A well-run deal is often the strongest sales day of the week — or the strongest fortnight of the month — and it improves organic rank as a side effect, without any ranking campaign.

Run consistently, deals are one of the few levers that both make money now and strengthen your position for later.

[Watch the walkthrough](https://kb.trackiq.com/kb-assets/kbvideo-dealsintro-explainer-67419a3c.mp4)

*Prefer to watch? One hundred and twenty-four seconds on the two deal types compared, what drives impact, and why eligibility follows sales rather than the published requirements.*

## **The two types**

| | **Lightning Deal** | **Best Deal** |
|---|---|---|
| **Duration** | up to 12 hours | 1–14 days |
| **Cadence** | one per week | 21-day cooldown (US/CA), 7-day (UK/EU) |
| **Badge** | yes, plus countdown timer | yes, for the whole run |

**Lightning Deals** add a countdown and a units-remaining bar, which creates real urgency. Good for a concentrated spike.

**Best Deals** run far longer with the badge showing throughout.

## **Best Deals usually win**

**Consistently, and by a clear margin** — including on products with lower daily sales, which is the opposite of what most people assume.

The reason is time. A longer run gives Amazon's algorithm room to surface the offer, build momentum and sustain sales, rather than compressing everything into twelve hours.

**Starting out:**

**If you can run Best Deals, start there.** Run one, assess sales and profit afterwards, then decide about next month.

**If only Lightning Deals are available**, book your first and immediately schedule three more across following weeks. **Four gives you a real read**; one tells you about one week. Move to Best Deals as soon as the ASIN becomes eligible.

## **What decides the impact**

**Sales velocity.** A product selling 150+ units a day benefits far more than one selling 50.

**Your niche.** Deals are transformative in some categories and merely good in others. You cannot know which without testing.

**The deal price itself.** In competitive categories the price matters as much as running the deal at all. Test several.

**Test with your best-selling products first**, because they give the clearest signal.

## **Why they are worth running**

**Sales.** Usually your strongest day or fortnight.

**Organic rank.** Deals lift CTR and conversion, which lifts rank across all your keywords — the same mechanism a relaunch buys deliberately, arriving as a by-product. See [**What a Relaunch Is**](https://kb.trackiq.com/hc/knowledge-base/articles/what-a-relaunch-is).

**Competitive pressure.** If you lead your niche, a deal takes sales from competitors, raises their TACoS and weakens their position — and less disciplined competitors tend to react badly.

## **Deals are cheaper and less contested abroad**

Often more powerful outside the US:

**Lower cost.** Roughly $70/day plus 1% of sales in the US, against about €2–4/day plus 0.75% in the UK and EU.

**Less competition**, because sellers in those marketplaces run deals less consistently.

**Better cadence** — a 7-day Best Deal cooldown rather than 21.

**If your international ASINs are eligible, recurring Best Deals should be a core part of that growth plan.** See [**Marketplaces and Currency**](https://kb.trackiq.com/hc/knowledge-base/articles/marketplaces-and-currency).

## **Eligibility is mostly about sales**

Amazon publishes requirements — a professional account at 3.5+ seller rating, a product rating of 4+ in the US and Canada or 3+ in the UK and EU, and not being in holiday mode.

**But the real driver is sales performance.** Amazon allocates a limited number of deal slots per subcategory, and gives them to the strongest ASINs first.

**Treat eligibility as a ranking within your category, not a checklist.** A product that meets every published requirement may never become eligible if it does not sell enough; as sales grow, eligibility tends to follow.

**And protect your rating**, since it is a hard gate — see [**Why a Rating Drop Costs More Than It Looks**](https://kb.trackiq.com/hc/knowledge-base/articles/why-a-rating-drop-costs-more), which notes that a product at 4.0–4.1 stars can lose deal eligibility outright on a small decline.

![Sales performance, where a deal shows up clearly](/kb-assets/shot-dash-salesperf-94b32a.png)

## **Two configuration mistakes**

Both easy to make and both costly:

**Never add committed quantity to a Best Deal.**

**Never restrict a Best Deal to Prime customers only.**

## **What to do next**

**Book ahead** — slots are limited and allocated early. See [**Running a Deal Calendar**](https://kb.trackiq.com/hc/knowledge-base/articles/running-a-deal-calendar).

**Protect your maximum deal price**, which decides how little you can discount while staying eligible. See [**Maximise Your Deal Price**](https://kb.trackiq.com/hc/knowledge-base/articles/maximise-your-deal-price).

**Plan advertising around the deal**, because the discount behaves like ad spend. See [**Managing Advertising During a Deal**](https://kb.trackiq.com/hc/knowledge-base/articles/advertising-during-a-deal).

## **Related**

- [**Running a Deal Calendar**](https://kb.trackiq.com/hc/knowledge-base/articles/running-a-deal-calendar) — booking and pre-deal checks.
- [**Prepare for Prime Day**](https://kb.trackiq.com/hc/knowledge-base/articles/prepare-for-prime-day) — the largest deal event.
- [**Pricing and Gross Margin**](https://kb.trackiq.com/hc/knowledge-base/articles/pricing-and-gross-margin) — what a discount does to margin.