Amazon's marketplace comes with its own language. Between FBA, FBM, ACoS, TACoS, FNSKU, IPI scores, and Buy Box algorithms, new sellers face a wall of terminology before they can even list their first product. Experienced sellers encounter new terms as Amazon launches programs and updates policies.
This glossary covers over 100 Amazon seller terms organized A-Z — from advertising metrics like ACoS and TACoS to fulfillment models like FBA and FBM, financial concepts like gross margin and net profit, and the operational terms that determine whether a seller account stays in good standing.
Use the letter links below to jump to any section, or browse the full list for terms you may not have encountered yet.
Jump to: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W
A
A/B Testing: Comparing two versions of a product listing to see which performs better. Amazon calls this "Manage Your Experiments" and allows brand-registered sellers to test titles, images, A+ content, and bullet points. Tests typically need 4-8 weeks and sufficient traffic volume to produce statistically significant results.
ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sales): The ratio of ad spend to attributed sales revenue, expressed as a percentage. If you spend $25 on ads and generate $100 in sales, your ACoS is 25%. Lower is generally better, but the target depends on your margins — a product with 40% gross margin needs ACoS below 40% to remain profitable on ad-driven sales. Compare ACoS to TACoS for the full picture.
Amazon A+ Content: Enhanced product detail pages available to brand-registered sellers. A+ Content replaces the basic text description with rich media modules including comparison charts, lifestyle images, and brand storytelling. Well-executed A+ Content can increase conversion rates by 3-10%.
Amazon Advertising Console: The centralized platform for creating and managing Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display campaigns. Provides reporting on impressions, clicks, ACoS, and attributed sales.
Amazon Best Seller Rank (BSR): A ranking assigned to every product based on recent sales velocity within its category. BSR updates hourly. A BSR of 1 means the top-selling product in that category. BSR is relative — a BSR of 5,000 in Electronics represents far more sales than 5,000 in a niche subcategory. Sellers use BSR to evaluate product demand during product research.
Amazon Brand Registry: A free program that gives brand owners access to enhanced tools including A+ Content, Sponsored Brands ads, Brand Analytics, and counterfeit protection. Requires a registered trademark. Essential for any seller building a private label brand.
Amazon Business: A B2B marketplace where businesses can purchase products with features like quantity discounts, tax-exempt purchasing, and approval workflows. Sellers can offer business-only pricing and quantity price breaks.
Amazon Currency Converter: A service that converts international sales proceeds to the seller's local currency. Conversion rates include Amazon's fee — typically 1-1.5% above the interbank rate. Sellers with significant international volume may benefit from third-party payment providers.
Amazon Early Reviewer Program: A discontinued program that encouraged buyers to leave reviews on new products. Replaced by Amazon Vine for most use cases.
Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon): Amazon's fulfillment service where sellers ship inventory to Amazon warehouses, and Amazon handles storage, picking, packing, shipping, and customer service. FBA products qualify for Prime shipping, which significantly improves conversion rates. The trade-off is fees — storage fees, fulfillment fees, and long-term storage fees can consume 25-40% of revenue depending on product size and turnover. See FBA vs FBM fees compared for a detailed breakdown.
Amazon FBM (Fulfillment by Merchant): The seller handles all fulfillment — warehousing, packing, shipping, and customer service. FBM avoids Amazon's fulfillment fees but requires the seller to manage logistics. FBM products do not automatically qualify for Prime (unless enrolled in Seller Fulfilled Prime). Best suited for oversized items, low-velocity products, or sellers with existing logistics infrastructure.
Amazon Global Selling: A program that enables sellers to list and sell products on Amazon marketplaces in other countries (US, UK, EU, Japan, Australia, etc.). Requires understanding local tax obligations, product compliance, and logistics.
Amazon Launchpad: A program designed to help startups and emerging brands gain visibility on Amazon through enhanced marketing support, a dedicated storefront section, and access to Amazon's customer base.
Amazon Prime: Amazon's subscription service (200+ million members globally) offering free two-day shipping, streaming, and other benefits. For sellers, Prime eligibility is a significant competitive advantage — Prime members convert at substantially higher rates and tend to filter search results by Prime-eligible products.
