Every week we muster up the most important updates within Amazon and beyond to keep online entrepreneurs in the loop. From Amazon Terms of Service or recent Brand Registry News to seasonable Amazon Advertising strategies and upcoming Amazon Seller...

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Fall Prime Deal Event Timeline

The Fall Prime Deal Event (FPD, aka Prime Day 2) was confirmed earlier this year to return for another year, most likely in September/October. 

Some key call-outs for the US Marketplace:

We have one week until August 8, the deadline to submit Best Deals, and one month until  September  the deadline for Lightning deals. All sellers should be checking their deals dashboard for eligible items! Six weeks remain before the September 12 FBA inventory cut-off date. This is the date by which general inventory must arrive at FCs to be processed in time to be sellable for the event. Shipments can often take up to 5 weeks to receive, so sellers need to think about inventory for this event today and make moves to get their stock inbound ASAP.

Additionally, vendors have about six weeks before the September 16 inbound shipping cut-off. This is the date by which deals inventory must be inbound for Amazon to prioritize and receive this inventory in time to support deal events.

Fee Discounts Are Back!

Amazon is once again offering a fulfillment fee discount for a limited period for eligible ASINs. Sellers will receive a fulfillment fee discount if the recommended minimum number of units are received at the fulfillment center within the specified time. These discounts typically apply to high-volume selling items that Amazon wants to ensure never stock out. Still, we can feel pretty confident recommending our clients take advantage of the incentive. Full list of items eligible can be found by checking the Restock Inventory page.

Top 10 Rejection Reasons for Sponsored Brands Static Ads

Amazon Ads recently shared a new guide so that Advertisers can learn the top ten reasons why Sponsored Brands’ static ads and custom creatives are rejected. Use this guide for best practices on how to receive campaign approval by pre-moderation!

Sponsored Products Rules and Recommendations Guide

Amazon Ads also shares a new resource with updated details for Sponsored Product ads. Use this resource to discover the latest Sponsored Products rules and recommendation updates, where you can find them, and how to implement them across your entire book of business.

Amazon Prime Day 2023 – The Results

Day one of Prime Day 2023 was the single largest sales day ever on Amazon, according to the Amazon press release. Sellers are reporting record sales days and other brand-building wins, creating a lot of buzz for the confirmed but not yet determined date for the Fall Prime Deal event (aka Fall Prime Day or Prime Day 2) coming in September-October, 2023.

Amazon EU News

To be compliant with the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), an initiative to enhance ad transparency, Sellers in the EU marketplace will need to review and confirm their “Advertiser Name” as well as “Payer Name” in the Amazon Ads system by July 24, 2023. This information will inform shoppers about the ads they’re watching, such as the name of the advertiser (advertiser name), the name of the person who paid for the ad (payer name), and why they are seeing the ad. This applies to all Amazon EU sites: Belgium, Poland, Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Spain, France, and Germany.

Low-Price FBA Rates to Replace ‘Small and Light’

The Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) Small and Light program has provided sellers with an option to enroll low-price, small, and light products into this program to receive lower FBA rates because the program showed slower shipping speeds than standard FBA. Amazon has decided to end the US FBA Small and Light program and instead lower the standard FBA rates for all low-price products.

Enrollment of new products into the S&L will end after July 1, 2023. Starting August 29, 2023, US FBA will introduce these lower FBA rates for all items priced below $10*. Any eligible items will automatically receive the low-price rates and will not be subject to 2023 holiday peak fulfillment fees that will apply from October 15, 2023, through January 14, 2024.

New FBA rates for low-price products will be an average of $0.77 lower per item than the current FBA rates for these products. However, if your products were enrolled in Small and Light and are priced below $10*, this change will mean that you will pay about $0.30 more per item than with Small and Light, but your items will now ship with the faster FBA fulfillment speeds.

*Note: this article mentions a $10 threshold twice. In 2023 the threshold for S&L was increased to $12. It is unclear if this is a mistake or if products in the $10-12 buckets will once again be assessed at a higher fee rate. We’ll be updating to clarify this as additional info is released. To review the latest FBA rates, go to Low-Price FBA fees.

