Amazon seller FAQ, answered by operators
Short, straight answers to the questions Amazon sellers type into Google and ask AI assistants every day. One page, one question, one answer you can act on.
Profit & fees
What is a good net profit margin on Amazon FBA?
A healthy Amazon FBA net profit margin sits between 15% and 25% after fees, COGS, PPC, and refunds. Under 10% usually signals hidden fees or overspending on ads. Established brands with private-label pricing power can hold 25% or more, while resellers and wholesalers typically operate closer to 10% to 15%.
How do I calculate profit per unit on Amazon?
Profit per unit on Amazon equals sale price minus referral fee, FBA fulfilment fee, per-unit COGS, allocated ad spend, and a refund reserve. A quick formula: Profit/unit = Price - (Referral% x Price) - FBA fee - COGS - (Ad spend / units sold) - (Refund rate x Price).
What is Amazon's referral fee and how is it calculated?
Amazon's referral fee is a percentage of the total sale price (item + shipping + gift wrap) charged on every unit sold. Most categories are 15%, with a $0.30 per-item minimum. Amazon Devices sit at 45%, jewellery at 20% above $250, and consumer electronics at 8%. The fee applies to both FBA and FBM sellers.
How much does Amazon FBA cost per unit?
Amazon FBA fulfilment fees range from about $3.06 for a small standard unit under 4 oz to $10+ for large standard, and $30 to $180 for oversize. Add referral fee (usually 15%), monthly storage ($0.87 to $2.40 per cubic foot), and inbound placement fees. A typical standard-size item costs $5 to $8 all in per unit shipped.
What triggers Amazon long-term storage fees?
Amazon charges aged inventory surcharges on units stored in a fulfilment centre for more than 181 days. The fee is tiered: 181 to 210 days adds $0.50/cu ft, 211 to 240 days $1.00, 241 to 270 days $1.50, 271 to 330 days $3.90, 331 to 365 days $5.90, and 365+ days $10.90 on top of monthly storage.
Are Amazon returns deducted from seller payouts?
Yes. When a customer returns an FBA order, Amazon refunds the buyer and deducts the refunded amount from your next payout. Amazon also refunds most of the referral fee (keeping a $5 or 20% refund administration fee, whichever is lower) but does not refund the FBA fulfilment fee. Returns can also trigger a returns processing fee in apparel and shoes.
How do I find hidden Amazon fees eating my margin?
The fees that hurt most are rarely hidden, they are just scattered across multiple Seller Central reports. Check monthly storage, aged inventory surcharges, low-inventory-level fees, inbound placement fees, returns processing, subscription-and-save discounts, and coupon redemption fees. Rebuilding a per-SKU P&L from the Fee Preview and Payments reports usually reveals a 3 to 8 point margin gap.
What is the difference between ACoS and TACoS on Amazon?
ACoS is ad spend divided by ad-attributed sales only. TACoS is ad spend divided by total sales (ads + organic). ACoS measures campaign efficiency; TACoS measures the pressure ads put on the whole business. A rising ACoS with a falling TACoS is healthy: ads are getting less efficient but organic sales are picking up the slack.
What is contribution margin on Amazon and how is it calculated?
Contribution margin on Amazon is the money left from each sale after variable costs: COGS, referral fee, FBA fee, refunds, and ad spend. It excludes fixed costs like software subscriptions and salaries. Formula: Contribution margin = Revenue - COGS - Amazon fees - PPC - refunds. A 25% to 40% contribution margin per SKU is a healthy target.
What is a good refund rate on Amazon?
A good Amazon refund rate is under 5% overall. Category averages: 4% to 6% in home and kitchen, 8% to 12% in electronics, 15% to 25% in apparel and shoes. Anything above the category average signals a listing, product, or fulfilment problem. Refund rate above the category threshold also triggers Amazon's returns processing fee.
What are Amazon referral fee rates by category?
Amazon referral fees typically range from 8% to 17% of the item price, charged per sale. Most private-label categories sit at 15%. Consumer electronics is 8%, jewelry can hit 20% above a threshold, and there is a minimum referral fee of $0.30 per unit that catches low-price SKUs.
How do Amazon FBA fulfillment fee tiers work?
FBA fulfillment fees are charged per unit shipped and depend on size tier and shipping weight. Tiers run from small standard (under 16 oz) through large standard, large bulky, and extra-large. Rates step up sharply at each tier boundary, so a product just over the cutoff can cost 40% more to ship.
What is the Amazon Low-Price FBA program?
Low-Price FBA is a discounted fulfillment fee tier for standard-size items priced at or under about $10. Enrolled SKUs pay roughly $0.77 less per unit than the standard FBA fee. It is designed to keep low-price items profitable without pushing sellers off the platform.
