Promotions · Intermediate · 7 min read · 9 steps
How to create a price discount on Amazon (for Prime members or everyone)
A price discount is the quiet cousin of the coupon. Nobody clips anything. For a set window of 1 to 30 days, the price simply drops, and if the product has a validated reference price, shoppers see the strike-through in search results and on the detail page. When the window closes or the units you committed sell through, the price snaps back on its own.
It is also where Prime Exclusive Discounts live now. Pick Prime customers as the audience and you have one. Amazon's rules for it are clear but scattered across six help pages, and the expensive mistakes (an event fee you didn't expect, a coupon stacked on top, a discount suppressed overnight) are all written down somewhere. Here they are in one place.
Part 01
Step by step
9 steps, in the order Seller Central asks for them.
- 01Confirm you and the product qualify
You need a Professional selling account and a seller feedback rating of at least 3.5. The product must be in new condition with at least a three-star rating, and adult or restricted products are out. During peak events like Prime Day the bar rises to four stars, though products with no ratings yet are still eligible.
Sources: Seller Central Help, Price discounts, Seller Central Help, Price discounts and events
- 02Check the reference price before you pick an audience
A strike-through price and savings only show when the ASIN has a validated reference price, such as a List Price or Typical Price. For a Prime-only discount it matters even more: without a reference price, Amazon suppresses the discounted price entirely. Typical Price is the 90-day median price customers paid.
Sources: Seller Central Help, Price discounts, Seller Central Help, Troubleshoot price discounts, Seller Central Help, Reference pricing and promotions FAQ
- 03Open the Price Discounts tool
Go to Manage Promotions, click the Create promotion drop-down menu and select Create Price Discount. In the New Price Discount window, choose the country, and if you run more than one account in the same Amazon store, pick the account.
- 04Set the dates with the six-hour rule in mind
Pick a start date, end date and time. A discount runs for at most 30 days, and you can't schedule one more than 60 days ahead. If today is the start date, the discount starts at least six hours after you first submit it, so Amazon has time to validate it.
Sources: Seller Central Help, Create a price discount, Seller Central Help, Price discounts
- 05Choose the audience and discount type
Under Audience type, All customers shows the price to every Amazon shopper and Prime customers limits it to Prime members. Under Discount type, Fixed price sets the exact price shoppers pay, and Percent off takes a percentage off your current offer price, including any sale price. Add an Internal Description that only you will see.
- 06Add products one by one or by spreadsheet
Search by product name, ASIN or SKU and click Add. Adding a parent ASIN pulls in all of its children, or you can pick a few. For bigger runs, use the Price Discount template, which takes up to 500 SKUs with their discounts and committed units. Save it as .xlsx and leave the header rows alone.
Sources: Seller Central Help, Create a price discount, Seller Central Help, Price discount template
- 07Set the discount, the floor and the committed units
Click Set discounts. Enter the fixed price or the percent off, and for Percent off add a Minimum Discounted Price so a later price cut can't drag the deal too low. Then enter Committed units, the number you're willing to sell at the discount. The bulk actions toolbar applies one value to many products at once.
- 08Read the Review panel, then submit
Price Preview shows the reference price and savings shoppers will see, if any. Potential Funding shows what you'd fund if every committed unit sold, which is the discount in dollars times committed units. Submit, then come back to check for warnings. Once the discount is live, you can't raise the discounted price.
- 09Watch the dashboard while it runs
Amazon revalidates every price discount every 24 hours. Filter the Price Discounts dashboard to Needs attention to see warnings like Price conflict or Out of stock. Open a discount to see Sales, Units Sold, Glance Views, Conversion Rate and Sell-through, during the run and after it ends.
Sources: Seller Central Help, Troubleshoot price discounts, Seller Central Help, Create a price discount
Part 02 Calculator
Try the numbers: Price discount cost and floor check
Runs in your browser only. The 5% minimum, the 90% sell-through point and the 2026 event fee of $100 plus 1.5% of sales, capped at $5,000, are Amazon's numbers. Type 1 for a peak event or 0 for a normal day.
Part 03
The picture
The same facts, drawn. Each chart links to the Amazon page it comes from.
The order from Seller Central's Create a price discount page. Same-day starts wait at least six hours for validation.
Source: Seller Central Help, Create a price discount
Data desk by XENA IntelligenceSource: Seller Central Help, Price discount fee
Data desk by XENA IntelligenceAmazon's own Prime Day 2026 examples from the Price discount fee page. The cap keeps the third one from reaching $7,600.
Source: Seller Central Help, Price discount fee
Data desk by XENA Intelligence- Sold at the discount 90%
- Buffer for orders in flight 10%
Committed units aren't a hard limit. Amazon starts deactivating the discount at 90% sell-through, so the last 10% absorbs orders already in flight.
Source: Seller Central Help, Troubleshoot price discounts
Data desk by XENA Intelligence- Late shipment rate at or under 4%
- Order defect rate at or under 1%
- Pre-fulfillment cancellation rate at or under 0.5%
- Disbursement reserve set to seven days or more after delivery
- Free shipping on the item
From the Price discounts eligibility criteria. FBA offers skip this list.