Amazon Renewed: A program for selling certified refurbished, pre-owned, and open-box products. Requires meeting Amazon's quality standards and offering a minimum 90-day guarantee.
Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN): A 10-character alphanumeric identifier assigned by Amazon to every product in its catalog. Every unique product has one ASIN, though variations (sizes, colors) receive child ASINs under a parent ASIN. ASINs are essential for product research, advertising, and catalog management.
Amazon Transparency: An anti-counterfeiting program where brands apply unique, scannable codes to every unit of their product. Amazon and customers can verify authenticity by scanning the code. Requires enrollment per-product and purchase of Transparency codes.
Amazon Vine: An invitation-only program where Amazon's most trusted reviewers (Vine Voices) receive free products in exchange for honest reviews. Sellers provide inventory and pay an enrollment fee. Vine reviews carry a "Vine Customer Review of Free Product" badge and cannot be removed by the seller.
APIs (Application Programming Interfaces): Tools that allow software systems to communicate with Amazon's platform. The Amazon Selling Partner API (SP-API) enables automation of inventory management, order processing, reporting, and pricing. Essential for sellers at scale who need to automate operations across multiple SKUs or marketplaces.
Automated Pricing: Rules-based or algorithmic tools that adjust product prices based on competition, Buy Box status, and demand. Amazon offers a built-in "Automate Pricing" tool in Seller Central. Third-party repricers offer more sophisticated strategies. Critical for winning the Buy Box in competitive categories.
B
Backend Keywords: Hidden search terms added to a product listing's backend fields in Seller Central. These keywords are not visible to shoppers but help Amazon's algorithm index the product for additional search queries. Best practices: no commas needed, do not repeat words from the title, use all 249 bytes available, include common misspellings and Spanish translations where relevant.
Bookkeeping: The process of recording and organizing financial transactions. For Amazon sellers, bookkeeping involves tracking sales revenue (net of Amazon fees), advertising costs, inventory purchases, shipping expenses, and returns. Proper bookkeeping is essential for understanding true profitability — many sellers appear profitable on revenue but lose money after accounting for all Amazon fees. Futureproof automates bookkeeping for ecommerce sellers by connecting to Amazon Seller Central and categorizing transactions automatically.
Bulk Inventory Upload: A method for adding multiple products to Amazon using flat files (spreadsheet templates). Sellers download the appropriate category template, fill in product data for multiple SKUs, and upload the completed file through Seller Central. Essential for sellers managing hundreds or thousands of SKUs.
Buy Box: The "Add to Cart" and "Buy Now" section on a product detail page. When multiple sellers offer the same product, Amazon's algorithm determines which seller wins the Buy Box. The Buy Box winner captures approximately 82% of sales on a given listing. Factors that influence Buy Box eligibility include price (including shipping), fulfillment method (FBA is preferred), seller metrics (order defect rate, shipping time), and inventory availability. Winning the Buy Box is the single most important competitive factor for resellers.
C
Chargeback: A payment dispute where the customer's bank or credit card company reverses a transaction. Amazon handles most chargebacks on behalf of FBA sellers. For FBM sellers, chargebacks can result in funds being withheld and require the seller to provide evidence (proof of delivery, product descriptions) to dispute the claim. Excessive chargebacks can lead to account suspension.
Child ASIN: A unique ASIN assigned to a specific variation of a product. For example, a t-shirt listing (parent ASIN) might have child ASINs for each size-color combination — Small/Red, Medium/Blue, Large/Black. All child ASINs share the same product reviews and are displayed as options on a single product detail page.
Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of shoppers who click on a product listing or ad after seeing it in search results. CTR = Clicks ÷ Impressions × 100. A low CTR indicates that the main image, title, price, or star rating are not compelling enough relative to competitors on the same search results page.
Clothing Size Mapping: Amazon's standardized size chart system for apparel products. Sellers must map their product sizes to Amazon's size definitions to ensure accurate filtering and fit information. Incorrect size mapping leads to high return rates.
Condition Guidelines: Amazon's standards that define product condition categories: New, Renewed, Used (Like New, Very Good, Good, Acceptable). Each condition has specific requirements. Listing a product in the wrong condition violates Amazon policy and can result in listing suppression or account warnings.
