Posted on

February 14, 2023

Amazon Glossary for Sellers

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This guide will help you get started, understand the basics of Amazon selling, and explain in simple words how it all works.

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Amazon has many terminologies with specific meanings that are unique to this marketplace. Understanding this terminology helps sellers better orientate in Seller Central and get into details of Amazon sales, rules, and guidance. Talking the same language with the Amazon community means you’re integral to it. Learn the meaning of Amazon terms in our glossary.

3 PL

3PL (third-party logistics) is a provider offering outsourced logistics and fulfillment services. Sellers conclude contracts with 3PL for storing or shipping their products. 3PL services range from single-service offers, like transportation or storage, to complete logistics solutions.

A+ Content

A+ content Amazon program allows sellers to create advanced and detailed product descriptions and add extra pictures, infographics, and text.

A10

A10 is Amazon's proprietary algorithm that determines product ranking by analyzing product listings, matching them with buyers' search queries, and then placing the most relevant ones on the search results pages.

A/B Testing

A/B Testing is a method of testing alternative versions of websites, product pages, and other sales metrics. For example, to A/B test product images, you need to record the current performance metrics (conversion rates, impressions, etc.), replace the existing image, and run the test for two weeks. After that, measure the same metrics and compare the result. Select the image that works best.

Account Health

Account health is a set of performance policies and targets that all sellers must comply with to sell on Amazon. Account health metrics include customer service performance, product policy compliance, and shipping performance.

Account Deactivation

Account deactivation means that Amazon has removed your selling privileges and deactivated your account. That can happen if you violate Amazon’s selling policies, terms, or conditions. While your account is banned, none of your product listings will be visible to shoppers.

What is Amazon Seller Account Health Rating?

‍Account Suspension

Suspension is a limited or temporary account deactivation until a problem Amazon detected has been corrected or resolved.

How To Avoid Amazon Seller Account Suspension?‍

ACoS

ACoS is Advertising Cost of Sale. It is a key metric to measure the performance of an Amazon PPC campaign expressed as a percentage. It is calculated by dividing ad spend by ad revenue, then converting it to a percentage.

Ad Daily Budget

Ad daily budget is the average daily sum of money you spend on a selected ad group for keywords.

Ad Impressions

The ad impressions metric is the number of users

that see your product ad.

Ad Orders

Ad orders metric is the number of orders purchased by the shoppers that clicked on your product’s sponsored ad.

Ad Sales

Ad sales, or PPC sales, are product sales generated from clicking on Sponsored Product Ads.

Ad Spend

Ad spend metric is the total amount of money you pay for an Amazon sponsored campaign in a specific period.

Ad Targeting

When you create an Amazon ad campaign, you can select keywords automatically or manually. If you choose keywords manually, this is manual targeting. If you let Amazon select keywords, this is automatic targeting.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing involves social media influencers, website owners, and bloggers that advertise products from Amazon sellers on their sites by creating links. When customers click the links and buy products from Amazon, they earn referral fees. On Amazon, there is a specific affiliate marketing program called Amazon Associates. It's free to participate.

AMZ

AMZ means Amazon, an e-commerce and cloud computing company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, USA. More specifically, AMZ is Amazon’s stock abbreviation.

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API

API is the acronym for Application Programming Interface. It’s an intermediary that allows two software program applications to communicate with each other.

ASIN

ASIN is the acronym for Amazon Standard Identification Number. It’s a unique identifier of 10 letters and numbers assigned to a product by Amazon. It’s used for product identification within the Amazon product catalog.

Amazon ASIN, EAN, ISBN, and UPC Explained

‍A-to-z Guarantee

The A-to-z Guarantee is Amazon’s program that guarantees to resolve problems with the condition, delivery, and returns of third-party seller products. If a buyer encounters an issue, they can send an A to z claim to Amazon, which will decide if that buyer is eligible for a refund.

