Terminology

Some Common Terms To Help Get You Going!

• Gating: A process Amazon uses to restrict sellers from selling a certain brand or product category

• Un-gating: The process of getting permission from Amazon to list gated brands or categories. This typically requires a wholesale invoice with 10 of the same item from the brand or category you wish to ungate

• Auto-ungate: When you request permission to sell a brand and your request is granted without the need to provide an invoice (this happens more frequently as you have been a seller longer and sales increase)

• FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon): This is when you list your items and send them to Amazon's warehouses and when a customer places an order they fulfill the order on your behalf

• FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant): This is when you list your items and keep them in your possession and when a customer places an order you are required to fulfill the order within the time-frame you committed to

• ROI (Return on investment): What % you make back in terms of capital spent or in terms of time, how long it takes to recoup your cost

• MOQ (Minimum order quantity): The minimum amount of a product you need to order from a wholesaler/supplier or manufacturer

• Distributor: A business that typically purchases merchandise directly from the manufacturer and sells those products to other businesses for resale or use (sometimes called closeout companies)

• PL (Private label): When you purchase goods directly from a manufacturer and sell them as your own brand, while branding is important in terms of intellectual property it is not when selling private label bottom line if you import it and sell it you are the liable party if any claims arise

• BSR (Best selling rank): How Amazon measures products sales, the lower the rank the better

• Turnover rate: How long it takes you to move inventory, relevant to how much product you should purchase

• Arbitrage: Arbitrage is the simultaneous purchase and sale of the same asset in different markets in order to profit from the difference in sales price

• RA (Retail Arbitrage): Generally this is when you arbitrage products from brick and mortar stores to sell online or in another marketplace (for our purposes Amazon)

• OA (Online Arbitrage): This is when you arbitrage products from online sources to resell in other markets (for our purposes Amazon)

• Buy Box: This is where the vast majority of Amazon purchases occur, the buy box is simple the box in the top right side of a product page annotated as "add to cart"

• Prep Center: This is a 3rd party who you can have your supplier ship merchandise to and the will ensure it is packaged within the standards set by Amazon, this may include poly bagging, bubble wrapping, removing sales tags/stickers and combining merchandise from several suppliers before sending your shipment to Amazon

• ASIN: Amazon Standard Identification Number. An identifying product number specific to Amazon.

• BOLO : Be On Look Out. Used in message boards or Facebook groups to refer to a product that an Amazon seller should be looking. An Amazon seller may share a BOLO when they’ve found an extremely profitable item, have run out of a particular item in their area, or want to share a good deal with others.

• COGS: Cost Of Goods Sold

• FNSKU: Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping. The Amazon identifying number printed product shipping labels.

• GTIN: Global Trade Identification Number. Use as an alternative to a UPC to track product information across worldwide databases.

• MAP: Minimum Advertised Price. The lowest price a supplier or brand owner will allow you to sell a particular product.

• Replen: An item that customers consistently reorder.