The Complete Amazon
Glossary and Acronym Guide

An Amazon program allowing Brand Registry sellers to enrich product detail pages with additional images, comparison charts, formatted text, and video. Premium A+ (for brands meeting engagement thresholds) adds interactive hotspots, image carousels, and video modules. Proven to increase conversion rates by up to 20% versus standard listings. See our guide to Amazon Enhanced Brand Content for setup tips and best practices.

Amazon’s core product search algorithm, determining which products appear and in what order for a given query. A9 weighs relevance (keyword match in titles, bullets, backend), performance (conversion rate, sales velocity, CTR), and availability. Note: There is no “A10” — this is a myth. A9 is still the operating name for the ranking engine.

Amazon’s Manage Your Experiments (MYE) tool allows Brand Registry sellers to A/B test listing elements — titles, main images, A+ Content, bullet points — against each other to measure which version drives better conversion, click-through rate, and sales. Tests run for a minimum of 4 weeks with a defined champion.

A score displayed on the Account Health dashboard indicating your account’s risk of deactivation due to policy non-compliance. AHR is calculated from policy violations, customer complaints, and operational metrics. A rating of 200+ is Healthy; 100-199 is At Risk; below 100 puts your account in danger of suspension. Unlike ODR, AHR is specifically a suspension risk indicator.

The percentage of attributed ad revenue spent on advertising. Calculated as: Total Ad Spend / Ad Revenue x 100. A 30% ACoS means $30 spent for every $100 in ad-attributed sales. ACoS only measures against ad-attributed sales — for total account health, use TACoS instead. Your break-even ACoS equals your profit margin percentage.

A secure, privacy-safe cloud-based data clean room that enables advertisers to run custom SQL queries across anonymized, event-level ad data. AMC lets you analyze cross-campaign attribution, build custom audience segments, model path-to-purchase journeys, and measure incrementality. Available to DSP advertisers. Learn more about Amazon Marketing Cloud and how agencies use it for advanced attribution.

An API product that pushes Amazon Ads campaign metrics to your AWS account in near real-time, with hourly performance granularity. AMS enables advanced tactics like dayparting — adjusting bids based on hourly performance — which is impossible with standard 24-hour reporting. Note: AMS previously also referred to Amazon Marketing Services, now called Amazon Ads. Context determines meaning.

A system where Amazon can immediately suppress a product listing if customer complaints about safety, damage, or quality reach a threshold — without prior seller notice. Named after Toyota’s manufacturing pull-cord that stops a production line when defects are detected. Reinstatement requires demonstrating the root cause has been fixed.

A unique 10-character alphanumeric identifier Amazon assigns to each product in its catalog. ASINs are marketplace-specific — the same physical product has different ASINs in the US and UK. Parent ASINs represent a variation family; child ASINs are individual variations. Read our full breakdown of what an ASIN is and how it differs from FNSKU and UPC.

An electronic packing list sent by vendors to Amazon in advance of a delivery, communicating shipment contents, carton counts, units per carton, and tracking information. ASN accuracy is mandatory — incorrect ASNs trigger Carton Content Accuracy chargebacks. ASNs are submitted via EDI or directly in Vendor Central.

The average price at which your product sells, calculated as total net revenue / total units sold over a period. ASP is a key metric for pricing strategy — it reveals whether discounts, coupons, or promotions are eroding your realized price versus your listed price. Vendors also track ASP to monitor Amazon’s pricing decisions on their products under the 1P model.

A free measurement tool for Brand Registry sellers to track how off-Amazon marketing (Google Ads, Facebook, email, social, influencer) impacts Amazon sales. Amazon Attribution generates unique tracking tags for each campaign. You can see which external channels drive the most product page views, add-to-cart events, and purchases.

The action of a shopper clicking “Add to Cart” on a product detail page. ATC rate (ATC clicks / page views) is a key conversion funnel metric, distinct from purchase rate. High ATC with low purchase rate suggests checkout friction, price sensitivity, or comparison shopping. Brands can track ATC trends through Brand Analytics and Attribution reports.

The yearly negotiation process between Amazon and its 1P (Vendor Central) suppliers, covering trade terms including cost prices, volume discounts, co-op marketing contributions, and operational compliance fees. AVN outcomes directly affect Net PPM. Vendors without dedicated AVS support or negotiation expertise often accept unfavorable terms by default.

A paid program (formerly Strategic Vendor Services / SVS) that gives 1P vendors access to a dedicated Amazon account manager who assists with operational issues, catalog management, PO management, and growth strategy. AVS fees are negotiated during AVN. The quality and responsiveness of AVS support varies significantly — many vendors pay for AVS but receive limited proactive value without advocacy from their manager.

A suite of reporting tools available to Brand Registry sellers inside Seller Central, including: Search Query Performance (SQP), Market Basket Analysis, Item Comparison, Repeat Purchase Behavior, and Demographic data. Brand Analytics gives brands visibility into how customers discover, consider, and convert on their products. Access requires Brand Registry enrollment.