Amazon SERP

Amazon SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page. The Amazon SERP shows results to buyers after they complete a product search on Amazon. To help improve product rankings on the SERP, sellers must optimize their Amazon product listings.

B2B

B2B, Business-to-business on Amazon is sales between companies. Businesses on Amazon can sell both to individual shoppers (B2C, business to customers) and other businesses (B2B).

Backend Keywords

Backend keywords are hidden keywords visible only to Amazon sellers. Shoppers can't see these keywords. However, they are indexed by Amazon's algorithm. They are located in the “backend” of the product listing. By adding them, sellers can target the search terms they could not include on the “frontend” of the product page.

Bid

Amazon uses an auction-type system that allows sellers to place bids for their ads to display to shoppers. Seller pays for the bids when shoppers click on their ads.

Brand

A brand is a product manufactured by a specific company under a particular name. The brand appears in the form of a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that distinguishes the product from other items.

Brand Registry

An Amazon program that helps sellers protect registered trademarks on Amazon. When sellers enroll in the Amazon Brand Registry, they get access to enhanced brand content features.

Related: Amazon Restricted Brands

BSR

BSR is Best Sellers Rank. That is the score that is assigned to products based on historical sales. The Amazon algorithm automatically calculates this ranking by using the number of recent sales and historical sales data compared to other products in the same category. The BSR can be used to estimate a product’s sales numbers.

Buy Box

The Buy Box is a widget on Amazon product pages that lets buyers quickly purchase products by clicking the “Add to cart” or “Buy Now” buttons. If more than one merchant sells on the listing, sellers compete to win the Buy Box.

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‍Cart Abandonment Rate

Cart abandonment rate is the percentage of online buyers that add items to a shopping cart but then abandon it before completing the purchase. It shows the rate of potential customers that leave without making a purchase.

‍COG

Cost of Goods Sold, also abbreviated as COGS, is all costs applied to create a product you sell. For an Amazon private label product, this may include the cost of materials and labor, packaging, shipping, duty taxes, etc. For resellers, this consists of the purchase price, packaging, shipping fees, and taxes.

Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is the metric that measures the number of listing visits by shoppers that result in a sale. It is calculated by dividing the number of orders by the number of visits.

CTR

CTR is an acronym for Click-through-rate, the percentage of buyers that see the ad and click on it. CTR is calculated by dividing total clicks by total impressions.

DS

DS stands for dropshipping, a sales model where the seller lists a product on Amazon, gets an order from the buyer, and asks the supplier to ship it to the shopper directly. The profit margin comes from the difference between the supplier's price and the drop shipper's price on Amazon.

Duty Tax

Duty tax is a tax levied by the government on imported and exported products and services.

Deal

Deal (or lead) in Online Arbitrage is the information about the products you can resell on Amazon for a good profit. Before selling, you must ensure that the product will bring money and matches specific criteria. Product research is a time- and effort-consuming process. Sellers can buy lists of ready-to-sell deals to start selling immediately and make profits. You can buy deals safely on the Seller Assistant Deals marketplace.

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EAN

EAN stands for European Article Number. It’s an 8 or 13-digit barcode used to identify a product traded globally. EAN ensures seamless warehouse management across the supply chain.

Related: What Is Amazon FNSKU?

Early Reviewer Program

This Amazon program helps to acquire reviews on products with few or no reviews. The shoppers who purchased a product participating in the Early Reviewer Program are asked to write a review and receive a small reward.

Export

Export is the process of sending goods or services to another country for sale.

FBA

FBA stands for Fulfillment by Amazon. That is a service offered by Amazon that allows sellers to store their products in Amazon’s fulfillment centers. When a shopper purchases the product, Amazon picks, packs, ships, and handles customer service on behalf of the third-party seller.

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FBM

FBM is the acronym for Fulfillment by Merchant. Unlike FBA sellers, FBM merchants store, pick, pack, ship, and provide their own customer service for the shoppers that purchased their products on Amazon.