Conversion Rate: The percentage of product detail page visitors who make a purchase. Conversion Rate = Orders ÷ Sessions × 100. Amazon calls this "Unit Session Percentage" in Seller Central. Average conversion rates on Amazon are 10-15% — significantly higher than typical ecommerce sites (2-3%) because shoppers arrive with purchase intent.
Co-Packers: Third-party companies that manufacture and package products on behalf of a brand owner. Used by private label sellers who design products but outsource production. Co-packers handle manufacturing, labeling, packaging, and often ship directly to Amazon FBA warehouses.
Customer Reviews: Ratings and written feedback left by verified purchasers. Reviews directly impact conversion rates, search ranking, and Buy Box eligibility. Amazon prohibits incentivized reviews (except through Vine). Products with fewer than 15-25 reviews typically struggle to gain organic traction.
D
Defect Rate: See Order Defect Rate (ODR). The percentage of orders with issues including negative feedback, A-to-Z guarantee claims, or chargebacks. Amazon requires ODR below 1%. Exceeding this threshold triggers account health warnings and potential suspension.
Dropshipping: A fulfillment method where the seller lists products on Amazon without holding inventory. When an order comes in, the seller purchases from a third-party supplier who ships directly to the customer. Amazon permits dropshipping only if the seller is the seller of record, ships in plain packaging (no third-party branding), and handles returns. Buying from another retailer (retail arbitrage dropshipping) violates Amazon's policy.
E
EBC (Enhanced Brand Content): The former name for A+ Content. EBC allowed brand-registered sellers to replace the standard text product description with rich media. Amazon rebranded EBC to A+ Content — the feature and functionality are the same.
Enhanced Content: Additional media elements (images, videos, comparison charts, brand stories) added to product listings beyond the standard title, bullets, and description. Includes A+ Content, Brand Story, and product videos. Enhanced content improves conversion rates and reduces return rates by setting accurate expectations.
Exclusivity Agreement: A contract granting one seller exclusive distribution rights for a product or brand on Amazon. Common in wholesale and authorized reseller relationships. Protects against unauthorized sellers and price competition on the same listing.
Export Settings: Configuration options in Seller Central for international selling. Includes tax settings, shipping templates, and currency preferences for each marketplace.
F
Feedback: Seller-level ratings (1-5 stars) and comments left by buyers about their purchase experience — not to be confused with product reviews. Feedback rates affect seller metrics and Buy Box eligibility. Negative feedback related to FBA fulfillment issues can be removed by contacting Seller Support.
Flat Files: Tab-delimited spreadsheet templates used to create or update product listings in bulk. Each product category has its own template with required and optional fields. Flat files are the most efficient method for managing large catalogs — experienced sellers use them for everything from initial listing creation to price updates and inventory adjustments.
FNSKU (Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit): Amazon's internal barcode used to identify individual seller inventory within FBA warehouses. Each seller's inventory receives a unique FNSKU even if the product has the same UPC. FBA sellers must apply FNSKU labels to every unit shipped to Amazon unless the product is eligible for stickerless commingled inventory.
Fulfillment Centers: Amazon's network of warehouses where FBA inventory is stored, picked, packed, and shipped. Amazon operates 100+ fulfillment centers in the US alone. Inventory placement is determined by Amazon's algorithms — sellers cannot choose specific fulfillment centers unless they pay for the Inventory Placement Service.
G
Gross Margin: The percentage of revenue remaining after subtracting cost of goods sold (COGS). For Amazon sellers, COGS includes product cost, inbound shipping to FBA, Amazon referral fees, and FBA fulfillment fees. A product selling for $25 with $15 in total costs has a 40% gross margin. Healthy Amazon gross margins vary by category but most successful sellers target 30-50% after all Amazon fees. Use the Amazon fee calculator to estimate margins before sourcing.
H
Hazmat (Hazardous Materials): Products classified as hazardous that require special handling, storage, and shipping procedures. Includes batteries, aerosols, cleaning chemicals, and certain cosmetics. Hazmat products require additional documentation (Safety Data Sheets) and may have FBA storage restrictions.
Hijacking: When an unauthorized seller lists their product (often a counterfeit or inferior version) on another seller's ASIN. Hijackers piggyback on an established listing's reviews and traffic. Brand Registry, Transparency, and IP complaints are the primary defenses.