Internal Amazon jargon for a permanent full-time Amazon employee, as opposed to temporary contractors (often called “yellow badges”). When escalating Seller Support cases, reaching a Blue Badge employee — particularly in Seller Performance or specific category teams — generally produces more reliable and authoritative responses than first-line support agents who may be contractors.

Amazon’s intellectual property protection program that unlocks brand-exclusive tools for enrolled trademark owners. Brand Registry gives access to A+ Content, Brand Analytics, Sponsored Brands ads, Amazon Storefronts, and the Manage Your Experiments A/B testing tool. It also activates Amazon’s automated brand protections against counterfeiters and unauthorized resellers. Enrollment requires an active registered trademark from an accepted trademark office.

Numerical codes Amazon uses to classify products within its category taxonomy. Each marketplace has unique browse node IDs — a US node number is not the same as the UK equivalent. Incorrect browse node assignment suppresses organic discovery and affects BSR calculation. Correct node placement is a critical but frequently overlooked catalog optimization task, especially during bulk flat file uploads.

Amazon’s real-time ranking of products within a category, updated hourly, based on a weighted combination of recent and historical sales. A product’s BSR reflects relative sales velocity — not absolute units. A BSR of 1 means it’s the top-selling product in that category at that moment. Can be used to reverse-engineer estimated monthly sales with known conversion data.

The “Add to Cart” and “Buy Now” button on a product detail page, awarded to one seller at a time based on Amazon’s Buy Box algorithm. Factors include: price competitiveness, fulfillment method (FBA preferred), seller metrics (ODR, LSR, VCR), and account standing. Learn about the Amazon Buy Box and what it takes to win and maintain it. Approximately 85% of Amazon purchases go through the Buy Box.

Financial penalties Amazon imposes on vendors for failing to comply with operational requirements — including late PO confirmation, ASN inaccuracy, incorrect labeling, overweight cartons, missing import documents, and preparation issues. Chargebacks can be disputed within Vendor Central with supporting documentation. Compound chargebacks can consume 5-15% of a vendor’s net margin monthly if unmanaged.

An individual variation (e.g., size medium, color blue) grouped under a parent ASIN on a single product detail page. All child ASINs share the parent’s review pool and ranking signals when correctly structured. Broken variation relationships — where child ASINs detach from their parent — cause each child to lose shared review authority, Buy Box eligibility, and organic ranking history.

Amazon’s internal term for the complete purchase journey from product discovery through checkout. COW metrics help identify where in the funnel shoppers drop off — whether they click but don’t add to cart, add to cart but don’t purchase, or abandon at checkout. Relevant for understanding listing quality, pricing sensitivity, and friction points in the buyer journey.

The amount charged each time a shopper clicks on your sponsored ad. In Amazon PPC, you set a maximum CPC bid; the actual CPC charged is typically one cent above the next-highest competing bid (second-price auction). See our deep dive on Amazon CPC for benchmarks by category. High CPC does not equal poor performance if conversion rate is strong enough to maintain target ACoS.

The percentage of shoppers who click your ad after seeing it. Calculated as: Clicks / Impressions x 100. Average Amazon CTR for sponsored products is 0.3-0.5%. Low CTR signals a relevance mismatch between the keyword and your product, poor main image, or uncompetitive pricing. Read more about Amazon CTR and how it affects your ad quality score.

Internet-connected TV streaming devices (Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, smart TVs) on which video ads can be served through Amazon DSP. CTV ads are non-skippable, full-screen video placements. Amazon DSP buyers can target CTV inventory with Amazon audience data, enabling brand awareness campaigns at scale for upper-funnel advertising objectives.

The direct costs attributable to producing or acquiring the products sold. For Amazon private label, COGS typically includes: product manufacturing, packaging, freight (ocean/air), import duties, and inspection costs. COGS is the foundation of all profitability calculations — getting it wrong makes every downstream metric (margin, break-even ACoS, ROI) unreliable.

The percentage of product detail page sessions that result in a purchase. Amazon reports this as Unit Session Percentage. The Amazon marketplace average CR is approximately 10-15%, significantly higher than standard e-commerce (~2-3%) due to purchase intent. Read our guide on Amazon conversion rate and the levers that move it most.

Vendor-side accruals or contributions that offset Amazon’s cost of goods — for example, co-op marketing funds, volume rebates, or compliance penalties. Contra-COGS are factored into Amazon’s Net PPM calculation and represent the true cost of the vendor relationship. Vendors frequently underestimate how significantly these accruals erode their actual realized margin versus the headline invoice price.

Amazon’s large-scale AI model that interprets customer intent and product context beyond exact keyword matching. COSMO helps the A9 algorithm understand semantic meaning — why a customer is searching for something, not just what they typed. Implications for sellers: keyword stuffing matters less; comprehensive, accurate product information matters more. Introduced in 2023 and ongoing.

