Peak season readiness
Is your Amazon business ready for Black Friday?
Nine questions, about three minutes. You get a score out of 16, a checklist ordered by Amazon’s own deadlines, and the next step that fits how you sell.
Start here
About 3 minutesHow do your products reach Amazon shoppers today?
The dates Amazon set for Black Friday week
Straight from Seller Central. Miss an inventory date and Amazon stops promising the Prime badge on that stock during the event.
AWD shipments
Oct 14
Inventory sent through Amazon Warehousing and Distribution has to arrive by today.
Peak fees start
Oct 15
Holiday peak fulfillment fees run to Jan 14, about $0.32 a unit above non-peak on average, plus the 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge.
Deal submissions close
Oct 20
Last day to submit Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. $100 per promotion plus 1.5% of promotional sales, capped at $5,000.
FBA, minimal splits
Oct 21
FBA shipments with the “minimal shipment splits” option selected have to arrive by today.
FBA, Amazon-optimized splits
Oct 28
The cutoff most sellers fall under: FBA shipments with “Amazon-optimized shipment splits” selected.
The event
Nov 27–30
Black Friday through Cyber Monday. Everything above decides how this weekend goes.
Source: Amazon Seller Central news, July 7 and October 8, 2026. Amazon resets these every year.
What the quiz checks
Eight things that decide whether peak pays you or costs you. The first question tailors the wording to how you sell: your own account, a vendor relationship, or resellers.
01 Inventory
Is holiday stock at Amazon before the cutoff that protects the Prime badge?
02 Forecast
Is demand forecast by SKU, or guessed at the brand level?
03 Deals
Are deals submitted, or skipped on purpose, before Amazon’s deadline?
04 Margin
Does each SKU still make money at the deal price with peak fees?
05 Listings
Are your top listings active, accurate and free of suppressions?
06 Buy Box
Do you, or one seller you chose, win the Buy Box on your top products?
07 Advertising
Is there budget headroom for the busiest days?
08 Account health
Is the account clean, and is someone ready to fix things fast in December?
Before you start
Who is this for?
Where do the dates come from?
Do I need to give you my email?
I missed a cutoff. Is it too late?
Rather talk it through?
Twenty minutes, your top SKUs and a straight answer on what to fix before Black Friday.