What a better way to fully understand Amazon systems, services, and functions than by knowing the terms, acronyms and abbreviations. For this reason, we have created this list to help researchers and sellers to better understand the concepts that are behind Amazon.

Acronyms vs Abbreviations

Acronyms and abbreviations are shortened forms of words or phrases. These two terms are often interchanged but have different meanings.

An abbreviation is a shortened form of words used to represent the whole (e.g., Q1, AMZ, FBA). On the other hand, an acronym typically contains a set of the initial letter or letters to form another word (e.g., BOGO, BOLO, COG). The main point of reference is that an abbreviation is only a series of letters. Thus, you read abbreviations letter by letter.

An acronym forms a new word or word(s) which you read as the new word (we read BOGO like that instead of B-O-G-O).

Amazon Related Acronyms & Abbreviations

[Updated July 29,2024] Here’s a list of 213 acronyms related to Amazon. This list is constantly growing, and we’ll update it with new terms whenever needed!

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1P – 1st Party Seller

The marketplace acts as the retailer and the brand is the wholesale supplier.

3P – 3rd Party Seller

Also referred to as retailer. A company that sells products that are not in their own brand.

3PL – 3rd Party Logistics

Also referred to as 3rd Party Fulfillment. 3PL is a fulfillment option where you move fulfillment to an operating partner. A 3PL company is one that assembles, prepares, and/or ships products on behalf of a seller.

A

A/B Testing

Also referred to as split testing. A method of trying or testing two different websites (website A vs website B) or product listings (product listing A vs product listing B) to compare and contrast sales metrics.

A+ Content

Sometimes referred to as enhanced content. An extended version of the product detail page where the product description has enhanced content and branding. This includes graphics, images, and videos embedded into the page.

A-Z – A-Z Claim

Sometimes referred to as AZ Claim or A to Z Claim. Amazon’s guarantee in products sold on Amazon.com when customers decide to purchase directly from a seller. A-Z claim is guarantee of timely delivery of products and that said products are delivered in good shape. Customers can file an A-Z claim provided they first contact the seller and wait two days to give the seller an opportunity to resolve the problem. This gives the customer and the seller a bit of time to resolve the issue on their own before Amazon steps in.

A10 – Amazon A10 Algorithm

Amazon’s most recent SEO algorithm and successor to the Amazon A9 algorithm. A10 algorithm aims to increase visibility for listing with legitimate reviews and sales. The focus is to eliminate fake profiles while addressing the major problem of counterfeits and fake reviews.

Another view in A10 is that a buyer’s search inquiry holds more relevance than it did before. It guides shoppers more directly to what they’re really looking for. Internal sponsored links no longer hold as much importance as they used to after the introduction of the A10 algorithm.

A9 – Amazon A9 Algorithm

The system by which ranking on Amazon search pages work. A9 holds the key difference between Google and Amazon’s SEO ranking (How to rank organically on Amazon), with the latter having more emphasis on sales conversion, causing listings with stronger sales history and higher conversion rates to rank higher (more about our Amazon SEO services).

AA – Amazon Associate

Also referred to as the Amazon Affiliate program. An affiliate marketing program free for website owners and bloggers to advertise products from Amazon.com on their sites by creating links. When customers click the link and buy products from Amazon, they earn referral fees.

AAP – Amazon Advertising Platform

Now known as Amazon DPS. AAP is the program that advertisers use to buy and create display and video ads. AAP is also an advertising platform allowing advertisers to drive traffic from other websites or mobile apps to Amazon.

ACoS – Advertising Cost of Sale

Sometimes, ACoS (it’s easier to type in all upper case). Also sometimes referred to as TACOS or Total Advertising Cost of Sale. ACoS is related to Amazon sponsored product ads and its metrics of how well your products are performing relative to their cost. In general, percentage of attributed sales spend on advertising is ACoS. For more insights on ACoS check blog posts on What is a good ACOS on Amazon, Amazon listing optimization and How to Structure Amazon PPC Campaigns.

ACS – Amazon Creative Services

Refers to Amazon’s creative tools and features that sellers and brands can use to establish their brand equity and promote shopper loyalty.

AGS – Amazon Global Selling

A program which allows sellers to list and sell products on Amazon’s global marketplaces. There are currently 13 Amazon online marketplaces (or websites) globally, enabling sellers to scale their business throughout the world, irrespective of where they are physically in the globe.

AL – Allocated

A replenishment term used for Amazon Private label.

AM – Area Manager

A role in Amazon fulfillment centers with the operational and financial responsibility for a defined region or territory. Duties include defining sales targets, setting financial goals, and working with senior department or location managers.

AMG – Amazon Media Group

A program that runs ads outside of Amazon and on Amazon devices like Kindle to drive traffic to the site. Also, a premium advertising offer within Amazon’s vendor services accessible via Amazon Marketing Services.