An advertising strategy that adjusts bids based on the time of day or day of week, maximizing spend during peak conversion windows and reducing waste during low-converting hours. Requires Amazon Marketing Stream (AMS) for hourly data since standard Amazon Ads reporting only shows daily performance. Dayparting can significantly improve ACoS efficiency when your conversion data shows strong time-of-day patterns.

An incoterm where the supplier bears all responsibility and costs from factory to your specified destination, including freight, insurance, import duties, and customs clearance. DDP provides maximum convenience but minimum cost transparency — suppliers mark up all freight and duty costs. Useful for small initial orders; most experienced sellers switch to FOB or FCA for better control and lower landed costs at scale.

Amazon’s programmatic advertising platform that enables advertisers to buy display, video, and audio ad placements both on Amazon-owned properties and across third-party sites and apps using Amazon’s audience data. DSP is available through self-service (minimum ~$10K/month) or managed service (minimum $50K). Unlike Sponsored Ads, DSP runs on CPM (cost per thousand impressions) and is designed for both retargeting existing audiences and reaching new customers outside Amazon.

Amazon’s automated bidding option that adjusts your CPC bid in real time based on the estimated probability of conversion. Options: Down Only (reduces bids when conversion is less likely), Up and Down (raises by up to 100% at top of search when likely, reduces when unlikely), or Fixed (no adjustment). Most experienced sellers use Down Only or Fixed to maintain bid control; Up and Down can produce high CPC spikes.

The original name for A+ Content as it applied specifically to third-party sellers (versus vendors). EBC and A+ Content are now functionally the same and the terms are used interchangeably, though “A+ Content” is Amazon’s current official terminology. Both require Brand Registry enrollment. EBC/A+ Content is strongly correlated with lower return rates in addition to higher conversion rates.

A standardized digital format for exchanging business documents (purchase orders, ASNs, invoices) between trading partners without manual processing. Amazon requires EDI compliance for most large vendors — paper invoices and manual PO processes trigger chargebacks. EDI setup requires technical integration with a VAN (Value-Added Network) provider. Non-compliance is one of the most common and costly vendor operational failures.

An Amazon Europe program allowing sellers to store inventory in a single EU fulfillment center and fulfill orders across multiple European Amazon marketplaces from that location. Simpler than PAN-European FBA (which distributes inventory across all EU centers) but typically results in slower delivery times and higher fulfillment fees for cross-border orders. Used by sellers testing new EU markets before committing to full PAN-EU inventory distribution.

Amazon’s fulfillment service where third-party sellers send inventory to Amazon’s fulfillment centers and Amazon handles storage, picking, packing, shipping, returns, and customer service. FBA products automatically qualify for Prime. Our guide to what FBA is and how it works covers fees, eligibility, and when FBA makes sense over FBM.

A fulfillment model where the seller stores, packs, and ships products directly to customers. Also called MFN (Merchant Fulfilled Network). FBM sellers can achieve Prime eligibility through Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) if they meet Amazon’s strict shipping performance requirements. See our full FBA vs FBM comparison for a detailed breakdown of fees, pros, and cons.

Amazon’s warehouses where FBA inventory is stored, processed, and shipped. Amazon operates hundreds of FCs globally, with specialized centers for standard-size items, oversize items, and specific product types. FBA sellers do not choose which FC receives their inventory — Amazon’s Inbound Placement Service distributes it based on demand forecasting and proximity to customer concentrations.

A category-specific tab-delimited spreadsheet downloaded from Seller Central and used to create, update, or close Amazon listings in bulk. Flat files are the standard method for managing catalogs of more than a handful of products. Each category has its own template with required and optional attributes. Common flat file errors include missing required fields, incorrect attribute values, and encoding issues that cause feed processing failures.

An incoterm where the supplier’s responsibility ends once goods are loaded onto the vessel at the origin port. You bear responsibility and cost for ocean freight, insurance, import duties, and destination handling from that point. FOB is the most commonly used term by experienced Amazon private label sellers importing from Asia — it provides cost transparency and allows you to negotiate your own freight rates.

A seller-specific barcode Amazon assigns to each of your products for use within its fulfillment network. FNSKU labels must be applied to each unit before FBA inbound shipment. Learn the full details of FNSKU codes and how they differ from ASIN and UPC. The FNSKU ensures your inventory is attributed to you and not commingled with other sellers’ stock.

The date entered in Vendor Central indicating when goods are ready to be picked up for shipment to an Amazon fulfillment center. FRD must be entered within Amazon’s required timeframe after PO confirmation — typically within 24 hours. Late or missing FRD entries trigger PO On-Time Accuracy chargebacks. FRD management is a high-frequency operational task for large vendors processing many POs simultaneously.

