E-Commerce News Roundup: December Recap

As 2025 begins, Amazon has rolled out a comprehensive set of updates that were unveiled in December. Sellers can now enjoy enhanced pricing control through the introduction of minimum-price-floor discounts. The improved Voice of the Customer analytics provides deeper insights into performance, leveraging Return Rate and Star Rating metrics. Additionally, Amazon has streamlined FBA operations by reducing Vine Enrollment Fees for New Selection participants and introducing updated inventory reimbursement policies. Sellers can also benefit from AI-powered product imagery creation and manage their Prime-exclusive discounts using a unified pricing tool. 

Boost Sales with Amazon’s New Percent-Off Discounts and Minimum Price Floor

Dec 11, 2024 

Amazon finally did it! Now, sellers can set percent-off price discounts with a minimum discounted price. 

Here’s how the new feature works: 

• When you create a price discount, you can enter a percent-off discount that will automatically apply to your item’s regular offer price or sales price. For example, if you  enter a 20% discount on a $100 item, the discounted price will be $80. 

• To ensure that your percentage doesn’t result in prices that are unintentionally too low, you can also set a minimum discounted price. If you reduce your regular offer price low enough such that the percent-off amount results in a discounted price below the minimum discounted price, the price discount will automatically deactivate. You can find promotions that require attention on your Price Discount dashboard. 

For example, if you create a 20% discount on a $100 item and set a minimum discounted price of $75, the discounted price will be $80. If your regular offer price drops from $100 to $90, the 20% discount will apply to the $90 price, resulting in a discounted price of $72. In this scenario, your price discount will automatically deactivate because the discounted price of $72 is less than your minimum discounted price of $75. This setup helps you maintain your desired pricing structure. 

You can still create price discounts with fixed discounted prices. Primary users of your Seller Central account have access to the Price Discounts tool by default. For more information about percent-off discounts, go to Create a price discount or visit the Price Discount dashboard. 

Return Rate and Star Rating Feature on Voice of the Customer Dashboard

Dec 13, 2024  

The Voice of the Customer dashboard now includes Return Rate and Star Rating metrics that help you manage the customer experience. These metrics allow you to proactively monitor customer feedback, identify potential issues, and take action to resolve issues promptly.  

The Voice of the Customer dashboard features include:  

The Return Rate which measures the percentage of returns initiated in the past 12 months. This metric helps you track your most returned items immediately and make informed decisions about your ASINs.  

The Star Rating feature which shows your products’ star ratings, as displayed on the Amazon product detail pages. This allows you to have all relevant information available in one place and more efficiently identify areas for improvement.  

To improve your listings, go to the Voice of the Customer dashboard. 

Get a reduced Vine Enrollment Fee with Fulfilment by Amazon New Selection

Dec 19, 2024  

On December 10th, 2024, Amazon added a new benefit to the Fulfilment by Amazon New Selection program. When you participate in the program, you can qualify for a 25% discount on the Vine enrollment fee for your eligible selection. This discount applies when 3 to 10 units per parent ASIN are enrolled in Vine. 

With the Fulfilment by Amazon New Selection program, you can also qualify for a discount on eligible branded and non-branded ASINs, as well as free monthly storage, free liquidation of unproductive inventory and free return processing for eligible parent ASINs that are new to FBA, for a limited time. 

Amazon Vine connects trusted reviewers with new products, helping sellers build product awareness and drives informed purchase decisions. 

 For more information, go to Fulfilment by Amazon New Selection. 

Update to the FBA Inventory Reimbursement Policy

Dec 19, 2024 

Amazon is updating its FBA inventory reimbursement policy to help provide sellers with greater transparency and more predictability in how reimbursements are calculated for items that are lost or damaged before a customer orders. This will help drive a more consistent approach that works as Amazon supports sellers with supply chain services across their sales channels. 

Effective March 10, 2025, Amazon will reimburse sellers based on the product manufacturing cost of the affected inventory. “Manufacturing cost” means seller cost to source a product from a manufacturer, wholesaler, reseller or to produce the item if you are the manufacturer. It excludes costs such as shipping, handling, customs duties or other costs. 

To help provide you greater control and accuracy, you can choose how Amazon determines the manufacturing cost for your products: 

• Amazon will provide a manufacturing cost estimate for you. This estimate is based on a comprehensive evaluation of comparable products sold by Amazon, by other sellers and through wholesale channels. 

• You can provide your manufacturing costs directly. If you don’t provide your own costs, Amazon will automatically apply Amazon’s estimate which you can change when you’re ready. 

You can view and manage manufacturing costs in the Inventory Defect and Reimbursement portal starting in late January using a new Manage Your Manufacturing Cost page. 

Amazon is constantly refining Amazon’s operations and processes to prevent products from being lost or damaged and having to be reimbursed. For cases where reimbursement is necessary, Amazon is focused on ensuring timely compensation. Amazon now offers automatic reimbursements for items lost in its fulfilment centers, saving you time and eliminating the need for you to submit a claim to receive reimbursement. For items that are lost or damaged after a customer order in Amazon’s store, Amazon will continue to reimburse you for the sales price on the original order minus applicable fees. 

If you want to learn more about how to calculate reimbursements on Amazon, check this article. 

Instantly Create Custom Brand Imagery with AI-Powered Image Generator

Dec 19, 2024

Brands can now create custom, brand-themed imagery for products with our free AI-powered Image Generator. 

With Image Generator, you can: 

1. Generate custom images in seconds with AI.
2. Save images to your creative asset library for immediate use. 
3. Use imagery across Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display campaigns, brand stores and posts.
4. To test shopper engagement, produce multiple images. 
5. Access more than 40 themes for year-round seasonal relevance. 

If you want to create a custom image powered by AI, you can go to Amazon’s Image Generator. 

Prime-Exclusive Discounts are Moving to the Price Discounts Tool

Dec 24, 2024

Amazon has simplified the creation and management of discounts, by integrating Prime-exclusive discounts into the Price Discounts tool. As part of this integration, the Prime Exclusive Discounts tool will be removed from Seller Central on January 7, 2025. 

The updated Price Discounts tool now supports both Prime-exclusive and all-customer discounts. You can easily search your catalogue to add products to your promotion, manage discounts globally and view performance metrics, all from the Price Discounts tool. There is no change to how Prime-exclusive discounts are displayed to customers. 

Any discount that you’ve already created in the Prime Exclusive Discounts tool will run until its scheduled end time. Newly created discounts made in the Prime Exclusive Discounts tool cannot run beyond December 31, 2024. On January 1, 2025, you’ll no longer be able to create new discounts in the Prime Exclusive Discounts tool. 

To create a price discount, follow these steps: 

1. Go to Advertising and select Price Discounts. 
2. Click Create a Price Discount 
3. Complete the form. To create a discount that is exclusive to Prime customers, select Prime customers as the Audience type. 

For more information, go to the Price discounts help page. 

Pauline Thoméré

January 14, 2025

Pauline's passions lie in eCommerce and supporting individuals in their online selling endeavors. Currently, as a frequent contributor to the BQool Blog, she channels her passions into creating informative contents that break down the complex challenges Amazon sellers face on a daily basis.