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Common Acronyms Used By Amazon FBA Sellers

By The Selling Family

If you’re just getting started with your Amazon FBA business (or have even been selling for a long time) you may have noticed that we are an acronym loving bunch. We have acronyms for almost everything. It can become confusing and cause you to feel overwhelmed if you don’t know what these letters mean, but that’s where this list will help you. Heck, we’ve already used an acronym in this first paragraph.  But, hopefully you know what FBA means at this point   If not, it’s on the list below.

First, let’s talk about what an acronym is. An acronym is a group of letters based on words that stand for something and usually identifies technology, products, groups and also organizations. Acronyms make it easy to type out common used words without having to spell them out completely.  Sort of like shorthand.  For FBA Sellers, you may have seen these acronyms used in Facebook Groups or on blogs like the one you are reading now.  Alright, let’s go over these commonly used Acronyms by Amazon FBA sellers.

This list will definitely come in handy as you grow in your business.  

Print this out and keep it with you as you learn

• ABC – Amazon Boot Camp - Ok, so you may only see this if you are a member of our Amazon Boot Camp course, but we think it’s pretty important and our users say it all the time 

• ASIN – Amazon Standard Identification Number - This is the identification that Amazon gives to every product listed on Amazon.  Every product page on Amazon has it’s own ASIN.  You can use this number when you are using Amazon seller tools like Inventory Lab, the FBA Calculator and more, to search for the product.  No two items will ever have the same ASIN.

• ATOP - At Time Of Posting - this is used most often when someone is doing a post relating to a price or deal.  So they would say “ATOP I am finding these products for a great deal”.

• AZ - Amazon

• BL - Big Lots - Discount store frequented by many FBA sellers

• BM - Brick & Mortar Store - Used in reference to shopping at a store that has a physical location.

• BOGO - Buy One Get One - This is used in reference to shopping deals.  Often used in sale ads.  For example:  “Triscuits are BOGO free this week at Target”, meaning you buy one box you get one free.  Sometimes used BOGO 50% meaning: Buy One Get One 50% Off.

• BOLO - Be On Look Out - Our friends over at ScannerMonkey are famous for BOLO’s!  These are products that one Amazon seller has found to be profitable and they are saying “BOLO for this item, it will make you money”.

• BTS - Back To School

• CCC - CamelCamelCamel.com - A great site where you can see the price and rank history of a product when doing Online Sourcing.

• COGS - Cost Of Goods Sold - The price that you paid for your inventory items.  Used for tax purposes and accounting purposes.

• EAN – European Article Number - If you sell in Europe on the European network your products will be assigned a 13 digit code called a European Article Number or International Article Number, IAN by some people.

• FB - Facebook

• FBA – Fulfillment by Amazon - This means that the seller has shipped their inventory to Amazon to pick, pack and ship for them. It’s one of the best ways to make more money with your inventory because FBA sellers can take advantage of free shipping and even have the ability to list their own new items if they are a professional seller.

• FNSKU – Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit - These are the numbers printed directly on your product labels to enable the picker’s scanners to identify this product as yours so that the correct item is pulled for each sale.  Your units will always have a unique to you FNSKU, so if a piece of your inventory was to get misplaced, the FNSKU would link it back to you.

• HBA - Health & Beauty Aids - One of our favorite niches on Amazon.  Check out our webinar here.

• HTF - Hard To Find - When a product becomes hard to find, the price often increases on Amazon.com.

• IL - Inventory Lab - The only service we recommend for inventory management and listing on Amazon.

• ISBN – International Standard Book Number - You’re probably familiar already with this acronym since it’s on every print book you’ve ever purchased.  For us Amazon sellers, the ISBN is used in the same way that UPC codes are used:  looking up products, using with seller tools, and has to be covered when sending items to Amazon.

• MAP – Minimum Advertised Price - Now we’re talking about money and prices, this comes to you when you have a type of product with restrictions that the manufacture placed on it not allowing your advertised pricing to go below a certain number.  You will find this when dealing with wholesalers or buying direct from a manufacturer.

• MF – Merchant Fulfill - This is not a dirty term. This means that the item is being fulfilled by the merchant. If you are a MF seller, you’re filling the orders yourself, picking, packing and shipping straight to the customer on your own. Some people use FBM since it looks nicer.

• MSRP – Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price - This is the price that the manufacturer suggests their products be sold for.  On Amazon you will find the MSRP shown above the selling price, IF, the current price is lower than the MSRP.

• OA - Online Arbitrage - Finding deals at online retailers that can be resold on Amazon.com

• OTC - Over The Counter - When you are selling HBA items you want to make sure they are OTC and never prescription!

• PB - Profit Bandit

• Q1 - 1st Quarter Of The Year - January - March

• Q2 - 2nd Quarter Of The Year - April - June

• Q3 - 3rd Quarter Of The Year - July - September

• Q4 - 4th Quarter Of The Year - October - December - The BIGGEST sales quarter of the year!  Where we often make up more than a 3rd of our yearly income.

• RA - Retail Arbitrage - Buying products locally from retail stores to sell online.  This is the method that we teach in our Amazon Boot Camp.

• Replen - Replenishable Item - A product that you purchase for regular or sale price that can be purchased again and again to sell online.

• ROI - Return On Investment - How much money you make on your sold items.

• SC - Seller Central - Your main dashboard when logged into your Amazon Seller Account.

• Scouting - Looking for products to resell online.

• TIA - Thanks In Advance - Often used in groups when someone is asking a question.  They will ask it and end with TIA, as to say thank you for any answers you may provide.

• TRU - Toys R Us - Retail store frequented by many Amazon FBA Sellers, especially in Q4.

• VA - Virtual Assistant - Often referring to someone who helps you find products online that you can resell on Amazon.

• UPC - Universal Product Code - A barcode with 12 digits that can be found on almost all products found in the retail world.  You can use the UPC code to look up items on Amazon.  This is also what is covered up by your FNSKU label when preparing your products to send in to FBA.

• Wags - Walgreens - Drug Store often frequented by Amazon sellers.

• WM - Walmart - Retail store often frequented by Amazon Sellers.

• YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary - Often used when talking about unadvertised deals / clearance.  Meaning that just because one person was able to get it / do it, doesn’t mean it will work for you too.

Now that you know the most commonly used acronyms by Amazon FBA sellers you are ready to hit the groups and forums and no longer feel left out.  And if you are brave, you will even get right in on the acronym speak  Chat back: 

Have you ever felt left out because you didn’t know what an acronym meant?  Did we miss any that you have heard before?

(SOURCE)    

- Cool! Have to say I learned some new acronyms! How about you?