AMS – Amazon Marketing Services

Now known as Advertising Console within Amazon Advertising. AMS is Amazon’s PPC advertising platform for vendors, which allows the creation of Sponsored Products, Headline Search Ads, Product Display Ads, and Lock Screen Ads.

AMZ – Amazon

Also abbreviated as AZ. An American multinational technology company based in Seattle, Washington, which focuses on ecommerce, digital marketing, and cloud computing.

AMZL – Amazon Logistics

Also referred to as Amazon Shipping or Amazon Delivery. Refers to any deliveries that Amazon makes in the United States using its delivery service and its own logistical arrangements.

AOV – Average Order Value

Average sales price for an ASIN for a specific period of time. AOV is the average sales by the number of orders. Generally, AOV = Sales / Orders.

API – Application Programming Interface

A code which allows two platforms or software programs to talk to one another.

APR – Annual Percentage Rate

Refers to the interest rate for a whole year, rather than just a monthly fee/rate, as applied on a loan, mortgage loan, credit card, etc.

AR – Amazon Robotics

Formerly Kiva Systems and a subsidiary of Amazon.com. A Massachusetts-based company that manufactures mobile robot fulfillment systems.

ARA – Amazon Retail Analytics

ARA provides sellers with basic information about their products’ performance. Performance metrics include statistics based on trends, operations, customer behavior, and overall sales. A selection of basic reports for vendors.

ARAP – Amazon Retail Analytics Premium

An add-on option with varied and more detailed reports that look at vendor’s traffic and customer behaviors. An analytics tool available on Amazon Vendor Central sold through an Amazon Vendor Manager.

ASIN – Amazon Standard Information Number

Amazon’s internal tracking identifier for each listing in their catalog. A 10-digit alphanumeric code identifying items for sale on Amazon. Simply put, ASIN is a product identifier unique to Amazon. You can search for ASINs on Amazon to find product pages.

ASN – Advanced Shipment Notification

A system of notification used to communicate shipment’s tracking number and other logistics information to Amazon in advance of delivery. Calculated by Net Sales / Number of Products Sold within the same time period.

ASP – Average Selling Price

Refers to the average price that a seller on Amazon sells their products for.

ATOP – At the Time of Posting

ATOP is the price of an item at the time the post was made. You are likely to see this on Amazon related Facebook groups selling products and goods.

AVS – Amazon Vendor Services

A vendor-funded support service which provides Brand Specialists on Amazon to support a Wholesale business on Amazon.

AWS – Amazon Web Services

A comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform, with over 200 fully featured services from data centers globally. A subsidiary of Amazon providing on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on metered pay-as-you-go basis.

AZ – Amazon

Also abbreviated as AMZ. An American multinational company on ecommerce, cloud computing, and digital marketing.

B

B2B – Business to Business

Refers to the relationship of two businesses, rather than a business and a consumer.

B2C – Business to Consumer

Refers to the relationship between a business, a firm, or a company and an individual or a consumer.

BB – Buy Box

Also refers to Amazon Buy Box. A button on an Amazon detail page that buyers use to purchase a product.

BISS – Business Industrial and Scientific Supplies

A specific selling category on Amazon.

BL – Big Lots

An American retail company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, with over 1,400 stores in 47 states. The significance of Big Lots is that several Amazon FBA sellers frequent their stores.

BM – Brick & Mortar

Refers to the traditional street-side, customer-facing businesses that offer products and services to its customers face-to-face in an office or a store that the business owns or rents. The opposite of an online store.

BOGO – Buy One Get One

A type of promotion for sellers where buyers get one additional item free for the price of one.

BOGOF – Buy One Get One Free

Same as BOGO.

BOL – Bill of Landing

A type of proof of delivery. BOL is required by a carrier at the time of pickup.

BOLO – Be On the Lookout

Used to refer to an item that is profitable that you might be able to find in nearby stores. To be alert or attentive when watching or searching for something or someone.

BOPIS – Buy Online Pick Up In Store

An ecommerce term that refers to the shopping model where consumers buy the items online to be picked up at a retail location, rather than getting delivered.

BSR – Best Seller Rank

Also referred to as sales rank. A ranking score which gives an idea of how well an item is selling in relation to others. Order and ranking of a product in its listed category. Rank updates hourly and considers recent and past sales history. For new products, the rank will be “None.”

BTS – Back To School

A calendar period used by merchants to promote and boost product sales related to school items and services.

C

CA – Canadian or Canada

An abbreviation for the Canadian marketplace.

CAGR – Compound Annual Growth Rate

CAGER is the rate of return required for an investment to grow from its starting balance to its ending balance, assuming the profits were reinvested at the end of each year of the investment’s lifespan.

CCC – CamelCamelCamel

A free online tool for Amazon sellers which allows user to track Amazon price history charts, ranks, price watches, and price drop alerts.

