Amazon Seller Glossary

Selling on Amazon involves a lot of terminology and acronyms. Bookmark this Amazon seller glossary for quick reference!

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


A

ACoS

Advertising cost of sale (ACos) is calculated by dividing ad spend by ad sales. This metric measures the efficiency of your advertising campaign.

A+ Content

Available to sellers enrolled in the Amazon Brand Registry program, this popular feature allows you to add additional text and image formats to your product detail page to make it more visually appealing and informative for shoppers.

A-to-z Guarantee Claims

Buyers may file A-to-z Guarantee claims when they are not satisfied with the delivery time or the condition of your items. They must first contact you in order to resolve the problem, but if you cannot come to an agreement, a claim can be created and Amazon, upon further investigation, may debit the claim amount from your account. Your account health will also suffer.

Amazon Advertising

Amazon’s advertising platform includes a variety of products and services, such as Sponsored Products or Sponsored Brands, to promote your items on and off the Amazon marketplace.

Amazon Attribution

An advertising and analytics measurement solution from Amazon that places attribution tags on your off-Amazon marketing, including search, social, video, display, and email, to see whether or not it’s impacting shopping behavior and increasing sales on the marketplace.

Amazon Brand Registry

This Amazon program helps brand owners protect their intellectual property and product content. Brand registered sellers also have exclusive access to many additional brand-building features for improving discoverability, conversions, and customer loyalty.

Amazon Business

A portion of the Amazon marketplace that connects B2B (business-to-business) sellers with customers and gives businesses the opportunity to buy large quantities of products at lower prices.

Amazon Buy Shipping Tool

Amazon’s Buy Shipping tool allows you to buy shipping labels individually or in bulk at discounted rates and also ship and confirm your orders and track your shipments using a trusted network of shipping carriers.

Amazon DSP

Amazon’s DSP (demand-side platform) is an advertising portal where you buy ads that better connect your brand with relevant customers on and off of Amazon.

Amazon FBA

Fulfillment by Amazon allows you to use Amazon's fulfillment and delivery network to get orders to buyers. Participating in FBA can help your products be eligible for the Buy Box more often due to the program's reliability and fast shipping speeds.

Amazon Handmade

A category on the Amazon marketplace for genuinely handcrafted goods. Once you have an approved selling account, you can submit an application to join the artisan-only community and begin selling unique, handcrafted products to customers all over the world.

Amazon Launchpad

A supplemental Amazon program that provides startup businesses with dedicated resources, guidance, and global support to help get their products discovered faster.

Amazon Lending

This invitation-only program offered short-term financing options to small and medium-sized Amazon businesses. It was discontinued in 2024.

Amazon Live

An Amazon advertising solution that enables you to create a shoppable livestream hosted on the Amazon domain where you can introduce shoppers to your product catalog, educate them on top product features, share special offers, and connect in real-time via an interactive chat feature.

Amazon Marketplace Appstore

The Amazon Service Provider Network gives sellers a place to connect with trusted service providers based on your needs, location, and preferred language. Amazon’s Marketplace Appstore and Service Provider Network were combined to create the Seller Central Partner Network, now known as the Selling Partner Appstore.

Amazon Marketplace Web Services

An assortment of APIs (application programming interfaces) that Amazon sellers and third-party app makers use to create software that enhances the selling process. With Amazon’s Marketplace Web Services (Amazon MWS), you can increase business efficiency, reduce labor costs, and improve your customer experience.

Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment

Using Amazon’s Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) method allows you to use your FBA inventory to fulfill orders from any channel you sell on, including your own website. While Amazon will not provide customer service for your products like it does with FBA, it will take care of storage, packing, and delivery.

Amazon Pay

An online payments processing service from Amazon that allows shoppers to make purchases and/or donations on other third-party websites, in apps, and with Alexa Voice shopping using the payment methods associated with an existing Amazon account.

Amazon Seller App

A free phone app from Amazon that helps you manage your Amazon seller account on the go. With the Amazon Seller app, which is available on iOS or Android, you can easily fulfill orders, manage offers, respond to customer messages, create product listings, and find products to sell anytime, anywhere.

