The demand for Amazon is growing by the year. For some people, it is a great place to do e-commerce; for others – hypermarket in the comfort of their own homes. Humans strive to make life easier and don’t want to waste their time on pointless things. This applies to our speech as well!
Why talk, especially write a complete sentence, if you can shorten it or use acronyms? One of us will get what it means! In order to speak the same language as pro-Amazon sellers and vendors and not miss out on good deals, you need to be in the loop.
If you’re selling on Amazon, whether as a vendor or a seller, this dictionary of Amazon acronyms can help you understand acronyms, abbreviations, and terms commonly used on the world’s largest marketplace. Become a part of the Amazon world.
1P – First-Party Seller
A term used to describe a relationship with Amazon, the marketplace acts as the retailer and the brand is the wholesale supplier.
3P – Third-Party Seller
A term used to describe merchants that sell products directly to consumers on Amazon under their business name.
7-Day Deal
A type of promotion available for Amazon sellers. This limited-time offer is featured on Amazon’s Best Deals page.
A
A/B Testing
Sometimes called “split testing“. A method of trying or testing two different websites or product listings (product listing A vs product listing B) to compare and contrast sales metrics.
A+ Content
An Amazon program for sellers that allows them to get the most out of Amazon Seller Central by creating more detailed product descriptions with additional images, videos, and text.
ACoS – Advertising Cost of Sale
ACoS is an indicator of a successful Amazon advertising campaign. ACoS represents the relationship between the revenue earned from advertising and the money spent on advertising campaigns.
ACS – Amazon Creative Services
Creative tools and features are available in the Merchant and Vendor Ads Console. Amazon sellers and brands can use them to establish effective creative assets and promote shopper loyalty.
AGS – Amazon Global Selling
A program allows sellers to list and sell products on Amazon’s global marketplaces. Amazon websites enable sellers to scale their business worldwide, regardless of physical location.
AMS – Amazon Marketing Services
Now it is known as Amazon Advertising.
ARA – Amazon Retail Analytics
A selection of supplier reports provides sellers with basic information about their product’s performance. ARA metrics include statistics based on trends, operations, customer behavior, and overall sales.
ARAP – Amazon Retail Analytics Premium
An additional option is available on Amazon Vendor Central. This analytics tool provides more comprehensive and diversified product performance reports compared to those generated by ARA Basic.
ASP – Average Selling Price
Refers to the average price that vendors on Amazon sell their products for.
ASIN – Amazon Standard Identification Number
A unique 10-character string that identifies products on Amazon.
ATOP – At Time Of Posting
You are likely to see this acronym in Amazon-related Facebook groups that sell products and merchandise. It refers to the retail price of the good at the time the post was created.
AMZ – Amazon
B
B2B – Business to Business
E-commerce between two businesses.
B2C – Business to Customer
E-commerce between a business and a customer.
BB – Buy Box
The Buy Box is the button Amazon customers use to add items to their carts on an Amazon product detail page.
BISS – Business Industrial & Scientific Supplies
A specific selling category on Amazon is restricted to most sellers.
BL – Big Lots
An American discount store that multiple FBA sellers often visit.
BOGO – Buy One Get One
A type of promotion on Amazon. Sellers offer two products for the price of one to spotlight a new product or to get your current customers to buy more.
BSR – Best Seller Rank
An Amazon designation based on an in-house algorithm that reflects a product’s sales, past and present. This score gives an idea of how well an item is selling and the ranking of a product to other products in the listed category.
Brand Analytics
A dashboard for brand owners signed up with the Amazon Brand Registry to understand the performance of their brand on Amazon.
Brand Registry
This Amazon program helps sellers build and protect their registered trademarks on Amazon. Amazon Brand Registry provides powerful search tools that let you check any production and report violations (like, counterfeit products).
Browse Nodes
These are numeric codes to identify Amazon product categories and subcategories.
C
CA – Canada
CA is the abbreviation used for the Canadian marketplace.
CAGR — Compound Annual Growth Rate
This refers to the percentage growth required for an investment to grow from its initial value to its final value, assuming the annual profits were reinvested at the end of each year of the investment’s lifespan.
COGS – Cost Of Goods Sold
This refers to the cost of goods sold during a certain period. The total of all costs used to create or provide a product or service sold.
CPT – Critical Pull Time
Time in which an order is in danger of not getting shipped in time for customer delivery cut-offs.
CPU – Contacts Per Unit
Way to measure your customer service performance. It is the number of contacts that consist of order-related customer inquiries that Amazon handles on your behalf per self-fulfilled shipped unit.
D
DOTD – Deal Of The Day
Discounts on Amazon’s Gold Box or Deals page – with special markdowns on individual items and collections of related products that are valid for one day.
