Welcome back to the Listings Lounge!

Are you wondering what the difference is between the merchant release date and the offer release date?

The merchant release date is the date the product was initially released. This can be left blank for most products, however if the date should be provided, please ensure it meets the requested formatting of MM-DD-YYYY and not YYYY-MM-DD.

The offer release start date is the first day you can start delivering your product to customers. Once the item is live in Amazon's store, customers can start placing orders for it beginning on this date.

These two dates are important for setting up pre-orders and making sure customers can get the new product as soon as it's available. The merchant release date kicks off the pre-order window, while the offer release start date marks the official launch when customers can start placing orders.

For instructions on how to set up pre-order products, check out List a pre-ordered or back-ordered product. Ensure that you can guarantee that your products will arrive to you before the pre-order or back order date you provide, as your metrics will be effected if you are not able to ship on the date that you specified.

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Trying to make sense of all the attributes you have to fill out when listing products on Amazon? You're not alone! Over the past few weeks, we have seen quite a few questions in the Create and Manage Listings category about:

• What does Offering Release Date mean?
• What's the difference between 'Merchant Release Date' and 'Offer Release Date' in Listing Offer tab?
• This item will be released in 2025 but it’s in the warehouse today, HELP!?

That is why today’s Listing Lounge discussion is dedicated to everything you need to know about release dates.

The Offering Release Date also known as “Your price start date” is the date a seller would like to begin selling their product live on Amazon.

An example of where a seller would want their Offering Release Date to be in the future, would be if they are setting up their product for pre-order.

Note: Sellers setting up pre-orders should ensure their inventory will be in stock at date of release otherwise their metrics will take a hit for not shipping out the pre-ordered products on time. This link shares how to set up pre-orders either individually or in bulk using an inventory file upload template.

If for any reason, the Offering Release Date has blocked you from making your listing go live, below are the steps to update your release date:

1. Go to your Seller Central Account
2. Select Manage Inventory
3. Search for the ASIN you would like to update the release date on
4. Then go to edit on the listing when it pops up.
5. It will take you to the offer tab
6. Go down to Offering Release Date and Merchant Release Date and update it to the date you want to start actively selling your product.
7. Once date is edited, click save and finish (the date should update in about 15 to 30 minutes after the changes are made)

The Merchant Release Date is the date the product was initially released. This can be left blank for most products, however if the date should be provided, please ensure it meets the requested formatting of MM-DD-YYYY and not YYYY-MM-DD.

@Seller_CW0P5hgbsiqWX had a great example on why you might enter a Merchant Release Date on this thread here and it’s importance: “I sell DVD's. A new movie begins in the theatre October 1st. 28 days later (10-28-24) is the Manufacturer's release date for the DVD. However, I receive the DVD's to sell a month before the movie is released. BUT... I better not sell them before the merchant release date of Oct.28th, or they will close my account.”

Please let us know if you have any additional questions about either the Offering Release Date or Merchant Release Date in the replies below.

If you want to continue this discussion in person you can visit our Forums Lounge at Accelerate in Seattle this year from September 17-19, 2024. You can also register virtually too! It's free and we will have a lot of exciting updates and conversations.

Thank you for joining us on today’s Listing Lounge. Cheers, @Seller_GEZPMc4CeQfh6

UPVOTE 👍 / DOWNVOTE 👎 this post if you enjoy seeing content like this. Leave a comment on this post with questions you may have about this topic and let us know what Selling on Amazon subject matters you want us to feature next!