In this article, learn about:
What Amazon Prime Day is, and why it matters to sellers
Key shipment and inventory strategies for both FBA and FBM sellers
How to choose and manage Prime Day promotions to boost sales
What is Amazon Prime Day?
Amazon Prime Day is the e-commerce giant’s annual sales event, available exclusively for Amazon Prime Members. The event, typically held for 2 days in mid-June, features big discounts across many product categories—ranging from electronics and home goods to beauty and apparel.
For Amazon Sellers, Prime Day is a major opportunity to increase visibility and boost sales. Although this event occurs annually, sellers don’t always know the exact days in advance, requiring agility and extensive preparation on the part of the seller to ensure they are ready to seize this important opportunity each year.
In this article, we’ll dive into how Amazon sellers can prepare their business for success on Amazon Prime Day.
The History of Prime Day
Prime Day started in 2015 as a celebration of Amazon’s 20th Birthday. The first event lasted 24 hours, spanned 9 countries, and became an instant success, with Amazon surpassing its 2014 Black Friday sales and selling 34.4 million items.
Since then, Prime Day has grown steadily in size and impact. Amazon has expanded the range of product categories, increased the duration to a full 48 hours, and consistently attracted more shoppers each year. To put the event’s explosive growth into perspective: in 2015, items were sold at a rate of 23,880 per minute. By 2022, that number had skyrocketed to over 100,000 items per minute.
Amazon continues to break its own records year after year, solidifying Prime Day as one of the biggest retail events of the year—on par with Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Prime Day Timeline
Understanding the Prime Day timeline is essential for sellers who want to participate—and profit—from the event. Amazon keeps the official Prime Day dates under wraps until shortly before the event. Sellers typically receive just one official email from Amazon about the upcoming event. This email includes general guidance and important deadlines, such as when inventory needs to be received at Amazon fulfillment centers. However, it does not reveal the exact Prime Day dates. That information is released to the general public at the same time as it is to sellers, making proactive preparation critical.
In general, sellers can expect the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) inventory cutoff to fall about 10 to 14 days before Prime Day begins. This provides a rough window for sellers to work backward from, even without knowing the precise date.
Occasionally, Amazon launches early Prime Day deals up to a week ahead of the main event. These pre-events don’t follow a consistent pattern, but they present a valuable opportunity to capture early traffic and sales. Sellers interested in participating should prepare inventory and promotions in advance to take advantage of them.
It’s also important to note that Prime Day dates vary by country. For example, Prime Days in the U.S. are not always the same as those in the U.K. or other international markets. Sellers participating in multiple countries should plan accordingly for regional differences.
Prime Day Preparation for Sellers
Because sellers won’t have significant notice of the Prime Day dates, keeping inventory levels healthy, preparing listings, and locking in ad budgets ahead of time can help sellers take full advantage of the Prime Day traffic surge—regardless of when the official announcement drops.
Shipping Inventory
Wisely managing your shipment dates is crucial for Prime Day success. To improve shipping times and customer experience, Amazon works to keep inventory in closer proximity to customers. Sellers make this possible by sending inventory well ahead of Prime Day. FBA sellers should ship early in case of delays caused by shipment bottlenecks, customs holdups, or other transportation issues. Amazon recommends:
Scheduling delivery appointments at least 7 days before key deadlines
Preparing inventory for pickup at least 14 days before, if using the Partnered Carrier Program
To streamline the process and improve efficiency, Amazon offers several programs and shipment strategies to FBA sellers, including:
Amazon Partnered Carrier Program: Provides discounted rates for shipping small-parcel and LTL/FTL shipments to FBA fulfillment centers within the U.S.
Amazon Freight: Amazon’s full-truckload, less-than-truckload, and intermodal shipping service.
Amazon Warehousing and Distribution (AWD): Ideal for managing bulk inventory ahead of Prime Day. AWD stores excess product and automatically replenishes FBA inventory as needed, helping sellers stay in stock during peak demand.
Box-Level Inventory Placement: A program for small-parcel shipments that uses box content details to route inventory more efficiently across Amazon’s fulfillment network.
FBA Shipment Best Practices
To ensure your inventory is processed quickly and is ready for Prime Day sales, Amazon outlines many best practices to follow:
Double-Check Shipment Details: Confirm the number of units per box, total box count, and total weight. Inaccurate information can lead to delays and receiving issues.
Provide Accurate Box Content Information: List the SKUs and quantities in each box during shipment creation. Without this, auto-receiving may fail, and you could be charged manual processing fees.
Verify Destination Addresses: Sending shipments to the destination causes delays and may result in fees. Double-check your shipping plan before sending.
Include Complete Tracking Information: In the Send to Amazon workflow, provide carrier name, shipping method, and estimated delivery windows to help Amazon plan and receive shipments efficiently.
Label Heavy Items Correctly: Apply “Team Lift” or “Mechanical Lift” labels to heavy packages to ensure safe handling and avoid processing slowdowns.
Book Off-Peak or Weekend Delivery Appointments: Avoid midday weekday slots when fulfillment centers are busiest. Scheduling during off-hours reduces congestion and speeds up processing.
Related Reading: How Amazon's Receive Process Impacts Suppliers
FBM Shipment Best Practices
Sellers utilizing Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM) are responsible for storing, packing, and shipping their own inventory. While you maintain more control, you're also more vulnerable to shipping disruptions—especially during high-traffic events like Prime Day.
Here’s how you can prepare:
Stock Up Early: Anticipate increased demand and secure your inventory in advance to prevent backorders or shipping delays due to supply chain slowdowns.