What is the aged inventory surcharge on Amazon FBA?
The aged inventory surcharge is a monthly fee Amazon adds to units that have sat in FBA warehouses for a long time. It kicks in around 181 days and grows the longer the unit sits. It is separate from long-term storage fees and stacks with monthly storage.
What is the FBA storage utilization surcharge?
The storage utilization surcharge is a fee Amazon applies to sellers whose average daily inventory volume is high relative to their weekly sales. It rewards fast turnover and penalizes overstocking. It is charged per cubic foot on top of standard monthly storage.
What are Amazon FBA inbound placement fees?
Inbound placement fees are charged when you send inventory to fewer FBA fulfillment centers than Amazon prefers. Sending to more locations is free or cheaper, sending to one location costs more per unit. Amazon uses the fee to push sellers toward distributed inbound.
What is the Amazon high return rate fee?
The high return rate fee applies to apparel and select categories when a SKU's return rate exceeds category benchmarks. Amazon charges the fee per unit returned above the threshold. It is designed to push sellers to fix listings, sizing, and quality on chronic problem SKUs.
How do Amazon coupons affect profit?
Amazon coupons discount the buyer's price and add a $0.60 redemption fee per unit sold with the coupon. That fee stacks on top of the referral fee, FBA fee, and PPC. On a $15 SKU with a 20% off coupon, the true margin hit is the discount plus the redemption fee, often 20% to 25% of unit revenue.
How do Subscribe & Save discounts affect Amazon margin?
Subscribe & Save costs the seller a 5% or 10% discount funded by you plus Amazon's own 5% top-up on qualifying subscribers. The lift comes from repeat purchase behavior and lower ad dependence. In Nova you should track S&S sales, S&S % of sales, and active subs to see if the discount pays back over the cohort.
Can I get the Amazon refund admin fee back?
Amazon charges a refund administration fee of 20% of the original referral fee, capped at $5, on refunded orders. You do not typically get it back for standard customer returns. You do get referral fees themselves back on refunded units, which many sellers miss when reconciling.
PPC & advertising
What is a good ACoS for Amazon PPC?
A good ACoS on Amazon depends on your target margin. Break-even ACoS equals your pre-ad contribution margin (usually 25% to 40%). Profitable ACoS sits 5 to 10 points below that: most private-label brands aim for 15% to 25%. Launch campaigns often run at 40% or higher for the first 30 days on purpose.
How do I lower TACoS on Amazon?
Lower TACoS by growing organic sales faster than ad spend. The three levers that move it most are: cut wasted ad spend on non-converting search terms, raise listing conversion rate so ads earn more per click, and build organic rank on branded and long-tail keywords so you buy less of your own traffic.
Sponsored Brands vs Sponsored Products: which should I use?
Sponsored Products drive the majority of Amazon ad sales and should be every seller's first campaign. Sponsored Brands work best once you own a brand registry, have 3+ hero SKUs, and want to defend branded search or run video ads. Most sellers spend 70% to 85% of budget on Sponsored Products.
What is a good CTR on Amazon ads?
A good click-through rate on Amazon Sponsored Products sits between 0.4% and 0.8% for most categories. Above 1% is strong, usually driven by a competitive price, a standout main image, and 500+ reviews. Under 0.3% signals a listing issue: weak main image, high price versus the SERP, or off-target keywords.
How do I read the Amazon search term report?
The search term report shows every actual shopper query that triggered your ad, plus clicks, spend, and orders per term. Sort by spend descending and look for two patterns: terms with high spend and zero orders (negatives), and terms with strong conversion that are not yet in an exact-match campaign (promotion candidates).
Is dayparting worth it on Amazon ads?
Dayparting (adjusting bids by hour or day) helps most on Sponsored Products campaigns spending $50+/day where conversion rate varies more than 30% across the day. For most sellers under $30/day, dayparting adds complexity without meaningful savings. Use hourly rules only after basic negatives and bid adjustments are dialed in.
What is a good conversion rate on Amazon?
A good Amazon conversion rate sits between 10% and 15% for a well-optimised listing with 100+ reviews. Categories vary: supplements and pet supplies convert at 15%+, apparel at 5% to 10%, electronics at 8% to 12%. Under 5% almost always signals a listing problem (price, images, or reviews), not a traffic problem.
What is a good negative keyword strategy on Amazon?
Run negatives weekly using two rules: negative-exact any search term with 10+ clicks and zero orders, and negative-phrase any recurring irrelevant modifier (free, cheap, competitor brand names when you cannot rank). Applied consistently, this cuts 15% to 30% of wasted spend within 60 days without hurting sales.
