Amazon Seller Glossary

An A-to-z Guarantee claim is a buyer-initiated request for a refund from Amazon when a seller-fulfilled (FBM) order arrives late, damaged, or not as described and the seller fails to resolve it.

A+ Content is enhanced product-description formatting — image modules, comparison charts, and rich text — available to Brand Registry sellers to replace the plain bullet description.

Amazon's aggregated measure of seller performance, covering ODR, late shipments, cancellations, and policy violations.

Advertising Cost of Sale — the percentage of ad-attributed revenue spent on advertising.

A graduated monthly surcharge on FBA inventory that has been stored 181+ days, escalating with age.

Brand Registry is Amazon's program for trademark-holding sellers that unlocks brand-protection tools, A+ Content, Sponsored Brands ads, and the Brand Store.

Amazon's unique 10-character product identifier, present in every listing URL and used by every Amazon API.

Amazon's upstream warehousing service that stores bulk inventory before it auto-replenishes to FBA.

Backend keywords are the hidden "Search Terms" field in a listing where sellers add extra keywords that help the product get indexed without appearing on the public page.

Amazon's ranking of how a product's sales velocity compares to other products in its category.

The "Add to Cart" position on a product detail page, awarded to the seller Amazon's algorithm picks as the default.

Amazon's monthly cap on how much storage volume an FBA seller can use, set per account based on IPI and sales history.

The fixed quantity of units a supplier ships per case — restock recommendations should always round to a multiple of this number.

The fully-loaded cost to acquire and ready a unit for sale — invoice cost plus prep, freight, duties, and any inbound costs.

Conversion rate is the percentage of listing visitors who buy — on Amazon it is reported as Unit Session Percentage (units ordered ÷ sessions).

The price you pay each time someone clicks one of your Sponsored Products ads.

How many days your current inventory will last at recent sales velocity — the most useful number on your inventory dashboard.

Dimensional weight is a pricing weight derived from a package's volume (length × width × height ÷ a divisor) used when a bulky-but-light item would otherwise be underpriced by actual weight.

A disposal order instructs Amazon to discard or recycle FBA inventory you no longer want stored, charged a per-unit disposal fee instead of returning the units to you.

Dropshipping is a model where the seller lists products without holding inventory and, upon a sale, has a third party ship directly to the customer — tightly restricted by Amazon's policy.

An EAN (European/International Article Number) is the 13-digit barcode standard used outside North America, functionally the international counterpart to the 12-digit UPC.

Amazon's fulfillment service: sellers ship inventory to Amazon, Amazon handles storage, picking, packing, shipping, and customer service.

The FBA fulfillment fee is the flat per-unit charge Amazon takes to pick, pack, and ship an FBA order, priced by the unit's size tier and shipping weight.

FBA Liquidation is an Amazon program that sells off your excess or aged FBA inventory in bulk through wholesale liquidators, returning you a percentage of value instead of a disposal write-off.

Sellers ship inventory directly to customers from their own warehouse (or 3PL) instead of using FBA.

The Amazon-issued barcode that uniquely identifies your specific units of a SKU within Amazon's fulfillment network.

A fulfillment center (FC) is an Amazon warehouse where FBA inventory is stored, picked, packed, and shipped to customers.

A gated category is a product category or brand that requires Amazon's approval ("ungating") before a seller is allowed to list in it.

A flat-commission FBA reimbursement service that audits your account and files claims on your behalf — usually at 25%.

Revenue minus COGS minus Amazon fees — what's left before subtracting overhead, advertising, and operating expenses.

A GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) is the umbrella GS1 standard for product identifiers — UPC, EAN, and ISBN are all specific lengths of GTIN.

Hazmat (dangerous goods) are products with flammable, pressurized, corrosive, or battery-containing components that require special FBA handling, storage, and review before they can be sold.

The per-unit fee Amazon charges for routing your inbound shipment to fewer fulfillment centers (or to none, with AWD).

When Amazon receives fewer units than you shipped to FBA — eligible for reimbursement, with a manual claim window of 60 days from delivery under Amazon's current US policy.

Amazon's 0-1000 score measuring how well you manage FBA inventory health — drives capacity limits and storage fees.

