Resources

Marketplace jargon, in plain English.

53 terms you'll meet when you sell on marketplaces, retailer sites and in shops.

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A+ Content

Extra product page content on Amazon, such as images, comparison charts and structured text, that replaces the plain product description. It is available for products registered to your brand through Amazon Brand Registry, and Amazon does not charge for it.

Account Health Rating

Amazon's score from 0 to 1,000 showing how well a seller account follows Amazon's selling policies. A score of 200 or above is shown as Healthy, while lower scores put the account at risk of deactivation.

ACoS

Advertising cost of sales, the main efficiency measure for Amazon ads. It is your ad spend divided by the sales those ads generated, so £20 of spend that brings in £100 of sales is an ACoS of 20%.

Affiliate creator

A creator who promotes your products in TikTok videos or LIVE streams through TikTok Shop's affiliate programme. The creator earns a commission on each sale they generate, under an affiliate plan you create.

ASIN

Amazon Standard Identification Number, the code Amazon gives every product in its catalogue. When several sellers offer the same item, they share one ASIN and one product page.

Best Match

eBay's default order for search results. It weighs how closely a listing matches the search, the item's popularity and price, listing quality and completeness, your returns and handling terms, and your record as a seller.

Brand Registry

Amazon's programme for brand owners. You need a registered or pending trademark for your brand name or logo, and it gives access to tools such as A+ Content, Sponsored Brands ads, Brand Stores and protection against counterfeits.

Buy Box (Featured Offer)

The offer shown on an Amazon product page next to the Add to Basket button. When several sellers offer the same product, Amazon chooses which offer to feature, taking into account things like price, delivery speed and seller performance. Amazon also calls it the Featured Offer.

Cancellation rate

The percentage of orders a seller cancels before dispatch, for example because an item was out of stock. Amazon (which also calls it the pre-fulfilment cancel rate) expects it under 2.5%, and TikTok Shop at 2.5% or lower, both measured over seven days.

Drop-ship

An arrangement where a retailer sells a product but the supplier ships it straight to the customer, so the retailer never holds the stock. Selling on a retailer marketplace works in a similar way, with you dispatching orders yourself.

EAN

European Article Number, the 13-digit barcode format used on most products in the UK and everywhere outside the US and Canada. It carries a GTIN, which marketplaces use to identify products and match listings.

FBA

Fulfilment by Amazon. You send stock to Amazon's warehouses, and Amazon stores, packs and delivers your orders and handles returns and customer service, in exchange for fulfilment and storage fees.

FBM

Fulfilled by Merchant. You store and ship Amazon orders yourself, or through your own courier or warehouse partner, and these orders count towards Amazon's dispatch, tracking and cancellation metrics.

FBT

Fulfilled by TikTok, TikTok Shop's own fulfilment service for storing and shipping your stock. FBT orders are excluded from some of TikTok Shop's fulfilment metrics, such as on-time delivery rate.

Final value fee

eBay's main selling fee, charged when an item sells. For business sellers it is a percentage of the total sale amount, including postage, that varies by category, plus a small fixed fee per order.

GS1

The not-for-profit organisation that runs the global barcode system. GS1 UK issues GTINs to UK businesses through an annual membership priced by turnover, and Amazon checks product barcodes against the GS1 database.

GTIN

Global Trade Item Number, the unique number that identifies a product and sits underneath its barcode. EAN and UPC barcodes both carry GTINs, and each size, colour and pack of a product needs its own.

GTIN exemption

Amazon's permission to list products that have no barcode, available for some private-label, handmade, generic and bundled products. It is granted by category and by Amazon store, and branded products usually need photos showing the brand permanently on the product and packaging.

Item highlights

An Amazon listing field shown below the product title that adds up to 125 characters of extra detail, such as materials or uses. It becomes available once your title meets Amazon's 75-character limit.

Item specifics

Structured product details on eBay, such as brand, size, colour and material. They power the search filters buyers use, and some are required before a listing can go live.

Late Shipment Rate

The share of orders a seller confirms as dispatched after the expected dispatch date. Amazon, which also calls it the Late Dispatch Rate, expects it to stay under 4% for orders you fulfil yourself.

Listing suppression

When a marketplace hides a listing from search because of a problem with it, such as a non-compliant title or main image. On Amazon, suppressed listings appear in Manage All Inventory so you can fix them.

Live shopping

Selling through a live video stream, where viewers can buy the products being shown without leaving the stream. TikTok Shop supports shopping in LIVE streams, and eBay runs its own live selling through eBay Live.

MCF

Multi-Channel Fulfilment, an Amazon service that uses your FBA stock to fulfil orders from other channels, such as your own website or other marketplaces. Orders can be sent in unbranded packaging.

Mirakl

A software company whose platform many retailers use to run their online marketplaces and drop-ship programmes. If you sell on a retailer's marketplace, you may well manage your products, stock and orders through a Mirakl-based seller portal.

MPN

Manufacturer part number, the model or part code a manufacturer gives a product. eBay and other marketplaces often ask for it alongside the brand and barcode to identify a product accurately.