Amazon’s packaging optimization programs that reduce waste and over-boxing. FFP (Frustration-Free Packaging) eliminates excessive packaging; SIOC (Ships in Own Container) means the product’s retail packaging serves as the shipping package. Participation can reduce FBA fees and Amazon may charge additional preparation fees for non-compliant packaging. SIOC is increasingly being mandated by Amazon for eligible product categories.

A GS1-managed global network that allows suppliers to publish and maintain standardized product data across retail trading partners. Amazon requires GDSN-compliant product data for some vendor categories — particularly food, grocery, and health products. Vendors using GTIN-14 labels for carton identification must provide catalog data to Amazon via GDSN before shipment to avoid carton labeling chargebacks.

The number of times a product detail page is viewed. In Vendor Central reporting, Glance Views is the primary traffic metric (equivalent to Sessions in Seller Central). For vendors with multiple child ASINs, Glance Views are attributed to the parent. Declining Glance Views indicate organic visibility loss or reduced ad investment; high Glance Views with low conversion signals listing quality issues.

A profitability metric measuring how many dollars of gross margin are earned per dollar of inventory investment. Formula: Gross Margin / Average Inventory Cost. A GMROI above 1.0 means you earn more than your inventory costs. Critical for evaluating product portfolio efficiency — high-velocity, high-margin products should receive inventory priority over slow-moving items regardless of absolute revenue size.

A GS1-standard product identifier that encompasses UPC (12-digit), EAN (13-digit), and GTIN-14 (carton-level). Amazon requires valid GTINs to create new product listings unless a GTIN exemption is approved. Using illegitimate or purchased GTINs violates Amazon’s policies and can result in listing removal. Always source GTINs directly from GS1 — third-party resellers often sell non-compliant identifiers.

The Seller Central page that aggregates all account performance metrics and policy compliance indicators: ODR, LSR, VCR, Valid Tracking Rate, AHR score, and policy violation counts. Amazon uses the Health Dashboard as the primary indicator for account-level actions including suspension warnings and restricted selling privileges. Monitoring it daily is non-negotiable for active sellers — issues appear here before any email notification arrives.

The first product image shown in search results and at the top of a product detail page. Amazon requires the hero image to be on a pure white background for most categories. The hero image is the single largest driver of CTR from search results — testing different hero image compositions through A/B testing consistently produces the highest conversion improvements of any listing change.

Products classified as dangerous goods (batteries, flammable items, pressurized containers, certain chemicals) subject to Amazon’s Dangerous Goods Review Program before FBA enrollment. Sellers must submit Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and product exemption sheets for hazmat reviews. Non-compliant hazmat items sent to FBA are disposed of at the seller’s expense. Hazmat FBA products may have restricted storage locations within the FC network.

Amazon’s score (0-1000) measuring how efficiently you manage your FBA inventory. Factors include: excess inventory ratio, stranded inventory rate, in-stock rate for replenishable items, and sell-through rate. Sellers with IPI below Amazon’s threshold (currently ~400) face storage space limitations and may be charged additional fees. Maintaining a strong IPI is critical during Q4 when storage limits are most restrictive.

Amazon’s program (launched 2024) that distributes FBA inventory across multiple fulfillment centers based on demand optimization. Amazon now charges Inbound Placement Fees when sellers send inventory to a single location (previously free). Opting into multi-location placement reduces these fees but requires splitting inventory shipments to multiple FCs. A significant cost change for FBA sellers that many glossaries have not yet covered.

An inventory management strategy where stock is ordered and received as close as possible to when it is actually needed, minimizing capital tied up in stored goods. For FBA sellers, JIT requires precise lead time tracking and demand forecasting since sending too little stock risks stockouts and organic rank loss, while sending too much creates long-term storage fees. JIT works best when suppliers have short lead times and demand is predictable; it carries higher risk for seasonal or trend-driven products.

Amazon allows 250 bytes of hidden search term data per ASIN that are indexed for organic search but not visible to shoppers. Best practice: use only unique terms not already in your title or bullets. Our Amazon backend keywords guide covers how to use these fields correctly and what to avoid. Backend keywords become less impactful as A9 improves semantic understanding via COSMO.

Amazon PPC offers three keyword match types: Broad (ads show for queries containing your keyword in any order or with additional words), Phrase (ads show for queries containing your exact phrase in order), and Exact (ads show only for exact queries matching your keyword). Campaign architecture best practice: start with auto or broad for discovery, migrate top performers to phrase, then exact for maximum bid control and minimum waste. See our guide to keyword research for Amazon for a full framework.

The complete cost to get one unit of product to an Amazon fulfillment center, including: manufacturing cost, packaging, freight (ocean/air), import duties and tariffs, customs broker fees, and FBA inbound shipping. Landed cost is the foundation of accurate profitability modeling — underestimating it is one of the most common mistakes new sellers make when sourcing products.

