Amazon Q4 2026 Checklist: 7 Fixes Before Black Friday

Most sellers think Q4 kicks off on Black Friday. Amazon see it as having started months prior. By the time November 27 comes around the inventory cutoffs are long past, the peak fees are already running and the people who are going to be buying this season are already out searching.

Here’s another pattern we see every Q4. The seller spends October planning the ideal Black Friday deal, the promotion does quite well and then December comes and the numbers show it’s actually a loss. No-one did the maths with the peak fees factored in.

It’s mid October so there’s still time to sort this. Not a great deal, but there’s still time. Here are seven things to look at this week.

Run your margins with peak fees included

Amazon’s holiday peak fulfilment fees are in force from 15th October 2026 to 14th January 2027. These are on top of the normal FBA fees and add an average of $0.32 per unit over the off peak rate plus a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge. Amazon have kept the holiday peak fees the same as last year (which is good news). It’s not free though.

Take every SKU you’re going to discount and rebuild the maths from the ground up: product cost, base FBA fee, peak surcharge, storage, ad spend and the discount. If it only works with the September fee table then it doesn’t work.

Check your inventory against the cutoffs

For Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday you need your inventory checked in by Oct 21 if you’re using minimal shipment splits or Oct 28 if you’re using the Amazon Optimised splits. It has to be checked in, not shipped. A pallet sitting at the dock doesn’t count.

If you’re going to miss a cutoff, decide what you’re going to do first. Send the best sellers, cut the slow movers from the shipment and don’t pay peak freight on anything that’s not going to sell before the new year. Running out of stock in the middle of Black Friday is one of the most expensive mistakes you can make in Q4 as your ranking will drop whilst your ads are still sending shoppers to a listing that can’t sell.

Raise your PPC budgets before the rush, not during it.

Competition goes up in Q4 and clicks tend to get more expensive. If a campaign hits its daily budget by 12 noon it’s effectively invisible for the rest of the day which means you’re missing the evening shoppers who tend to be the ones that buy the most.

Before you do anything else, have a look at your search term reports. Shift budget away from campaigns that are spending and not converting at all, add the appropriate negative keywords for the clicks that are costing you money and allow your actual performing campaigns to run all day. If you’re getting clicks and no sales then start with our earlier post Amazon PPC Clicks But No Sales? 9 Things To Check as simply throwing more budget at it won’t fix a broken listing or the wrong keywords.

Make your listing ready for mobile shoppers

So many people are browsing on their phones when they’re out shopping over the holidays. They’re in a rush, they’re looking at 3 or 4 products at the same time. Check your listing the way they do. Does your main image pop on a crowded search page? Do the first two lines of your bullets actually answer the biggest question a buyer is going to have? Does your A+ content load up properly on a small screen?

Reviews and Q&A are even more important in Q4. The gift buyer who’s never heard of your brand is going to be looking for proof. If you’ve got any unanswered questions on your listing then answer them now.

Price with the Price History in mind

As we detail in our Q4 pricing guide, shoppers can now see a full year of price history for a product. That has a massive impact on how deals work. If you’d gone up in price in September just to come down for Black Friday, the shopper can see that and a fake discount at that very moment costs you trust.

A small honest discount is often better than a big discount which looks artificial. Make sure your price moves are such that the deal looks genuine when someone looks at the chart.

Keep Your Ads Running After Cyber Monday

Lots of sellers will be pulling back on their ad spend on the 1st of December to protect their budget. Peak season doesn’t end on Cyber Monday though. Last minute gift shoppers are still out there buying and the gift card shoppers come back after Christmas to spend the cards they’ve received.

You don’t need to go to the Black Friday level with your spending. You do need to stay visible so reduce your bids on the weak keywords and make sure your best performing campaigns are still running right through to the end of the season.

Make a Plan to Leave Before You Start

Peak fulfilment fees go up until 14th January so units sold in early January will still be subject to them. Monthly storage fees also go up during peak. For standard sized items one source we checked has $2.40 per cu ft during peak and $0.78 off peak so check the current rates for your category in Seller Central.

The lesson is this: size your Q4 inventory to sell through by the end of the year rather than to hope for a January rescue. You need to decide right now what you’re going to do with the stock that’s left over. Either run a clearance, reduce the price or just remove it before the storage costs eat into your margin.

The Bottom Line

Q4 rewards the sellers that get on with it early and penalises the ones that just react at the last minute. Check your margins against peak fees, get your stock in on time, protect your ad spend and keep your listings and pricing honest. Do those four things and you’re going to be ahead of the majority of your competition.

If you’re looking for a second pair of eyes on your Q4 PPC budget, margins and listings prior to Black Friday then Looplynk can help. Just book a call and we’ll go through your account together.

Quick Answers

When do the Amazon peak fulfilment fees start in 2026?

They run from 15th October 2026 to 14th January 2027.

What are the FBA inventory deadlines for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2026?

It must be checked in by Oct 21 with minimal splits or Oct 28 with Amazon optimised splits.

When is Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2026?

Black Friday is 27th November and Cyber Monday is 30th November.