Amazon Seller Central

Amazon Seller Central is the website where third-party sellers go to manage all aspects of their selling account, including adding product information, making inventory updates, and handling orders, payments, and returns.

Amazon Seller University

Amazon’s online educational platform teaches you how to sell on the marketplace through a series of short instructional videos and PDFs.

Amazon Selling Coach

An Amazon feature for Professional sellers that shares key inventory, product, global selling, fulfillment, and low price opportunities to increase your success on the marketplace.

Amazon Service Provider Network

The Amazon Service Provider Network gives sellers a place to connect with trusted service providers based on your needs, location, and preferred language. Amazon’s Marketplace Appstore and Service Provider Network have now been combined to create the Seller Central Partner Network.

Amazon Sole Proprietorship

Selling on Amazon as a sole proprietor simply means that you are operating your Amazon store as an individual person and not a business. You will be taxed as a sole proprietor and have personal liability in the event of a legal problem.

Amazon Sponsored Brands

A pay-per-click ad type that places customizable ads in Amazon shopping results to drive discovery of your brand and product catalog. Each Sponsored Brand ad includes your brand logo, a custom headline, and up to three of your products.

Amazon Sponsored Products

A pay-per-click ad type that places ads for individual product listings on shopping results pages and on product detail pages to reach high-intent shoppers looking for related products.

Amazon Standard Identification Number

An Amazon Standard Identification Number, or ASIN, is a unique 10-digit alphanumeric code used to identify products sold on the Amazon marketplace. An ASIN will be assigned when you create a new product in Amazon’s catalog.

Average Unit Retail

The average unit retail is the average selling price of an item. The average unit retail formula is total revenue divided by the number of items sold.

AWD

AWD, or Amazon Warehousing and Distribution, is an all-inclusive third-party logistics solution that allows you to store and ship your products within the Amazon fulfillment network even if they're not sold via Amazon.

B

BSR

BSR, also known as "Best Sellers Rank" or "sales rank" is a score assigned to Amazon products based on previous sales data. It is calculated automatically by Amazon using recent sales and historical sales information in comparison to other products in the category.

Buy Box

The Buy Box is also referred to as the Featured Offer. It is shown on the right side of an Amazon product detail page and allows customers to add a product to their cart or buy the item right away. The Buy Box can be shared by multiple sellers.

 

C

Catalog

The Amazon product catalog lists every product sold on the marketplace, identified by its ASIN. As an Amazon seller, you also have your own individual product catalog which groups together all the items that you carry.

COGS

Costs of goods sold (COGS) or cost of sales is the direct costs of producing items sold by a company. It includes the costs associated with materials and labor directly used to create the products. 

Customer Questions and Answers

Every detail page on Amazon has a Customer Questions & Answers section where people can publicly ask questions about your product. As the seller or manufacturer of the item, you will be notified of these questions and be able to provide the answer; your response will be labeled as such to lend more authority. Previous customers also have the ability to answer these questions from their peers.

D

Detail Page

Every product sold on the Amazon marketplace has a product detail page where shoppers can go to learn information about the item. It can include one or more offers from other sellers or from Amazon.

E

European Article Number

The European Article Number, or EAN, is a 13-digit Global Trade Identification Number (GTIN) predominantly used in Europe to track retail products. Amazon requires most products to have an EAN or UPC.

Excess Inventory

Also called overstock, this term applies to inventory that hasn’t been sold and exceeds the anticipated consumer demand for the product.

F

FBA Export

A program for FBA sellers that helps you expand your business by making your products available for purchase in more than 100 countries and regions. Amazon will fulfill international orders, handle import duty and customs clearance, and ship your products on your behalf at no extra charge.

FBA Fees

If you fulfill orders with Amazon’s FBA program, you will have to pay various FBA fees in order to use the service. Fees cover the cost of fulfillment, inventory storage, removal orders, returns processing, unplanned service charges, and more, depending on the type of product you sell and the time of the year.

FBA Fulfillment Fees

A per-unit fee is charged by Amazon to fulfill orders to customers on your behalf. Commonly called the pick and pack fee, it will vary depending on the item’s category, size, and weight.