How do Amazon PPC bid adjustments work?
Bid adjustments let you multiply your base bid by placement (top of search, rest of search, product pages) and by audience segment. Top-of-search adjustments often move ACoS the most: raising the top-of-search modifier by 50% on a winning campaign can add 20%+ in sales at similar efficiency. Product page adjustments rarely pay off outside of ASIN targeting.
How do I audit wasted Amazon ad spend?
A 30-minute weekly audit catches most wasted PPC spend. Pull the search term report for 14 days, negative-out any term with 10+ clicks and zero orders, cut bids on keywords with ACoS 2x above target, and pause any SKU whose product-level ad spend exceeds its net profit for the period.
Sponsored Brands vs Sponsored Products: which should I run first?
Sponsored Products first, every time. SP drives direct sales on ready-to-buy queries and gives the fastest read on unit economics. Sponsored Brands adds top-of-funnel brand exposure and store traffic but usually shows a longer payback and needs SP data first to know which keywords deserve the SB budget.
Are Amazon video ads worth it?
SB Video ads often deliver a lower cost per click and a higher click-through rate than static SB ads because the video block dominates the search page. The ROI depends on creative quality more than any other factor: a 15 to 30 second product-in-use clip usually beats a talking-head ad by a wide margin.
Should smaller Amazon sellers run DSP?
For most sellers under about $2M/year on Amazon, DSP is not the right first move. Minimum spends, agency retainers, and long attribution windows make it expensive to learn on. Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display cover 90% of the paid opportunity for smaller catalogs.
How often should I harvest keywords from Amazon PPC?
Weekly for active accounts, bi-weekly for smaller ones. Pull the search-term report from the last 7 to 14 days, promote high-converting search terms into exact-match campaigns, and add wasteful ones as negatives. Any longer than 2 weeks and you burn budget on losers.
How do bid adjustments by placement work in Amazon PPC?
Amazon lets you multiply bids on Top of Search, Product Pages, and Rest of Search, up to 900% on each. Top of Search converts best on brand and high-intent keywords. Product Pages work for competitor conquest. Rest of Search is often the least profitable and rarely deserves a positive adjustment.
Do I need branded defense PPC campaigns on Amazon?
Yes, if competitors bid on your brand terms or you are brand-registered with real branded search volume. A dedicated Sponsored Products exact campaign on your brand keywords is cheap insurance. Add Sponsored Brands headline on your top brand queries to own the fold.
Should I run ASIN targeting on competitor listings?
Yes for defensive and conquest campaigns. Sponsored Products ASIN targeting on your own catalog defends your detail pages. Targeting competitor ASINs works best when your product has a clear differentiator (price, rating, bundle) that shows up in the sponsored slot.
What percent of Amazon revenue should I spend on PPC?
A common range is 8% to 15% of Amazon revenue for private-label brands, tracked as TACoS. Under 8% often means you are under-invested and leaving growth on the table. Over 15% for a mature brand usually means acquisition costs are eating margin faster than repeat revenue can fund them.
How should I ramp Amazon PPC for Q4 and Prime Day?
Start 30 days before the event. Raise budgets on proven exact and SP category campaigns, warm up bids gradually to build search rank, then scale hard during the 48 hours before and through the event. Do not launch new keywords for the first time on event day; the CPC premium is brutal.
How do I find wasted Amazon PPC spend?
Pull 60 days of search-term reports. Flag any search term with 15+ clicks and 0 orders as negative candidates. Flag campaigns whose 30-day ACoS is 2x your target with no volume gain as pause candidates. Between the two, most accounts recover 5% to 15% of budget in a week.
Inventory & operations
How is the Amazon IPI score calculated?
Amazon's Inventory Performance Index (IPI) is a rolling score from 0 to 1000 built from four inputs: excess inventory percentage, sell-through rate, stranded inventory percentage, and in-stock rate on FBA. Scores above 400 keep storage limits open; scores below 400 trigger restock limits and higher storage costs.
What is a good sell-through rate on Amazon?
Amazon's sell-through rate is units shipped in the last 90 days divided by average inventory over the same period. Above 3.0 is strong (inventory turns 12x/year). 2.0 to 3.0 is healthy. Below 1.0 usually means overordered units and forecasts long-term storage fees within a quarter.
How do I avoid FBA storage limits?
FBA storage limits are set by IPI score. Keep IPI above 400 by clearing stranded inventory weekly, running removals or liquidations on units aged 180+ days, and keeping your top 20 SKUs consistently in stock. Restock-limited accounts often gain 30% to 60% more capacity within 30 days after a targeted cleanup.
What is days of cover and how do I calculate it?