A short-window promotional event (typically 4 to 12 hours) where a product is listed at a discounted price on Amazon’s Today’s Deals page. Eligibility requires a minimum discount threshold, sufficient review count, and a deal fee. Lightning Deals generate a temporary spike in traffic and sales velocity that can lift BSR and improve organic keyword ranking. Running a supporting PPC campaign during the deal window amplifies conversions during the active period.

The percentage of seller-fulfilled (FBM/MFN) orders that are shipped after the expected ship date. Amazon requires LSR to remain below 4% — exceeding this threshold triggers account health warnings and potential selling restrictions. LSR applies only to merchant-fulfilled orders; FBA orders are not subject to LSR since Amazon controls the shipping process. Managing ship date settings accurately is the simplest way to control LSR.

A shipping mode where your freight occupies only part of a truck trailer, sharing space with other shippers’ cargo. LTL is typically used when shipping 150-15,000 lbs to Amazon FCs — too large for parcel carriers but not enough to justify a full truckload (FTL). LTL shipments travel as pallets and must be properly shrink-wrapped and labeled. Amazon Freight offers LTL as a direct inbound shipping option for FBA sellers.

The lowest price at which a reseller is permitted to advertise a product, set by the brand or manufacturer as a condition of their reseller agreement. MAP policies are not directly enforced by Amazon; they are a contractual agreement between brands and their authorized resellers. Selling below MAP can cost a reseller their authorized status. Brands often use Brand Registry tools to report unauthorized sellers as part of MAP enforcement.

Amazon’s service that uses your FBA inventory to fulfill orders from other sales channels — your website, Shopify, eBay, etc. MCF lets brands leverage Amazon’s logistics for all e-commerce orders from a single inventory pool. MCF orders ship in Amazon-branded packaging by default (or in blank packaging for an additional fee — critical for brands who do not want to expose their off-Amazon customers to Amazon’s ecosystem).

Amazon’s term for seller-fulfilled (FBM) orders — the same as Fulfillment by Merchant. MFN sellers handle their own warehousing, picking, packing, and shipping. MFN performance is measured against LSR, VCR, and ODR. Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) is a premium tier within MFN for sellers meeting Prime-level delivery standards from their own warehouses.

The lowest number of units a supplier is willing to produce or sell per order. MOQ is set by manufacturers to ensure production runs are economically viable. Negotiating MOQ downward is a common strategy for new product launches — accepting higher per-unit costs in exchange for lower total capital commitment. Some suppliers offer sample orders below their stated MOQ at inflated per-unit rates.

Amazon’s key profitability metric for vendor relationships. Formula: (Average Selling Price – Average Cost per Unit + Contra-COGS) / Average Selling Price. Net PPM is what Amazon sees when evaluating the profitability of stocking and selling your products. Low Net PPM can result in Amazon reducing purchase orders, marking products as CRAP (Cannot Realize A Profit), or discontinuing them.

Keywords added to a PPC campaign that prevent your ads from showing for irrelevant queries. Adding negative keywords is as important as adding target keywords — without them, auto and broad campaigns accumulate substantial irrelevant spend over time. Best practice: run Search Term Reports weekly, identify zero-conversion queries consuming budget, and add them as negative exact matches to campaigns or portfolios.

The Vendor Central process of creating a new product listing — providing all product attributes, images, pricing, and content required to establish an ASIN in Amazon’s catalog. NIS through Vendor Central follows different attribute requirements than Seller Central product creation. Common NIS failures include incomplete required attributes, missing images, or pricing issues that keep new items in a “not live” state for weeks.

A metric available for Sponsored Brands and DSP campaigns measuring the number of first-time purchasers of your brand’s products within the last 12 months. NTB metrics reveal customer acquisition effectiveness — critical for brands that want to grow market share, not just retarget existing buyers. DSP campaigns typically deliver higher NTB rates than Sponsored Products.

The percentage of orders with a “defect” — defined as: negative feedback (1 or 2 stars), an A-to-Z Guarantee claim (regardless of outcome), or a credit card chargeback. Amazon requires ODR below 1% — exceeding this threshold is one of the fastest routes to account suspension. ODR is calculated over a rolling 60-day window. Critically: a granted A-to-Z claim always counts; a denied one may still count if Amazon determines seller fault.

A product’s unpaid position in Amazon’s search results for a given keyword, determined entirely by the A9 algorithm based on relevance and sales performance signals. Improving organic rank is the long-term goal of both listing optimization and PPC investment. TACoS trending downward over time is the clearest indicator that PPC spend is successfully converting into sustainable organic rank growth.

Video advertising delivered over internet streaming services rather than traditional cable or satellite TV. Amazon’s OTT inventory includes Fire TV, Freevee, Twitch, and third-party streaming apps. OTT ads are non-skippable, full-screen, typically 15-30 seconds. Served through Amazon DSP, OTT enables brand awareness campaigns reaching audiences at the top of the funnel based on Amazon shopping and browsing data.