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FBM&FBA calculator

FBM&FBA calculator is an Amazon seller tool that helps calculate product profitability and Amazon fees. Seller Assistant App FBM&FBA calculator calculates ROI and profit margin using Cost of Goods, sales tax, Amazon referral fee, FBA fees, VAT, monthly storage expenses, and 3PL costs. It shows ROI, Profit Margin, and other calculated metrics right on the Amazon product page.

FC

FC is Amazon Fulfillment Center. This is a warehouse where Amazon receives incoming orders and stores, packs, and ships them out to buyers. Sellers who use FBA (Fulfillment By Amazon) store their inventory at Amazon's fulfillment centers.

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‍Feedback

Customer feedback is a buyer’s estimation of the quality of the customer experience. Shoppers rate their experience by leaving customer feedback concerning the specific seller. Sellers are then given a score based on that feedback. Buyers may judge sellers based on that feedback score and use that score to determine whether or not they will purchase from them. Amazon allows customers to leave their feedback about sellers within the 90-day window of their order date.

First-Party Sellers

First-party sellers (1Ps) are brands that are distributed and sold by Amazon. 1P sellers are selected by Amazon. They track their products using Vendor Central.

FNSKU

FNSKU stands for Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit. That is a 10-character code Amazon uses to identify products in its fulfillment centers. It is an internal Amazon code used by Amazon in their fulfillment system.

Fragile

Fragile are breakable items that must be handled with extreme care. Breakable items must be packaged to not break during receipt, storage, and shipping. They should therefore be packed in a secure box that is shockproof and drop resistant, which involves extra cost. Seller Assistant App allows you to see whether a product belongs to the Fragile category right on the Amazon product page.

Fulfillment Fee

Fulfillment fees are the costs Amazon charges to pick, pack, and ship your product through its Fulfillment by Amazon service.

Gross Profit

Gross profit is a business's income after deducting the costs of making and selling its products.

GTIN

GTIN is Global Trade Item Number. It’s a unique and internationally recognized identifier for a product. When a GTIN is available, it will appear next to the barcode on your product's packaging or book cover. Some products don’t have GTIN initially, for instance, private label or handmade products. In such cases, sellers may apply for a GTIN exemption.

HazMat

Hazmat, also known as Hazardous Materials or Dangerous Goods, are substances or materials that can pose a risk to health, safety, property, or the environment while being stored, handled, or transported since they contain flammable, pressurized, corrosive, or otherwise harmful substances. To sell these products, you need to provide Safety Data Sheet to Amazon and get approval to sell. Seller Assistant App allows you to see whether a product belongs to the Hazmat category right on the Amazon product page.

Import

Import is the process of bringing products into a country for sale.

Individual Seller Account

The Individual selling plan is a pay-as-you-go plan that provides access to a basic set of order management tools. Individual sellers can create listings one at a time by matching their products to existing pages or creating new pages in the Amazon catalog. With the Individual selling plan, you pay $0.99 per sale.

Inventory

Inventory is the products you list for sale on Amazon. Amazon inventory management allows businesses to keep track of all of their inventory and orders and timely replenish the stock.

ISBN

ISBN is the International Standard Book Number used only for books. ISBN is a 10 or 13-digit code identifying a specific book, book edition, audiobook, or ebook.

IP Alerts

IP Alerts is a Seller Assistant App’s feature that gives you warnings about product restrictions and items with violations of intellectual property rights, reviews policy, authenticity complaints, and more. The feature marks products and brands generating account health issues with a red triangle icon. Data is collected daily.

IP Claims

Intellectual property (IP) claims appear when a brand owner contacts Amazon to issue an IP complaint for a specific ASIN. By doing so, brand owners claim that Amazon merchants, who sell their product under a particular detail page, do it in breach of intellectual property rights. Amazon shifts all responsibility for IP compliance to Amazon sellers. Amazon classifies IP claims as account health issues. Multiple complaints may lead to account suspension.