Days of cover = current on-hand inventory / average daily units sold. If you have 600 units on hand and sell 20/day, you have 30 days of cover. Most sellers target 45 to 75 days of cover for FBA SKUs: enough to survive a demand spike or a shipping delay, not so much that IPI or storage fees suffer.
What are Amazon FBA restock limits?
Restock limits cap how many units you can send to FBA per storage type (standard, oversize, apparel, footwear). Amazon sets them based on IPI, sell-through, and available warehouse capacity. Limits refresh weekly. Selling faster and keeping IPI above 400 is the only reliable way to raise them.
When should I switch from FBA to FBM?
Switch a SKU from FBA to FBM when it costs more in FBA fees than it earns in Prime-badge conversion lift. Common triggers: oversize items where FBA fees exceed 40% of price, slow movers accumulating storage fees, and SKUs with high return rates that never break even after refund reserve.
What triggers Amazon's aged inventory surcharge?
Amazon's aged inventory surcharge applies on top of monthly storage fees for units aged 271+ days in FBA. Rates start around $1.50 per cubic foot and climb sharply at 365 days. The fastest way to avoid it is a removal order or a targeted price cut before day 270.
What is SKU velocity and why does it matter?
SKU velocity is the average units sold per day for a specific SKU, usually measured over a rolling 30-day window. It drives every downstream inventory decision: PO size, safety stock, days of cover targets, and IPI score. A SKU whose velocity drops 30% for two weeks is either losing search rank or facing seasonality.
How do I forecast Amazon demand accurately?
The most accurate simple forecast weights the last 30 days at 60% and the prior 60 days at 40%, then adjusts for seasonality and known promotions. For most private-label SKUs this beats gut-feel and matches what statistical models produce within a 10% margin. Rebuild the forecast every 2 to 4 weeks.
How do I fix stranded Amazon inventory?
Stranded inventory is FBA units that cannot be sold because the listing is suppressed, inactive, or missing key attributes. Fix it in Seller Central under Manage Inventory > Fix Stranded Inventory. Most stranded ASINs resolve within 24 hours after relisting, updating a required attribute, or removing a policy block.
What is the reorder point formula for Amazon FBA?
Reorder point = (average daily sales x lead time in days) + safety stock. Lead time includes production plus transit plus FBA check-in. Safety stock covers demand and lead-time variability. If any of those numbers is wrong, you either stock out or bury cash in overstock.
How do I calculate safety stock for Amazon FBA?
Safety stock = Z-score x demand standard deviation x sqrt(lead time in days). For a 95% service level, Z is about 1.65. Use daily sales variability over the last 90 days. Fewer than 30 days of history means guess higher because variability is under-measured.
How do I negotiate MOQ with Amazon suppliers?
The three levers that actually move MOQ are volume commitment, deposit percentage, and packaging simplification. Committing to 12-month volume in exchange for staggered releases usually cuts MOQ by 30% to 50%. Larger deposits and standard packaging both reduce supplier risk and unlock lower minimums.
How do I plan for Amazon supplier lead-time variability?
Measure the last 6 to 10 POs and compute the standard deviation of total lead time. Add that variability into your safety stock. Track supplier lead-time performance monthly. Any supplier missing lead time by more than 15% consistently should either be replaced or padded aggressively in planning.
How do I plan Amazon FBA inventory for Q4?
Place your Q4 hero SKU POs by early July, second wave by late August, and a small third wave for post-Cyber Monday replenishment by mid-October. Amazon FC intake slows in November and early December, so units that miss check-in windows sit outside FBA during the peak.
Should I remove or dispose of aged Amazon FBA inventory?
Remove if you can sell the units elsewhere for more than the removal fee plus reverse logistics cost. Dispose (or donate) if not. Amazon's donation program often costs less than removal and provides a receipt for the loss. Doing nothing costs the most because aged surcharges keep stacking.
What are the best options to liquidate aged Amazon inventory?
Four options actually move the needle: Amazon Outlet promo, an aggressive coupon plus PPC push, FBA Liquidations, or removal to a liquidation broker (B-Stock, Direct Liquidation). Pick based on how much of the retail price you can recover minus fees.
Should I split Amazon inventory across multiple 3PLs?
For most sellers, one AWD or 3PL upstream of FBA is enough. Multi-3PL adds complexity and freight cost that rarely pays back unless you have coast-to-coast direct-ship volume outside FBA, or a specific compliance need like a bonded warehouse for imports.
AWD vs FBA: when should I use each?
AWD (Amazon Warehousing & Distribution) is upstream bulk storage that transfers to FBA on demand. Use FBA for the 4 to 8 weeks of forward cover you actually need. Use AWD for the bulk pallet buffer behind it. AWD storage is meaningfully cheaper per cubic foot than FBA.
