🚨 The Amazon Coupon Trap 🚨

We recently started gradually increasing prices across a client's catalog - nothing drastic, a few dollars over time.

Then something weird happened:
Our 5% coupons started getting suppressed by Amazon.

Error message:
"Increase Coupon Discount to be eligible. Required net price: $93.10. Current net price: $93.67."

Wait… isn’t 5% still 5%?

Not exactly. Amazon's coupon eligibility isn't based on the current price.

It’s based on the ‘Was Price’ - a hidden historical average of what customers paid over the last 90 days.

So as we raised prices, the Was Price lagged behind. Our 5% discount was no longer enough to meet Amazon’s rule:
➡️ The coupon price must be at least 5% lower than the Was Price.

So we:
✅ Temporarily increased the coupon to 6% to keep it live
✅ Allowed time for the new pricing to settle and lift the Was Price
✅ Plan to scale the coupon back down once it becomes eligible again

Amazon’s logic isn’t always intuitive. But understanding these levers can protect your margins and keep performance on track.