Avoid IP Complaints on Amazon

‍Keywords

Keywords are words or phrases used to target potential traffic. They should match search terms that a shopper enters into the Amazon search bar to find a product. You must research keywords for your product for the purposes of Amazon search engine optimization (SEO) to rank the listing higher in product searches.

Landing Page

A landing page is a webpage that internet users can access by clicking that page’s hyperlink. In many cases, this is the home page of the website.

Lightning Deals

Lightning deals are short-time promotional offers where a product is featured on the Amazon Deals page for several hours.

Listing

An Amazon listing is a page that contains product offer details like price, condition, and shipping terms. On Amazon, information about the products is displayed in two formats. The product information is common to all listings for a single product. It includes general details about the product, such as the name and model number. Listing information differs depending on the seller’s offer - condition, price, or handling time. If a product you sell already exists on Amazon, you should create a listing by matching it to an existing product detail page in the Amazon catalog.

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‍Long-Tail Keyword

Long-tail keywords are keyword phrases that include two words or more. They are being used to target a specific niche.

Related: Best Strategies to Drive External Traffic to Amazon Listing

Long-Term Storage Fee

Amazon charges a long-term storage fee for the inventory stored in a fulfillment center for more than 365 days.

Low-Price FBA fees

Low-Price FBA fees are a new set of fulfillment fees that replace the FBA Small and Light program from August 29, 2023 for all items priced below $10. These fees are an average of $0.77 lower per item than the current FBA fees for these products. However, the fee per- item fee is $0.30 more than with Small and Light. On the other hand, Low-Price FBA fees offer the same fast delivery speeds as standard FBA fees.

Learn more about Low-Priced FBA Fees

Margin

Margin is the profit percentage earned from revenue after you have accounted for all your expenses and costs.

Gross Profit Margin = ((Net Sales – COGS)/Net Sales) x 100%

Net Profit Margin = ((Revenue – COGS – Operating Expenses – Other Expenses -Taxes – Interest)/Revenue) x 100%

You can calculate the margin with the FBM&FBA calculator.

Marketing Funnel

A marketing funnel is a consumer-focused model that visualizes the customer journey towards the purchase of a product. The five stages of the marketing funnel are awareness, consideration, conversion, loyalty, and advocacy.

Marketplace

The marketplace is an online platform connecting buyers and sellers; sellers offer, and buyers purchase goods and services. Amazon is an e-commerce marketplace. This term also indicates a market where you are selling, e.g., Amazon Middle East marketplace includes the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Some sellers list and sell products in multiple Amazon marketplaces.

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‍Meltable

Meltable refers to heat-sensitive products that are eaten or swallowed, including chocolate, yogurt, gummies, and probiotics. You must remember that Amazon has special Meltable inventory requirements. You can’t fulfill Meltable inventory all year round. FBA accepts meltable products from October 16 to April 14 only. Meltable inventory stored or arriving at Amazon’s fulfillment centers from April 15 to October 15 is marked unfulfillable and disposed of for a fee. Seller Assistant App allows you to see whether a product belongs to the Meltable category right on the Amazon product page.

MOQ

MOQ is Minimum Order Quantity. It’s the lowest possible order volume allowed by a manufacturer for a particular product.

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MSRP

MSRP is the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price. It is the price at which the manufacturer suggests their products for sale. It is shown above the selling price on Amazon when the product’s price is less than the MSRP.

MCI

MCI is the Multi-Country Inventory. It’s an Amazon fulfillment option allowing FBA sellers to select the countries where they want to send their inventory and have orders for that Amazon store fulfilled by that local fulfillment center.

Negative Review

A negative review is bad customer feedback about a product they purchased. A negative review has 1 or 2 stars.

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‍OA

OA stands for Online Arbitrage. It’s a sales model when sellers source cheap products they find online and resell them at a higher price on Amazon.

