, 2019, a registered facilitator is the retailer responsible for the tax on the sales it facilitates, and the marketplace seller is no longer considered the retailer of those sales (checked September 25, 2026). The seller of record on the offer does not change; the sales tax duty on that order does.

What is the difference between merchant of record and importer of record?

The importer of record answers to customs; the merchant of record answers to the shopper. CBP's guide for commercial importers defines the importer of record as the owner, purchaser, or a licensed customs broker designated by the owner, purchaser or consignee, and says that under 19 U.S.C. 1484 it must use reasonable care in making entry. CBP's tips for new importers add that even when a broker files, the importer of record remains responsible for the correctness of the entry and all duties, taxes and fees (both checked September 25, 2026).

The two roles often sit with different companies. With Amazon's Remote Fulfillment with FBA, orders from shoppers in Canada, Mexico and Brazil ship from US FBA stock, and Amazon says the customers pay any import duties, taxes and fees as the importer of record (checked September 25, 2026). The US business stays the seller of record while the shopper imports the parcel. Sending stock into another country's FBA network is different: the seller needs an importer of record there, because Amazon does not take that role.

Amazon's guide to selling on Amazon USA from another country says that when you send inventory to Amazon fulfillment centers in another country, you or your provider must act as exporter and importer of record, Amazon is not responsible for customs duties on FBA inventory, and a shipment that arrives with duty still owed is returned to the sender (checked September 25, 2026). Our Japan and Mexico guides cover the importer setups for those markets, and the importer of record entry has the short definition.

How do you check who holds each role today?

If you are weighing a growth partner, the seller of record is the first row to settle, because pricing, margin and data follow it. Ecomsellertool is one of the options in that comparison: we build software and AI agents that run on the brand's own seller accounts, starting from Growth OS, and we never buy inventory or sell under our own accounts.

To see what your own account shows, start with the free 24-hour diagnostic: connect Amazon with Login with Amazon, no password shared, and get a report within 24 hours of connecting, on business days. We only read data; we never change listings, prices, stock or ads. Or schedule a call. How we research and date these entries is set out in our editorial standards, and more terms are in the glossary.