I
Individual Seller Plan: A selling plan with no monthly subscription fee but a $0.99 per-item fee on each sale. Best for sellers with fewer than 40 sales per month. Does not include access to advertising, bulk listing tools, or several other Professional plan features. Most serious sellers should use the Professional plan ($39.99/month) once they exceed 40 units/month.
In-Stock Rate: The percentage of time a product is available for purchase. Stockouts directly reduce sales, organic ranking, and Buy Box share. Amazon's algorithm penalizes products that go out of stock — recovering search rank after a stockout can take weeks. Top sellers maintain 95%+ in-stock rates through demand forecasting and safety stock buffers.
Inventory Health: A composite assessment of a seller's inventory efficiency. Evaluated through the Inventory Performance Index (IPI), which considers sell-through rate, excess inventory percentage, stranded inventory, and in-stock rate. Poor inventory health leads to FBA storage limits.
Inventory Performance Index (IPI): A score from 0-1000 that measures FBA inventory management efficiency. Amazon sets minimum IPI thresholds (typically 400-450) — falling below limits FBA storage capacity. Key factors: sell-through rate (most important), excess inventory percentage, stranded inventory, and in-stock rate. Check IPI in Seller Central under Inventory > Inventory Planning.
Inventory Turnover: How many times inventory is sold and replaced over a period. Calculated as COGS ÷ Average Inventory Value. An inventory turnover of 12 means the entire inventory cycles every month. High turnover indicates efficient operations and strong demand. Low turnover leads to long-term storage fees and tied-up capital.
K
Keyword: A word or phrase that shoppers use to search for products on Amazon. Keywords are placed in titles, bullet points, descriptions, and backend search terms to help Amazon's A9/A10 algorithm match products to search queries. Effective keyword strategy combines high-volume terms in the title with long-tail variations in bullets and backend fields.
L
Lightning Deals: Time-limited promotional offers (typically 4-12 hours) where products appear on Amazon's Deals page at a discounted price. Sellers pay a fee to participate (varies by category and season — Q4 fees are highest). Lightning Deals can generate significant volume but require sufficient inventory and competitive pricing.
Listing Optimization: The practice of improving product titles, images, bullet points, descriptions, A+ Content, and backend keywords to increase search visibility and conversion rate. The main image has the largest impact on CTR. Bullet points and A+ Content have the largest impact on conversion.
Long-Term Storage Fees: Additional fees charged by Amazon for FBA inventory stored for more than 181 days (aged surcharge) or 271-365+ days (additional surcharge). These fees can be substantial — up to $6.90 per cubic foot per month for inventory over 365 days. Sellers should regularly review aged inventory and create removal orders for slow-moving stock.
Long-Tail Keywords: Specific multi-word search phrases with lower volume but higher conversion intent. "Stainless steel water bottle 32 oz with straw" converts better than "water bottle" because the shopper knows exactly what they want. Long-tail keywords are placed in bullet points and backend search terms.
Lost Buy Box: When a seller who previously held the Buy Box loses it to another seller or Amazon itself. Common causes: price undercut, inventory stockout, declining seller metrics, or a new FBA offer appearing. Monitor Buy Box percentage in the Business Reports section of Seller Central.
M
Marketplace: Amazon's third-party selling platform where independent sellers list products alongside Amazon's own retail offerings. Each country has its own marketplace (amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.de, etc.) with separate catalog, pricing, and fulfillment infrastructure.
MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price): The recommended retail price set by the manufacturer. On Amazon, MSRP is displayed as the "List Price" with a strikethrough when the selling price is lower, creating a visual discount. Amazon requires List Price to be a genuine price at which the product has been offered.
Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF): Amazon's service that uses FBA inventory to fulfill orders from non-Amazon channels — your Shopify store, eBay, or direct website. MCF orders ship in Amazon-branded packaging (unbranded packaging is available for an additional fee). Useful for sellers who want centralized inventory without building separate fulfillment infrastructure.
N
Negative Feedback: Seller feedback ratings of 1-2 stars or negative written comments. A negative feedback rate above 5% is a warning sign. Sellers can request removal of feedback that is a product review (belongs on the product page, not seller feedback) or relates to FBA fulfillment (Amazon's responsibility).