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‍Organic Ranking

The organic ranking for a given keyword refers to the position where a product appears on Amazon's search engine results pages (SERP).

Organic Sales

Organic sales are the customer purchases that happen when your product is shown on the search page on Amazon. SEO optimization makes such products visible on the Amazon search engine results page. In contrast with ad sales, these sales are not driven by advertising.

Oversize

Amazon identifies any product larger than its standard dimensions as oversize. The product size tier of an item is used to calculate fulfillment fees. You must be prepared that the products categorized as oversize will be delivered to specialized warehouses for oversize items. Besides, the cost of storing such items is usually significantly higher. Seller Assistant App allows you to see whether a product belongs to the Oversize category right on the Amazon product page.

PL

PL stands for Private Label. Private label products are items created by one company to be sold by another brand. If you sell a private label product on Amazon, you are a private label seller. PL sellers find a product with high sales and create their own unique brand out of them to sell on Amazon.

‍PPC

PPC is pay-per-click advertising on Amazon. When sellers advertise their products, they pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. That means they only pay for advertising if the shoppers click on the ad.

Professional Seller Account

With the Professional selling plan, you pay $39.99 per month. A professional account will save you money if you plan to sell more than 40 products monthly. It offers many benefits, such as the possibility to enroll in Amazon seller programs, advanced reporting, Buy Box eligibility, where most sales happen, and more.

‍Prep Center

If you are an Amazon FBA seller, you can use a prep center that receives and prepares your inventory according to Amazon requirements and then ships it to Amazon's fulfillment centers. The prep center handles bubble wrapping, bagging, labeling, packaging, and shipping. You can use Amazon or a third-party prep center.

Price

Price is the amount of money required to buy a product. Amazon algorithms consider price when ranking your product in the SERP results when you compete for the Buy Box and other ratings. Competitive price increases a product’s visibility and conversions.

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Product Detail Page Optimization

Product detail page optimization is the process of improving an Amazon detail page and product information, including titles, bullet points, features, descriptions, and images aimed at growing sales.

‍Product Page

The product detail page is the page buyers see when searching for items on Amazon. Each product has its own page with detailed product information, including product titles, model numbers, images, product details, customer reviews, and more. Product detail pages are a permanent part of the Amazon catalog. Sellers can create listings for these products on Amazon. When more than one seller contributes data to a product, Amazon determines which seller's product information will be displayed on the product detail page. To create a new product detail page, the seller must be registered with a Professional seller account.

Product Research

Amazon product research is the process of analyzing metrics to identify market niches and products that generate high-volume sales. The goal is to source products for the lowest possible price and resell them with the highest profit. Sellers must also identify potential product issues to avoid problematic items. Seller Assistant App is a product research extension that helps you identify such problems right on the product page and Amazon search pages.

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‍Quick View

Quick View is a Seller Assistant App’s feature that allows seeing ASIN, BSR, category, competitors, and your eligibility to sell the product right on Amazon search pages. It also provides for making custom notes for your product.

RA

RA is Retail Arbitrage. This sales model on Amazon involves finding cheaper-priced products in retail brick-and-mortar stores to resell at a higher price on Amazon for profit.

Referral Fee

The referral fee is a percentage-based fee Amazon charges sellers for every product sale. The percentage varies depending on the product category. On average, it’s 15%, but it can range from 8% to 45% for specific categories.

Revenue

Revenue is the income generated by the sale of your inventory. It is calculated as the number of products sold in a 30-day period multiplied by the sales price.

Restricted Category

Amazon requires sellers to apply for approval to sell restricted (gated) category products. Restrictions can result from legal limitations in some geographic areas, like alcohol and gambling goods. Restrictions can involve dangerous products, those having safety limitations, and more. You must check products for restrictions before listing them on Amazon. Amazon has a list of restricted products, categories, and brands. You can check restrictions with Seller Assistant App’s Restriction checker.