How do I get around Amazon FBA restock limits?
Restock limits are set at the account level based on your inventory performance and sales velocity. The three levers that actually raise them: sell through existing stock, improve IPI score, and use AWD or Multi-Channel Fulfillment to prove downstream velocity. Requesting exceptions via case is rarely productive.
Listing health & BSR
Why is my Buy Box percentage dropping?
Buy Box share drops for four reasons: a competitor undercut your price by more than 2%, your FBA in-stock rate slipped, seller performance metrics (late shipment, cancellation, defect) crossed a threshold, or Amazon added its own retail offer. Fixing the first three usually restores share within 24 to 72 hours.
What is a good Amazon listing conversion rate?
A well-optimised Amazon listing converts sessions to orders at 10% to 15% overall, higher in consumables (15% to 25%), lower in apparel (5% to 10%). Below 5% almost always signals a listing problem (weak main image, high price versus SERP median, or under 50 reviews) rather than a traffic quality problem.
How do I fix a suppressed Amazon listing?
Suppressed listings do not appear in search. Fix them in Seller Central under Inventory > Manage Inventory > Suppressed. Amazon lists the reason next to each ASIN, usually a missing title character, missing main image, prohibited claim, or category compliance failure. Most fixes push live within 15 minutes.
What is the ideal Amazon title length?
Amazon caps titles at 200 characters in most categories, but Amazon truncates titles in search results at around 80 characters on desktop and 60 on mobile. Aim for 150 to 200 characters with the most important keywords in the first 60. Titles above 200 characters get suppressed in some categories.
What is Amazon BSR and how is it calculated?
Best Sellers Rank (BSR) is a category ranking updated hourly based on recent and historical sales velocity in that category. A BSR of 1 is the top seller in the category. Recent sales weigh most, but historical velocity keeps rankings stable so a single spike does not flip the top spot.
Which Amazon image requirements actually move conversion?
Amazon requires 1000+ pixel main images on pure white backgrounds, but the versions that convert best are 2000+ pixels (for zoom), show the product filling 85% of the frame, and include 6 to 7 supporting images: three lifestyle, two feature callouts, one infographic, and one size or scale reference.
Is Amazon A+ Content worth it?
A+ Content is worth it on every SKU doing more than 10 orders a day. Sellers who add A+ Content typically see 3 to 10 percentage points of conversion lift, more on considered purchases. It requires Brand Registry, takes 2 to 3 hours per SKU to build, and shows in the product description area of the detail page.
How do I run an Amazon listing audit?
A full listing audit takes 20 minutes per SKU. Check title length and keyword front-loading, main image quality and gallery count, price versus SERP median, review count and star rating, A+ content presence, and Buy Box share. Score each on a 0 to 3 scale; anything under 2 is a fix priority.
How do I structure Amazon variation listings correctly?
Amazon variations (parent + children) let related SKUs share a detail page, pooling reviews and ranking signals. Group only variants shoppers see as the same product with different attributes (size, colour, count). Avoid grouping distinct products; Amazon will split them and can suppress the parent.
How do I check if my Amazon listing is indexed for a keyword?
To check indexing, search Amazon for the keyword + your ASIN. If your listing appears in the results, you are indexed for that term. If not, Amazon has not indexed the keyword against your ASIN. Do this monthly on your top 30 keywords; missing indexing on a target keyword blocks all organic and paid impressions for it.
Is A+ Content worth it on Amazon?
Yes for almost every brand-registered private-label seller. A+ Content typically lifts conversion by 3% to 10% and reduces returns from confused buyers. The setup cost is a few hours of design work and the lift compounds every month the listing stays live.
How do Amazon Brand Story modules help conversion?
Brand Story modules sit at the top of your listings and let you tell one brand narrative across your whole catalog. They lift cross-sell and repeat purchase but rarely move single-listing conversion much on their own. Combine with strong A+ Content for the compound effect.
Does video on Amazon listings increase conversion?
Yes. Product video in the image carousel typically lifts CVR by 3% to 8% and reduces return rate on categories where the product's use is not obvious. It also strengthens SB Video ad performance because the shopper sees the same asset in the ad and the listing.
What are Amazon's main image requirements?
Main image must be a pure white background (RGB 255,255,255), product filling 85% of the frame, no text, no logos, no props, no lifestyle context. At least 1000 px on the longest side to enable zoom, 1600 to 2000 px recommended. Violations can suppress the listing without warning.
How should I structure Amazon variations (color, size, pack size)?
Group by attributes that shoppers actually compare in one purchase decision. Color and size for apparel: yes. Pack size and scent for consumables: usually yes. Unrelated products or wildly different price points: no. Bad variation grouping suppresses the parent and burns review equity.