New Options to Report Seller-Fulfilled Returns Issues

This is something sellers have been asking about for years. Now if you receive a return in a used, damaged, defective, or materially different condition, you can charge a restocking fee from the buyer by grading the condition of the returned item.

To charge a restocking fee, follow these steps:

Go to Orders. Click Manage returns and select your order. Click Issue refund. Click Charge restocking fee on the Refund orders page. Select a description from the dropdown on the Charge restocking fee page, upload a photo, and provide more detail in the comments text box.

This information will allow Amazon to confirm that the item wasn’t returned in its original condition. It will also help them understand customer behavior so that they can protect sellers from future returns issues.

BIG NEWS: Prime Day Details

Amazon has officially announced via press release Prime Day 2023 will be July 11/12 and will include “Big Savings, New Amazon-Exclusive Deals, and Celebrity Product Launches”.

Don’t Miss Out: Get Free Transparency Codes in 2023

Brands can receive one year of free Transparency codes for every new product that is protected by Transparency before December 31, 2023. Note – “protection” is the step after enrollment and can take some time so it is recommended that sellers begin their enrollment process well before Dec 31 to qualify for the free codes (full details below). Fine print reveals that there is a limit of 20,000 per item included free in to promo.

At a cost of 1-.05 per code this can be a savings of up to $1000 per ASIN for brands! To learn more about enrolling your products in Transparency, go to Get started.

To enroll in the promotion, you must meet the requirements below:

Enroll a new product in Transparency. Apply Transparency codes to the same surface as the barcode on your product (for example, UPC or EAN). Enable Operational Performance Review (OPR) for your newly enrolled product. Successfully complete OPR to ensure that your product is in protected status before December 31, 2023.

Once you’ve met these requirements, Amazon will credit the cost of future Transparency codes to your account for that product. This credit will start on the date that your product became protected and last for one year.

Brand Posts Now Available on Transparency via Amazon Shopping App

Brands can now increase their engagement with customers through the Brand Posts widget on the Transparency landing page. When a customer scans a Transparency code while using the Amazon Shopping app, they’ll be directed to the Transparency landing page for that item. On that page, they can interact with Brand Posts widget features including social-media-style posts, a link to your brand’s store, and the option to follow your brand.

The Brand Posts widget is currently only available in the US store, and brand owners who sell in the US store can create posts for it.

To enable this widget on Transparency you must:

Participate in the Posts program. Create a minimum of 10 posts. This will enable the widget to appear on the Transparency landing page. If you already participate in the Posts program and have 10 or more posts, the Brand Posts widget will automatically appear on the Transparency landing page.

Capacity Limits Reminder

Seller capacity limits for July will lock in this week. Each month, confirmed limits for the next month and estimates for two months in the future will update mid-month around the 16th. All sellers must check their limits for the upcoming months to assess their current inventory and decide whether they need to move stock more quickly to meet their limitations and avoid storage utilization surcharges for the month or request additional space via the Capacity Manager tool.

Sellers can easily manage the Capacity Monitor page from their FBA Dashboard or Shipments pages and link to the Capacity Manager from that dashboard. More details on the Storage Utilization Surcharge, a new 2023 fee introduced back in April, can be found on the 2023 Storage Fees page.

Updates to the Vine Promo for June/July

Amazon has updated its post about reviews for each product enrolled in the Vine program between June 5 and July 21 to clarify the following points: The promo applies only to two units per parent ASIN. Enrollment fees will apply if more than two units are made available to claim.  The $200 fee will apply once three or more units are made available in the program, not after 2+ reviews are received. Suppose a seller enrolls a parent and chooses to include multiple child items in the enrollment. In that case, they will be subject to the $200 enrollment fee if they make more than two units available across all enrolled child ASINs.

Seller Fulfilled Prime Is Coming Back

Unfortunately, that’s the update so far. Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) is coming back in 2023, but the news announcement doesn’t share any other details. Stay tuned for more!

Auto-Enrollment for Remote Fulfillment

Sellers are currently seeing the attached message that they will automatically be enrolled in Remote Fulfillment for Canada, Mexico, and Brazil on July 28 unless they opt out between June 12 and July 27.