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‍Restriction Checker

Restriction checker is a Seller Assistant App’s feature that allows you to see product restrictions on the Amazon search pages and Amazon product pages. A green open lock icon indicates you can sell the product. A red closed lock means you need approval or are not eligible to sell the product.

Review

A review is a customer’s assessment of the benefits and downsides of a specific product. It matters how many reviews the product has and if the review is positive. Shoppers can rate products from 1 to 5 stars. The more stars the buyer gives to the product, the better. Amazon's algorithms consider the review number and quality when deciding how to rate your products in search results.

ROI

ROI stands for Return on Investment. This metric is an indicator of profitability in relation to an investment. You can calculate the ROI of your business as a whole or the ROI of each specific ASIN.

The ROI formula is ROI = Net income / Cost of investment x 100%.

You can calculate ROI with the FBM&FBA calculator.

Sales History

Sales history shows how the product sells over time. On Amazon, many metrics are constantly changing. These include price, BSR, and other product sales data. From the sales history, you can also see if a product triggered any problems for sellers, like IP claims. Sales history analysis is necessary to research a product and avoid problematic items.

Sample

A sample is a single product acquired to check its quality and functionality.

SC

SC is an acronym for Amazon Seller Central. It is the web interface where sellers log in to review and manage their Amazon sales. In Seller Central, sellers update pricing, manage inventory, communicate with shoppers, monitor account health, contact selling partner support, and add new products.

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‍Seller Assistant App

Seller Assistant App is a powerful Amazon product research browser extension that offers sellers all the necessary tools to find profitable products and analyze them easily. It combines FBM & FBA Profit Calculator, Advanced IP Alerts, Quick View, Stock Checker, and Restrictions Checker in one tool. You can also save the search results to Google Sheets. It is excellent for online arbitrage, dropshipping and wholesale sellers.

Seller Assistant Deals

Seller Assistant Deals is an online marketplace for buying and selling Amazon Online Arbitrage deals. It helps OA sellers new to Amazon to start and scale their business with low risk. The marketplace also offers excellent opportunities for deal researchers who want to monetize their product sourcing skills. You can safely buy online arbitrage deals found by professional researchers or sell them for profit on this marketplace.

SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is the process of optimizing product listings to rank higher in product searches. It helps shoppers find your items, drive traffic to the listing, and increase visibility and conversion rates.

SFP

SFP is Seller Fulfilled Prime. This Amazon fulfillment program allows FBM sellers to display the Prime badge on their listing. With that, they must observe Amazon's fast shipping requirements.

SKU

SKU is Stock Keeping Unit. It’s a code applied to identify a specific product for inventory purposes. Amazon uses the SKUs to match your products with the product detail page in their catalog.

Storefront

Storefront is an Amazon service allowing sellers to create their own brand stores on Amazon to showcase their products. Storefront helps create a solid brand, grow brand loyalty, and scale Amazon business.

Third-Party Sellers

Third-party sellers, also called 3Ps, are independent merchants who offer new, used, and refurbished items to buyers on Amazon. FBA and FBM sellers are 3Ps.

UPC

UPC stands for Universal Product Code. It is a 12-digit barcode used by most retailers in the United States. It is applied to track basic information about the product.

VA

VA is Virtual Assistant. This person works remotely to assist Amazon sellers. VAs can be employed full-time, part-time, or on a per-task basis. They can help with accounting, data entry, research, and more.

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‍Variations

Variations or parent-child relationships are various product variants sold under one listing. Variations showcase a product's different sizes, colors, or shapes on a single page.

VC

VC is Vendor Central. This is an option from Amazon available for first-party (1P) sellers.

Visibility

Visibility is the ability of shoppers to discover products on Amazon. The more your products are visible to shoppers on their search, the better your conversion rate.

WS or Wholesale

WS is a wholesale selling model on Amazon. Wholesale sellers purchase products in bulk at low prices and resell them for higher retail prices on Amazon.

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