Amazon is introducing significant updates to its Deals and Coupons program, giving sellers more control, lower costs, and a closer connection between performance and fees. Launching on June 2, 2025, these updates bring more flexible deal lengths, lower initial costs, and a move toward performance-based pricing.
For sellers on Amazon, these changes open up new opportunities and require tactical shifts. Taming the new versions of Best Deals, Lightning Deals, and Coupons will be crucial to making the most out of sales without increasing expenses. This article investigates what’s shifting, why it matters, and how sellers can use these updates to thrive.
Greater Flexibility in Agreement Lengths
One of the major improvements is greater flexibility in the duration of deals. Previously, sellers had minimal control over when and for how long their Best Deals would operate. With the new updates, sellers can now book deals on any day of the week and select a duration of between 1 and 14 days.
This change empowers sellers with the capacity to coordinate promotions across shopping patterns, seasonal events, and product life cycles. With its previous firm scheduling, Best Deals constrained the sellers’ freedom to maximize sale periods in harmony with competitor patterns, market influences, or even internal business schemes.
But it is important to mention that this flexibility does not apply to Peak Events like Prime Day, Prime Big Deal Days, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. For these peak shopping times, Amazon will still manage deal lengths to maintain consistency on the platform.
Reduced Initial Costs and Fee-Based on Performance
One of the biggest pain points for sellers selling through Deals and Coupons has been the high fees charged upfront on these promotions. Amazon is addressing this by adding performance-based fees, lowering sellers’ financial risk while making sure that costs correlate more directly with actual sales performance.
Under the new organization, initial fees for Best Deals and Lightning Deals will be lowered considerably. Rather than having to pay $300 for a Best Deal or $150 for a Lightning Deal, sellers will simply need to pay $70 per day to host these promotions. Furthermore, a variable charge of 1% of sales from deals will be levied, but it will be limited to $2,000 per deal so as not to burden sellers with unwanted charges.
Such a shift facilitates easier experimentation for sellers to try out alternative promotion models without the risk of costly fixed fees. Sellers will pay a little more if a deal does well but nothing if it does poorly. This pay-for-performance model allows promotional expenditure to directly relate to outcomes, and thus, deals and coupons are an easier-to-scale and easier-to-manage investment.
Alterations to Coupon Charges
Amazon also is overhauling its Coupon fee structure, moving from a flat per-unit rate to a mix of up-front and percentage fees. Today, sellers pay $0.60 per unit sold when applying Coupons. But with the new plan, sellers will pay a $5 up-front fee per coupon and 2.5% of coupon sales.
For the vast majority of merchants, this transition should mean smaller total coupon fees per unit sold, particularly on items with substantial sales volumes. By lowering the per-unit price and adding a percentage fee, Amazon is stimulating sellers to deploy Coupons more deliberately as a conversion driver and attract price-sensitive shoppers.
How Sellers Are Impacted
These changes are a big departure from the way sellers should be handling deals and coupons on Amazon. With more flexibility, less cash upfront, and pay-for-performance pricing, sellers now have more control over their promotion budgets yet still enjoy more exposure and customer access.
Key Takeaways for Sellers
More Control Over Timing – Sellers are now able to schedule Best Deals on any given day and promote them up to 14 days, better aligning with sales cycles.
Lower Financial Risk – Lower upfront costs and variable fees tied to performance ensure sellers don’t overpay for poorly performing promotions.
Enhanced Profitability for Coupons – The change to a percentage fee model can reduce unit costs, making coupons a more enticing promotional vehicle.
Peak Event Promotions Unchanged – For significant shopping events such as Prime Day and Black Friday/Cyber Monday, promotion structures and fees will continue to adhere to predetermined timeframes and fixed pricing.
Prime Day 2025: Larger and Longer Event
Amazon also announced that Prime Day 2025 would be an even larger event with greater traffic and record-breaking sales. Therefore, some of the Prime Day offer fees will have to undergo adjustments.
Prime Exclusive Discounts (PEDs), arguably the most prominent of the promotions on Prime Day, will be charged a higher fee of $100 compared to the current $50 because of their greater exposure and conversion opportunity.
Best Deals and Lightning Deals will keep their 2024 charges of $1,000 and $500, respectively, as Prime Day promotions.
Coupons will stick with the new fee matrix of $5 per coupon and 2.5% of sales on coupons.
These changes are reflective of the expanding size and marketing coverage of Prime Day so that promotional fees are aligned with the potential sales increase sellers can gain during this very competitive time.
Final Thoughts: How Sellers Can Leverage These Updates
With these updates, sellers must re-strategize their promotional efforts to fully benefit from Amazon’s new Deals and Coupons system. Here are some actionable tips to optimize results:
Use Data-Driven Insights – Track historical sales performance and customer purchasing behavior to plan deal dates and durations strategically for maximum effect.
Test Alternate Approaches – As the initial expenses are reduced, vendors can better test alternative bargain configurations to observe what appeals to them the most.
Take Full Advantage of Prime Event Promotions – With fees for Prime Day rising, sellers need to partake in visible bargains only when they carry excellent conversion worth and ample supply.
Maximize Coupon Offers – The new coupon fee model incentivizes greater sales volumes, so sellers should look to offer compelling discounts on high-turning products to maximize conversions.
Amazon’s latest Deals and Coupons updates are designed to offer sellers more chances to drive sales at a reduced amount of financial risk. By adjusting to these changes ahead of time, sellers will be able to leverage the increased flexibility, better cost structures, and wider promotion reach that these updates offer.
Are you ready to try out Amazon’s new Deals and Coupons strategy? These new changes may be a game-changer in 2025, allowing sellers to increase visibility, drive conversions, and maximize profitability.