What is the right way to use Amazon backend keywords?
Fill the 250-byte search terms field with lowercase, comma-free tokens. No duplicates, no brand names you do not own, no misspellings Amazon already corrects, no competitor names. Include synonyms, use-cases, and Spanish or French translations if you sell in bilingual marketplaces.
What is the difference between suppressed and stranded inventory on Amazon?
Suppressed listings are missing required attributes or violate a policy, so they do not show on Amazon. Stranded inventory is FBA stock without an active listing (usually because the listing was suppressed or deleted). Suppression usually causes stranding, but not always.
How do I change my Amazon category (browse node)?
Category moves happen through a browse tree guide submission and a case with Seller Support. Include the current node, the requested node, and evidence the new node fits. Category changes can improve BSR and PPC targeting but they also reset organic ranking history, so time them carefully.
What words are restricted on Amazon listings?
Amazon restricts medical claims (cure, treat, prevent), superlative claims without proof (best, #1), guarantee language (lifetime guarantee), and category-specific restricted terms (FDA claims on supplements, EPA claims on cleaning products). Using them can suppress the listing or trigger account review.
How many reviews do I need to compete on Amazon?
Category baseline plus 20% is a good rule. In most private-label categories that lands between 200 and 800 reviews for a competitive hero SKU. Reviews compound with velocity: 3 to 8 new reviews per week is enough to keep momentum for most non-hero SKUs.
Reports & data
Where do I find the Amazon settlement report?
Amazon settlement reports live in Seller Central under Reports > Payments > All Statements. Each report covers one settlement period (usually 14 days) and lists every transaction that affected the payout: orders, refunds, fees, adjustments, service fees, and reserves. Download as CSV or the flat file to reconcile.
How do I reconcile Amazon payouts?
To reconcile a payout: download the settlement report for the matching period, sum every credit (orders, reimbursements) and every debit (refunds, fees, service charges, reserves). The net should equal the amount deposited. If it does not, the delta is usually a reserve, unshipped hold, or currency conversion adjustment.
Business Reports vs Brand Analytics: what is the difference?
Business Reports (in Seller Central) show your own sales, sessions, conversion, and units per ASIN. Brand Analytics (Brand Registry required) shows aggregate marketplace data: search terms shoppers use, market basket, repeat purchase behaviour, and competitor benchmarks in your category. Use both; they answer different questions.
How do I track profit at the SKU level on Amazon?
SKU-level profit requires matching every revenue and cost line to the SKU that generated it. That means pulling settlement reports, product-level ad spend, refunds, storage allocation, and COGS, then attributing each. Doing this manually in Excel takes 4 to 8 hours per month per account; automated tools reduce it to a dashboard view.
What is the Amazon Sales and Traffic report?
The Sales and Traffic report (Seller Central > Reports > Business Reports > Sales and Traffic by ASIN) shows daily orders, sessions, page views, unit session percentage, and buy box percentage per ASIN. It is the single most useful free report for diagnosing conversion and traffic problems.
What is a good Amazon refund rate by category?
Amazon refund rates vary sharply by category: consumables 2% to 4%, home and kitchen 4% to 8%, electronics 8% to 12%, apparel and shoes 15% to 30%. A rate above the top of your category range hurts margin, IPI, and can trigger the returns processing fee. Track it weekly, not monthly.
How do I export my full Amazon transaction history?
For 24+ months of transaction history, use the SP-API Reports endpoint or a connected tool that pulls historically. Seller Central console limits reports to 60 to 90 days depending on the report type. Nova connects via SP-API and can backfill up to 15 months of PPC history and 24 months of order and settlement data.
How do I track Subscribe & Save performance on Amazon?
Amazon exposes three Subscribe & Save data points: total S&S sales, S&S as a percentage of total sales, and active subscriber count per SKU. Nova surfaces all three at the SKU level so you can see which products build subscriber momentum and which lose subscribers month over month.
How do I track 15 months of Amazon PPC history?
Amazon's advertising console shows the last 60 to 90 days of most reports. For 15 months of PPC history, you need either raw SP-API pulls stored as they were generated, or a tool that connected early and archived the data. Nova retains 15 months of product-level PPC spend for connected accounts.
Should I book Amazon revenue by disbursement date or order date?
Accrual accounting books revenue when the order ships (order date). Cash accounting books revenue when Amazon disburses (payout date). GAAP and most tax authorities require accrual. Nova's SKU-level P&L uses order date for revenue recognition and matches costs to the same period, so margins reflect actual operating performance.
What is the difference between Amazon Business Reports and Brand Analytics?