If you wish to opt out of the program, you can click through the alert on your Seller Central home page and unselect the countries you do not want to sell in via Remote Fulfillment.

Sellers who won’t opt out will be automatically enrolled in Remote Fulfillment with FBA, using their US-based FBA inventory to fulfill orders in Canada, Mexico, and soon Brazil. More information is available on the Remote Fulfillment program page.

Fall Prime Deal Event in 2023

Amazon has confirmed there will be a second Prime Day again in 2023. The Fall Prime Deal (FPD) event will be in Q4; the specific date is still to be officially announced. Also, Amazon has already opened the Deals submission window for Fall Prime and Black Friday/Cyber Monday, along with submission deadlines: August 11 is the final day to submit recommended deals to be considered for FPD.  September 1 is the final day to submit recommended deals to be considered for Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

AO2 Management Acquires Seller Labs Services

We are thrilled to announce that AO2 Management has acquired Seller Labs Services, a team of Amazon management experts and trusted partners in the Amazon space. Together, we will provide customers with even more comprehensive eCommerce solutions, opening up exciting opportunities for Amazon sellers.

Accelerate 2023

Registration for Amazon’s Accelerate conference, where they will reveal all of the 2023/2024 updates coming to Seller Central, is now open. Amazon posted the video overview with some basics, but sellers can also learn the details on the event page. Amazon Accelerate will take place on September 12-14 in Seattle, attendee tickets are $499 now, but pricing will increase to $599 after July 10.

Vine Promos Are Back for the Summer

A new Vine promo launched on June 5, allowing eligible sellers (brand owners) to enroll two units per ASIN into Vine with no fees between 9 a.m. (PT) June 5 to 5 p.m. (PT) July 21, 2023. Brand owners can access Vine enrollment through the advertising menu in Seller Central. For more information on how to enroll, visit the About Amazon Vine page.

INFORM Act Update

This is a quick reminder that according to the latest INFORM Act update, all sellers must revise their publicly facing contact details by June 27, 2023. Online merchants who have not yet done so see the “At Risk of Deactivation” banner when they log into Seller Central.

Customer Engagement Update

Amazon’s Customer Engagement tool (formerly Manage Your Customer Engagement or MYCE) is still in BETA. Therefore, despite Amazon announcing a bunch of new features back in October and renewing some last week, not all features will be available to all sellers at all times.

Currently, we’re finding 80% of sellers have access to the Customer Engagement tool (found via the Brand tab in Seller Central). Still, about 20% see the banner below: “Campaign send is temporarily paused”. Last week, it was 90/10, so Amazon may have rolled out additional user restrictions.

Sellers who do have access may still be restricted to only Brand Follower campaigns unless they’ve met the requirements to engage with expanded audiences (recent customers, high spenders, repeat customers). See the eligibility details on the program page.

Maximum Coupon Discount Updated

Amazon no longer allows discount codes greater than 50% off in Seller Central. However, Amazon has also introduced “Re-order Rewards” coupons, aka “Subscribe and Save” coupons which are stackable and can have a 50% off value as well, so for S&S eligible items, sellers can still offer a 100% off discount for savvy shoppers who know how to click coupons.

Previously created coupons with a more than 50% off discount have been suppressed and will need to be updated or copied into new campaigns. Some sellers may have scheduled discounts for July to target Prime Day and may need to make edits before the big event.

Buy Box Percentage Metric Update

Over the last two weeks, some sellers have been worried about a decrease in their recent Buy Box percentage. So, Amazon announced they had corrected a calculation error that resulted in inaccurate values for the Featured Offer percentage metric in the Business Reports. Due to this fix, sellers may notice an increase in the Featured Offer percentage metric for some ASINs as the recent issues begin to correct themselves.

To review your Featured Offer percentage metric, go to Business Reports and click Detail Page Sales and Traffic report to the left of the page. You can view the report by date or by ASIN.