The top-level ASIN that serves as a container for all child ASINs (variations) of a product. The parent ASIN itself is not buyable — it exists solely to group related variations on one detail page. All child ASINs under the same parent share a combined review pool and ranking signals. Amazon’s variation policies specify which attributes (color, size, flavor, etc.) are valid variation themes by product category.

Amazon’s demand forecast probability levels used in vendor and FBA inventory planning. P70 means there is a 70% probability demand will not exceed the forecast. P80 and P90 represent increasingly conservative safety stock positions. Most operations teams target P80 as a balanced approach — P90 leads to excess inventory costs while P70 risks frequent stockouts during demand spikes.

A Vendor Central document where Amazon orders products from a 1P supplier at the agreed cost price. Vendors must confirm POs within 24 hours, enter a Freight Ready Date (FRD), and deliver within the specified Ship Window. PO management is the operational core of Vendor Central — late confirmation, missed ship windows, and quantity discrepancies all generate chargebacks and damage the vendor’s operational scorecard.

Amazon’s primary advertising model where you pay a fee each time a shopper clicks your sponsored ad. Amazon PPC includes: Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display. Read our comprehensive guide to what PPC is on Amazon and how each campaign type works. PPC and listing quality must be managed together — sending traffic to a weak listing is the most common PPC efficiency mistake.

A supply chain performance metric measuring the percentage of inbound vendor shipments received by Amazon fulfillment centers accurately, on time, with correct documentation, and without packaging defects. PIB is part of the vendor operational scorecard. Consistently low PIB scores signal systemic logistics problems and can trigger cost recovery actions by Amazon or affect future PO volumes.

Amazon’s annual members-only sale event (typically held in July, with a second “Prime Big Deal Days” in October), featuring site-wide promotions and significantly elevated traffic across all categories. Prime Day PPC requires specific preparation: budgets need to be significantly increased in advance, and Lightning Deals must be submitted weeks ahead of the event. Sellers without adequate inventory entering Prime Day routinely miss their largest single sales opportunity of the year.

A business model where sellers source products from manufacturers and sell them under their own brand name. Private label sellers typically source from manufacturers via Alibaba, develop custom packaging and branding, and enroll in Brand Registry to protect their listings. Compared to arbitrage or wholesale, private label offers higher margins and brand ownership but requires more upfront capital investment in product development and initial inventory.

An Amazon PPC targeting method that serves ads on specific product detail pages or within product categories, rather than on keyword-triggered search results. Product targeting (also called PAT) enables sellers to place ads directly on competitor product pages or complementary product pages. Available in Sponsored Products and Sponsored Display. Effective for defensive brand protection and offensive competitor conquest strategies.

Amazon’s practice of holding or offsetting vendor invoice payments against outstanding financial liabilities — including unresolved chargebacks, trade term deductions, and disputed amounts. Under PFR, Amazon may delay paying invoices until the vendor’s outstanding deductions are smaller than the invoice amount. PFR can create significant cash flow strain for vendors who do not actively manage and dispute chargebacks.

The October through December calendar quarter, representing the highest-revenue period for most Amazon categories. Q4 encompasses Prime Early Access Sale (October), Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas gifting. FBA sellers should have Q4 inventory shipped to fulfillment centers by early October to account for inbound processing delays. PPC budgets typically require significant increases during Q4 peaks as CPCs rise with increased advertiser competition.

The inverse of ACoS — total ad-attributed revenue / total ad spend. A RoAS of 4 means $4 in revenue for every $1 spent on advertising. See our full comparison of ACoS vs RoAS to understand when to use each metric. RoAS is the dominant metric in DSP and upper-funnel advertising. To convert: RoAS = 1 / ACoS (as a decimal). A 25% ACoS = 4x RoAS.

The percentage Amazon charges on each sale, varying by product category (typically 8-15%, up to 45% for Amazon Device Accessories). Referral fees are calculated on the total sales price including shipping if charged. Unlike FBA fees (fixed per-unit), referral fees scale with your price — raising your price increases the absolute referral fee amount. Understanding referral fees by category is essential for accurate margin modeling before product selection.

Compensation Amazon issues to FBA sellers for inventory lost, damaged, or destroyed within the fulfillment network, as well as for mis-picks, customer return errors, and receiving discrepancies. Amazon’s automated system catches many cases but leaves others unclaimed. Using a dedicated Amazon reimbursement tool or conducting manual ASIN-level audits can recover significant amounts that the automatic system misses, particularly for high-volume sellers.

Retail arbitrage is an Amazon selling model where sellers purchase discounted or clearance products from physical retail stores and resell them on Amazon at a profit. No product creation or brand development is required, making it a low-barrier entry point. The key risks are brand gating restrictions, IP complaints from brands restricting unauthorized resellers, and margin compression as more sellers enter the same opportunities.