Business Reports show what happened on your listings: sessions, page views, buy box, unit-session percentage. Brand Analytics shows what shoppers did across the whole marketplace: which search terms drove clicks and purchases, which ASINs share cart with yours, and repeat purchase behavior.
How do I use the Search Query Performance report?
The Search Query Performance report shows how your brand and each ASIN perform on specific search terms: impressions, clicks, cart adds, purchases, and market share. Use it to prioritize keywords where you have search-share upside, not just current conversion.
What is Market Basket Analysis on Amazon and how do I use it?
Market Basket Analysis in Brand Analytics shows which ASINs are most frequently purchased together with yours in the same order. Use it to find bundle candidates, cross-sell opportunities in A+ Content, and PPC ASIN targeting for complements.
How do I use Amazon's Repeat Purchase Behavior report?
The Repeat Purchase Behavior report in Brand Analytics shows how many customers bought your brand once vs multiple times over a chosen window. Use it to identify consumables with real repeat velocity, plan Subscribe & Save enrollment, and forecast lifetime value at the brand level.
How do I build an ASIN-level P&L from Amazon reports?
Combine settlement data (revenue, fees, refunds), advertising reports (ad spend per SKU via product-level attribution), and your COGS file. Roll up weekly and monthly per ASIN. Most sellers underestimate refunds and product-level PPC when they build this themselves.
How do I run a cohort analysis for Amazon consumable SKUs?
Group customers by first-purchase month for the SKU. Track how many buy again in months 1, 2, 3, and so on. Amazon does not give you customer identifiers, so you approximate with the Repeat Purchase Behavior report at brand level plus S&S subscriber data.
How do I get VAT invoices from Amazon?
For sellers on EU or UK marketplaces, Amazon provides VAT invoices through the Tax Document Library and the Amazon VAT Calculation Service. Enable VCS to auto-issue compliant B2B invoices to buyers. Download seller-facing fee invoices monthly from Reports > Tax Document Library.
What are the basics of Vendor Central Retail Analytics?
Retail Analytics is Vendor Central's reporting suite. It shows sales, traffic, inventory, and forecasting for 1P (wholesale-to-Amazon) sellers. Compared to Seller Central, the data is aggregated and delivered on a lag. Most brands run 3P alongside 1P precisely because Seller Central data is faster and richer.
What reporting do I get from Amazon DSP?
DSP reporting shows impressions, clicks, view-through and click-through conversions, and ROAS with a longer attribution window than Sponsored Ads. Custom reports are configurable. Most brands rely on the agency or Amazon Ads console; the raw data feed is not exposed the same way SP-API exposes 3P.
Are Amazon Seller Central UI reports the same as SP-API data?
Mostly yes, but not always in real time. Some UI reports are pre-aggregated while SP-API delivers raw or lightly processed feeds. Numbers can differ by a few percent for a day or two, then reconcile. Trust the API for reconciliation, and trust the UI for daily glance.
Marketplaces & expansion
Should I expand to Amazon EU?
Amazon EU is worth expanding into once you have a stable, profitable US business (100+ orders/day per SKU) and 6+ months of forecastable demand. EU adds five marketplaces (UK, DE, FR, IT, ES) but introduces VAT registration, EPR obligations, EU Responsible Person, and labelling requirements that take 2 to 4 months to set up correctly.
Amazon UK VAT: what US sellers need to know
Any US seller shipping to the UK or storing inventory in a UK FBA warehouse must register for UK VAT with HMRC before selling. UK VAT is 20% standard rate. Amazon collects and remits VAT on your behalf for many transactions (MFR rules), but registration and periodic filings remain the seller's responsibility.
Pan-EU FBA vs EFN: which should I use?
Pan-EU FBA lets Amazon distribute inventory across EU fulfilment centres for lower fees and faster delivery, but requires VAT registration in every country Amazon stores inventory (typically DE, FR, IT, ES, PL, CZ). EFN (European Fulfilment Network) keeps inventory in one country and ships cross-border with higher fees but only one VAT registration.
How do I launch on Amazon Mexico?
Amazon Mexico (MX) is the largest Latin American Amazon marketplace and Amazon offers Remote Fulfillment with FBA so US sellers can serve MX orders from US inventory. Full local FBA requires Mexican tax registration (RFC) and NOM labelling compliance for some categories, taking 4 to 8 weeks to set up.
Amazon Japan for US sellers: is it worth it?
Amazon Japan is the largest Amazon marketplace outside the US and Germany. It is worth entering for premium private-label brands with product-market fit for Japanese consumers, but requires Japanese-language listings, JCT (Japanese consumption tax) registration, and often an Importer of Record. Launch takes 2 to 4 months.