DP – Detail Page
An Amazon Detail Page displays the most important product information, including its price, title, bullet points, description, customer reviews, and more.
DPV – Details Page View
This metric shows the number of impressions of a single detail page.
E
EAN – European Article Number
13-digit number system for identifying retail products in Europe.
Early Reviewer Program
An Amazon program that encourages buyers who have bought a product to leave honest reviews.
EBC – Enhanced Brand Content
A predecessor of A+ Content. A detail page where the product description has enhanced content and branding, which includes graphics and images embedded into the page. As of 2020, EBC was deprecated and replaced by A+ Content.
ExSD – Expected Ship Date
The system estimates when an item will leave the Fulfillment Center and corresponds to a delivery truck’s critical pull time.
F
FBA – Fulfillment by Amazon
Amazon’s service for sellers. It allows third-party sellers to store their products in Amazon’s Fulfillment Centers. In addition, Amazon will pick, pack, ship, and provide customer service for products on behalf of the seller.
Be at the top, read Amazon FBA Fees Explained: What You Should Know In 2023.
FBM – Fulfilled by Merchant
Also known as Merchant fulfilled, this refers to shipping products directly to the end customer yourself.
FC – Fulfillment Center
The fulfillment center, or Amazon warehouse, is where items are stored, prepared, and shipped.
FOB – Free on Board
A trade arrangement where the supplier is responsible for getting your goods from the factory to the port. This cost is added to the manufacturing cost.
FNSKU – Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit
An Amazon Product ID for products that go through Amazon’s Fulfillment Center.
FT – Fast Track
A glance view weighted in stock metric for Amazon. To get a Fast Track offer, the ASIN must be in stock, win the Buy Box and be Prime eligible. ASINs with Fast Track generally have a higher conversion rate.
G
GLN – Global Location Number
A unique identification code of a physical location is used to identify locations and legal entities.
GV – Glance View
The number of ASIN views. It is calculated at the child ASIN level. Parent ASINS do not generate glance views.
H
HBA – Health & Beauty Aids
One of the popular niches on Amazon. This could be part of either the beauty category or the health and personal care categories
HTF – Hard to Find
This is often associated with a BOLO post and comes into play when an item is rarely seen in stores anymore.
I
IDQ – Item Data Quality
Refers to the state of product information, such as whether the product has markers and images.
IL – InventoryLab
A service that helps you keep accounting and analysis related to your Amazon business.
ISBN – International Standard Book Number
A 13-digit identification number is assigned to individual books by standard book numbering agencies.
K
KB – Knowledge Base
A free public help desk with articles, guides, video tutorials, and other educational materials.
KPI – Key Performance Indicators
A measurable value determines how well your business performs against set objectives.
Read 20 Critical Amazon and E-Commerce KPIs You Need to Track to make informed business decisions.
L
LBB – Lost Buy Box
The Buy Box button is given to the seller with the best offer as decided by Amazon. If the item is out of stock on Amazon, the seller may lose the button.
LSA – Lock Screen Ads
A part of an ad console allows sellers to target product ads to Kindle users on lock screens.
LTH – Long Term Hold
Storing stocks for later sale. For example, storing unsold Christmas lights in late December to be sold starting in October or November the following year.
M
MAP – Minimum Advertised Price
A price you agree not to list below when purchasing a product from a wholesaler or distributor. This term often comes into play when you’re dealing with wholesalers or buying directly from a manufacturer.
MF – Merchant Fulfilled
Merchant Fulfilled is a fulfillment type where sellers handle shipping, packing, and inventory instead of being handled by Amazon.
MOQ- Minimum Order Quantity
The minimum amount of items consumers can order.
MRP – myrealprofit.com
Profit Analytics software for Amazon sellers
MSRP – Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price
The price at which the manufacturer recommends that the retailer sell the product.
MWS – Marketplace Web Services
This refers to Amazon’s Marketplace Web Services and is where sellers get access to their API/MWS keys.
N
NAFN – North American Fulfillment Network
Sellers in North America (US, Canada, and Mexico) can find their products shipped to any of these countries using Amazon’s fulfillment channels.
NP – New Product
A newly listed item on Amazon.
NR – Non-Replenishable
An item that is not available.
NTB – New to Brand
Amazon`s advertising metric determines whether an ad-attributed purchase was made by an existing customer or one buying a brand’s product on Amazon for the first time over the prior year.
O
OA – Online Arbitrage
Buying items from online retailers to resell on Amazon.
ODR – Order Defect Rate
The percentage of orders that have received negative feedback, an A-to-Z Guarantee claim, or a service credit card chargeback.
OEM – Original Equipment Manufacturer
A company that makes parts and equipment that may be sold by other companies.
OOS – Out Of Stock
A term used when items are out of stock in retail stores or Amazon.
