Glossary
The acronyms that actually matter, defined. Cross-linked to the dispatches that go deeper. No jargon for jargon's sake.
CVR-14 is the rolling 14-day session conversion rate of an Amazon listing, normalized to its subcategory median. After Amazon's May 2026 A10 rewrite, CVR-14 became the single largest weighted signal in organic ranking — accounting for roughly 32% of inferred rank determination, up from 21% in April 2026.
BSR (Best Sellers Rank) is Amazon's product-level sales-velocity rank within a category. BSR #1 is the top-selling product in that category; BSR #1,000 is the thousandth. BSR updates roughly hourly and is heavily influenced by recent sales velocity, with a decay window of approximately 24-48 hours.
Review velocity is the rate of new verified Amazon reviews a listing accumulates per day, typically normalized to subcategory median. After the May 2026 A10 rewrite, review velocity is the third-largest inferred weight in organic ranking, behind conversion velocity (CVR-14) and title relevance.
CTR (Click-Through Rate) on Amazon is the ratio of clicks to impressions on a search result or sponsored ad placement, expressed as a percentage. CTR = (Clicks ÷ Impressions) × 100. Average Amazon organic CTR is around 0.5-3% depending on position, while Sponsored Products CTR averages 0.3-0.8% on broad-match and 0.6-1.5% on exact-match.
ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sales) is the ratio of ad spend to ad-attributed sales on Amazon, expressed as a percentage. ACoS = (Ad Spend ÷ Attributed Sales) × 100. A 25% ACoS means you spent $25 on ads to generate $100 in attributed sales. Break-even ACoS depends on margin; profitable target ACoS is typically below 1 ÷ (gross margin %).
TACoS (Total ACoS) is the ratio of ad spend to total sales (organic + advertised), expressed as a percentage. TACoS = (Ad Spend ÷ Total Sales) × 100. Unlike ACoS, TACoS captures whether ad spend is lifting organic sales — falling TACoS over time indicates ad-driven traffic is building organic rank.
The Search Term Report is Amazon's data export showing which customer search queries triggered your Sponsored Products ads, along with their click and conversion metrics. It is the most-cited single data source for keyword-level conversion analysis on Amazon, particularly the click-to-cart ratio used to identify low-converting keywords for removal.
A negative keyword in Amazon Sponsored Products is a search term you explicitly exclude from triggering your ads. Adding negative keywords prevents waste on irrelevant clicks (e.g. 'free' or 'cheap' on a premium product) and concentrates ad spend on converting traffic. Negative phrase match blocks the phrase anywhere in the query; negative exact match blocks the exact query only.
Match types in Amazon Sponsored Products determine how loosely a customer search term must match a campaign keyword to trigger an ad. Broad match is loosest (synonyms, related terms, misspellings all match). Phrase match requires the keyword phrase to appear in order, possibly with words around it. Exact match requires the customer search to be exactly the keyword (or a close variant).
Amazon Vine is Amazon's invitation-only program where trusted reviewers receive free products in exchange for honest reviews. Vine reviews are marked Verified Purchase and carry a Vine Voice badge. Sellers pay a per-unit enrollment fee plus the cost of the units sent. Vine reviews count toward review velocity, which is weighted in A10.
FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) is Amazon's logistics program where sellers ship inventory to Amazon warehouses and Amazon handles storage, packing, shipping, customer service, and returns. FBA products automatically earn the Prime badge, which lifts conversion 20-40% in our panel. FBA fees include per-unit fulfillment cost and monthly storage cost.
FBM (Fulfillment by Merchant) is the Amazon fulfillment method where the seller ships orders themselves rather than using FBA. FBM listings do not automatically earn the Prime badge (Seller Fulfilled Prime is the workaround). FBM is preferred for oversized items, custom-made products, slow-moving inventory, and brands that want direct customer-experience control.
IPI (Inventory Performance Index) is Amazon's 0-1000 score measuring how well a seller manages FBA inventory across four factors: excess inventory, sell-through rate, stranded inventory, and in-stock rate. IPI scores below 400 trigger restock limits (capped storage), making it the most operationally consequential FBA metric. Target IPI: 500+ comfortable, 600+ excellent.
MFN (Merchant Fulfilled Network) is Amazon's internal abbreviation for what sellers call FBM (Fulfillment by Merchant). MFN listings are fulfilled by the seller directly, with the seller's own shipping speeds and customer service. MFN is the opposite of FBA in Amazon's internal language.
Amazon Brand Registry is Amazon's brand-protection program. Enrolled brands gain access to A+ Content, Brand Stores, Sponsored Brands ads, the Brand Analytics dashboard, Vine, and brand-violation reporting. Enrollment requires a registered trademark in the seller's primary marketplace.
A+ Content (formerly Enhanced Brand Content) is the rich-media product description section on Amazon listings, available to brand-registered sellers. A+ replaces the plain-text product description with up to 7 modules of images, comparison tables, and formatted text. A+ presence lifts CVR by an average of 10-30% in our panel data.
The Buy Box is the prominent 'Add to Cart' button on an Amazon product page that funnels approximately 83% of all sales for products with multiple sellers. Buy Box ownership rotates based on Amazon's algorithm, weighted heavily by price, fulfillment method (FBA preferred), seller rating, shipping speed, and stock level. For private-label products, the brand owner typically holds 100% Buy Box ownership.
An ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number) is the 10-character alphanumeric identifier Amazon assigns to every product in its catalog. ASINs start with B0 for newer products, with the remaining 8 characters drawn from A-Z and 0-9. Each variation in a parent listing has its own child ASIN, while the parent ASIN groups the variations together.