CCR – Counterfeit Complaint Rate

The rate by which sellers get complaints about their products being fake or counterfeit. Some wholesalers or distributors require low CCR for their resellers.

CD – Continuous Deployment

In AWS, Continuous Deployment is a software development practice where code changes are automatically prepared for a release to production without explicit approval. In contrast, Continuous Delivery is where manual approval is needed to update to production.

CM – Change Management

In cloud computing, CM is one of the processes responsible for controlling the life cycle of IT infrastructure. CM’s main objectiveis to enable changes to be made while ensuring minimum disruption in IT services.

CoGS – Cost of Goods Sold

Sometimes COGS. The value of goods sold during a certain period of time. COGS is an accumulated total of all costs used to create or provide products or service sold.

CPC – Cost Per Click

Refers to the sponsored ads and the amount Amazon charges the seller or vendor when a customer clicks on their ads. CPC is the amount of money you spend every time someone clicks on your ad. ​ CPC = Spend / Clicks.

CPI – Consumer Price Index

A measure of the average change overtime in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services.

CPI – Cost Per Impression

Sometimes referred to as CPM. An advertising practice that refers to the price you pay each time people view your ad.

CPM – Cost Per Mil

Similar to CPI, but CPM refers to the price for an ad for every thousand (or mil) views.

CPT – Critical Pull Time

The time in which an order is in danger of not shipping in time for customer delivery cut-offs. When an order is in danger of being shipped out late to a customer, CPT occurs. Amazon really doesn’t want this to happen! Amazon will send out PAs or PGs to pull them and take them to be shipped out ASAP.

CRaP – Can’t Realize a Profit

Refers to products that Amazon identifies as having low profit values, being unprofitable or items are at risk of being unprofitable. Amazon’s finance team created the term to describe items that are structurally unprofitable for the company to sell on its marketplace.

CS – Customer Service

The service or support companies provide to their customers for inquiries, service requests, complaints, returns, etc.

CTI – Category, Type, Item

The hierarchical structure for categorization with multiple levels or layers of classification. Typical hierarchical structure stems from creating a category list first, then different types per category, then different items per type.

CTR – Click Through Rate

A metric that measures the number of clicks per impression of an advertisement. The percent of shoppers who see your ad and click on it, calculated as # of clicks / impressions (relate blog post: What is a good CTR on Amazon).

CVR – Conversion Rate

The percentage of shoppers who have clicked on your ad and purchased. ​ Ordered units divided by glance views​.

CX – Customer Experience

Also referred to as User Experience. A term encompassing the multiple interactions that factor into the customer’s experience with a vendor or a brand. The totality of customer’s feelings, impressions, and insights towards the company upon buying goods or receiving services. CX is a very important factor for sellers aiming for positive reviews.

D

D2C – Direct-to-Customers

Also DTC. An ecommerce practice and strategy where traditional B2B businesses start selling directly to end-consumers. D2C differs from B2C since the latter usually relies on a retailer or distributor to provide the products to end-users.

DDP – Delivery Duty Paid

A shipping method where the supplier is responsible for arranging carriage and delivering the goods at the named place, cleared for import and all applicable tariffs and duties paid.

DEA – Dynamic Ecommerce Ads

A component of Amazon DSP where ads will have Ecommerce features built within the display ad, such as retail price and review ratings.

DOTD – Deal of the Day

On Amazon’s Gold Box or Deals page, a single item or small set of closely related items discounted for a period of 24 hours.

DP – Detail page

DP is the listing page where an ASIN is sold on Amazon.com. It’s also known as Product Detail Page and may contain a single ASIN or a parent ASIN with variations, such as child ASINs. This displays important info such as price, title, bullets, description, customer reviews, etc.

DPMO – Defects Per Million Opportunities

Also referred to as Nonconformities Per Million Opportunities. The ratio of the number of defects in a sample to the total number of defect opportunities multiplied by 1 million. DPMO is a long-term measure of process performance, and may require you to think reversely. It is a measure of the error rate of a process indicating how good your process is towards committing mistakes.

DPV – Details Page View

A metric showing the number of impressions of a single detail page. This occurs when a shopper visits one of your brand’s product detail pages after clicking on your ad.

DPVR – Details Page View Rate

Refers to the total number of promoted products on Amazon Detail page views, divided by number of ad impressions, presented as a rate (Related blog post: Amazon page views vs sessions).

DS – Drop Shipping

Refers to shipping a product directly from a supplier to the end customer. Dropshopping is a fulfillment method where products are not kept in-house and shipped directly to the customer.

DSP – Demand Side Platform

Amazon’s display advertising program. Amazon’s targeted advertising programs that drive and retarget consumers based upon demographics and shopping behavior.

DTC – Direct to Consumer

See D2C.