Net Profit: Total revenue minus all costs — product cost, Amazon fees (referral, FBA, storage, advertising), shipping, overhead, and taxes. Net profit is the definitive measure of business viability. Many Amazon sellers focus on revenue or gross margins while ignoring the true bottom line. Track net profit per unit and overall to ensure the business is genuinely profitable after all costs.
O
Online Arbitrage: Purchasing products from online retailers (Walmart.com, Target.com, clearance sales) at a discount and reselling them on Amazon at a higher price. More scalable than retail arbitrage since it can be done from a computer. Requires tools for price comparison, sales rank tracking, and profitability calculation. Margins are typically thin (15-25%) and competition is high.
P
Parent ASIN: The main product listing that groups multiple variations together. A parent ASIN itself is not purchasable — it serves as a container for child ASINs. For example, a shoe listing (parent) contains specific size/color combinations (children). All children share the parent's reviews and star rating.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC): Amazon's advertising model where sellers pay only when a shopper clicks on their ad. The three PPC ad types are Sponsored Products (individual listings), Sponsored Brands (brand headlines), and Sponsored Display (retargeting). PPC is bid-based — sellers set maximum bids per click, and Amazon's auction determines which ads appear. Effective PPC management requires monitoring ACoS, adjusting bids by keyword, and continuously testing ad creative.
Performance Notifications: Alerts from Amazon regarding account health violations, policy changes, or required actions. Found in the "Performance" tab of Seller Central. Ignoring performance notifications — especially those related to policy violations, intellectual property complaints, or account health metrics — can lead to listing deactivation or account suspension.
Premium Placement: Higher-visibility ad positions on Amazon search results and product detail pages. Achieved through competitive bidding and strong ad relevance scores. Amazon's "Top of Search" placement modifier allows sellers to increase bids specifically for the first page of search results.
Private Label: Products manufactured by a third party but branded and sold under the seller's own brand name. The dominant business model for Amazon sellers building long-term equity. Requires product research, sourcing (typically from manufacturers in China via Alibaba), brand creation, and Amazon Brand Registry. Higher margins (40-60%) than arbitrage or wholesale but requires upfront investment.
Product Compliance: Adherence to legal, safety, and regulatory standards required for selling specific product categories. Includes certifications (FCC, UL, FDA), testing requirements (CPSIA for children's products), labeling requirements, and category-specific regulations. Non-compliance can result in listing removal, inventory disposal, and legal liability.
Product Insert: Marketing material included inside the product packaging. Commonly used for warranty registration, usage instructions, and encouraging reviews (without violating Amazon's review policies). Amazon prohibits inserts that direct customers to leave positive reviews or that attempt to redirect customers to external websites for purchasing.
Product Listing: The complete product detail page on Amazon, including title, images (up to 9), bullet points (5-7), product description, A+ Content, pricing, shipping information, and customer reviews. The listing is the seller's primary sales tool — optimizing every element directly impacts search visibility and conversion rate.
Product Research: The process of identifying profitable products to sell on Amazon. Involves analyzing demand (BSR, search volume), competition (number of sellers, review counts), margins (after all fees), and differentiation opportunities. Tools like Jungle Scout, Helium 10, and Keepa provide data for product research decisions.
Q
Q4 (Fourth Quarter): October through December — the highest-volume selling period on Amazon, driven by Prime Day (October), Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and holiday shopping. Q4 can represent 30-50% of an Amazon seller's annual revenue. Requires advance inventory planning (ship to FBA by September), competitive pricing strategy, and increased advertising budgets. FBA storage fees and Lightning Deal fees are highest during Q4.
R
Ratings: Numerical scores (1-5 stars) given by customers on both product reviews and seller feedback. Products with a 4.0+ star rating and 50+ reviews generally perform well in search and conversion. A drop below 3.5 stars typically signals a product quality issue that will erode sales.
Reimbursement: Compensation from Amazon for inventory that is lost, damaged, or destroyed while in FBA fulfillment centers, or during transit to/from warehouses. Amazon does not always automatically reimburse — sellers should audit their accounts regularly and file claims for missing inventory. See our guide on Amazon reimbursements.
Removal Order: A request to have inventory returned from FBA warehouses to the seller or disposed of. Used for slow-moving inventory approaching long-term storage fee thresholds, recalled products, or inventory being moved to another fulfillment channel. Removal fees apply per unit.