Keyword research is the process of finding the actual search terms shoppers use for a product, so you can place them in the title, bullets, and backend keywords to maximize discoverability.

The total time from placing a purchase order to having sellable inventory in Amazon's FBA network.

A third-party seller who jumps onto your listing and starts selling counterfeit, knockoff, or unauthorized versions of your product.

Units that Amazon received into FBA but can no longer locate — eligible for reimbursement at the unit's sale price.

A brand-set price floor below which authorized resellers may not advertise the product.

Profit expressed as a percentage of sale price — the most-quoted profitability metric, often misused.

The manufacturer's recommended retail price — used as a price ceiling and as an anchor for discount messaging.

Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) lets sellers use their FBA inventory to fulfill orders from non-Amazon sales channels — like Shopify or their own website — shipped by Amazon.

What's actually left after every expense — Gross Profit minus PPC, software, payroll, prep, and operating costs.

The percentage of orders with a negative customer experience (negative feedback, A-to-Z claim, or chargeback). Must stay under 1%.

Online arbitrage (OA) is buying discounted products from online retailers and reselling them on Amazon for a profit on the price gap.

Organic rank is where a listing appears in Amazon's unpaid search results for a given keyword, driven primarily by sales velocity and conversion on that term.

Oversize refers to FBA size tiers for large or heavy units that exceed standard dimensions, carrying substantially higher fulfillment and storage fees.

A "container" ASIN that groups variations (size, color, flavor) of the same product into a single listing.

Amazon's pay-per-click advertising platform — Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display.

Prep requirements are Amazon's rules for how units must be packaged, bagged, labeled, or protected before being sent into FBA so they arrive sellable and safe.

Private label is the model of sourcing a generic product, branding it as your own, and selling it under a trademark you control on a listing only you own.

The referral fee is the commission Amazon takes on each sale — a percentage of the total sale price (typically 8–15%, most categories 15%) charged to every seller regardless of fulfillment method.

Money Amazon owes you for inventory or fee discrepancies — lost, damaged, miscounted, or overcharged.

A removal order asks Amazon to ship FBA inventory out of a fulfillment center back to you (or a designated address) for a per-unit removal fee.

The on-hand inventory level at which you should place the next supplier order to avoid a stockout.

Software that automatically adjusts your Amazon prices based on competitor moves, Buy Box probability, and rules you set.

Per-month caps on how many units you can SEND to FBA, separate from how much you can STORE there.

A returnless refund is when Amazon refunds a buyer without requiring the item back — leaving the seller out the unit unless it is later returned to inventory or reimbursed.

The FBA returns processing fee is a per-unit charge Amazon applies to products with high return rates (and to all apparel/shoe returns), introduced June 1, 2024.

Profit divided by COGS — the right profitability metric for arbitrage and any business with rapid inventory turnover.

A claim type for FBM sellers requesting reimbursement on customer-initiated returns where Amazon issued a refund without your input.

Buffer inventory held above expected demand to absorb demand variability and lead-time variability.

Units sold per unit of time — usually days or weeks. The single most important demand signal for restock planning.

Sell-through rate is the share of available inventory sold over a period — units sold divided by units available (sold + on hand) — a key gauge of how fast stock is moving.

Seller Central is Amazon's web dashboard where third-party (3P) sellers manage listings, inventory, orders, advertising, reports, and account health.

A SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) is the seller's own internal identifier for a product variant — distinct from Amazon's shared ASIN — used to track inventory and listings.

Sponsored Brands are banner-style Amazon ads featuring your logo, a custom headline, and multiple products, available only to Brand Registry sellers.

Amazon's most-used PPC ad type: keyword and ASIN-targeted ads in search results and on product detail pages.

Monthly per-cubic-foot fees Amazon charges for inventory in FBA, with surcharges in Q4 and on aged inventory.

FBA units you own but cannot sell because the listing is suppressed, deactivated, or otherwise broken.

Subscribe & Save is Amazon's recurring-delivery program where shoppers get a discount on automatic repeat shipments of eligible consumable products.

Total Advertising Cost of Sale — ad spend as a percentage of TOTAL revenue, not just ad-attributed revenue. The metric that actually matters.

A UPC (Universal Product Code) is the 12-digit barcode standard used in North America to identify retail products, required as a product identifier when creating most Amazon listings.