FBA Global Selling

If you’re an FBA seller, you can expand your business globally using services offered by the Fulfillment by Amazon program. With Amazon Global Selling, you’ll be able to sell your items on select Amazon websites around the world by shipping products to fulfillment centers in those countries.

FBA In-Stock Rate

The percentage of time your replenishable FBA products have been in stock during the past 30 days, weighted by the number of units sold for each item in the last 60 days. This is a top influencing factor in your Inventory Performance Index score.

FBA Inventory Storage Fees

Amazon varies its FBA inventory storage fees according to the time of year, estimated volume, and the size of the item.

FBA Inventory Storage Limits

Amazon introduced FBA inventory storage limits in 2021 to better manage fulfillment center storage space amidst an overcrowding problem. Storage limits are based on volume (measured in cubic feet) and are set for each storage type: standard size, oversize, apparel, and footwear.

FBA Label Service

Instead of applying barcode labels on your own products, you can pay to have Amazon do it for you with this optional service for FBA products only.

FBA Manual Processing Fee

If you do not provide box content information to Amazon for your FBA shipments, your boxes will have to be manually processed at the fulfillment center and a fee will apply. Fee rates are higher in November and December.

FBA Onsite

An invitation-only program where third-party sellers can use Amazon’s FBA Onsite Warehouse Management System (WMS) to turn their warehouses into de facto Amazon warehouses, thereby taking advantage of shipping discounts and eliminating climbing storage fees. Amazon will still handle the order pickup and delivery process for you.

FBA Sell-Through Rate

Your FBA sell-through rate is calculated by taking your sold and shipped units over the past 90 days and dividing it by the average number of units you have stocked in Amazon’s fulfillment centers during that period.

FBA Small and Light

This now-defunct Amazon program helped reduce the cost of fulfilling orders for small and lightweight FBA inventory

Featured Offer

Also referred to as the Buy Box, a featured offer appears on every product detail page with an "Add to Cart" button which customers click to begin the checkout process. Multiple sellers selling the same item must compete to own the featured offer, which Amazon will reward to the seller who maintains the best metrics and will more likely meet the customer’s expectations.

Feedback

Shoppers can submit seller feedback about their buying experience on the Amazon marketplace. Based on a five-star scale, Amazon seller feedback is a public rating of your performance as a seller. Your feedback rating affects a potential customer’s confidence in you and influences your account health and ability to win the Buy Box, among other things.

Frustration-Free Packaging

Amazon’s Frustration-Free Packaging program (FFP) requires sellers to simplify their packaging for reduced waste and more efficient shipping. Packaging must meet strict criteria, including being protective, cost-effective, easy to open, and low waste.

Fulfillment by Amazon

The Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program allows third-party sellers to send their products to Amazon fulfillment centers so they can be picked, packed, and shipped to buyers on behalf of you, the seller. Amazon also handles customer service and returns for these items, which will automatically be eligible for Amazon Prime shipping.

Full Truckload

Full truckload freight, or FTL, is a shipping mode used for large shipments that will take up the entire truck or very close to it. With FTL, your freight will go straight to its shipping destination with no additional stops or other shipments on board.

G

Global Trade Item Number

A Global Trade Item Number, commonly referred to as a GTIN, is a unique set of numbers encoded into a barcode used to universally identify a retail product. GTINs must originate from the GS1 database to be accepted into the Amazon marketplace.

Gross Merchandise Sales

Gross merchandise sales (GMS), or gross merchandise value (GMV), is the total amount of sales you make over a set time period, typically quarterly or yearly, before other expenses are deducted. It is calculated by multiplying the sales price of your goods times the number of goods sold.

 

 

H

Hazmat

Dangerous goods, or hazmat, are products that may pose a safety risk during their storage, handling, or transportation because they are flammable, pressurized, corrosive, or contain some sort of harmful substance. Amazon has strict rules surrounding the storage and sale of hazmat items.

Headline Search Ad

Amazon Sponsored Brand ads were formerly referred to as Headline Search ads because of their prominent positioning at the top of Amazon’s search result pages.

Hero Image

The main image on your Amazon product detail page that’s also shown to customers in search alongside key buying information, including the item’s title, average star rating, price, and availability.

