Amazon Specific Lingo
FBA – Fulfillment by Amazon
An Amazon program where sellers send inventory to be stored, and shipped to the customer by Amazon.
MF / FBM – Merchant Fulfilled / Fulfilled by Merchant
When Amazon sellers ship products to customers themselves. I.e. not FBA.
PL – Private Label
Creating and selling your own version of a product under your own label.
WL – White Label
Purchasing an item from a manufacturer but applying your own brand.
RA – Retail Arbitrage
Sourcing inventory to sell on Amazon from brick-and-mortar stores.
OA – Online Arbitrage
Sourcing inventory to sell on Amazon using online retail websites.
WS – Wholesale Buying
discounted inventory in bulk through a middleman who purchases directly from the manufacturer.
DS – Dropshipping
when a third-party ships items on your behalf as you sell them. E.g. a customer buys from you, you then order from the dropshipper who mails the order in your name.
ASIN – Amazon Standard Identification Number
This is the unique identifier for products found on Amazon. Usually in the format B00xxxxxxx.
BSR – Best Sellers Rank
Items on Amazon are ranked according to their sales volume and category. The lower the better, as long as the item is in a top level category.
Replen – Replenishable Item
An item that can be purchased and sold repeatedly, usually from the same supplier.
Business Lingo
ROI – Return on Investment (profit / cost)
I.e. spend $10 on an item, and $15 is returned is a 50% ROI.
PM – Profit Margin (profit / sale price)
I.e. a product costs $3 to create, and sells for $10 provides a 70% PM.
MAP – Minimum Advertised Price
The minimum price an authorized retailer can sell a product for. Usually imposed by the manufacturer of the product to maintain profit margins.
MSRP – Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price
The price the manufacturer feels the product should retail for.
EIN – Employee Identification Number
An identification number provided to businesses by the US government. This is used for payroll taxes and often required by wholesalers.
VA – Virtual Assistant
A person that performs work for you and/or your business from a remote location. Typically VA’s are from the Philippines and other countries with much lower cost of living than the US.
Store Lingo
BOLO – Be On the Look Out
Items that are sold out online but may still be available in stores locally.
BOGO – Buy One Get One
A sale offer where if you purchase two of an item the second will be either free or discounted.
WM – Walmart
TG – ThinkGeek
KC – Kohls Cash
CB – Cash Back
GC – Gift Card
CC – Credit Card
Services Lingo
CCC – CamelCamelCamel.com
IL – Inventory Lab
OAX – OA Xray
Product Identification Lingo
EAN – European Article Number
UPC – Universal Product Code
ISBN – International Standard Book Number
GTIN – Global Trade Identification Number
SKU – Stock Keeping Unit
FNSKU – Fulfillment Network SKU
Dont forget to check out the Sourcing Simplifiers Facebook Group for more awesome information!