E

EAN – European Article Number

A particular type of Global Trade Item Number (or GTIN). It is either an 8-digit code or a 13-digit code. Used in most countries except the United States and Canada. For other barcodes and item numbering or identifying systems, see post on Different Amazon FBA Barcodes.

EBC – Enhanced Brand Content

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 has been obsolete and replaced by A+ Content.

EFN – European Fulfillment Network

An option provided to Amazon’s European sellers, allowing them to sell in other Amazon marketplaces while fulfilling their orders from local fulfillment centers.

EOD – End of Day

Refers to the close of a particular working day.

ExSD – Expected Ship Date

The system’s estimate of when an item will leave the FC and corresponds to a truck’s critical pull time.

EXW – Ex Works

Refers to a state where the seller is responsible and liable for the entire shipment from door to door. This means you’re responsible for everything from the door of the supplier to the final destination. Your supplier finishes the products, sets them in their warehouse for pickup, and the ownership of the goods becomes yours upon full payment.

F

FBA – Fulfillment by Amazon

Amazon’s fulfillment service where third party sellers are allowed to store their products in Amazon Fulfillment Centers. Upon sale, Amazon will pick, pack, ship, and handle customer service on behalf of the seller (related blog post: FBA inventory reimbursement).

FBM – Fulfillment by Merchant

Also referred to as MF or Merchant Fulfilled, or MFN or Merchant Fulfillment Network. MF is a fulfillment type where merchants handle shipping, packing, and inventory instead of being handled by Amazon.

FC – Fulfillment Center/s

FC are Amazon’s fulfillment warehouses or centers where products are stored, prepped, and shipped.

FCA – Free Carrier

Sometimes referred to as Free to Carrier. A trade term indicating that the seller of goods is responsible for delivery of those goods to a destination specified by the buyer. The seller is responsible and liable once the shipment is handed over to the carrier, typically near the port in the country of origin. It means that the supplier has the responsibility to just get your products out of their gates and at the gate of the port. They do not handle the supplier’s country custom and loading it onto the ship.

FFP – Frustration-Free Packing

An Amazon sustainability program that eliminates excessive packing and overboxing.

FinTech – Financial Technology Lenders

FinTech companies give ecommerce businesses financial assistance, among other things. They are mostly online financial institutions which offers almost paperless loan application and approval.

FNSKU – Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit

Assigned by Amazon when you ship your product to its fulfillment center. Shipping your products to the Amazon fulfillment center means that Amazon will be in charge of the delivery of your products. Each product that goes through the company’s fulfillment center needs the FNSKU code. You can attach this code to your product on your own before shipping them to the fulfillment center, or you can also pay Amazon to do the job for you. The company usually charges $0.20 for each product. For other barcodes and item numbering or identifying systems, see post on Different Amazon FBA Barcodes.

FOB – Free on Board

A trade arrangement where the supplier is responsible for getting your goods from the factory to the port. FOB cost will be added to the manufacturing cost.

FPY – First Pass Yield

A measure of quality in a process that reflects the percentage of product made correctly without any rework or corrective activity.

FS – Financial Statement

Refers to the records of a company’s business activities and financial performance.

FT – Fast Track

A glance view weighted in stock metric for Amazon.  In order 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 higher conversion. ​

FTL – Full-Truckload

An Amazon freight shipping service where the shipment combines individual boxes on pallets for delivery. The truck might contain shipments to other destinations.

G

GIR – Growth Incentive Rebate

Also referred to as Volume Incentive Rebate (VIR). A type of discount or rebate linked to higher volume and growth. Higher volume sales result in a greater discount, making this a beneficial scenario for both the seller and the supplier.

GLN – Global Location Number

Unique identification code of a physical location that is used to identify locations and legal entities. Comprised of a GS1 Company Prefix, Location Reference, and Check Digit.

GS1 – Global Standards 1

An international standards organization with member bodies in more than 100 countries worldwide. The global authority for the unique identification of products and companies, which serve as the building blocks for barcodes. For other barcodes and item numbering or identifying systems, see post on Different Amazon FBA Barcodes.

GST – Goods and Service Tax

A destination-based tax on consumption of goods and services, levied at all stages right from manufacturer up to the retailer who sells the goods for final consumption. Some of the countries implementing GST are: France, India, Canada, Vietnam, Australia, Singapore, United Kingdom, Monaco, Spain, Italy, Nigeria, Brazil, and South Korea.

GTIN – Global Trade Item Number

GTIN is a type of barcode. It is recognized almost everywhere in the world. GTIN is used to identify different product information such as the name of the retailer or the manufacturer of the product. For other barcodes and item numbering or identifying systems, see post on Different Amazon FBA Barcodes.

GV – Glance View

Glance views are the number of times an ASIN is viewed. GV is calculated on a child ASIN level. Parent ASINs do not generate glance views.