Hidden Search Terms

Depending on your product category, you may have several fields available on the backend, or non-customer facing side, of your Amazon listing for you to add additional keywords that are relevant to your product. Hidden search terms, or backend keywords, are limited to 250 bytes.

Hybrid Selling

The term is used when a brand sells products directly to Amazon as a wholesaler or first-party vendor and also offers the products for sale as a third-party merchant, fulfilling orders through Amazon FBA or handling them on its own.

 

I

Individual Seller Account

One of the two types of Amazon selling plans for third-party sellers. This plan is suited for anyone who plans to sell fewer than 40 units a month, is still deciding what to sell, and/or doesn’t plan on advertising or using Amazon’s advanced selling tools. You’ll pay a fee for every item sold plus additional selling fees.

International Standard Book Number

An International Standard Book Number, commonly shortened to ISBN, is a unique number assigned to every published book to identify its edition, publisher, and other properties. On Amazon, the book’s ASIN and ISBN are typically the same.

Inventory Performance Index

Your Inventory Performance Index (IPI) score is a metric used to measure how well you are managing your FBA inventory over time. It is influenced by many factors, namely your excess inventory rate, sell-through rate, stranded inventory rate, and in-stock inventory rate. You must maintain an IPI score above the threshold set by Amazon or be subject to FBA storage volume limits.

J

Jeff Bezos

The founder and former CEO of Amazon.com, Inc. who now currently serves as the company’s executive chairman. Andy Jassy replaced Bezos as the president and CEO of Amazon on July 5, 2021.

K

Kindle Direct Publishing

Amazon’s self-publishing platform allows authors to sell eBooks, paperbacks, and hardcover books to a global audience. Novels, book series, children’s books, comics, cookbooks, journals, poetry, and textbooks are all content types that can be published using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).

L

Late Shipment Rate

The Late Shipment Rate, or LSR, is an Amazon seller performance metric that applies to seller-fulfilled orders and looks at how many orders had a shipping confirmation be completed after the expected ship date over 10 and 30-day periods. Sellers must maintain an LSR under 4%.

Less Than Truckload

Less than truckload, or LTL, is when freight from multiple shippers is transported on the same trailer because of its smaller size. This is done to maximize the available shipping space and is a less expensive option for merchants.

M

Merch by Amazon

Amazon’s print-on-demand service for merchandise and other products. After you create and upload your artwork, simply choose a product to print it on and write a product description. Amazon will then create a product page for you and handle production, shipping, and customer service when customers make a purchase.

Merchant Fulfilled Network

The Merchant Fulfilled Network, commonly known as MFN or FBM, is a fulfillment method where sellers handle their own orders and ship their own products from their facilities or using a 3PL partner. As an MFN merchant, you must stock and store inventory, fulfill orders, manage returns, and provide customer service to your customers.

N

Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are search terms that you don’t want your ads showing up for. Setting negative keywords prevents your advertisements from appearing in irrelevant and/or unsuccessful search queries, which can be costly to your business.

Net Profit

The amount of money you earn after deducting all operating, interest, and tax expenses over a set period of time. Subtracting your total expenses from your total revenue will give you your net profit.

 

O

Order Defect Rate

Your Order Defect Rate (ODR) is a measure of your ability to provide a good customer experience. It is calculated by taking the percentage of orders with one or more indicators of poor customer service (i.e. your negative feedback rate, A-to-z Guarantee claim rate, and credit card chargeback rate) during a 60-day period. Sellers must maintain an ODR under 1% to sell on Amazon.

On Time Delivery Rate

OTDR includes all shipments delivered by the estimated delivery date. OTDR only applies to seller-fulfilled orders and is shown as a percentage of total tracked shipments. Sellers are required to maintain a 90% or higher OTDR without promise extensions for seller-fulfilled orders.

 

P

Professional Seller Account

One of the two types of Amazon selling plans for third-party sellers. Select this plan if you intend on selling more than 40 units a month, want to advertise your products, and access advanced selling tools, among other benefits. Professional plans cost $39.99 per month plus additional selling fees.

Q

Q1

Quarter 1, or Q1, is the three-month time period from January to March. This is a good time to look back at your results from the previous year and use what you learned to set new goals for growth.