Replenishment Alerts: Automated notifications from Amazon or third-party tools that indicate inventory levels are approaching a reorder point. Proper replenishment planning accounts for lead time (manufacturing + shipping to FBA), sales velocity, and safety stock requirements.
Repricing: Adjusting product prices — manually or algorithmically — to remain competitive and maintain Buy Box share. Amazon's built-in Automate Pricing tool offers basic rule-based repricing. Third-party repricers (RepricerExpress, Seller Snap, BQool) offer more sophisticated strategies including AI-driven pricing and competitor-specific rules.
Restock Limits: FBA storage capacity limits imposed by Amazon based on a seller's IPI score, sales volume, and historical performance. Sellers with low IPI scores face tighter limits, restricting how much inventory they can send to FBA. Managing restock limits requires balancing sufficient inventory for sales velocity against Amazon's capacity constraints.
Retail Arbitrage: Buying products from physical retail stores (clearance racks, discount stores) at below-market prices and reselling them on Amazon at a profit. Entry-level business model that requires minimal upfront investment but is time-intensive and difficult to scale. Margins are typically 20-35%. The Amazon Seller app can scan product barcodes in-store to show current selling price and fees.
Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA): The process for handling product returns. For FBA orders, Amazon handles returns automatically according to its return policy. For FBM orders, sellers must authorize returns and provide return shipping labels. Return processing and restocking logistics significantly impact profitability.
Return Rate: The percentage of units returned by customers. Return Rate = Returns ÷ Units Sold × 100. Amazon's average return rate is 5-15% depending on category. Apparel and shoes see 15-30% return rates. High return rates increase costs, reduce profitability, and can trigger Amazon listing quality investigations. Track return reasons in Seller Central to identify product or listing issues.
S
Sales Rank: Another term for Amazon Best Seller Rank (BSR). See BSR above.
Sales Velocity: The rate at which a product sells, typically measured in units per day or per week. Sales velocity directly influences BSR, organic search ranking, and Buy Box eligibility. Amazon's algorithm favors products with consistent, increasing velocity over products with sporadic spikes. Promotions and advertising can accelerate velocity, but the effect must be sustained to maintain ranking improvements.
Scalability: The ability to grow sales volume without proportionally increasing operational complexity or costs. FBA provides scalability for fulfillment. Automated repricing provides scalability for pricing. But product research, listing optimization, and supplier management require human judgment that doesn't scale linearly — the challenge is building systems and teams as the business grows.
Seasonality: The impact of calendar-driven demand patterns on sales. Some products have extreme seasonality (holiday decorations, summer outdoor gear) while others are evergreen. Understanding seasonality is critical for inventory planning, advertising budgets, and cash flow management. Amazon's Brand Analytics shows search frequency trends by month for any keyword.
Seller Account: The Amazon account used to manage listings, orders, advertising, and business settings. Two types: Individual (no monthly fee, $0.99/unit sold) and Professional ($39.99/month, no per-unit fee). A seller account is linked to a legal entity and bank account. Amazon allows one account per seller unless approved for multiple accounts.
Seller Central: Amazon's web-based portal where third-party sellers manage every aspect of their business — product listings, inventory, orders, advertising, payments, reports, and account health. Seller Central is distinct from Vendor Central (used by first-party suppliers who sell wholesale to Amazon).
Seller Feedback: Buyer ratings (1-5 stars) about the purchasing experience — shipping speed, packaging, communication. Distinct from product reviews. Seller feedback affects account health metrics and Buy Box eligibility. Maintain a feedback rating above 95% positive for optimal account standing.
Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP): A program allowing FBM sellers to display the Prime badge on their listings by meeting Amazon's delivery speed requirements (1-2 day shipping). SFP requires demonstrated performance: on-time delivery above 93.5%, cancellation rate below 0.5%, and use of Amazon Buy Shipping. Competitive for sellers with warehouses near major metro areas.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): On Amazon, SEO refers to optimizing listings to rank higher in Amazon's A9/A10 search algorithm. Key factors: keyword relevance (title, bullets, backend), conversion rate, sales velocity, reviews, and inventory availability. Amazon SEO differs from Google SEO — Amazon's algorithm is primarily driven by purchase likelihood and sales history, not backlinks or domain authority.
