Amazon's flash sale rules have been adjusted. How should sellers respond?

Amazon's limited-time promotions have always been an important means for sellers to increase sales, increase product exposure and accumulate user reviews. However, Amazon has recently made frequent adjustments to its flash sales rules, forcing sellers to constantly adapt to new changes.

According to feedback from a seller in the forum, in the recent LD flash sale event, it was impossible to increase inventory. The quantity of "confirmed to participate" products turned gray and could not be edited in the middle of the flash sale.

This means that sellers will not be able to control the progress of flash sales in real time through the backend, and this change has caused many sellers to worry.

Looking back at the updates to Amazon’s flash sale rules this year, it can be said that they were very frequent.

At the beginning of the year, the service provider’s BD submission for warehousing was closed, and sellers could not submit BD for products only through LD;

Last month, three more major changes were introduced, including allowing sellers to set the number of flash sales, displaying a progress bar during flash sales, and removing the flash sale logo for products with less than 4 stars;

But now, after LD and BD start, the inventory is locked and cannot be changed.

Sellers have different opinions on this new flash sale rule. Some sellers think it may be a bug, but some sellers think that given the frequent updates to Amazon’s flash sale rules this year, this is likely a new rule.

In response, Amazon's payment manager suggested that sellers set the display progress bar according to the actual inventory of ASIN, or do not set the quantity and carry out the activity according to the previous mode. At the same time, the manager pointed out that some sellers want to create the illusion that ASIN is very popular by modifying the quantity in real time, so as to stimulate consumers to place orders. This behavior is an abuse of the rules.

Currently, sellers are still waiting for Amazon US to release official instructions for more detailed information.

In addition, sellers also need to pay attention to several key points of the flash sale rules.

First, if the seller's promotion does not meet the eligibility requirements, it will be banned. At this time, the seller can understand the reason for the ban in the "Information" on the left side of the grayed-out ASIN and modify the product price, quantity or inventory accordingly. It should be noted that the seller needs to resolve the relevant issues at least 25 hours before the scheduled start time.

Secondly, if the product does not meet the eligibility requirements, the ASIN will be grayed out and cannot be edited, and the seller will need to remove the ASIN from the promotion. If too many ASINs are grayed out, the seller may not be able to create or re-enable the promotion.

Finally, if the seller fails to perform relevant resolution actions before 25 hours, it may result in the cancellation of the flash sale. In addition, if the promotion violates Amazon's promotion frequency policy, Amazon will cancel the promotion without notice.

As the autumn Prime Day approaches, sellers need to pay close attention to these policy changes and adjust their operating strategies in a timely manner to ensure that they can participate in promotional activities smoothly. In this highly competitive market environment, sellers can only better develop their business by constantly adapting to changes.