Maybe… but NOT right now.

With all of the concern surrounding price gouging (unethically inflated pricing), you want to make sure to keep your account healthy and stay off the radar.

Take a holistic approach to your account. Often, we see Sellers focusing on one particular strategy or going where the low hanging fruit is. You might think that the market will support price increases, but generally speaking, you’re better off to avoid this temptation and distraction right now. Think about your account health above everything else. Making extra dollars in the short term isn’t worth risking your account.

Dynamic and algorithmic repricing have been notable buzzwords for a long while in the repricing and pricing policy world. During “normal” times, it can make sense to reprice multiple ways using a variety of strategies. Different products and categories often have very specific approaches you’d want to take into account. Right now, however, is not the time to experiment. You want to avoid running afoul of Amazon Marketplace’s Fair Pricing Policy found here: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/G5TUVJKZHUVMN77V

You should definitely refamiliarize yourself with this policy. You might want to look up Amazon’s policy related to Pricing and Multi-Pack Abuse if you sell bundles or multi-packs. In a nutshell, you want to ensure the items in a group are not priced higher per unit than they would be if purchased separately.

Here’s What You Can Do If You Want To Raise Your Prices:

If you are selling your own products, you’ll already have the price history over time. If you are selling other brands, you might want to refer to price tracking charts such as Keepa, CamelCamelCamel, Helium10 and others which will reveal current and historical pricing trends. Software tools like Jungle Scout, Viral-Launch, Helium10 and others are valuable for on-going monitoring.

As for repricers, there are many to choose from. Some popular repricers are Informed.co, Feedvisor, SellerSnap and BQOOL. The key to keep in mind, is that especially for any medical supplies, items for use in emergencies, items with trigger keywords (ie. mask, sanitizer, etc.) you want constraints in place to ensure your prices don’t increase too much or too quickly.

Regular monitoring of your pricing and evaluation of your pricing strategies is really important right now. If you need any help, the Prime Guidance team is happy to review what you are doing and provide support or advice.

Update By Amazon on Price Gouging

“As you know, Amazon’s Marketplace Fair Pricing Policy protects our customers from unfair, excessive, and misleading prices. Our price gouging prevention systems attempt to account for variations in local laws while also providing customers a consistent experience across our stores. We also take increases in the cost of goods, freight, and labor into consideration, and that’s particularly true in light of COVID-19. We have and will continue to adjust our price gouging thresholds to reflect these dynamics.

If you believe you are offering a fair price for a product that has been suppressed by our price gouging prevention systems, please go to Manage Inventory and re-activate your listings by clicking on Edit and then click the button Save and Finish.

If your listing remains inactive after following the steps above, you may need to update your price by going to the Fix Price Alerts page, or you can appeal our decision through the Account Health Dashboard.”

Author | Scott Margolius, Senior Consultant