Settlement Report: A bi-weekly financial report in Seller Central detailing all account transactions — sales, refunds, fees, advertising charges, and the net settlement amount deposited to the seller's bank account. Settlement reports are essential for accurate bookkeeping and reconciliation. Futureproof automatically imports and categorizes settlement report data.
SKU (Stock Keeping Unit): A seller-defined identifier for tracking individual products and variations in inventory. Unlike ASINs (Amazon-assigned), SKUs are created by the seller and can follow any naming convention. Best practice: use a systematic SKU format that encodes product attributes (e.g., "TSHIRT-BLK-M" for a black medium t-shirt) for easier inventory management.
Sponsored Brands: PPC ads that appear at the top of search results featuring a brand logo, custom headline, and up to three products. Available to brand-registered sellers. Effective for brand awareness, category dominance, and driving traffic to Amazon Storefronts. Supports video creative in addition to static images.
Sponsored Display Ads: Amazon's display advertising product that reaches shoppers both on and off Amazon. Targeting options include product targeting (show ads on competitor listings), audience targeting (reach shoppers who viewed similar products), and remarketing (re-engage past viewers). Lower intent than Sponsored Products but broader reach.
Sponsored Products: The most common Amazon PPC ad format. Sponsored Products appear within search results and on product detail pages, promoting individual product listings. Targeting options include automatic (Amazon chooses keywords), manual keyword targeting, and manual product targeting. Typically accounts for 70-80% of a seller's total ad spend.
Standard Inventory Storage Fees: Monthly fees charged for FBA inventory based on cubic feet of space used. Rates vary by time of year — storage fees increase during Q4 (October-December) to incentivize efficient inventory management. Charged in addition to fulfillment fees on each unit sold.
Stock Levels: The quantity of inventory available for sale at any given time. Optimal stock levels balance two risks: stockouts (lost sales and ranking) and overstocking (storage fees and tied-up capital). The formula: Safety Stock + (Average Daily Sales × Lead Time in Days) = Minimum Stock Level.
Stranded Inventory: FBA inventory that exists in Amazon's warehouse but is not linked to an active listing — meaning it cannot be sold. Caused by listing errors, ASIN suppression, or pricing issues. Stranded inventory incurs storage fees without generating sales. Monitor and resolve through the "Fix Stranded Inventory" tool in Seller Central.
Subscription Business Model: Amazon's Subscribe & Save program, where customers receive recurring deliveries at a discounted price (typically 5-15% off). Sellers enrolled in Subscribe & Save benefit from predictable recurring revenue and reduced advertising costs for repeat purchases.
Supply Chain: The end-to-end network of sourcing, manufacturing, logistics, and fulfillment involved in getting products to customers. For Amazon sellers, the supply chain typically includes raw material suppliers, manufacturers (often overseas), freight forwarders, customs brokers, prep centers, and Amazon FBA warehouses.
Suppressed Listings: Product listings that Amazon has removed from search results and Browse nodes due to policy violations, incomplete information, or quality issues. Common causes: missing main image, title exceeding character limits, restricted keywords, or pricing errors. Suppressed listings are visible in the "Listing Quality Dashboard" in Seller Central.
T
TACoS (Total Advertising Cost of Sales): Total ad spend divided by total revenue (both organic and paid). TACoS = Total Ad Spend ÷ Total Revenue × 100. Unlike ACoS (which only measures ad-attributed sales), TACoS shows how advertising contributes to overall business performance. A declining TACoS with stable ACoS indicates that ads are driving organic sales growth — the ideal scenario. TACoS between 5-15% is generally healthy depending on margins and growth stage.
Third-Party Logistics (3PL): External companies that handle warehousing, fulfillment, and shipping on behalf of sellers. Used by FBM sellers who want professional fulfillment without building in-house logistics, or by FBA sellers who need overflow capacity. 3PLs can also handle prep (labeling, bundling, poly-bagging) before shipping to Amazon FBA warehouses.
Third-Party Sellers: Independent businesses that list and sell products on Amazon's marketplace, as opposed to Amazon's own retail division (first-party). Third-party sellers account for approximately 60% of all Amazon sales. Third-party sellers manage their own pricing, advertising, and customer relationships through Seller Central.