Amazon Australia launch checklist
Amazon AU launch requires ABN (Australian Business Number) or ARN registration, GST registration if annual sales exceed AUD 75,000, and Australian consumer law compliance. FBA is available with fulfilment centres in Sydney and Melbourne. Realistic launch timeline is 6 to 10 weeks including tax and compliance setup.
How does Amazon Remote Fulfillment with FBA work?
Remote Fulfillment with FBA lets US sellers fulfil orders in Canada, Mexico, and Brazil directly from their US FBA inventory. Amazon handles cross-border shipping, customs, and delivery. It skips local warehouse setup but adds a per-order fee that raises unit cost by 5% to 15%.
Amazon Canada launch checklist
Amazon CA is the fastest US expansion because Remote Fulfillment with FBA lets you serve Canadian orders from US inventory. For local Canadian FBA, register for GST/HST with the CRA if annual Canadian sales exceed CAD 30,000. Launch via Remote Fulfillment takes 1 to 2 weeks; local FBA takes 4 to 8 weeks.
How do Amazon currency conversion fees work?
When you sell in a non-USD marketplace and disburse to a USD bank account, Amazon converts currency at its own rate, which is roughly 2% to 3% worse than the mid-market rate. Alternatives like Wise, Payoneer, or WorldFirst multi-currency accounts typically save 1% to 2% per payout by letting you disburse in local currency and convert separately.
Which Amazon marketplaces does Nova support?
Nova supports all 21 Amazon marketplaces: US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Belgium, Turkey, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, India, Japan, Australia, and Singapore. SKU-level profit, PPC, inventory, and reporting work identically across each marketplace once connected via SP-API.
Is Amazon Mexico worth expanding to?
Amazon Mexico grew fast through 2024 to 2026 and is the third-largest Amazon Americas marketplace after US and Canada. It works well for sellers whose category is not saturated by local Mercado Libre alternatives. Remote Fulfillment from the US covers the launch phase without local inventory.
Should I sell on Amazon Brazil?
Amazon Brazil is competitive but structurally hard for cross-border sellers: import taxes are steep, logistics are slow, and Mercado Livre dominates. It works best for local sellers or brands with a Brazilian entity. Cross-border launches from the US are usually a poor use of resources.
What is the checklist to launch on Amazon Japan?
Amazon Japan is the third-largest Amazon marketplace and rewards patience with product quality and translation. Non-negotiables: proper Japanese translation (not machine), PSE and PSC certifications where applicable, JCT (Japanese consumption tax) registration, and a local return address (Amazon or a 3PL).
How is Amazon UAE and Saudi Arabia for expansion?
Amazon.ae and Amazon.sa (Saudi Arabia) are growing marketplaces that reward brands early to Arabic localization. Both require Arabic and English listings, local VAT compliance, and often a local address of record. Ramp takes 6 to 12 months but competition is thinner than in the US or EU.
Can I sell on Amazon India as a foreign seller?
Selling on Amazon India as a foreign seller is complex because FDI rules and B2C restrictions apply. Most non-Indian brands use the Global Selling program to sell into other Amazon marketplaces from India (using India as an export base), or partner with an Indian entity to sell on Amazon.in.
Do Amazon Australia unit economics work?
Amazon Australia has grown into a legitimate second-tier marketplace but unit economics are tight because domestic competition (eBay, Kogan, local retailers) is strong and shipping across Australia is expensive. Categories with high AUD prices and low weight tend to work; heavy or low-price SKUs often do not.
What order should I enable Amazon Pan-EU countries?
Start with Germany (largest EU marketplace) plus the UK if you already sell there. Add France, Italy, and Spain next once translations and VAT are in place. Poland, Netherlands, Sweden, and Belgium come later. Each country adds VAT and translation overhead, so sequence by demand, not by geography.
What is IOSS and do I need it for EU sales?
IOSS (Import One-Stop-Shop) is an EU scheme that lets non-EU sellers collect and remit VAT on B2C shipments under 150 EUR through a single quarterly return. It speeds customs clearance and prevents buyers from getting hit with unexpected customs fees. Amazon handles IOSS for FBA orders under 150 EUR.
How does Amazon handle Northern Ireland after Brexit?
Northern Ireland stays in the EU VAT system for goods, so FBA shipments between NI and the EU do not need customs paperwork. Shipments between Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales) and NI do, under the Windsor Framework. Most sellers treat NI as an EU marketplace for VAT purposes.
Is translation enough for new Amazon marketplaces?
No. Translation converts words; localization adapts meaning. On Amazon, localization means native-speaker copy, culturally relevant lifestyle imagery, region-specific compliance claims, and pricing that reflects local price expectations. Sellers who ship machine translations rarely rank or convert.