US sellers now have until November 13 to submit Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Amazon moved the cutoff from October 20. Most coverage stops there, but submitting is the easy part.
A deal Amazon has approved can still be switched off, or “suppressed,” if something on the ASIN changes. It can happen the week before the event or halfway through it. It usually comes down to one of five things, and most of them are small changes nobody notices until sales stall.
Amazon’s deals guide says deals can be “suppressed at any time if they do not meet the eligibility criteria” (Amazon Deals Guide). Getting approved doesn’t lock anything in. Amazon keeps checking while the deal is scheduled and while it runs.
| What you see | Usual cause | Check first |
|---|---|---|
| Price below minimum discounted price | Your regular or deal price changed, or Amazon’s minimum moved | Price history for the last 30 days |
| Increase your percent off amount | Your discount is now too small against your lowest recent price | 30-day low vs deal price |
| Suppressed, no clear reason | Rating under 3 stars, listing suppressed, out of stock, policy flag | Listing status, rating, stock, Account Health |
| Prime Exclusive Discount not showing | A Lightning Deal on the same ASIN, or a price change | Promotions on that ASIN |
I’d check this first, because it’s the change nobody decides to make: a repricer reacts to a competitor, a teammate passes on the peak fee, a bulk upload overwrites a few prices. Prime Exclusive Discounts are the touchiest: if your regular price changes and the discounted price falls below the minimum you set, Amazon pulls the discount (eComEngine).
Skip the manual check: opening every deal ASIN each morning to see if the price moved gets old fast. SentryKit’s Price Change alert emails you when the price on one of your ASINs changes, with the old price, the new price and whether you still hold the Buy Box. You see what your repricer did the same day.
Lightning Deals and Best Deals need at least 15% off the lowest price in the last 30 days (Amazon Deals Guide). That number moves with you.
Say the item normally sells at $39.99 and your deal price is $33.99. On November 8 your repricer drops to $38.50 for a weekend. Your 30-day low is now $38.50. Fifteen percent off that is $32.72, so the $33.99 deal no longer qualifies. Nobody touched the deal. A weekend price change did it.
There is one break this year. Amazon left Prime Big Deal Days prices out of the Black Friday lookback (EcomCrew), so whatever you charged on October 6–7 shouldn’t count against you.
Deals need an average of at least 3 stars where the product has 5 or more reviews (Amazon Deals Guide). An ASIN with 12 reviews at 3.3 stars is two bad reviews away from losing its deal. If it’s already happening, start with our five checks for a sudden run of 1-star reviews.
Skip the manual check: the Latest Review alert emails you each new review as it arrives, so you see a bad run on the first day, not when the deal disappears.
If the listing gets suppressed from search, or FBA stock runs out, the deal goes with it. The Deals page won’t always tell you why, and in Black Friday week a day of guessing costs real sales.
Skip the manual check: the Search Suppression alert includes the reason Amazon gave, and the FBA Stock alert warns you when a deal ASIN is running low or has run out.
A Prime Exclusive Discount is suppressed two hours before a Lightning Deal on the same ASIN starts. It can take up to an hour to come back after the Lightning Deal ends (eComEngine). If you didn’t plan both, check your promotions calendar for overlaps now.
Four of these five causes are changes you can be told about. SentryKit emails you when a deal ASIN’s price changes, a new review lands, the listing is suppressed, stock runs low or another seller takes the Buy Box.
These are Amazon’s words, from a US seller’s deal during last year’s Black Friday event: “Increase your percent off amount,” “Price below minimum discounted price” and “Minimum percent off required: 24 percent.” The deal was approved weeks earlier and already live, and the seller says the price hadn’t changed. Amazon’s reply was that it had “initiated a fix in NA” (Amazon Seller Forums).
Either the gap between your deal price and the price Amazon compares it to has shrunk, or Amazon changed its own minimum. Rule out your side first: price history, the 30-day low, your repricer. If nothing moved, open a case straight away and paste the exact message.
One thing not to do: raise the regular price to widen the discount. A sudden jump can trip Amazon’s potential high pricing error check and take the whole listing down.
A deal runs on your offer. On a shared wholesale listing, if another seller holds the Buy Box, shoppers who click Add to Cart buy from them, at their price. Your deal still says “active” in Seller Central. You find out when the sales don’t come.
Sole sellers have a different problem. Amazon can decide to feature no offer at all, which we covered in why sole sellers lose the Featured Offer in Q4. Either way, the deal status won’t show it.
Skip the manual check: the Buy Box alert emails you when another seller takes the Buy Box and who it was, and the Sales Volume alert flags an ASIN whose sales fall well below its normal level, along with what changed on the listing at the same time.
On October 23 Amazon moved deal submission from October 20 to November 13, which gives sellers 24 more days (EcomCrew). Inventory cutoffs didn’t move: the US inbound dates were October 21 and 28 (our peak season dates). The eligibility rules didn’t change, and Lightning Deals and Best Deals still cost $100 upfront plus 1.5% of deal sales, capped at $5,000 (EcomCrew).
I think the extra time makes suppressed deals more likely, not less. More sellers will submit late and then keep adjusting prices in the two weeks before the event, which is exactly when the 30-day low and the discount gap move.
Run these on every deal ASIN.
| Check | When | Alert that covers it |
|---|---|---|
| Regular price hasn’t moved, or the repricer floor sits above your deal reference | Daily from about Nov 17 | Price Change |
| Deal price is at least 15% under the 30-day low | Once, then after any price change | Price Change (your record of every move) |
| Rating stays above 3 stars | Daily on ASINs near 3.0 | Latest Review |
| Listing is live and in search | Daily | Search Suppression |
| Enough FBA stock for the event | Daily | FBA Stock |
| No Prime Exclusive Discount and Lightning Deal overlap | Once | None, check your promotions calendar |
| No suppressed or at-risk badge on the Deals page | Every morning of Black Friday week | None, check the Deals page |
| You hold the Buy Box | During the event | Buy Box, Sales Volume |
Done by hand across 20 deal ASINs, that is hundreds of checks before and during Black Friday week. SentryKit runs the ones in the right-hand column and emails you only when something changes, across 50+ signals on your ASINs. It doesn’t change your prices or your deals. It tells you which ASIN needs you. Plans start at $19/month with a 14-day free trial. See pricing. What to watch during the event itself is in our Prime Big Deal Days breakdown.
Black Friday deals rarely fail when you submit them. They fail in the week before, one small price change at a time.
Know when a deal ASIN’s price or Buy Box changes
SentryKit watches 50+ signals on your ASINs, from price changes to Buy Box and suppressions, and emails you when one changes. Plans from $19/mo.
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Amazon checks deal eligibility again after approval. A deal is usually suppressed because the regular price changed, the lowest price in the last 30 days moved, the rating fell below 3 stars, or the listing or stock had a problem.
The gap between your deal price and the price Amazon measures it against is smaller than Amazon requires. Check your price history and lowest 30-day price first. If nothing changed, open a case and quote the exact message.
In the US, Amazon moved Black Friday and Cyber Monday deal submissions from October 20 to November 13, 2026. Inventory cutoffs did not move.
At least 15% off the lowest price in the last 30 days, according to Amazon’s deals guide. Amazon can ask for a deeper minimum on some ASINs.
No. For 2026 Amazon excluded Prime Big Deal Days promotional prices from the 30- and 60-day lookback windows used for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.
Raghav Tiwari · Founder, SentryKit
Raghav is the founder of SentryKit. He spent years running his own Amazon storefronts before building it, and writes about Buy Box strategy, competitive intelligence, and the platform shifts sellers can’t afford to miss.