No More Vine Enrollments for Heavy and Bulky Items

Effective May 17, 2023, heavy and bulky items are no longer eligible to be enrolled in Amazon Vine. New Vine campaigns cannot be started, however, if you’ve already enrolled a heavy and bulky item, it will be eligible for reviews until the end of your enrollment period. For more information, including the latest Vine eligibility criteria, visit Vine frequently asked questions.

June Capacity Limits Lock in

Each month around the 16th date, Amazon will lock in a seller’s storage volume for the following month and provide the Capacity Limit estimates for the next two months so that shipments can be planned more forward-looking. With the new surcharges introduced at the beginning of 2023, sellers are subject to the two new fees for exceeding limits: FBA Inventory Overage fee hits accounts when sellers exceed their capacity limits and bill monthly at $10 per cubic foot based on daily average volume.  Storage Utilization Surcharge is assessed monthly on accounts based on storage utilization ratio and billed in tiers based on space utilized.

Managing inventory is essential, even with most sellers generally seeing limit increases. That said, Amazon has added a handy chart to the new FBA dashboard to give sellers real-time insights into their storage utilization ratio.

Restock Incentives

Amazon offers FBA fee credits to sellers who stock the recommended quantity of fast-moving items. Please check the Restock Report for opportunities. If an incentive is available, users will see “Fee discount eligible” in the “Recommended replenishment quantity” and “Recommended ship date” columns of this report.

The new “Fee Discount” column will display the minimum units required to be eligible for a fee credit in the next 30 days and the associated discount. There will also be a dropdown menu that shows details for the following two months.

So far, the recommended quantity is just a small bump from the average 30-day unit sales and is a safe bet to increase sales and get some discounted fees. Still, we encourage all sellers to download the report and analyze the details before shipping.

New Small Business Search Filter

Just in time for “Small Business Month”, Amazon has rolled out a new search filter highlighting the listings from sellers that Amazon has identified as Small Businesses. Customers can now easily find eligible products from small business brands by selecting the new filter under the “Business Type” category in their search filter options.

To qualify for the Small Business badge, sellers must meet Amazon’s definition of a small business, which includes having fewer than 100 employees and less than $50 million in annual revenue. Additional details are available on the FAQ page.

Amazon Ads Summit

This is a perfect opportunity to brush up on some basics before the Prime Day and get first-hand tips on increasing brand awareness, consideration, and sales before the major Amazon shopping event. The two-day Amazon Ads summit is currently just one live event, and it is unclear if a replay will be available. So don’t miss your chance to register!

Upcoming Required Attributes

Amazon announced some additional required attributes coming to select categories on June 6, 2023. Beginning this date, sellers will need to include these details in their newly-created listings.

Furthermore, the attributes will eventually become required for the existing listings. So it is best practice to update them in advance to avoid item suppression. A category listing report will help you update in bulk. 

The attributes and categories that will be impacted:

color name: backpack, underpants, bra, apron, keychain, costume outfit size name: leotard, scarf, sunglasses product description: light fixture, art supplies, hardware handle, kitchen, artificial plant, wireless accessory, home furniture and decor, office products.

Amazon Anywhere Launches in Peridot

Amazon Anywhere is a new Amazon’s program that offers an immersive shopping experience for video games, virtual worlds, and mobile apps and starts with the augmented reality adventure pet game Peridot. In other words, shoppers can now buy physical products in games and apps. Although apparel and toys are currently the only targeted categories, in our understanding, the program will not be limited to those. We can expect it to expand significantly since Amazon Anywhere is sourcing new developers through the program page.

New INFORM Consumers Act Requirements in the U.S.

Effective June 27, 2023, this law places obligations on high-volume third-party sellers to provide (and on Amazon to collect, verify, and disclose) information about their businesses. Sellers should double-check the details in Account Information for their Seller Central account if they don’t want the currently stated info to be publicly reported. We’d also recommend replacing personal emails or phone numbers with more general business contact details.

Machine Learning Upgrades in Amazon DSP

Amazon Ads has introduced game-changing enhancements to Amazon DSP: advanced machine learning models and optimized campaign control systems to help advertisers make smarter decisions. This allows advertisers to reach previously unreachable audience segments and maximize ROI. With the new machine learning models, advertisers can analyze signals to predict and reach highly relevant audience segments with optimal cost-efficiency.