H

Hazmat – Hazardous Materials

These items may be flammable, dangerous, corrosive, pressurized, etc. and require special precautions and regulations when transporting or storing.

HTF – Hard to Find

HTFs are often associated with a BOLO post. It comes into play when an item is rarely seen in stores anymore.  

I

IDQ – Item Data Quality

Refers to the condition of an item’s information, for example, if the product has bullet points and images.

IL – InventoryLab

A service used to assist in accounting and analysis related to Amazon business.

IP – Intellectual Property

Refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names, and images used in commerce. For Amazon’s IP Policy, check this post from Amazon Seller Central.

IPI – Inventory Performance Indicator

An Amazon IPI score combines the past three months of sales, inventory levels, and costs into a single rolling metric. When an IPI gets below a certain threshold, sellers will be subject to storage limits which might hinder their ability to add new inventory or create new items.

IRDR – Inventory Record Defect Rate

IRDR is a random inventory count, where the virtual is matched with the physical in a bin. If IRDR is high, then a picker could be sent to a bin to pick a unit, but it won’t be there. Downstream implication is that the shipping cut off could be missed because Amazon has to chase that unit from elsewhere.

ISBN – International Standard Book Number

A 13-digit number assigned by standard book numbering agencies to identify individual books, editions of a book, or book-like products like e-books or audiobooks. ISBNs used to be 10 digits until the end of 2006. For other barcodes and item numbering or identifying systems, see post on Different Amazon FBA Barcodes.

ITK – Item Type Keyword

A set of search keywords chosen by a vendor, from a list Amazon maintains, that show an ASIN in search when a customer searches for any word(s) in the ITK string.

K

KB – Knowledge Base

A repository of resources such as articles, guides, and video tutorials, intended to educate customers about the products, processes, claims, etc.

KDP – Kindle Direct Publishing

Amazon’s self-publishing platform for authors. Related blog posts on to maximize Amazon KDP Earnings, KDP Advertising, Amazon KDP Keywords and KDP metadata guidelines.

KPI – Key Performance Indicators

Also referred to as metrics. A measurable value that determines how well your business or organization is performing against set objectives.

L

LBB – Lost Buy Box

When a product loses the Buy Box button, the brand is losing it to another seller that has better offer as determined by Amazon’s algorithm. If a product is out of stock, naturally it’s a lost buy box.

LD – Lightning Deal

Lightning deal is a type of promotion on Amazon. LDs are offered in a limited quantity for a short period of time. These are available one per customer until either the deal’s promotion period ends or all the available inventory is claimed.

LSA – Latent Semantics Analysis

An information retrieval method which works by decomposing the original matrix of words to maintain key topics. This is a useful topic modeling algorithm in that it can rank topics by itself.

LTH – Long Term Hold

LTH is storing stocks of products to be sold at a later date. For example, storing unsold Christmas lights in late December to be sold starting in October or November the following year.

LTL – Less-Than-Truckload

An Amazon freight shipping service where you essentially combine partial loads to create full multi-stop truckloads, which can be very efficient. LTL shipment combines individual boxes on pallets for delivery. The truck might contain shipments to other destinations.

M

MAP – Minimum Advertised Price

A price that you agree not to list with a lower value when you purchase a product from a wholesaler or distributor. This term often comes into play with wholesale sourcing.

MCA – Merchant Cash Advance

MCA is a financing option available to Amazon sellers through third party providers, which allows a business to grow against its future sales. Loan application approvals by MCA are relatively fast but may be of high interest since this industry is still unregulated.

MCF – Multi-channel Fulfillment

Also multichannel fulfillment. A fulfillment type where storage is not limited to one company. Some inventory may be fulfilled by Amazon through FBA and other inventory by other sales channels or by the seller themselves.

MCI – Multi-Country Inventory

An Amazon fulfillment option which allows FBA sellers to choose the countries where they want to send their inventory and have orders for that Amazon store fulfilled by local fulfillment centers.

MF – Merchant Fulfilled

See FBM.

MFN – Merchant/Manufacturer Fulfillment Network

See FBM.

MoM Growth – Month-Over-Month Growth

Shows the change in the value of a specific metric as a percentage of the previous month’s value. Often used to measure the growth rate of monthly revenue, active users, number of subscriptions, or other key metrics.

MOQ – Minimum Order Quantity

The minimum amount of items consumers can order. This typically applies to orders from wholesalers or distributors.

MSRP – Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price

Also referred to as the list price, SRP (Suggested Retail Price), or RRP (Recommended Retail Price). The price at which the manufacturer recommends that the retailer sell the product.

MTD – Month-to-Date

From the beginning of the month until this time of the month. Referring to the period in a month with respect to the month as a whole. Often seen when sharing sales or a certain metric since the beginning of the month. 

