Amazon Updates Reference Price Requirements

A significant draw to Amazon is, of course, the Prime subscription. However, the subscription comes with several guidelines for sellers listing products.  Guidelines include meeting the recommended discounts levels on pricing and shipping time that comes with the Prime member benefit.

What are Prime Exclusive Discount Guidelines?

For a seller’s product listing to be eligible for the Prime Exclusive Discount, they must meet the following criteria which includes the reference price requirements:

• The seller must be signed up for FBA shipping which allows them to ship across the country.
• The product listing must be in new condition.
• No product reviews or at least a 3-star rating (subject to change due to Prime Day or Black Friday).
• The product’s price must reflect a minimum discount of 10% off the non-Prime member, non-promotional price (subject to change due to Prime Day or Black Friday).
• The listed item cannot be a restricted product or offensive based on Amazon guidelines.
• The listing must be in line with Amazon’s policy of customer product reviews.
• Compliant with Amazon’s pricing policies.
• The Prime Exclusive Discount must be 5% lower than the reference price.

Amazon makes it clear that if the seller’s listed product doesn’t meet these criteria, the discount will not be published.

How to Create a Prime Exclusive Discount

Amazon makes creating a Prime Exclusive Discount easy with 3 simple steps. A few things you’ll want to nail down before starting the process include:

• The name of the discount (limited on Prime Day).
• Duration of the discount (limited on Prime Day).
• The product SKU validation.

You can find the full-step process, here.

How Do Sellers List Products on Prime Day?

Besides Black Friday or the holiday season, Prime Day is one of the biggest shopping events online. It’s a great time for sellers to get more visibility and boost their product sales.

If your product listing meets the Prime Exclusive Discount guidelines, then you’re likely in the clear for Prime Day listings. All eligible Prime Exclusive Discount product listings will display the Prime Day Deals badge for Prime members. The benefit of this is that Prime members can filter products on Prime Day to only view products with Prime Day discounts. This means more visibility on your products for customers ready to buy.

Updates to Price Reference for Prime Exclusive Discounts

Amazon frequently makes updates to the regulations and guidelines that sellers must meet. Recently they announced a new update to the criteria needed for the Prime Exclusive Discount. Along with the criteria listed in the paragraphs above, sellers now must adhere to updated reference price requirements. All sellers must now include a price reference on any listing they want included in the Prime Exclusive Discount.

This simply means that your product listing must show the original price, and the discount price. Amazon explains a reference price as a “was” price or list price.

How Much Should Sellers Discount the Reference Price?

For the most part, sellers are at their own discretion when it comes to pricing their products. Like any business, sellers can create their own discounts or advertised promotions to drive sales. On the other hand, if a seller wants their product to have the Prime Exclusive Discount, it must be at least 5% less than the reference price on regular days. For event days such as Prime Day or Black Friday, the discounts must be 10% less than the reference price.