What is the Amazon Exclusives Program?

There’s now a program available to third party sellers who want to launch unique and innovative products and get them discovered by new customers called Amazon Exclusives.

What is Amazon Exclusives?


The program is described by Amazon as a way to launch and build a brand by providing increased brand discoverability, marketing opportunities, and self-serve brand tools.

Sellers who join the Amazon Exclusives Program are eligible to receive merchandising and brand support to help drive increased awareness for their innovative product offerings.


Benefits of the Amazon Exclusives Program include:

    • Improve Product Discoverability – Amazon helps sellers by driving traffic from onsite and offsite to their listings.


    • Access to Promotional Levers – They also provide access to Amazon onsite marketing, email campaigns, Deals, Giveaways, and branded content. Amazon Exclusives can also enable video and additional HTML on listing pages to help sellers differentiate their product.


    • Enhanced Brand Protection – Limiting distribution allows sellers to better protect their brand. Amazon creates barriers to protect these brands and listings as the seller’s profile on the platform grows.


    • Fulfillment by Amazon & Prime Eligibility – Additionally, FBA allows sellers to get their product(s) into customers’ hands in 2 days with Amazon Prime.



How much does Amazon Exclusives cost?

If Amazon approves your participation in the Amazon Exclusives Program, a 5% ­point premium will be added to the Referral Fees described on the Selling on Amazon Fee Schedule for that account.

Pro-tip: This premium applies to all sales associated with your account, meaning the fee will be applied to all products in your catalog.

Typically, a seller must sell their products through the program for a minimum of 6 months to produce intended results.

Amazon Exclusives: The Requirements

Keep in mind, only Third Party Sellers are eligible for Amazon Exclusives. You can apply here.

To participate in the Amazon Exclusives Program, you must meet the following requirements for each applicable product:

    • You must be the brand owner of the product.
    • Your must register your brand through the Amazon Brand Registry.
    • You must fulfill the product exclusively using the Fulfillment by Amazon service.
    • You cannot sell the product through sales channels other than Amazon marketplace sites, your own branded websites or your physical stores.


Additionally, the product must meet minimum performance metrics:

  • Order Defect Rate of 1% or less
  • Cancellation Rate of 2.5% or less
  • Late Shipment Rate of 4% or less
  • Have a Professional selling plan account in good standing. For more information, see Selling Plans.


How Can Sellers Improve Their Chances of Getting Accepted Into Amazon Exclusives?

What’s important to keep in mind, (as with many of Amazon’s programs) is that the requirements listed above are just the minimum requirements and not all applicants will be automatically accepted in the Amazon Exclusives Program.

Amazon also evaluates, among other things, the uniqueness and “fit” of a seller’s products for the Amazon Exclusives Program.

According to Pat Petriello, Head of Marketplace at CPC Strategy, to improve your chances of getting accepted into the program, Amazon Sellers should be as transparent and thorough as possible regarding their application.

“For example, they shouldn’t just say their products are ‘different’ or ‘better’, they should explain what features are unique or how they are more valuable to consumers. They should also call out specific examples, where possible, and explain why the value prop of their products matters.”

“For timeline, they should try to be as accurate as possible. If they are still 3 months away, they should indicate that.”

“With regards to background information, I’d suggest they provide any details about the brand, its owners, or its story/history which makes it unique.”

For more on Amazon Exclusives, email tara@cpcstrategy.com.