Source: Seller Central Help, Price discounts
Data desk by XENA IntelligencePasses
- Set a Minimum Discounted Price on Percent off
- Set a maximum order quantity below committed units
- Keep the SKU active and in stock
- Offer free shipping on seller-fulfilled SKUs
- Check Needs attention after you submit
Bounces
- Stack a coupon you didn't budget for
- Run a cheaper deal on the same ASIN
- Leave a minimum price above the discount
- Commit 10 units at a deep discount with no order cap
- Expect to raise the price once it's live
From Troubleshoot price discounts and Create a price discount.
Source: Seller Central Help, Troubleshoot price discounts
Data desk by XENA IntelligencePart 04
Tricks the help page buries
The lines in Amazon's own documentation that most sellers scroll past.
- 1Coupons stack on top, and you pay for both
A coupon applies to the price set by your price discount. Amazon's own example: a $100 product discounted to $90, then a 50% coupon, sells for $45. You're responsible for the extra cost, so check what else is running on the ASIN before you submit.
- 2Percent off needs a floor
Percent off follows your current price, so a later price cut moves the deal with it. In Amazon's example, 10% off a $100 item with an $85 floor gives $90. If the price drops to $92, the deal would be $82.80, below the floor, and Amazon deactivates it. That's the floor doing its job.
- 3Cap the cart, not just the commitment
Committed units aren't a hard limit, and one big cart can overshoot them. If the maximum order quantity on the SKU is higher than your committed units, a single shopper can buy more than you planned. Set it in Manage Inventory by clicking Edit on the SKU.
- 4Cancel early and the event fee disappears
The $100 upfront fee is charged even if the discount sells nothing. Amazon waives the fees when you or Amazon cancel before the start time, so decide before the event begins, not halfway through it.
- 5Expect a new line on your statement
Starting February 2027, event fees for each price discount are charged after the 10th day of the month after it ends, shown as Deal participation fee and Deal performance fee in the Payments dashboard. A discount from September 23 to October 7 is billed after November 10.
- 6Prime-only discounts share your committed units
If an ASIN runs a Prime Exclusive Discount and a price discount at the same time, units sold at the Prime price come out of the committed units on the price discount. Budget the two together or the second one ends early.
- 7Edit the spreadsheet as a full list
When you upload the template to an existing discount, it replaces everything. Any SKU missing from the file is removed. Export to template first, change what you need and leave every SKU you still want in the file.
Part 05
Questions sellers ask
Tap a question to open it.
What is a price discount on Amazon?
A price discount is a time-bound campaign in Seller Central that lowers the price on chosen products for 1 to 30 days and on a set number of committed units. You can target all customers or Prime customers only. Products with a validated reference price show a strike-through price in search and on the detail page.
How do I create a Prime Exclusive Discount now?
Prime-exclusive discounts are created in the Price Discounts tool. Go to Manage Promotions, choose Create Price Discount from the Create promotion menu, and select Prime customers as the Audience type. The ASIN needs a validated reference price, or Amazon suppresses the discounted price for Prime-only discounts.
Sources: Seller Central Help, Create a price discount, Seller Central Help, Troubleshoot price discounts
How much does an Amazon price discount cost?
Price discounts on non-event days have no fee. In 2026, price discounts that run during Prime Day, Prime Big Deal Days and Black Friday and Cyber Monday cost $100 upfront plus 1.5% of sales at the discounted price, with the variable fee capped at $5,000. Canceling before the start waives it.
Sources: Seller Central Help, Price discount fee, Seller Central Help, Price discounts
What is the minimum discount for an Amazon price discount?
Outside events, the discount must be at least 5% off your current price, at least 5% off the 30-day lowest non-promotional price customers paid across all sellers, and at least 5% off any validated reference price. During peak events Amazon may require more, and the tool shows a Max Price to meet.
Sources: Seller Central Help, Price discounts, Seller Central Help, Price discounts and events
Why isn't my price discount showing on the detail page?
Amazon lists the usual reasons: the start date hasn't arrived or six hours haven't passed on a same-day start, an error on the dashboard, a better offer from another deal winning the Featured Offer, sold-through committed units, or a minimum price on the SKU above the discounted price.
Can I sell more units than I committed?
Yes, it can happen. Committed units aren't hard limits, and system latency can let a burst of orders go past them. Amazon starts deactivating the discount once 90% of committed units sell, so 100 committed units start switching off at 90. A maximum order quantity helps prevent overshoot.
Sources: Seller Central Help, Troubleshoot price discounts, Seller Central Help, Create a price discount
Sources
Every fact above comes from these Amazon pages, opened on . Amazon updates them; if a step looks different in your account, trust Seller Central.
- Seller Central Help, Price discounts
- Seller Central Help, Create a price discount
- Seller Central Help, Price discount fee
- Seller Central Help, Price discounts and events
- Seller Central Help, Price discount template
- Seller Central Help, Troubleshoot price discounts
- Seller Central Help, Reference pricing and promotions FAQ