Title: The product name/heading on a listing — the single most important element for search visibility. Amazon's title requirements vary by category but generally follow: Brand + Product Line + Key Feature + Size/Quantity + Color/Variant. Titles should be 150-200 characters, front-loaded with the most important keywords, and written for humans (not keyword-stuffed).
U
Universal Product Code (UPC): A 12-digit barcode used globally to identify products. Required for listing most products on Amazon (unless brand-registered sellers use GTIN exemptions). UPCs must be purchased from GS1, the official issuing authority. Reselling products with existing UPCs is acceptable; creating private label products requires purchasing new UPCs.
V
Variation Listings: Product detail pages that group multiple related options (size, color, style, quantity) under a single parent ASIN. Variations consolidate reviews and traffic, which generally improves ranking and conversion compared to separate listings for each variant. Creating variations requires matching Amazon's category-specific variation themes.
Variations: The individual product options within a variation listing — each combination of attributes (e.g., "Large / Blue") receives its own child ASIN and can have distinct pricing, images, and inventory levels.
Vendor Central: Amazon's platform for first-party (1P) selling, where Amazon buys products wholesale from manufacturers and distributors, then resells them as "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com." Vendor Central is invitation-only and gives Amazon control over pricing, advertising, and inventory. See our comparison of 1P vs 3P selling models.
Virtual Bundle: A feature that allows brand-registered sellers to offer a bundle of 2-5 complementary ASINs as a single purchasable unit without creating new packaging. The individual products are picked and shipped separately but appear as one offer. Effective for increasing average order value and cross-selling.
Voice of the Customer (VOC): A Seller Central dashboard that aggregates customer feedback signals — return reasons, product reviews, and buyer complaints — to identify product quality and listing accuracy issues. Amazon uses VOC data to flag products at risk of suppression. Sellers should monitor VOC weekly and address recurring complaints.
W
Warehouse Deals: Amazon's program for selling returned, warehouse-damaged, or refurbished products at discounted prices. Products are graded by condition (Like New, Very Good, Good, Acceptable) and sold under the "Amazon Warehouse" seller name. Sellers do not participate directly — Amazon sources inventory from FBA returns.
White Label: Products manufactured by one company and sold under another company's branding. Similar to private label but typically involves less product customization — the seller applies their brand to an existing, off-the-shelf product rather than developing a custom design. Lower barrier to entry than true private label but less differentiation.
Wholesale: The practice of purchasing branded products in bulk from manufacturers or authorized distributors at wholesale prices and reselling them on Amazon at retail prices. Wholesale sellers compete for the Buy Box on existing listings rather than creating new product listings. Requires building supplier relationships and often involves minimum order quantities. Margins are typically 15-30%.
Win the Buy Box: Achieving the primary "Add to Cart" position on a product detail page. See Buy Box above for the factors that determine Buy Box eligibility and winning strategy.
Winning Keywords: Search terms that drive significant traffic and sales for a specific product listing. Identified through Amazon Brand Analytics (for brand-registered sellers), PPC search term reports, and keyword research tools. A "winning keyword" has three characteristics: high search volume, strong ranking position (page 1), and high conversion rate for that product.
What This Glossary Doesn't Cover: Your Numbers
Understanding Amazon terminology is the first step. The second step is understanding your actual financial performance — which products are profitable after all Amazon fees, which advertising campaigns generate returns, and whether your business is genuinely making money or just generating revenue.
Many Amazon sellers operate on thin margins where the difference between profitability and loss comes down to accurate bookkeeping, fee tracking, and inventory management. If you're spending hours reconciling settlement reports in spreadsheets, or you're not confident in your true net profit per product, Futureproof automates ecommerce financial operations — connecting to Amazon Seller Central to categorize transactions, track fees, and calculate profitability automatically.
Related reading:
- Amazon Fee Calculator — Calculate your per-unit fees before sourcing
- FBA vs FBM Fees Compared — Side-by-side cost comparison
- 1P vs 3P Sellers: Which Model Is Right for You? — Business model comparison
- Complete Guide to Amazon Reimbursements — Recover money Amazon owes you
- Dominate Amazon's Fees — Strategies to reduce your fee burden
