I have to create a paid account to start developing.

[mc_mosa]

I'm currently building an application for my client, which requires the use of Amazon's Marketplace Web Services (MWS). According to Amazon, in order to register as a developer (and have a Developer ID) I have to create a seller's account first (which is $40 per month).

Should I create an account and pay the fees myself, or how can I go about this with my client?

Thanks!

[bobafett999 · Accepted solution]

It is simple.  Tell your buyer to open the account and pay.  You can of course pay yourself and have him re-imburse you, but you will have to pay the 20% Upwork fees on any money flows through them.

[richard_wein]

Hi Mohamed.

I'm very interested in this question, as one of my clients has enquired about setting up a connection to the Amazon MWS API, and I discovered the same problem.

Prashant's suggestion might work. But to me it feels a bit unprofessional to ask my client to create a new seller account and then hand over the login details to me. There might be financial consequences for the client if you misused the account. (I'm not suggesting you would.) I think I would rather create my own account and charge it to the client, despite the extra 20% that one of us would have to pay. Actually, if my/your total earnings from the client end up exceeding $500 (by more than the cost of the account), then it will cost only 10% extra.

I found this discussion from 2013, where someone from MWS mentioned the possibility of using a "staging account" for development, instead of creating a seller account:

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/t/how-does-a-coder-without-a-seller-account-obtain-developer...

(See a comment from chris_mws near the bottom of the page.)

But I'm doubtful whether that's a real possibility. I've been meaning to post something about it in the MWS forum, but haven't got around to it.

Anyway, I would be very interested to hear how you get on.

[mc_mosa]

Yes, I found that comment about the staging account and have sent it to my client to check it out.

I'm currently working on something else for my client that doesn't require Amazon MWS then I'll get back to it and see how it goes.

Will let you know then how I got on with it.

[richard_wein]

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@Mohamed O wrote:

Will let you know then how I got on with it.

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 Thanks. I'll let you know if I find out anything more.

[barronrandall]

They charge $29 a month for the developer plan.

[loren_rosen]

Looks like, as with many web services, there is a way to give someone limited access to an account. See question 2 in their FAQ here

https://developer.amazonservices.com/gp/mws/faq.html#mawsportal-faq-accessToDeveloper

though you apparently still have to register as a developer.