Differences Between Amazon Business vs Prime

Amazon Business is an enterprise-focused account on Amazon specifically meant for business use only. It is available for several aspects of businesses; sole proprietors having just one account and large organizations that have multiple accounts. Amazon Business offers many benefits and features that organizations find value in. These benefits are useful for all organizations that are in B2B sales and purchase business items, regardless of the size of the organization. There are some key differences between Amazon Business vs Prime.

Amazon Business is 100% free but Prime is a paid service! I would highly recommend taking advantage of Amazon’s free business service because there is no downside. To get started, just click the button.

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Amazon Business Prime is a membership program of Amazon designed with compelling procurement procedures for organizations to shop for the essential business items and services they need for the daily running of their business. This membership program allows organizations to reorganize their procurement strategies by granting unlimited access to diverse business items and services with special business costs and items discounts.

Differentiating between Amazon Business and Amazon Prime and Amazon Business Prime is not easy because there are a lot similarities. This section discusses five areas of difference to watch out for when deciding what you want to sign up for. Here are the main differences between amazon business vs prime.

6 Differences Between Amazon Business vs Prime

There are two main types of Amazon account – business and prime. Both have their own set of benefits, but which one is right for you?

Business accounts are designed for companies who want to make use of Amazon’s vast array of products and services. With a business account, you’ll get access to special pricing, bulk discounts, and Business-only features such as business-only shipping rates. You’ll also be able to manage multiple user accounts and see detailed analytics about your company’s Amazon usage.

Prime accounts, on the other hand, are designed for individual users who want the convenience of free two-day shipping on millions of items. Prime members also get access to Prime Video, which offers thousands of movies and TV shows, and Prime Music, which allows you to stream millions of songs ad-free. In addition, Prime members get early access to Lightning Deals and exclusive access to certain sales events.

So, which type of Amazon account is right for you? If you’re a business owner looking to take advantage of all that Amazon has to offer, a business account is probably the way to go. If you’re an individual user who just wants the convenience of free two-day shipping and some extra perks, a Prime account might be a better fit.

1. Management of multiple account users: One difference between Amazon Business and Prime is that Amazon Business allows you to manage multiple users instead of just 1. For an organization, multiple users can be added to meet the standards you have set for your procurement processes. (Ex: Joan the office manager may need to get ok from Bob in HR and Amazon Business will let each user have an account within the organization). Thus, this is a good benefit of Amazon Business over Amazon Prime. However, both Amazon Business and Amazon Business Prime offer this feature.

2. Pricing Discounts: Amazon Business gives organizations exclusive access to business-only pricing for some business items. Also, Amazon Business gives discounts on multiple transactions and tiered costs for purchases of vast quantities. These are not available on regular Prime but are on Business Prime.

3. Tax Exemption Benefit: While Amazon Business allows organizations to make a purchase of some appropriate business products from Amazon, Amazon Services, and every other vendor in the Amazon Marketplace using their tax-exempt status, Prime does not offer the same. This reduces the cost incurred by such organizations buying on Amazon Business and makes more funds available for the purchase of more business products.

4. Free and Prompt Shipping: Another amazing Amazon Business Account benefit is the availability of free supersaver’s shipping on purchases of appropriate business products and services above $35. This free shipping lowers the cost of the buyer and allows the funds for more purchases of business products.  Although this is nothing compared to the Amazon Prime free shipping, it is a significant benefit for the free Amazon Business Account.

5. Customized Home Page: The Amazon Business offers a customized home page for purchasing organizations. When ordering for corporate business items, this feature is unique and perfect. This is another area of difference between Amazon Business and Prime.

6. Different Prices: An Amazon Business Account is free to sign up for. The pricing for Amazon Business Prime costs money depending on which plan you have. (Check out our Amazon Business Account Cost article for more information) Amazon Prime is $119 per year and $12.99 with no discounts. However, you can get a free 30 day trial or an Amazon discount for seniors.

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Amazon Business Prime vs Amazon Prime

When it comes to online shopping, there is no shortage of options. However, two of the most popular choices are Amazon Business Prime and Amazon Prime. Both offer a wide range of benefits, but there are some key differences between the two. Amazon Business Prime is designed specifically for businesses. It offers a variety of features that can be used to manage business expenses, such as the ability to set spending limits and track purchases made by employees. In addition, businesses can take advantage of special pricing on bulk orders and free two-day shipping on eligible items. Amazon Prime, on the other hand, is a more general membership program that offers benefits like free two-day shipping on eligible items, streaming content, and exclusive deals. While Amazon Business Prime does have some advantages over Amazon Prime, the latter is often the better choice for individuals who do most of their shopping for personal use.

TLDR: Amazon Business Prime is a membership program of Amazon designed with compelling procurement procedures for organizations to shop for the essential business items and services they need for the day-to-day running of their business.

Amazon Prime, on the other hand, is a consumer membership program offered on a subscription basis. Subscription to Amazon Prime guarantees the customer a Prime member. Prime members enjoy additional benefits that normal online shoppers cannot access.

