As the 2025 holiday shopping season approaches, Amazon is once again turning up the pressure on sellers. With record-breaking sales during last year’s Prime Big Deal Days, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, the retail giant is expecting even more growth this year – and it’s making its expectations for sellers crystal clear: offer deeper discounts, pay higher fees, and meet strict deadlines.
Amazon’s Holiday Promotion Demands: Sell More for Less
Amazon has opened up submissions for its major Q4 events – Prime Big Deal Days and Black Friday/Cyber Monday Week – and if you want your products to be featured, be prepared to play by their rules.
Here’s what Amazon expects from sellers this year:
1. Bigger Discounts, Mandatory Fees
- Best Deals
- Minimum 15% discount (30%+ gets extra visibility)
- $1,000 flat fee per deal
- Submissions close: Sept 12 (Prime Days), Oct 28 (BFCM)
- Lightning Deals
- Minimum 20% discount
- $500 flat fee per deal
- Same submission deadlines as Best Deals
- Prime Exclusive Discounts (PED)
- Minimum 15% discount for Prime members
- Flat fee: $100 for Prime Days, $245 for BFCM
- Coupons
- Minimum 5% discount
- $5 flat fee per coupon + 2.5% of sales made via coupon
In short: Amazon wants deep discounts and charges you upfront for the privilege of participating.
2. Strict Inventory Deadlines
To maintain Prime eligibility and get fast shipping badges, sellers must meet tight inbound shipping windows. Amazon outlines exact delivery dates for each event – and warns that missing them could mean delays or lost sales.
Key Inventory Deadlines:
- Prime Big Deal Days: FBA cutoff is September 19
- BFCM: FBA cutoff is October 30
- Sellers using Amazon’s Warehousing and Distribution (AWD) must send inventory even earlier.
Amazon is also rolling out a 7-day delivery window policy starting August 18 for non-partnered carriers, making logistics planning even more crucial.
3. Peak Season Fulfillment Fees Return
As with past years, sellers will pay extra holiday fulfillment fees from October 15, 2025 through January 14, 2026. These apply across:
- FBA
- Remote Fulfillment with FBA
- Multi-Channel Fulfillment
- Buy with Prime
Sellers can preview these increased costs using Amazon’s Revenue Calculator and Fee Preview tools.
What This Means for Sellers
Amazon’s 2025 holiday game plan is clear: Drive maximum sales volume with deep discounts, while offloading the cost and risk onto sellers via hefty participation fees and strict operational requirements.
If you’re selling on Amazon, the opportunity is big – but so are the demands. Make sure your pricing strategy, inventory planning, and profit margins are ready to handle the increased pressure. Because in Amazon’s holiday playbook, you sell more for less, or you don’t get seen at all.