Prime Big Deal Days just wrapped (October 6–7, 2026), and Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday are next. This is the time of year when Amazon sellers feel the most pressure to “run something” — a coupon, a deal, a Prime discount — often without knowing what each option costs or which one fits the product.
Amazon gives sellers four different ways to offer savings: promotions, coupons, deals (Lightning Deals and Best Deals), and price discounts such as Prime Exclusive Discounts. Each has its own eligibility rules, its own fee model, and its own way of showing up to shoppers.
This guide breaks down how each one works in the US store, what Amazon currently charges, and how to do the margin math before you discount a single unit.
Before you spend money on discounts or deals, lock in the fundamentals. This free checklist is used by Bubba Academy students to launch cleaner and avoid costly rookie mistakes.
Amazon’s own guide to seller promotions, coupons, and deals (updated May 27, 2026; accessed October 8, 2026) groups customer savings into four tools:
Eligibility differs by tool. Amazon’s guide states deals require a Professional selling plan and an overall rating of at least four stars, while coupons require a Professional plan and an overall rating of at least 3.5 stars — plus product-level requirements. Not every ASIN qualifies for every tool, and Amazon reviews or validates each offer before it goes live.
Fees changed significantly on June 2, 2025, when Amazon moved coupons and deals to a mix of upfront and performance-based fees. Here is what Amazon’s published announcements state (verify inside Seller Central before you submit — the creation flow shows your cost).
Remember that every discount sits on top of your referral and FBA fees. If you have not mapped those yet, start with our guide to calculating your true per-unit cost on Amazon FBA.
Budgets in Seller Central are a planning tool, not a hard cap. According to Amazon’s cost guide:
Discount stacking is the most expensive mistake. Amazon’s own example: a $35 coupon combined with a 50% discount turns a $100 product into a $15 sale. Before launching anything, check every live coupon, promotion, deal, and price discount on that ASIN.
Prime Exclusive Discounts (PEDs) are price discounts only Prime members see. Amazon’s Seller Forums announcements describe a few rules that trip sellers up:
Discounts, ads, and inventory only work together when you have a clear process. Bubba Academy’s step-by-step program shows Amazon sellers how to price, promote, and advertise without giving away their profit.
Match the tool to the job instead of defaulting to the biggest discount:
A coupon is often the most accessible starting point: it has a low upfront fee, a visible badge, and you control the budget and duration. A modest money-off or percentage-off coupon can help a newer listing convert while you build reviews through compliant methods like those in our legit Amazon reviews playbook.
Lightning Deals and Best Deals get high-visibility placements on deal pages, search results, and detail pages. They also carry the highest fixed cost, so they fit ASINs with steady sales history and enough inventory to cover the committed units.
A Prime Exclusive Discount is the flexible event option when you have a validated reference price. Just make sure the event fee and the deeper discount still leave you a profit.
Percentage-off tiers and BOGO promotions reward multi-unit purchases instead of cutting the single-unit price. Social media promo codes let you share an offer through email, social channels, or creators without discounting for every Amazon shopper.
Here is a simple worked example with illustrative numbers (not a forecast). Plug in your own price, fees, and costs:
Now compare that to your per-unit profit at full price. If your profit at $30 is $7.00, a $5 coupon cuts it to roughly $1.37 per unit, before the one-time $5 coupon fee and any small change in your referral fee. That can be fine for a launch or to clear aged inventory, but not as a permanent price. Amazon describes the 2.5% coupon fee as applying to “sales on redeemed coupons” — confirm the exact basis in your coupon creation screen and transaction reports.
For deals, add the daily fee (non-peak) or the $100 event fee, plus the variable percentage. Then multiply your per-unit discount by the committed units. If ad spend rises during the promotion, judge the result on total profit with TACOS, not just ACOS.
Amazon’s Holiday 2026 announcement lists these US dates. Re-check Seller Central, because Amazon can extend or change deadlines:
A deal on an ASIN that is out of stock is wasted money. Amazon’s Prime Day guidance warns that deals are suppressed if ASINs are not buyable at event time. Pair your promotion calendar with a solid reorder point plan so you don’t run out mid-promotion — or overstock afterward.
Use this before every coupon, deal, or discount:
Coupons, deals, price discounts, and promotions are tools, not strategies. Each has different eligibility, visibility, and fees.
Know your floor price, choose the one tool that fits the goal, budget for overshoot, avoid stacking, and keep inventory in stock through the event. Results vary by product, category, and execution, so treat every promotion as a test and measure it on profit, not just revenue.
Bubba Academy trains sellers on research, Brand Registry, listings, FBA, ads, and pricing — including how to plan promotions that build momentum without draining margin.
Join Bubba Academy Today →In the US store, Amazon charges a $5 upfront fee per coupon plus 2.5% of sales from redeemed coupons (the structure introduced June 2, 2025). The customer discount itself is funded from your coupon budget, which is separate from these fees. Confirm the current cost on the coupon creation screen in Seller Central.
Amazon says a Lightning Deal runs for 4 to 12 hours (as determined by Amazon), while a Best Deal runs for a set number of days — 1 to 14 days on non-peak days. On non-peak days both cost $70 per day plus 1.0% of deal sales, with the variable fee capped at $2,000 per deal.
Amazon states you need a Professional selling plan for both. Deals require an overall rating of at least four stars, and coupons require an overall rating of at least 3.5 stars. Products must also meet product-level eligibility rules, and Amazon reviews or validates each offer.
A common cause is a missing or unvalidated reference price. Amazon requires the discount to be at least 5% below the reference price on regular days and 10% below during events like Prime Day and Black Friday. Amazon displays a List Price only if customers bought the product on Amazon, or other retailers offered it, at or above that price in the past 90 days (180 days for seasonal products).
Amazon lets you offer more than one type of savings at a time, but it warns about discount stacking, where combined offers create a much lower price than you planned. Check every active coupon, promotion, deal, and price discount on an ASIN before launching a new one.