The difference between Amazon Business Prime and Amazon Prime are;

Target Customers: Amazon Business Prime targets businesses and organizations that require business items. It is designed with compelling procurement procedures for organizations to shop for the essential business items and services they need for the day-to-day running of their business. Amazon Prime, on the other hand, targets individuals with household needs.

Membership Cost: Amazon Business Prime has 5 membership plans that organizations can subscribe to. The cost and number of users differentiate these plans. The summary of the 5 membership plans is as;

1. Essential Plan: Available at a subscription fee of $179 per annum for three (3) users.
2. Small Plan: Available at a subscription fee of $499 per annum for ten (10) users.
3. Medium Plan: Available at a subscription fee of $1, 299 every year for One Hundred (100) users.
4. Enterprise Plan: Available at a subscription fee of $10,099 per annum for One Hundred (100) users.
5. Public Sector Plan: Available at a subscription fee of $3,499 per annum for One Hundred (100) users.

Amazon Prime, also, is available at a subscription fee of $12.99 each month or $119 per annum. Click here to get a free 30 day trial of Amazon prime.

 Entertainment benefits: Amazon Prime offers diverse entertainment benefits like access to Unlimited Amazon Music with thousands of playlist, access to Prime videos with TV Shows and movies, access to all Amazon Channels, discount on pre-order of physical games, and new issues under Twitch Prime, Amazon Prime first reads of reading, and channels to original music. Amazon Business Prime does not offer any of these entertainment benefits.

Work benefits:: Amazon Business Prime offers work benefits that Amazon Prime does not. Two of these work benefits are:

1. Spending visibility: The spending of the organizations registered with Amazon Business is trackable, and visible to all the users of the accounts created by the organization. This feature is powered by AWS QuickSight giving it conceptions of company spending, thereby making it a lot easier to analyze spending trends and other related data.
2. Maintain spending limits: That some personnel within the organization have the spending right does not mean they can spend as they like. The Amazon Business Account places a limit to the amount each authorized person can spend according to the cadre such belongs in the organization. This is a huge benefit as it curbs the spending of huge amounts on unnecessary products to the business. Whenever there is a need to spend big, the approving personnel would be one that has the level of authority to make such a call.

Differences Between Amazon and eBay

Many participants in the e-commerce space mistaken Amazon and eBay to be within the same range. They do not know that there are insightful differences between both. Though the concept of both online marketplaces is similar, their approach differs.

Thus, understanding these vast differences would assist the participants to choose which platform for what products; making a good profit on both. While a lack of such understanding would be detrimental to the financial health of the participants in question.

Some of these differences are;

Matter of Control: While eBay offers the participants more control, Amazon Business gives organizations a much lesser control. eBay allows a choice between an auction and a fixed price for products. Amazon allows only a fixed price option. Again, Amazon creates the descriptions of the business items for the organizations while eBay allows the participants to create their product descriptions themselves. Summarily on this, less work is done on Amazon Business, but it affords less control as well.

Automation: The features of Amazon Business are greatly automated. Less time and the performance of basic tasks are required on it. Contrarily, the features of eBay are not automated at all. Thus, it requires adequate attention from the participants. Also, tracking products on eBay; even with advanced features like Selling Manager Pro doesn’t come easy.

Process of Payment: The structure of payment from these two online marketplaces is also different. Amazon Business deducts its charges and puts the balance in escrow for about two weeks before it clears and is made available to the selling organization. The delay is to cover for returns and refunds. This delay makes it extremely difficult for organizations to maintain a healthy cash flow on Amazon. Contrarily, eBay pays the vendors using PayPal immediately upon confirmation of sales. eBay then bill the vendors all charges at each month-end. This affords the vendors’ cash flow to run the business.

Customer Base: The reachable customer base on Amazon Business is much higher than that on eBay. According to estimates on Statistia.com, that there were about 235 millions of active Amazon Business customers as against around 70 million of active eBay users estimated by the Trefis Team. This means that business items on Amazon Business have a wider reach to customers than eBay. Hence, vendors would use Amazon Business more than eBay to sell more business items.

Structure of Fees: How Amazon Business and eBay structure their fees is wholly different. eBay charges vendors a monthly listing fee while Amazon Business allows organizations to list for free, taking a percentage per sale.

Conclusion

Amazon Business Prime is best suited if you frequently shop on Amazon, and can comfortably afford the yearly subscription. It allows you to save money. Also, with the benefit of free and fast shipping of placed and purchased orders, Amazon Business Prime eases your business process. However, both Amazon Business Prime and Amazon Prime offers free shipping. Amazon Prime does same-day delivery of products purchased.

Finally, a free trial option of 30 days exists on both Amazon Business Prime and Amazon Prime membership program for those that are not planning to spend a fortune on Amazon, but only want to buy a few business items. We hope this article helped you to learn about the differences between Amazon business vs Prime!

While organizations are encouraged to maximize the immense benefits Amazon Business Prime offers, households are also encouraged to leverage the benefits of Amazon Prime affords.

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