Multichannel

Selling the same products through more than one sales channel at once, such as your own website, online marketplaces, social shops and physical retailers. It reaches more buyers, but stock, prices and orders need to stay in step across every channel.

Multichannel inventory management

Software and processes that keep one central stock figure and update every sales channel whenever an order comes in. Tools in this category, such as Linnworks and Veeqo, usually also bring orders from every channel into one place.

ODR

Order Defect Rate, Amazon's measure of orders that received negative feedback, an A-to-z Guarantee claim or a credit card chargeback over 60 days. Amazon's policy is that sellers keep it under 1%.

On-time delivery rate

The share of orders delivered by the date promised to the customer. Amazon expects at least 90% for orders you fulfil yourself, and TikTok Shop treats 90% or more each week as healthy.

Order volume limit

A daily cap TikTok Shop can place on the number of orders a shop receives when fulfilment metrics, such as cancellation or valid tracking rate, fall below its standards. Once the cap is reached, the shop cannot take new orders until the next day.

Overselling

Selling more units than you actually have, usually because stock levels were not updated on every channel you sell on. It leads to cancelled orders, which count against your performance on Amazon, eBay and TikTok Shop.

Parent/child

How Amazon groups variations. The parent is a virtual listing that holds the family together and cannot be bought, and each child is a buyable version, such as a particular size or colour.

Product feed

A structured file or data connection that sends your product information, such as titles, descriptions, prices, stock, images and barcodes, to a marketplace. Feeds let you create and update many listings at once instead of editing them one by one.

Promoted Listings

eBay's advertising for individual listings. With the general strategy you pay only when an item sells after a click on your ad, and with the priority strategy you pay for each click.

Referral fee

Amazon's commission on each sale, charged as a percentage of the total price including delivery and any gift-wrapping, or a minimum amount, whichever is greater. The percentage depends on the product category.

Repricing

Adjusting prices regularly, often automatically with software, in response to competitors, stock levels or demand. Good repricing rules include a minimum price so you never sell below your margin.

Retailer marketplace

An online marketplace run by a high-street retailer, such as Argos, B&Q or The Range, where approved third-party sellers list products alongside the retailer's own range. Retailers usually choose who can sell and check product data closely.

Search terms

Hidden keywords you add to an Amazon listing to help it appear in more searches, such as synonyms and alternative spellings. Buyers never see them, the field must stay under 250 bytes, and brand names and ASINs are not allowed.

Seller-fulfilled

Any order you pack and ship yourself rather than through a marketplace's fulfilment service. On Amazon this is FBM and on TikTok Shop it is called Shipped by Seller, and these orders count towards dispatch, tracking and delivery metrics.

Shop Performance Score

TikTok Shop's rating from 0 to 5 of a shop's product satisfaction, fulfilment and customer service, compared with similar sellers in the same category. It appears once you have delivered 30 orders in 60 days and affects access to programmes such as campaigns.

SKU

Stock keeping unit, your own code for each product and variation. Using the same SKU for a product on every channel makes stock syncing and reporting far simpler.

Stock buffer

Showing slightly less stock on a marketplace than you really hold, so sync delays or miscounts do not turn into oversold orders. Buffers are usually larger for fast-selling or low-stock products.

Stockist

A shop that buys and sells your products, usually at wholesale prices. Independent gift shops, garden centres and design stores can all be stockists, and many reorder once a product sells well for them.

TACoS

Total advertising cost of sales: your ad spend divided by your total sales, including sales that did not come from ads. Sellers track it alongside ACoS to see whether advertising is lifting overall sales, not just ad sales.

Top Rated Seller

eBay's highest seller level, for business sellers who perform well above eBay's minimum standards and have an established sales history. It is reviewed every month and shown on your feedback profile.

Transaction defect rate

eBay's measure of orders with a seller-caused problem: an order the seller cancels, for example because it was out of stock, or a buyer issue the seller did not resolve. Staying at or below 2% avoids Below Standard status, and Top Rated sellers need 0.5% or less.

UKCA

UK Conformity Assessed, the marking that shows a product meets the legal requirements for sale in Great Britain in regulated categories such as toys and electrical goods. The UK also continues to recognise the CE marking for many products, so check which applies to yours.

UPC

Universal Product Code, the 12-digit barcode format used mainly in the US and Canada. Like the EAN, it carries a GTIN, and both formats are accepted globally.

Valid Tracking Rate

The share of seller-fulfilled shipments with a valid tracking number. Amazon expects more than 95% over 30 days, and TikTok Shop expects 95% or higher over seven days for orders shipped by the seller.

Variation

A set of closely related versions of one product, such as different sizes, colours or flavours, grouped on a single listing. Variations make choosing easier for buyers, but they must only group versions of the same product, never different products.

Wholesale

Selling products in bulk to shops that resell them, at a lower price than the retail price so the shop can make a margin. Wholesale terms usually cover minimum order sizes, payment terms and how reorders work.

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