MWS – Marketplace Web Services

Refers to Amazon’s Marketplace Web Services and is where you get access to your API or MWS keys. While AWS refers to the cloud computing platform, MWS is the specific service that Amazon provides for sellers.

N

NAFN – North American Fulfillment Network

Vendors in North America (US, Canada and Mexico) may find their products shipped to any of these countries using Amazon’s fulfillment channels.

NDA – Nondisclosure Agreement

Covers items such as what is confidential, who the information can be shared with, breach of contract, amendments, and other important parts of every non-disclosure agreement.

NIS – New Item Setup

Refers to the initial creation of an item from accepting the terms and agreements, to developing an ASIN, and filling out the detail page info.

NP – New Product

A newly listed item on Amazon.

NPMO – Nonconformities Per Million Opportunities

See DPMO.

NR – Non-Replenishable

Also Non-replenishment. An item that is not available and could be deleted from the catalog.

NTB – New to Brand

Amazon’s advertising metric that 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. NTB advertisers receive campaign performance metrics such as total new-to-brand purchases and sales, new-to-brand purchase rate, and cost per new-to-brand customer. This was launched in 2019.

O

OA – Online Arbitrage

Also referred to as Retail Arbitrage. Purchasing items from online retailers to resell on Amazon.

OB – Obsolete

The abbreviation OB is typically used when referring to stocks.

OB – Outbound

Used when referring to FC scheduling.

ODR – Order Defect Rate

The percentage of orders that have received negative feedback or significant issue on, an A-to-Z Guarantee claim or a service credit card chargeback.

OEM – Original Equipment Manufacturer

A company that produces parts and equipment that may be sold by other companies. This term is normally used when discussing warranty.

OOS – Out of Stock

A replenishment term referring to items being out of stock in retail store or Amazon themselves being out of stock.

Ops – Operations

Mostly used to refer to the operations department.

OS – Off-Season

A replenishment term referring to an item that is not currently in season. Can be used to temporarily unpublish an item that will be back in stock during a relevant season or a specific time of the year.

OTC – Over the Counter

Also referred to as off-exchange trading. A trading practice that is done directly between two parties, without the supervision of an exchange. It is contrasted with exchange trading, which occurs via exchanges.

P

P2P – Peer-to-Peer

Also referred to as “crowd lending,” or “social lending.” A type of lending which enables individuals to obtain loans directly from other individuals, cutting out the financial institution as the middleman. Make sure to understand the risks before entering this type of lending.

P&L – Profit and Loss

Generally referring to Profit and Loss Statement; also referred to as income statement. A financial statement that summarizes the revenues, costs, and expenses incurred during a specified period, usually a fiscal quarter or year. These records provide information about a company’s ability or inability to generate profit by increasing revenue, reducing costs, or both.

PA – Process Assistant

A position in an Amazon warehouse who works as a supervisor under the Area Manager.

PAN EU – Pan European

Refers to the European marketplace. Also refers to the state where a seller is actively selling on Amazon’s European marketplaces. PAN EU is an option that allows sellers to send their products to one fulfillment center. Then Amazon ships the items to their fulfillment centers around the continent.

PCOGS – Product Cost of Goods Sold

Also Projected Cost of Goods Sold, and sometimes written as PCoGS. The amount needed to procure an item or a product.

PDA – Product Display Ads

A type of display advertising where a product’s ad appears throughout Amazon on category and product pages.

PDP – Product Display Page

See DP.

PED – Prime Exclusive Discount

A limited-time del available to Amazon FBA sellers for Prime-eligible items. This can be in the form of an amount or a percentage off.

PG – Process Guide

A role in Amazon fulfillment centers supporting a Process Assistant and an Area Manager.

PL – Private Label

An item manufactured or packaged for sale under the name of the retailer rather than of the manufacturer. For a better understanding of PLs, see this post on Cost to Sell on Amazon FBA via Private Label.

PM – Price Match

Refers to matching the price of other retailers. You will typically see this for retailers claiming they have the lowest prices for their products and offers consumers a price match if they find other vendors with lower prices.

PNOV – Preliminary Notice of Violation

A notification from Amazon informing sellers of their probable violation. Sometimes the initial notice gets skipped especially if there are multiple violations.

POD – Proof of Delivery

A customer-signed document from the shipping company indicating that the item was delivered. This term normally comes up when a customer claims that he has not received the package but the shipping company says otherwise. Note that a tracking number from the delivery company may not suffice as a POD. Seller Central suggests that an actual signature of the customer is needed.

PPC – Pay Per Click

In Amazon, PPC is an advertising feature that can help sellers reach buyers, boost sales, promote brand awareness, and measure success in Amazon. It allows vendors, sellers, agencies, and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) authors to advertise their products at the top of Amazon’s product detail pages and SERPs. Just like any other PPC ad, you will only pay for your Amazon PPC ads whenever users click them. For more information, see blog posts on Amazon PPC: A Complete Beginner’s Guide and How to Optimize Amazon PPC AND Retain High Organic Rank.