Search Term Reports in Bulksheets

Here comes one more newly-launched feature from Amazon Ads. Bulksheets now includes search term reports for Sponsored Products. With the search term report, sellers can streamline their keyword and product target analysis process. It can be a real time-saver, freeing up sellers from the hassle of downloading the report separately from the advertising console. Plus, the Bulksheets search term report, includes all the parent/child entity IDs you need to make quick updates and stay on top of your advertising game.

Brand Registry Impact Dashboard

The Brand Registry Impact Dashboard offers valuable insights into how Amazon safeguards your intellectual property and listings for your brand-registered ASINs. It includes metrics on the number of protected brands, removed infringing ASINs, and prevented invalid ASIN modifications.

With the valuable insights driven from this dashboard, sellers can enhance their listings and prevent being hijacked. In addition, you can unlock new market opportunities. For example, if someone actively tries to modify your listing, this indicates a strong demand for your products and offers a chance to expand your business in that region.

Inventory Dashboard Deprecation

On May 8, 2023, the new FBA Dashboard replaced the Inventory Dashboard, aka Inventory Overview, which is now the main page most sellers utilize to view IPI score and inventory management at a glance.

The new Inventory Performance page incorporates a bunch of the features we’re losing from the Inventory Dashboard, so sellers should get familiar with this page before May 8. Remember that the Inventory Performance page can be found from the Seller Central Inventory Menu once you’re already on any inventory page but not through the Seller Central main menu.

Add Size Chart Is Now Available with a Self-Serve Tool

Previously, sellers hoping to add a size chart to their clothing and footwear listings would have to contact seller support and exchange product details to enable size charts on their listings. Now sellers can create self-serve size charts for either one ASIN or across an entire product type (including future listings) with a file upload via the Catalog menu in Seller Central. Submissions will appear on the product detail page within 8 hours. Find full instructions on the help page.

Buy with Prime Fee Increase Delayed

The payment processing fees that were set to increase on April 30, 2023, will be implemented on April 30, 2024, instead, giving sellers another full year of 2.4% of the order value and $0.30 per transaction promotional rates! See the Buy with Prime pricing page for more information on the pricing structure.

Anti-Counterfeiting Exchange Initiative

Amazon issued the Press Release announcing a new Anti-Counterfeiting Exchange to help eliminate counterfeits across the retail industry.

Prime Day Deadlines

Prime Day deadlines for deals and shipping are quickly approaching. Although Amazon hasn’t officially announced all the details, it gives us the following hints: April 14 – the deadline to create Prime Exclusive Deals for Amazon Prime shoppers.  April 28 – the anticipated deadline for Deals (lightning, best, 1-day, 3-day, etc.)  June 15 – the anticipated shipping deadline.

Shipping deadlines are usually the most significant indicator of when Prime Day will be held. Since we typically allow four to five weeks for receipt, the dates point to a mid-late July Prime Day. However, since these dates have yet to be officially communicated to sellers, this is all still a guessing game.

‘Inspiration From This Brand’

Content generated with the Posts tool is displayed on the product detail pages in the ‘Inspiration from this brand’ section. This type of content can appear on the brand PDP, competitor PDPs, in search, and even on the in-app homepage for some shoppers. As of April 2023, this tool is FREE to use, which makes it a free real estate that sellers would have to pay for with ads, or that competitors could pay to use.

Posts can help brands grow followers. The more followers a brand has, the more direct-to-customer marketing opportunities they get through the still free-to-use Customer Engagement (formerly MYCE) tool. From the campaign creation page, all brand-registered sellers can market to followers. Once they have reached specific requirements, they can also market to non-follower customers, including recent shoppers, high-spending customers, and repeat purchasers.

Furthermore, Posts analytics are growing. There is now a great dashboard with insights, though attributed sales and placements are still not included.

New Delivery Window Requirement for FBA Shipments

To receive shipments more quickly, Amazon is implementing a new requirement for inbound FBA shipments to understand anticipated volumes better, staff accordingly, and create other receiving efficiencies.

