Which Amazon.in promotion fits your product and margin?

Amazon.in's seller tools page describes Coupons as special offers on your products and Deals as limited-period promotional offers that appear on the Today's Deals page. Neither description states eligibility or cost. Older Amazon.in blog posts (2016 and 2018, so menu names may have moved) place both Coupons and Lightning Deals under the Advertising tab in Seller Central.

Percentage-off and quantity promotions are a different tool. The 2018 Amazon.in guide builds them from Inventory, then Manage Promotions. You choose a buyer condition (minimum spend, minimum quantity, or every unit), a discount (amount off, percentage off or fixed price), the products, and optional tiers and claim codes. The start time must be at least four hours ahead. Amazon.in also lists Brand Tailored Promotions under Brand Registry, for discounts aimed at brand followers and repeat or high-spend customers.

The US Sell on Amazon page says coupons need a Professional selling plan, an overall rating of at least 3.5 stars, product eligibility and a redemption cost each time a coupon is used, and that coupons expire after 90 days. It says Lightning Deals and Best Deals need a Professional plan and a rating of at least four stars, that costs may apply, and that Lightning Deals run 4 to 12 hours. These are US rules. None of the Amazon.in pages fetched for this post states a star threshold, a fee or a coupon duration, so do not copy these numbers into an India plan.

To get the Indian figures, open the coupon or deal creation screen for your account. It shows which of your listings are eligible and any fee before you submit. Write the fee down before you build the offer, because it goes into the margin test below.

A 2016 Amazon.in post says a Lightning Deal features a product on the Today's Deals page for a few hours at a reduced price, and requires an active registered seller who uses FBA. It describes two routes: recommended pre-approved deals under Advertising, where you edit quantity and price and pick a week (the deal runs on one day within it, and can be cancelled up to 24 hours before), or an invitation-based form. Treat that process as possibly changed. The post mentions no fees, and its tips are to offer a competitive price and as many variations as possible.

Deals are mostly a stock question. Amazon.in's Prime Day 2025 guide says to start at least three months ahead and recommends 3x regular stock for Electronics and Home and Kitchen, plus a minimum four-week inventory cover. Its two baselines for 3x are not identical, so ask Seller Support which one applies. A deal that sells out in a few hours helps only if replenishment reaches the warehouse in time.

Testing whether price is the barrier: a coupon or short percentage-off promotion on one listing, the smallest commitment. Raising order value: a quantity tier or a combo of complementary items; the Prime Day guide suggests pairings such as a mixer grinder with extra jars. Rewarding repeat buyers: Brand Tailored Promotions, which needs Brand Registry. A visibility push: a deal, but only with deep FBA stock and a listing that already converts.

Avoid stacking by default. The pages fetched do not explain how coupons, deals and promotions combine, though the 2018 guide shows claim-code combinability as a setting you choose. Check that setting, and run one promotion per listing at a time until you have seen the result of the first.

Use this illustrative example. A product sells at Rs. 1,000 and costs Rs. 750 all-in per unit (product, fees, shipping, ad spend), leaving Rs. 250. A 10 percent discount takes Rs. 100 off, so margin falls to Rs. 150, and you must sell 250 / 150 = about 1.7 times the units just to earn the same profit. At 20 percent off, margin is Rs. 50 and you need five times the units. Any coupon redemption or deal fee reduces the margin further.

The rule: break-even multiple = old margin per unit divided by new margin per unit. If you cannot realistically reach that multiple, the promotion only makes sense when the goal is clearing stock or lifting ranking. Before launch, check: margin after discount and fee, stock for the expected multiple, eligibility shown on screen, end date, and combinability. After it ends, compare units per day with the two weeks before.