OS – Off-Season
Seasonal or out-of-season items are found in Brand Analytics and the cost table.
P
PDA – Product Display Ads
A type of display advertising where a product’s ad appears throughout Amazon on category and product pages.
PDP – Product Detail Page
The listing page on an e-commerce site displays important product info such as price, title, bullets, description, customer reviews, etc.
P&L – Profit & Loss Statement
Also known as the income statement.
Read Profit and Loss Statement for Amazon Sellers to build successful e-business.
PL – Private Label
It is a product manufactured or packaged for sale by a brand name, not the manufacturer.
PPC – Pay-Per-Click
Amazon PPC is a type of Amazon Sponsored Product Ad that can help sellers get more buyers, increase sales and make sure your brand is known. It allows sellers to advertise their products at the top of Amazon’s product pages and only pays for these ads when people click on them.
Q
Q1 – First Quarter
Jan-March of any given year.
Don`t miss top profit days – Amazon Sellers Calendar 2023: Key Dates for Amazon FBA Sellers.
Q2 – Second Quarter
April-June of any given year.
Q3 – Third quarter
July-Sept of any given year.
Q4 – Fourth quarter
Oct-Dec of any given year, well-known for Black Friday and the holiday shopping season.
QB – Quickbooks
Service to help manage accounts.
R
RA – Retail Arbitrage
A retail store purchase for resale on Amazon.
Replen – Replenish-able product
A product that a seller can replenish from a supplier and sell continuously.
RoAS – Return on Ad Spend
This metric is used to determine the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. It shows how many dollars you get for every dollar spent on advertising.
Read the article ACoS vs. TACoS vs. ROAS: Which Metric is Best for Amazon Sellers to track your ad profit correctly.
ROI – Return on Investment
A performance metric to measure the success of an investment relative to cost.
S
SB – Sponsored Brands
Previously known as Headline Search Ads. These ads appear in the search results, product pages, and other places, such as the checkout page. Sponsored Brand Ads normally appear as long rectangular banners in horizontal and vertical formats.
SC – Seller Central
The online interface Amazon marketplace sellers use to manage their Amazon Pro or Individual seller accounts.
SEO – Search Engine Optimization
The process of maximizing or optimizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine. Amazon page SEO optimization will help your site rank first in search results for certain keywords.
SFP – Seller Fulfilled Prime
A program for Amazon Prime sellers that allows them to ship from their warehouses and control their fulfillment.
SKU – Stock Keeping Unit
An alphanumeric code is used to identify items in a seller’s inventory.
SNS – Subscribe And Save
Amazon service allows customers to automatically order delivery on certain products at a discounted price regularly.
SS – Seller Support
Customer service for Amazon sellers.
T
TIA – Thanks In Advance
This abbreviation is often used in groups when someone is asking a question. They will ask it and end with TIA to thank you for any answers you may provide.
TOS – Terms Of Service
Also known as Terms of Use (TOU) or Terms and Conditions (T&C). This refers to the legal agreements between a service provider and a person who wants to use that service. The person must agree to abide by the terms of service to use the services offered.
TOT – Time Off Task
A Fulfillment Center term is used to define the amount of time it takes to complete a given task.
U
UPC – Universal Product Code
12-digit number is displayed with the barcode on the vast majority of retail products.
UPH – Units Per Hour
The number of units produced or sold per hour, depending on the context of use.
UTA – Unable To Access.
Lack of access to something, such as a service or location.
UX – User Experience
UX is also referred to as Customer Experience.
V
VA – Virtual Assistant
It is someone who usually provides administrative assistance when working remotely. VAs tend to be contracted and can also provide accounting, data entry, research, and more.
VC – Vendor Central
Vendor Central is an online platform for businesses. It allows them to sell their products directly to Amazon. When businesses join Vendor Central, they are called first-party sellers.
VLT – Vendor Lead Time
The average delivery time between the placement of a purchase order and the date of receipt at an Amazon warehouse.
W
WOW – Week Over Week
Comparing data from one week to the previous week.
WS – Wholesale
The process of buying goods from the manufacturer or distributor in bulk to resell them in brick-and-mortar stores or e-marketplaces.
Y
YMMV – Your Mileage May Vary
This is a chat lingo you will most likely see in Amazon-related Facebook groups, which means the post may not apply to everyone.
YTD – Year-to-date
From the beginning of the year until this time of year, this acronym is often seen when sharing sales or a certain metric since the beginning of the year.
In Closing
New Amazon sellers say they have difficulty understanding specific vocabulary on Amazon. To help, My Real Profit has created a simple and accessible dictionary of acronyms with the most used Amazon acronyms, abbreviations, and terms.
My Real Profit team works tirelessly to make using Amazon simple and profitable for every seller.