The new requirement starts April 24, 2023, and applies to sellers shipping non-partnered FBA inbound for small parcels and LTL only. Sellers will see new prompts in Seller Central for a 7-day delivery window.

No action is required if you use an Amazon-partnered carrier or Amazon Global Logistics. The carrier will provide shipment arrival information to Amazon directly.

Find additional details on the Send to Amazon: Delivery window FAQ page.

New Subscribe and Save Features

Subscribe & Save is a program allowing customers to sign up for recurring deliveries of products they regularly use, typically at a discounted price. Effective immediately, Amazon is releasing some helpful new tracking tools for sellers using Subscribe & Save: Track SKU enrollment status or subscriptions Update seller-funded discounts Check status for SKUs at risk of missing deliveries due to low stock

Voice of the Customer (Beta)

Some sellers may be seeing a new layout and banner on the Voice of the Customer page, part of a beta roll-out to add sources of customer feedback and trend insights.

Sellers should be using this page to understand the Customer Experience (CX) Health of their items as well as review product or listing feedback from customers so that they can take action to fix product and listing issues.

Items with Poor or Very Poor ratings could be removed from sale until a plan of action is submitted. So it is always best for brands to monitor regularly and take preventative steps when ratings start to slip.

Long-Term Storage Fees Change

Starting April 15, the FBA Aged Inventory Surcharge (aka Long Term Storage/LTS Fee) will be expanded to include items stored 181-270 days. Previously, this surcharge applied only to items stored at Amazon FCs for 270 days or more. In addition to this expanded date range, Amazon is increasing fees for items in 271-365+, breaking down the fee tiers at a more granular level.

Amazon sellers should review their inventory for excess and consider options for reducing stock. Depending on the profit margins for the items, sellers may choose to take no action and absorb the additional fees. They can also remove or liquidate stock if margins are tighter and avoid the fees altogether. Alternatively, Amazon sellers can push additional advertising or other promos to sell through more quickly. Please find more information in the Full Aged Inventory Fee chart.

Returns Insights Dashboard

The new Returns Insights dashboard in Seller Central provides a more streamlined view of returned product information, showing the details for the “frequently returned” badge announced in March. The dashboard includes a return trends graph, return rates, and top return reasons, which also can be filtered by date range or category.

A Courtesy Refund Option

Sellers can now reach out to buyers who had opted out of receiving marketing emails and offer a courtesy refund. The eligible reviews (those that have been left within the last 12 months) will have the option to “Offer Courtesy Refund” in the far right of the review grid instead of the standard “Contact Customer” option.

Clicking that link will pop up a template for an automated thanking customers for their purchase and review, apologizing for the inconvenience, and offering a refund. The message also prompts the buyer to respond with the text “full refund” before the refund is processed.

Prime Day News

The banner on the Deals page in Seller Central announces that Amazon is now accepting deals for the Prime Day window. To view eligibility, sellers can click the “Create a new deal” button on the Deals page to be redirected to a page of eligible events. Deals may be available for a variety of dates, but sellers need to consider the deal fees spike for the Prime event period, $300-500 vs. the standard $150 fee, depending on the date/time Amazon decides to run the deal.

‘Frequently Returned’ Badge

Although there was no official announcement from Amazon, a new Frequently Returned badge is hitting product detail pages. Unlike the typical badges of honor (Small Business, Climate Friendly, etc.), the new badge marks products as “frequently returned” and urges shoppers to check the product detail page and customer reviews to learn more.

As we see it, shoppers who this badge will turn away are probably those who would have returned anyway. Losing out on some bad sales can help the seller by protecting them from bad reviews, negative seller feedback, and hits to their Customer Experience metrics which can cause a loss of Buy Box or listings to be removed from sale on the platform.

But, from the flip side, it could also be a hit to good sales. It is fair to sellers that this is shown on the product detail page rather than in search results. One thing we know for sure is that Amazon remains customer-centric, which is undoubtedly a positive for customers.

Brand Profiles

Finally out of closed beta, Brand Profiles allow sellers to showcase their brand’s unique logo, content, name, colors, and more to shoppers across Amazon. This helps to tell the brand story and create a consistent and recognizabl

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