PPE – Personal Protective Equipment

Often required for working in certain job roles at an Amazon financial center.

PPM – Pure Product Margin

Calculated by the following formula (Revenue – P-COGS) / Revenue.

PPV – Product Price Variance

Happens when a vendor raises an invoice and the item price on the invoice differs from what Amazon has in the system.

PQV – Product Quality Variance

Happens when a vendor sends inventory to Amazon and the amount they shipped differs from the amount Amazon received.

PR – Planned Replenishment

A replenishment term referring to items that are automatically reordered.

ProbRec – Problem Received

Percentage of units received in Amazon warehouse with a problem which needs to be solved, such as missing barcode, wrong warehouse, overage quantity, etc.

PVR – Provisions for Receivables

Temporary credit memos or credit holds that Amazon places on a warehouse account related to forcasted payables due to Amazon.

Q

Q1 – Quarter 1

Refers to the first quarter of the year from January to March. For some businesses, this is the most challenging quarter as it follows Q4, where sales are expected to go up.

Q2 – Quarter 2

Refers to the second quarter of the year from April to June.

Q3 – Quarter 3

Refers to the third quarter of the year from July to September.

Q4 – Quarter 4

Q4 – Refers to the fourth quarter of the year from October to December. For most businesses, this quarter is the most important due to the holidays within this period.

QA – Quality Assurance

A process or method of preventing mistakes and defects in manufactured products and avoiding problems when delivering products or services to customers. Quality Assurance for Amazon sellers play an important role in the supply chain for it ensures that your goods are pre-inspected before shipment.

QB – QuickBooks

An online tool which helps Amazon sellers manage their accounting.

R

RA – Retail Arbitrage

See OA.

Replen – Replenishable Product

An item that a seller is able to replenish from a supplier and sell continuously.  This term is normally used in relation to sourcing products.

Rep OOS – Replenishable Out of Stock

Clicks on a detail page where retail items are not available in percentage of all clicks. The percentage of sales that were missed out due to the item being out of stock.

RoAS – Return on Ad Spend

An indication of the amount spent on PPC ads in relation to the revenue generated from ads. RoAS a factor that is used to determine the effectiveness of an ad campaign.

ROI – Return on Investment

A performance metric used to determine success of an investment relative to the costs. The loss or gain an investment generates relative to the amount of money invested.

RRP – Recommended Retail Price

See MSRP.

S

SB – Sponsored Brands

Formerly known as Headline Search Ads. Ads that appear both in the search results, product pages (via product attributed targeting), and other places such as the checkout page. These ads normally show up as long rectangular banners in both horizontal and vertical formats. For more detailed on SB, check this post on Amazon Sponsored Brands Tutorial.

SBA – Small Business Administration

Established in 1953, SBA is an autonomous US government agency which aims to promote the economy in general by providing assistance to small businesses.

SBC – Simple Bin Count

The total number of items in a bin after items are stowed. If the number is different than what it should be, the pod is referred to Cycle Count, where they scan every item in the bind and surrounding bins.

SC – Seller Central

The online interface certain Amazon marketplace sellers use to manage their Amazon Pro or Individual seller accounts. The web platform used by Amazon marketplace sellers.

SEO – Search Engine Optimization

The process of maximizing or optimizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring the website appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine. Optimizing online content such that a search engine will likely show your website as a top result for searches based on certain keywords. For a better understanding of SEO, check this post on Boosting Your Amazon SEO.

SFP – Seller Fulfilled Prime

A program for Amazon Prime sellers which allows them to ship from their own warehouses and control their own fulfillment. By displaying the Prime badge, you are committing to fulfill orders with two-day delivery at no additional charge for Prime customers.

SIOC – Ships in Own Container

An Amazon container packaging option where the product can be shipped in its own box and no over boxing is required in the fulfillment center to ship to a customer.

SKU – Stock Keeping Unit

An alphanumeric code used to identify items in a seller’s inventory. These are machine-readable codes used to identify a specific product and vary from company to company, for inventory purposes.

SLA – Service Level Agreement

An agreement between two parties detailing how a service can be accomplished. SLA is usually referred to the time frame a service needs to be delivered, but also includes the quality of the service.

SLAM – Scan, Label, Apply, Manifest

Refers to the step at which a shipment is weighed, the shipping method is calculated, and a shipping label applied.

SnS – Subscribe and Save

Amazon’s service that allows customers to periodically auto-order delivery on certain products at a discounted price. Bundling more of these products increases the discount level.

SP – Sponsored Products

Keyword-targeted ads that promote an individual product and are on a cost-per-click basis. For more insights, read this blog post on Amazon PPC Optimization for Sponsored Products.

