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The Amazon Acronym Glossary (AAG)

By Tami Ben-David June 10, 2014
Amazon Acronym Glossary

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About the Author

A British ex-pat, Tami been writing and content-strategizing for Israeli tech start-ups for the last 5 years. When she's not writing nerdy content, you can find Tami on open water charity swims or traveling to far-flung countries.

Have you ever had that feeling of total ignorance when you’re reading an article, blog or some other piece of content, and the author casually throws in an acronym without having the decency to explain what it stands for?

There you are, happily skimming through the paragraphs of text when suddenly you’re up against a brick wall. Three or four capitalized letters NOT followed by parentheses containing an explanation. You try to guess the meaning from its context, but to no avail. You try to continue reading without feeling that rising sense of total and utter ignorance.

Why don’t I know what it means? Is it something so obvious that everyone, but me, understands?

In the world of Amazon selling, this feeling could potentially be even more prominent since there are a multitude of really important and relevant acronyms. To avoid all possible discomfort, here is the Amazon Acronym Glossary:

ASIN = Amazon Standard Identification Number: a unique 10-digit code assigned to each product sold on Amazon. ASINs are the same across all Amazon sites.

BMVD = Books, Music, Video & DVD: a category of items sold on Amazon. Amazon actually began as an online store for BMVD products, and its terms for them still remain slightly different to all other categories.

EAN = European Article Number/ International Article Number: a 13-digit code that is given to retail products and can be found either on the outer packaging of a product or the back cover of a book, below the bar code.

FBA = Fulfilled by Amazon: when Amazon is in control of the seller’s entire handling and shipping process. The seller pays a service fee and ships their inventory to an Amazon warehouse. When an order is placed, Amazon employees select, package and ship the item to the buyer.

FBM = Fulfilled by Merchant: when the seller is in control of his entire handling and shipping process. Instead of paying a service fee and shipping inventory to Amazon to handle, the seller uses his or her own resources and sends the items directly to the buyer.

FNSKU = Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit: this unique identifier is the way that Amazon identifies a product as unique to the seller who has sent it to the Amazon fulfillment center. It is printed on product-level labels.

GTIN = Global Trade Item Number: the umbrella term used to cover several numbers used to identify every product sold on Amazon. It includes, UPC, ISBN, EAN among others.

ISBN = International Standard Book Number: every publicly printed book is assigned one of these (usually) 13-digit numbers. It is located on the packaging and/or back cover of the specific product located above the bar code.

MAP = Minimum Advertised Price: a suppliers pricing policy that prevents a seller from advertising prices below a specific amount.

MSRP = Manufacturer?s Suggested Retail Price: the price at which the manufacturer recommends the retailer sell the product. It does not necessarily correspond to the price retailers actually set.

SKU = Stock Keeping Unit: this is a number/ letter combination used to identify a billable item in a company’s inventory. Companies use SKUs to manage inventory effectively using computerized systems, rather than having to keep track of everything manually. SKUs are usually unique to the companies where they are used.

UPC = Universal Product Code: a 12-digit scannable bar code that is used to track retail items in many countries, including the USA and UK. It is located below the bar code on the packaging of an item or the back cover of a book.

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