Q2

Quarter 2, or Q2, is the three-month time period from April to June. The US Tax Day falls in this quarter, as do a few key shopping days like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. You should also begin prepping for Prime Day in Q2.

Q3

Quarter 3, or Q3, is the three-month time period from July to September. Prime Day is historically held early in Q3, with back to school shopping starting soon thereafter.

Q4

Quarter 4, or Q4, is the three-month time period from October to December. This is the busiest time of year for Amazon sellers, with several big shopping events and holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas all bringing more traffic to the marketplace.

QR Code

A QR code, or Quick Response code, is a type of machine-readable barcode that stores digital data like website links and product information. Amazon uses QR codes on its gift receipts and Transparency codes, and sellers have been known to use them in a variety of ways as well.

Quantity on Hand

Quantity on Hand (QoH) is the actual physical amount of an item that’s in stock and on your warehouse shelves.

R

Rating

Shoppers can leave a one to five-star rating about their satisfaction with a product listed on the Amazon marketplace. These one-tap star ratings do not require a title or written text.

Review

Shoppers can submit product reviews to rate their satisfaction with items listed on the Amazon marketplace. An Amazon review is based on a five-star scale in the form of a simple star rating and written text. Some reviewers also include photos or videos. Customer reviews help online consumers make informed buying decisions and are critical to your success as a seller.

S

Seller Fulfilled Prime

The Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) program allows you to store and ship your own products and have them be Amazon Prime eligible without enrollment into FBA, which is otherwise required. You must meet certain seller criteria and maintain Amazon’s strict two-day Prime delivery deadlines.

Small Parcel Deliveries

A small parcel delivery (SPD) refers to units packed in individual boxes with each box individually labeled for delivery. Small parcel deliveries are typically smaller shipments sent via DHL, UPS, FedEx, or your local postal service.

Stock-Keeping Unit

A stock-keeping unit, commonly shortened to SKU, is a unique alphanumeric identifier for an item created by the retailer to internally track it in their inventory. Products with different size and/or color variations will have different SKUs.

Stranded Inventory

Inventory stored in a fulfillment center that doesn’t have an active offer on Amazon. This inventory, which will continue to accrue storage fees, cannot be sold because its Amazon product page isn’t active.

Subscribe and Save

Amazon’s subscription service where shoppers can set up regularly scheduled deliveries of products and earn savings. To enroll your products in the Subscribe and Save program, you must meet certain criteria set by Amazon, including being an FBA seller in good standing with a high feedback rating.

T

TACoS

TACos, or Total Advertising Cost of Sale, is a metric that shows the relationship between your Amazon ad spend and total sales. Get your TACoS number with this formula: ad spend divided by total sales multiplied by 100.

Transparency

The Amazon Transparency program makes it possible to track inventory throughout the distribution process thanks to a scannable barcode.

U

Universal Product Code

A Universal Product Code, commonly referred to as a UPC, is a type of Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) used worldwide for identifying retail products. Each UPC consists of a bar code and 12 uniquely assigned numbers. Amazon requires products to have a UPC or EAN (European Article Number) to be sold on the marketplace.

Unverified Review

A review or rating on an Amazon product from someone who did not purchase the item from Amazon.

V

Variable Closing Fee

These fees are charged by Amazon for certain products, mostly media items.

Vendor Central

The platform used by first-party (1P) sellers who sell their product to Amazon, which then distributes the product.

Verified Purchase Review

Verified reviews are left by customers who purchased the product on Amazon. These reviews have a greater impact on your average review rating than unverified reviews.

W

Wholesale

Wholesale selling is the process of selling products in large quantities to others who resell them, often on sites like Amazon and eBay.

X

Y

Year Over Year

Year-over-year (YoY) is a method of measurement that looks at how a number has changed compared to the same time during the previous year. It’s commonly used for measuring business growth and performance.

Year to Date

Year-to-date (YTD) refers to the period of time between the first day of the current calendar or fiscal year and the present day.

Z

Zebra Printer

Amazon has strict labeling requirements and does not allow shipping labels to be printed on inkjet printers. Thermal printers like those manufactured by Zebra Industries are highly recommended and widely used by Amazon sellers.