SP00 – Shipping Package #

Sometimes referred to as SPOO (two letter O’s, instead of two number 0’s). A barcode label applied to a box after an item has been packed. After packing and before auto-SLAM, the sp00 contains all order details for a particular shipment.

SPN – Service Provider Network

Launched in 2014 with the goal of enabling sellers to launch, manage and grow their business on Amazon.in. SPN is a network of over 300 professional service providers who are trained and certified by Amazon.

SPOO – Shipping Package #

See SP00.

SRP – Suggested Retail Price.

See MSRP.

SS – Seller Support

The customer service for sellers in different Amazon marketplaces.

T

T&C – Terms and Conditions

See TOS.

TACOS – Total Advertising Cost of Sale

See ACoS.

TIA – Thanks in Advance

You will most likely see this term used in Amazon selling group pages requesting for information.

TOS – Terms of Service

Also known as Terms of Use (TOU) or Terms and Conditions (T&C). 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 in order to use the service or services offered. For Amazon service, TOC is found here.

TOT – Time Off Task

A fulfillment center term used to determine the amount of time needed to complete a certain task.

TOU – Terms of Use

See TOS.

U

UPC – Universal Product Code

A 12-digit unique code identifying a specific product. It also has a unique sequence of black bars that are then detected by machines for easier processing. This type of barcode is often used in the United States and Canada. The UPC is purchased from GS1, an organization assigned to identify different retail products around the globe. For a better understanding of different barcodes, see post on Different Amazon FBA Barcodes.

UPH – Units Per Hour

The number of units produced or sold per hour, depending on the context of use.

UX – User Experience

See CX.

V

VA – Virtual Assistant

Someone who provides administrative help while working remotely. VAs can be contract workers and can provide assistance in bookkeeping, data entry, research, and much more.

VAT – Value Added Tax

A consumption tax placed on a product whenever value is added at each stage of the supply chain, from production to the point of sale. Known in some countries as Goods and Service Tax. As of 2018, 166 of the 193 countries with full UN membership employ a VAT.

VC – Vendor Central

An invite-only platform for businesses that want to sell their products to Amazon itself. When you sell to Amazon in this capacity, you are their supplier. Amazon sends you a purchase order listing of what they want to buy.

The web interface used by manufacturers and distributors. If you sell via Vendor Central, you’re a first-party seller. You’re acting as a supplier.

VIR – Volume Incentive Rebate

See GIR.

VIS – Video in Search

Offers advertisers a content-rich medium in which to make a direct connection with Amazon customers through videos in mobile search results.

VLT – Vendor Lead Time

The amount of time a vendor takes for an order to be picked, packed, and received by Amazon.

VM – Vendor Manager

The owner of a category or categories at Amazon for Wholesale programs, responsible for managing full category scope, including P&L performance and end-to-end vendor management, which requires development of new strategic vendor relationships, driving negotiations, managing growth levers and ensuring paramount operational and logistical performance.

VNHO – Virtual New Hire Orientation

An onboarding program for new hires done online. We’ve seen more VNHOs when companies started shifting to sourcing services and employees (see VA) who could accomplish work remotely at lower rates.  The use of VNHO has also increased significantly due to measures of social distancing because of COVID-19.

VPC – Vendor Powered Coupons

Amazon coupons that are available to both Amazon vendors and sellers. The offers appear on the Product Detail Page in the form of a digital coupon. Offers include percentage off, dollars off, BOGOs, free shipping, social media promo codes, or giveaways.  For Amazon marketplace sellers, the account must be a Professional Seller Account, in good standing, and must have at least a 3.5 Seller Feedback Rating. Discounts are funded by the vendor/seller.

VPN – Virtual Private Network

Provides privacy, anonymity and security to users by creating a private network connection across a public network connection. VPNs can be used in combination with proxy servers, and overlay networks.

W

WOS – Weeks of Supply

A metric showing how long the current inventory will last based on the current demand. An inventory measure calculated by dividing current inventory by average sales. WOS helps to educate a planner to think of inventory in terms of forecasting. For Wholesale merchants, the Amazon Replenishment Team will determine WOS. For Marketplace sellers, they are responsible for managing their own inventory.

WS – Wholesale

The process of selling products in large quantities and at lower prices to others who then resell them either in brick and mortar stores or online, on sites like Amazon and eBay. Refers to sourcing products direct from the manufacturer or from a distributor.

Y

YMMV – Your Mileage May Vary

A chat lingo that you may often see in Amazon-related Facebook groups which means that the post may not apply to everyone. It can also mean that a user’s product experience may be different from another’s.

YTD – Year to Date

From the beginning of the year until this time of the year. Referring to the period in a year with respect to the year as a whole. Often seen when sharing sales or a certain metric since the beginning of the year. 

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