Amazon’s generative AI shopping assistant (launched 2024) embedded in the Amazon app and website, allowing customers to ask conversational questions about products, compare options, and get purchase recommendations. Rufus draws from product listings, reviews, and web data to answer queries. Implications for sellers: comprehensive, accurate product detail pages are increasingly important as Rufus uses listing content to answer customer questions.

Amazon’s web portal for third-party sellers (3P) to manage their business — including product listings, inventory, orders, advertising campaigns, account health, payments, and customer communication. Learn more in our guide on what Amazon Seller Central is and how to navigate it. Sellers control their own pricing, inventory, and business decisions, with more control and higher margins than 1P.

A downloadable report showing every customer search query that triggered an ad impression or click in your PPC campaigns, along with spend, clicks, orders, and attributed revenue. The Search Term Report is the most important report for PPC optimization: use it to identify high-converting queries to promote as exact match keywords, and wasteful queries to add as negative keywords. Weekly analysis is the highest-ROI PPC management task available.

A program allowing FBM sellers to display the Prime badge and offer Prime-eligible shipping from their own warehouse. SFP has extremely strict requirements: same-day or one-day shipping for most Prime orders and a 99%+ on-time delivery rate. Read our full breakdown of Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime requirements and how to qualify. Beneficial for large, oversize items where FBA costs are prohibitive.

A unique identifier you assign to each product variant for your own inventory tracking purposes. SKUs are seller-defined (unlike ASINs which Amazon assigns). See our guide on Amazon SKUs for naming convention best practices. Disorganized SKU systems become a significant operational bottleneck as catalog size scales beyond 50+ active products.

A Vendor Central metric measuring how often your products show as unavailable on the detail page even though you, as a 1P vendor, can replenish them. SoROOS can be caused by Andon Cord suppression, manual buyer suppressions, or temporary inventory gaps. High SoROOS rates signal operational or compliance issues that are actively costing you sales — and Amazon tracks this to evaluate the health of your vendor relationship.

Amazon’s most widely used ad type — pay-per-click ads that promote individual product listings in search results and on product detail pages. SP ads support both keyword targeting (manual or auto) and product (ASIN) targeting. Read our full guide to Amazon Sponsored Products ads including campaign setup and optimization tips. Most sellers should allocate 60-80% of their PPC budget to SP as the foundation of any campaign structure.

PPC ads featuring your brand logo, a custom headline, and up to three products — appearing at the top of search results and other placements. Requires Brand Registry. See our Sponsored Brands guide for creative best practices and targeting strategies. SB drives higher NTB rates than SP and is the primary tool for building brand awareness within Amazon search.

Amazon’s self-service display advertising product that enables product page targeting and audience retargeting both on and off Amazon. SD can target: specific product ASINs, product categories, or remarketing audiences. Read more about Sponsored Display campaigns and how they complement Sponsored Products. It includes on-Amazon placements and off-Amazon display network placements.

Amazon’s directory of vetted third-party service providers — including agencies, software tools, photographers, translation services, and logistics providers — that have met Amazon’s partner requirements. Sellers can browse SPN for pre-vetted help across all areas of their Amazon business. Being an SPN partner is a credibility signal for Amazon agencies.

A Brand Analytics report (available weekly) showing how your brand performs for specific search queries — including impressions, clicks, add-to-cart events, purchases, and market share for each keyword. Dive deeper in our Search Query Performance guide. SQP is one of the most powerful data sources available to Amazon sellers, revealing exactly which search terms drive your business and where competitors are outperforming you. Requires Brand Registry.

A GS1-standard 18-digit code used to identify individual shipping units (cartons, pallets) throughout the supply chain. Amazon uses SSCCs (alongside AMZNCC codes) on inbound vendor shipments for receiving accuracy. Cartons without valid SSCC or AMZNCC labels trigger ASN compliance chargebacks. SSCC labels must match ASN data exactly — any discrepancy is a chargeback trigger regardless of product accuracy inside the carton.

FBA inventory physically located in Amazon’s fulfillment centers that has no active listing associated with it and therefore cannot be sold. Stranded inventory is caused by listing suppression, catalog errors, ASIN policy violations, or accidental listing closure while inventory remains at the FC. Stranded inventory still incurs monthly storage fees and lowers your IPI score. The Stranded Inventory report in Seller Central identifies all affected ASINs with resolution options.

Non-skippable video ads served within Amazon Prime Video, Freevee, and live streaming content on Fire TV and other connected devices. STV is Amazon’s premium upper-funnel video advertising inventory, accessible through Amazon DSP. Minimum investment is typically $15,000+. STV delivers full-screen, sound-on ad experiences with Amazon audience targeting — the most impactful brand awareness format Amazon offers for reaching engaged, lean-back viewers.

Total ad spend / total revenue (including organic) x 100. Unlike ACoS (which only measures against ad-attributed sales), TACoS reflects the true cost of advertising as a percentage of your entire business revenue. A TACoS trending downward over time indicates that PPC investment is building organic rank — the ads are paying for themselves in organic growth. TACoS is the definitive long-term efficiency metric for Amazon PPC.