Use Reliable Carriers: Choose shipping partners with guaranteed delivery windows. Offering expedited or two-day shipping can help meet Prime Day expectations.
Set Realistic Handling Times: Ensure your handling time reflects your true fulfillment capacity—especially if you're processing a higher volume of orders.
Ensure Order Accuracy: Double-check addresses, SKUs, and quantities before shipment to reduce returns and maintain high seller ratings.
Communicate Proactively: If issues arise, notify customers promptly and provide updated shipping estimates to preserve trust and satisfaction.
Creating Promotions
In addition to having a solid shipment strategy in place, it’s important to strategically select your Prime Day promotions. Prime Day deals are time-bound offers that appear on the Prime event page, the product’s details page, in the search, and/or in the customer’s cart. These deals can be created/submitted under Advertising in Seller Central.
Types of Prime Day Deals
Deal | Prime Day Fee | Ideal For |
Best Deal | $1000 per deal | Increasing sales on already best-selling catalog items. |
Lightning Deal | $500 per deal | Moving select inventory and helping product(s) stand out with deep, limited discount. |
Price Discount | $100 per campaign | Promoting and selling a large number of different SKUs. |
Coupon | $5 per coupon and 2.5% of coupon sales | Sellers looking for promotion flexibility and to make their product(s) stand out against competitors. |
Please note: Fees listed above are typical but subject to change based on category, season, and Amazon’s internal guidelines.
Best Deals
Best Deals offers run the duration of the Prime Day event, offer deep discounts, and are best suited to high-performing catalog items. Customers can identify these deals by a badge on the product, as well as strikethrough pricing displayed on the detail page, search, and cart. The fee for this promotion is $1000 per deal. With such a steep fee, it’s important to select products that have a history of performing well.
Lightning Deals
Lightning Deals are fast-moving, limited-time promotions that appear on the Amazon Deals page and are great for creating urgency among customers. These deals run for 12 hours (or until sold out). The fee is $500 per deal, with a lower cost for entry than Best Deals but still high enough to warrant careful selection.
It’s important to know that this deal is subject to Amazon’s selection. Submitting Lightning Deals does not guarantee it will be approved and/or run during Prime Day.
Price Discount
Price Discount offers are for Prime members only and are also available on seller-fulfilled items that include free shipping and meet Amazon’s quality standards. Price Discount products receive the same badging as Best Deals and Lightning Deals across search, the detail page, and cart—but they won’t be featured on the main Prime Day event page.
The fee for this promotion is $100 per campaign and supports up to 500 SKUs. It’s a cost-effective way to showcase products and drive conversions without needing to offer as steep a discount as other deal types.
Prime Member Coupons
Prime Member Coupons are Prime-exclusive discounts that apply at checkout. These coupons can be created for individual ASINs or groups of products and can be set up as either a dollar amount or percentage off.
Coupons are featured on the Amazon Coupons page, as well as in search results and on product detail pages. However, it’s important to note that not all get visibility, which is based on a variety of factors, like product relevance, amount of reviews, sales history, and coupon competitiveness. The total fee is $5 per coupon plus 2.5% of coupon sales. With a lower fee and more flexibility, this deal type is a great way to differentiate your listings from competitors—especially during high-traffic periods like Prime Day.
Promotion Best Practices
Running a successful Prime Day promotion isn’t just about picking a deal type—it’s about setting your products up for maximum visibility and conversion. Once you’ve selected the promotions that align with your catalog and budget, keep the following best practices in mind:
Drive awareness: Even the best deals need visibility. Consider using email marketing and social media to generate traffic to your listings.
Offer good discounts: Promotions should feel meaningful. Review your recent pricing history and competitor offers to ensure your discount stands out and meets Amazon’s pricing rules. Note: Your promotion may be suppressed if the deal price isn’t lower than your trailing 30-day lowest price.
Focus on high performers: Spotlight your top-selling products or those with strong customer reviews.
Optimize your content: Use high-quality product images, clear descriptions, and A+ Content to highlight your product.
Maintain good review hygiene: Sellers can participate in user-generated content campaigns or Amazon Vine to increase review ratings before Prime Days.
Managing Inventory
For FBA sellers, staying in stock during Prime Day is crucial for capturing sales and maintaining fast delivery speeds. Amazon’s Minimum Inventory Level and Demand Forecast tools can help you plan ahead by identifying low stock, forecasting demand up to 40 weeks, and providing restock recommendations with ship-by dates. You can view this data in the FBA Inventory dashboard and download detailed reports for more insights. For ASINs without recommendations, aim to maintain at least 28 days of inventory.
FBM sellers are responsible for tracking, storing, and shipping their own inventory, which makes proactive planning even more important. Consider reviewing last year’s Prime Day sales, monitoring current demand trends, and building buffer stock to avoid backorders or delays.
Prime Day for Registered Brands
Brands who are registered with Amazon have additional opportunities for Prime Day success. To optimize your Prime Day visibility, consider updating your Amazon storefront with a special Prime Day version to highlight featured deals and increase the visibility of all your promotions.
You could also take advantage of Amazon’s Brand Referral Bonus to receive a credit that allows you to reduce future referral fees by driving traffic and sales through external marketing channels like social media, search ads, and email campaigns.
Don’t Let Deductions Spoil Prime Day
With increased sales comes increased risk—chargebacks, shortages, and compliance fines can eat into your Prime Day profits fast. SupplyPike helps you track and dispute deductions automatically, so you can focus on growing your business! Schedule a demo today.