Amazon: set up a discount

About this article

This article describes how to set up strikethrough pricing (also known as from-for pricing or reference pricing) on Amazon via ChannelEngine.

Table of contents

Introduction

Requirements

Step 1: verify the list price

Step 2: verify your selling price

Step 3: map the start and end dates

Step 4: set up the discount

• Option 1: price rules
• Option 2: promotions

Introduction

Make your Amazon listings competitive by setting up strikethrough pricing via ChannelEngine.

Amazon supports discounts as strikethrough pricing, a.k.a. from-for pricing or reference pricing. Either your product's list price, a.k.a. Recommended Retail Price (RRP), MSRP, or catalog price, or your own selling price will appear with a strikethrough as the "before" price if Amazon approves your offer.

ChannelEngine makes it easy to set up this kind of time-bound discount on your listed products in the Mappings and Pricing steps of your Amazon marketplace plugin.

Using the steps below, your discounts may appear as strikethrough pricing on your Amazon listings, given that Amazon approves your request.

Requirements

Amazon decides if the product listing qualifies for strikethrough pricing. Amazon approves or denies each offer via an automated process. Follow two rules of thumb:

• The given product is listed at the list price for at least 90 days and shows substantial sales at this price for at least 30 days.
• Your chances of getting the strikethrough pricing approved might improve if the item is sold at the discounted price on Amazon before the strikethrough price is enforced.

Enable the pricing v2 feature in your environment. Reach out to your ChannelEngine customer success manager or the ChannelEngine Support team to get this feature enabled.

Step 1: verify the list price

Before you set up your discount, verify that you have correctly mapped the product's list price in Mappings:

1. First, locate any list price attributes in Content mappings and Offer mappings. 
   • If you do not export content to Amazon from ChannelEngine, then only locate the list price attribute(s) in Offer mappings.
   • The list price is available to map with specific categories on Amazon US. 
2. Each Amazon country may name this attribute differently, e.g.: list price, RRP, MSRP, catalog price, etc.
3. Verify the product's list price, including tax. E.g.: on Amazon DE, map list_price/value_with_tax.
4. If there is also an attribute for the product's list price excluding tax, map and verify this attribute as well. E.g.: on Amazon DE, map UVP list price: value.
5. If there is no list price attribute for you to map, then skip to the next section, Verify your selling price. You send Amazon your selling price via the Pricing step.

Step 2: verify your selling price

Next, verify your selling price in Pricing, Price rules. The selling price attributes each appear as a different tab in Price rules:

• For standard consumer listings, your selling prices are mapped in B2C.
• For FBA listings, your selling prices are mapped in B2C – FBA.
• For Amazon Business listings, your standard prices are mapped in B2B.

Verify your selling price in the relevant tab(s) in Price rules. Verify both the Min. price and Base price for the product(s) in question.

Check that you have correctly mapped these attributes by reviewing the article ChannelEngine: price rules v2. ChannelEngine sends one of these values to Amazon as your selling price.

Step 3: map the start and end dates

First, map the promotion's start and end dates in Mappings:

1. Go to Mappings, Offer mappings.
2. In the Optional section, map the following fields:
   • Purchasable offer: discounted price schedule end at (purchasable_offer/discounted_price/schedule/end_at) — the last day* on which the discounted price applies. After that, the standard product price is displayed. To set up a strikethrough price on Amazon, you must map this attribute.
   • Purchasable offer: discounted price schedule start at (purchasable_offer/discounted_price/schedule/start_at) — the first day* on which the discounted price will apply. The discounted price overrides the standard product price. To set up a strikethrough price on Amazon, you must map this attribute.
3. Click Save.

*Use the format yyyy-mm-dd. E.g.: 2022-01-31. Make sure to respect the fair pricing and time duration requirements for discounts within each country.

Step 4: set up the discount

Once you have verified your list price and selling price, you need to set up your discounted price and your discount's start and end dates. To set up this time-bound discount, you must map attributes in both the Mappings and Pricing steps.

To set up the discount, you have two options: 

1. Option 1: set up your discount price in Pricing, Price rules. Choose this option if you want the dynamic repricer to work even when your products are discounted. 
2. Option 2: set up your discount price in Pricing, Promotions. Choose this option if you want the discount price that you set up to always be sent to Amazon during the discount period, overriding any activity from the repricer and the price rules. 

Option 1: price rules

If you have set up repricing with Amazon, and if you do not want your discount to override any ongoing repricing activity, then set up your strikethrough pricing discount in Pricing, Price rules. This option is recommended if you always want to try sending Amazon strikethrough pricing for the same product selection, all the time, even after your discount end date passes.

1. Go to Pricing, Price rules.
2. Set your discounted price. To the right of the row of attribute tabs, click More. Select the relevant discounted price tab for your fulfilment type:
   • Discounted price with tax — for standard (FBM) listings.

   • Discounted price with tax – FBA — for FBA listings.

     

3. The selected tab appears. Map your Min. price and Base price.
4. Set your discounted price with any one of four methods: Add fixed amount, Add percentage, Rounding, or Use field. If you use multiple methods, bear in mind that ChannelEngine applies the rules from the top of the list, to the bottom. For guidance on these rules, check out ChannelEngine: price rules v2.
5. Name your price rule, e.g.: Amazon rounded down to nearest .99.

6. Select a product selection for which you always request strikethrough pricing: click + Add product selection and select the desired product selection.

   

7. Verify the Price field input and price rules that you set in the previous section.
8. Click Save.

Bear in mind that by setting up your discount in Price rules, you send your discount price to Amazon indefinitely unless you unmap the sale price attributes in Price rules.

Option 1: promotions

To override any repricing activity or existing price rules, set up your discount in Promotions. This option is recommended if you know that you only want to set up your discount for a specific time period, with no interference from the repricer or other price rules. 

1. Go to Pricing, Promotions.
2. Click Create promotion.
3. Name the new discount, e.g.: Black Friday sale.
4. Choose your discount setting, e.g.: Promotion discount in percentage. 
5. Enter the same start and end dates as were entered in the Offer mappings.
6. Click Save.
7. In the Products section, make the relevant discounted price tab visible: to the right of the row of attribute tabs, click More and select the relevant tab for your fulfilment type:
   • Discounted price with tax — for standard (FBM) listings.
   • Discounted price with tax – FBA — for FBA listings.
8. Select the products for strikethrough pricing: add products via the search bar, paste a list, or upload a CSV file. For guidance on selecting products for a given promotion, check out ChannelEngine: promotions.
9. If you chose Promotion discount per product as your discount setting, enter the discounted price in the Set price field on each product line.

Finally, save your changes and wait for Amazon to validate them. Amazon ultimately decides whether to show strikethrough pricing on your item.