The process of gaining approval to sell in a restricted Amazon product category or brand. Ungating on Amazon typically requires submitting invoices from authorized distributors, passing category-specific assessments, and sometimes requiring a Professional seller account. Common gated categories include Grocery, Jewelry, Automotive, and Health and Beauty. Successfully ungating in high-barrier categories creates a competitive moat, as most sellers cannot access them.

Amazon Seller Central’s term for conversion rate — units ordered / total sessions. Session = a unique visit to your product page within a 24-hour window (multiple page views by the same customer count as one session). Amazon’s category average unit session percentage varies widely (5-20%+). Tracking this metric weekly reveals whether listing changes, price adjustments, or review events are impacting your conversion efficiency.

A 12-digit GS1-standard barcode used to identify retail products in the US and Canada. Amazon requires valid UPCs (sourced directly from GS1 or a brand’s licensed GS1 prefix) to create new listings. Resold GS1 codes from third-party sites often fail Amazon’s authenticity checks, causing listing creation failures. UPCs are product-specific — each variation (size, color) requires its own UPC. GTIN exemptions are available for custom/handmade products without GTINs.

Amazon’s platform for first-party (1P) suppliers — manufacturers and distributors that sell products wholesale directly to Amazon. Amazon then resells these products to customers as “Sold by Amazon.” Vendors receive guaranteed purchase orders but lose control over retail pricing. Distinct from Seller Central (3P). Read our overview of Amazon Vendor Central including PO management, chargebacks, and vendor-specific operational requirements.

The percentage of seller-fulfilled orders cancelled by the seller before shipment (pre-fulfillment cancellations). Amazon requires VCR below 2.5% — typically caused by inventory discrepancies, overselling, or listing errors on out-of-stock products. VCR violations are common among sellers using multiple-channel inventory without real-time sync. High VCR alongside ODR issues is a fast path to selling privilege restrictions.

The percentage of FBM/MFN orders that have a valid tracking number uploaded before the expected ship date. Amazon requires 95%+ VTR — falling below this threshold can result in loss of Buy Box eligibility for seller-fulfilled listings. Always purchase shipping through Amazon Buy Shipping where possible — it automatically uploads valid tracking numbers and provides additional policy protections, including exemption from some A-to-Z guarantee claims.

The specific attribute type (size, color, flavor, style, pack quantity, etc.) that differentiates child ASINs within a variation family. Amazon’s category-specific style guides define which variation themes are permitted for each category — using an invalid variation theme causes parent-child relationship rejection. Mixing variation themes is a common cause of variation suppression.

Informal term for Amazon’s process of approving a seller to list in a restricted category or sell a specific brand. Gated categories (e.g., Grocery, Jewelry, Fine Art) require pre-approval with documentation — invoices from authorized distributors, safety certifications, or professional licenses. Getting whitelisted for high-barrier categories is a competitive moat — fewer sellers can access these categories, reducing competition and protecting margins.

The most precise keyword match type in Amazon PPC — your ad shows only when the customer’s search query exactly matches your keyword (allowing minor misspellings and plurals). Exact match gives maximum bid control and the highest relevance signal, but minimum reach. Best used for proven, high-converting keywords migrated from broad or auto campaigns. Exact match campaigns typically have the lowest ACoS in a well-structured account.

A comparison of a metric (revenue, units, TACoS, conversion rate) against the same period in the prior year. YoY is the standard benchmarking period for Amazon businesses with seasonal patterns — it normalizes for holiday spikes, Q4 peaks, and Prime Day impacts that make month-over-month comparisons misleading. Consistent YoY growth across both organic and paid channels is the healthiest signal of a compounding Amazon business.

The revenue return generated per impression across different ad placements. Amazon’s placement adjustment feature lets you increase bids by up to 900% for top-of-search positions and product page placements separately. Analyzing yield by placement reveals whether top-of-search (higher CTR, higher CPC) is more profitable than product page placements (lower CTR, lower CPC) for your specific products — allowing surgical bid allocation rather than broad adjustment.

Industry term for an ASIN that is live in your catalog but generating zero sales — typically due to suppression, stranded inventory, pricing errors, or catalog attribute issues. Zombie ASINs accumulate long-term storage fees, drag down your IPI score, and consume catalog management bandwidth. Quarterly catalog audits to identify and resolve or close zombie ASINs are a standard operational practice for sellers managing large SKU counts.

Keywords in PPC campaigns that receive impressions but generate no clicks (or clicks but no conversions) over an extended period. Zero-click and zero-conversion keywords should be reviewed regularly — they signal either relevance mismatch (keyword doesn’t match your product) or a creative issue (main image or price not compelling enough to earn a click). Regular Search Term Report analysis to identify and negate these terms is a core ACoS optimization practice.