Amazon glossary

First party (1P) means selling to Amazon as a vendor, which then resells to customers. Third party (3P) means selling directly to customers on Amazon as a seller.

Amazon’s protection for buyers when an item from a third-party seller does not arrive or is not as described. Claims count towards the seller’s order defect rate.

Enhanced images, text and comparison charts below the product description, available to brands enrolled in Brand Registry. Premium A+ adds larger and interactive modules.

A score from 0 to 1,000 in Seller Central that summarises how well a seller follows Amazon’s policies. 200 or more is shown as healthy.

Advertising cost of sale: ad spend divided by the sales those ads produced. An ACOS of 25% means 25 spent for every 100 of ad-attributed sales.

An extra FBA storage fee for units that have been in Amazon’s warehouses for a long time. Good stock planning keeps it low.

Amazon’s demand-side platform for programmatic display, video and audio ads, using Amazon’s audience data, on and off Amazon.

Amazon Standard Identification Number: the 10-character code Amazon gives every product in its catalog. Books use the ISBN instead.

A Sponsored Products setting in which Amazon chooses the searches and products to show your ad for, based on your listing. Useful for discovering new search terms.

A hidden listing field for keywords that do not fit naturally on the page, such as synonyms. In the US store it is limited to 249 bytes.

Reports for Brand Registry members showing search terms, search query performance, market basket and demographic data.

Amazon’s program that links a registered or pending trademark to a brand’s products, unlocking more control over listings and tools such as A+ Content and Sponsored Brands.

A free, multi-page storefront on Amazon with its own address, available to Brand Registry members.

Keyword match types in Amazon Ads. Broad reaches related searches, phrase requires the phrase in order, and exact matches the term and close variants only.

A category in Amazon’s browse tree. The browse node decides where a product appears when shoppers navigate by category and which category rules apply.

The “Add to Cart” box on a detail page. When several sellers offer the same product, Amazon decides whose offer wins it based on price, delivery, seller performance and other factors.

A US program that lets eligible brands offer Prime delivery on their own websites, fulfilled from their FBA inventory.

Limits on how much inventory a seller can send to and store in FBA, set by Amazon based on sales and inventory performance.

A support ticket opened with Seller Support or Vendor Support to report a problem or request an investigation, for example about missing FBA units.

Some categories and brands require Amazon’s approval before you can list products, often with invoices or certificates. Also called ungating.

The share of sessions or clicks that end in an order. One of the strongest influences on organic ranking.

A discount shoppers clip on the search results or detail page, shown as a badge. Coupons have a fee per redemption.

The product page shoppers see: title, images, price, bullet points, description and reviews. Several sellers can offer the same detail page.

European Fulfilment Network: FBA stock is held in one European country and orders from other European stores are shipped across borders, with cross-border fees.

Extended Producer Responsibility: rules in countries such as Germany and France that make sellers responsible for recycling packaging and certain products. Amazon asks for EPR registration numbers.

Fulfilment by Amazon: Amazon stores your products and picks, packs, ships and handles customer service and returns for them.

Fulfilment by Merchant: the seller stores and ships orders themselves. Shipping performance metrics such as late shipment rate apply.

Fulfilment network stock keeping unit: the barcode Amazon uses to identify a seller’s specific units in its warehouses.

The EU General Product Safety Regulation, applicable since 13 December 2024. It requires a responsible economic operator in the EU and safety information on products and listings.

Global Trade Item Number: the barcode number behind UPC and EAN codes. Most listings need one, unless Amazon grants a GTIN exemption.

A shipment of stock from a seller to Amazon’s fulfilment centres, created in Send to Amazon.

The share of seller-fulfilled orders confirmed as shipped after the expected ship date. Amazon’s target is under 4%.

A seller’s offer for a product on Amazon, including the product data and the seller’s price, quantity and condition.

A Brand Registry tool for A/B testing titles, main images, bullet points and A+ Content on your own listings.

Multi-Country Inventory: a European fulfilment option in which the seller chooses which countries hold FBA stock and ships to each.

The business that legally sells the goods to the customer and is responsible for taxes, invoices and compliance in that market.

An Amazon service that ships orders from other sales channels, such as your own website, using your FBA inventory.

A search term you exclude from a campaign so ads no longer show for it. Used to stop spend on terms that do not convert.

The share of orders with negative feedback, an A-to-z Guarantee claim or a credit card chargeback. Amazon expects it to stay under 1%.

The EU One-Stop Shop: lets a business declare VAT on cross-border sales to consumers in other EU countries in one quarterly return.

A program in which Amazon distributes a seller’s FBA stock across fulfilment centres in several EU countries, so orders ship locally.

The structure of a variation family: a parent listing groups child products that differ by size, colour or another variation theme.

The document a seller sends to Amazon to appeal a suspension or policy issue: the root cause, the steps taken and the changes that prevent it from happening again.

The share of seller-fulfilled orders cancelled by the seller before shipping. Amazon’s target is under 2.5%.

An Amazon Ads option that shows your ads on specific products or categories instead of for keywords.

A payment from Amazon for FBA units that were lost, damaged or not returned. Many require the seller to open a case with evidence.

Amazon’s AI shopping assistant, which answers shoppers’ questions using product listings, reviews and other information.

A Brand Analytics report showing, for each search, impressions, clicks, add-to-carts and purchases for your products compared with the whole market.

An advertising report showing the actual shopper searches that triggered your ads, with clicks, spend and sales for each.

The account and dashboard third-party sellers use to manage listings, orders, inventory, advertising and account health.

The Seller Central workflow for creating FBA inbound shipments: choosing inventory, entering box information, confirming placement and printing labels.

Amazon search ads with your logo, a headline and several products or a video, available to Brand Registry members.

Amazon display ads that reach shoppers on and off Amazon based on products they viewed or their interests.

Cost-per-click ads for individual products, shown in search results and on detail pages. The most widely used Amazon ad type.

FBA stock in Amazon’s warehouses that cannot be sold because the listing is inactive or has a problem. It still incurs storage fees.

A listing hidden from search and browse because it is missing required information or breaks a listing rule, such as image or title requirements.

Total advertising cost of sale: ad spend divided by all sales, including organic ones. It shows whether advertising helps the whole business grow.

The share of seller-fulfilled shipments with a valid tracking number. Amazon’s target is above 95%.

The portal for first-party vendors who sell their products to Amazon, which then resells them to customers.

An Amazon program for Brand Registry members that gives trusted reviewers free products in exchange for honest reviews, useful for new products.