If you’re new to selling products online, chances are you’ve spent some time perusing online forums and blogs. As you’ve seen, there are a handful of acronyms that the online selling community uses constantly. Because we’re passionate about helping you become a successful online entrepreneur, we wanted to break some of them down for you.
We only have space to cover a handful of the most common terms and acronyms here — don’t miss the info at the bottom of this post outlining where to find your FREE copy of our entire Dictionary of Amazon Acronyms and Common Terminology.
Common Terminology
Amazon API: a web service and application programming interface that gives programmers access to Amazon’s product catalog data.
Brand registry: a program offered by Amazon for sellers who manufacture their own brand of products, giving them total control of their listing.
Buy Box: the actual listing that a buyer sees of the product they want to purchase.
Gated category or Restricted category: products being sold on Amazon are monitored. Some categories, like healthcare & beauty, are restricted to ensure the health and safety of Amazon customers.
Lightening deals: a promotion in which a limited number of discounts are offered on an item for a short period of time.
Scouting: looking for products to resell online.
Vendor express: some vendors choose to sell their products to Amazon, in which case Amazon becomes the full time distributor of the product.
Verified review: a review that is left for a seller after an authentic purchase from Amazon is made. A “review” may or may not be from a customer that actually purchased the product.
Common Acronyms
AMZ or AZ: Amazon
ATOP: we typically see At Time Of Posting used in forums or FB groups when someone is getting the word out on a hot new deal, for example, “ATOP I found this product for $8 each at Target.”
BB seller: a Buy Box Seller is the person whose listing is shown when a customer is looking for products online.
BOLO: Be On Look Out. Many sellers use this for items that are sold out online but may still be available in stores locally.
BSR: Best Sellers Rank. Items on Amazon are ranked according to their sales volume and category.
CCC: CamelCamelCamel.com allows you to see the price and rank history of a product when you’re working on sourcing products online.
EAN: European Article Number. If you sell in Europe, your products will be assigned this 13 digit code, also called an International Article Number (IAN).
FBA: Fulfillment By Amazon can be a fantastic way to make more money with your inventory when you’re first getting started. In short, you ship your products to Amazon and for a small annual fee, Amazon will pack, ship, and fulfill all your orders.
FBM or MFN: Fulfillment by Merchant or Merchant Fulfilled Network means the merchant is responsible for picking, packing, and shipping the products, as well as providing customer support for the product.
FNSKU: Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit’s are the numbers printed directly on your product labels when you’re using FBA. FNSKU’s identify your items so that the correct product is pulled for each sale.
GC: Gift Card
GTIN: Global Trade Identification Number’s are universal identifiers used internationally to find product information across databases.
HTF: Hard To Find products often result in higher prices on Amazon.
IL: Inventory Lab is a popular company that offers inventory management and listing on Amazon.
MAP: a Minimum Advertised Price is a price agreement between suppliers and retailers stating the lowest price for an item to be advertised. Relevant when buying wholesale or direct from a manufacturer.
PB: Profit Bandit is a popular app sellers use to scan barcodes of products.
PL: Private Labeling is a product business model that revolves around creating and selling your own version of a product under your own label.
RA: Retail Arbitrage is a product business model where sellers buy products from retail stores to sell online.
SC: Seller Central – Your main dashboard when logged into your Amazon Seller Account.
TIA: you’ll find Thanks In Advance in online forums or discussion groups. When someone asks a question, they’ll end with TIA, as if to say thank you for any answers you may provide.
UPC: a Universal Product Code is a 12 digit barcode that can be found on almost all products in the retail world. You can use the UPC code to look up items on Amazon.
WA/ WS: Wholesale Arbitrage/Wholesale is a product business model where merchants buy discounted inventory in bulk either through a middleman or directly from a manufacturer.
WL: White Labeling a product involves purchasing the item from a manufacturer but applying your own brand.
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