If you’re accustomed to using Reference Pricing on Amazon (typically displayed as ‘Was Price’, then you need to be aware that Amazon are about to get a little more strict on what’s allowed.
The result of these changes are that the discounts you’re accustomed for customers to see simply won’t be displayed unless you comply with the new requirements. It could also impact how frequently you can run promotions in a 90 day period.
Reference prices like Recommended Retail Price (RRP) and Was Price make it easy for customers to understand the value they’re getting when purchasing products in Amazon’s store. To maintain customer trust in pricing and ensure discounts are clear and meaningful to customers, we’re updating our requirements for these reference prices.
These updates will also align reference pricing across our store with information shown in the Price history graph on product detail pages. The graph shows the lowest Featured Offer price each day, helping customers understand how a product’s price has changed over time.
– Amazon
From the 23rd of April, 2026, the RRP you provide must meet one of the following criteria to be validated:
- The product has been purchased by customers as the Featured Offer on Amazon at this RRP
- The product has been offered at this RRP at another retailer recently
Reference Pricing
Was Price is the median non-promotional price customers paid for a product over the last 90 days. From the 18th of May 18, 2026:
- If more than half of the days in a product’s 90-day Price history are below the non-promotional median price, Amazon will calculate Was Price using all sales, including promotional sales.
- Price discounts that are not advertised to customers as promotions are treated as non-promotional sales and are included in Was Price.
