r/VendorCentral

Has anyone else supplying Amazon through Vendor Central seen widespread retail price increases since late August/early September?

Amazon has pushed many of our products above their recommended retail prices. Some prices keep fluctuating, while others have stayed high. This has coincided with a noticeable drop in sales and purchase orders.

Our Net PPM was already well above our agreed target before these increases, and it remains above target now. This isn’t simply a case of higher retail prices bringing previously low margins up to target, which makes the reason for the increases harder to understand.

Our contact has attributed several increases to automated external price matching, but we haven’t been given the matched listings, so it’s difficult to understand what is driving the changes.

Some products have now returned to their previous prices during the October event, while others remain higher. I’m not assuming the event is the cause, but the timing has caught our attention.

For other 1P vendors:

• Have you experienced a similar pattern despite Net PPM being above target?
• Have you managed to get Amazon to identify or correct an external price match?
• Has updating the List Price/RRP in Vendor Central made any difference?
• What helped you get a useful review from the pricing team?

Interested in first-hand experiences and practical fixes. We’re still trying to establish the cause.

I’m trying to get a GTIN exemption for a private-label product with 10+ variations, so buying a separate UPC for every variation would get expensive.
I’ve applied multiple times, and the applications keep getting declined for image-related reasons. Amazon keeps saying the images must be clear, real-world photos and the brand name must be visible and permanently affixed.
The confusing part is that I’m uploading very clear photos of the actual packaging, taken naturally on a table, and the brand name is clearly readable. But the applications still keep getting rejected.
One of my earlier applications actually got approved, but I accidentally entered the brand name with an extra letter.
For example, imagine the brand printed on the package is “Glow Nest”, but I accidentally applied as “Glow Nestt” with an extra t. The incorrect version got approved, while the correct version matching the packaging keeps getting declined.
So now I’m confused about what to do.
Should I use the already-approved GTIN exemption even though the approved brand name has one extra letter compared with the packaging? Or should I keep reapplying until Amazon approves the exact brand name printed on the package?
Has anyone dealt with something similar? Is there a way to get this manually reviewed? I’d really appreciate hearing what worked for you.

One of the harder parts of 1P for me is how much inventory planning depends on Amazon’s buying behavior. A SKU can be moving consistently and then PO quantities change enough to throw off what looked like a reasonable forecast. Curious how other vendors are planning around this. Are you mostly using Amazon’s forecasts, your own sell-through history, or keeping extra inventory as a buffer?