Amazon Automate Pricing is the free repricing tool built into Seller Central: you pick a rule, set a minimum price (and optionally a maximum), and Amazon changes your price for you within those limits. It is free with the Professional selling plan, it offers three rule types (competitive, sales-based, and business price), and Amazon says price updates on existing rules are “usually processed in less than 15 minutes” (sell.amazon.com, data checked 2026-10-04). What it cannot do is win the Featured Offer on price alone, because Amazon also weighs inventory, fulfillment, and customer service.
This guide covers how to configure the tool itself: which rule to pick, how the price limits really behave at the edges, how long changes take, and why prices sometimes stop moving. If you are choosing between paid repricers instead, our best Amazon repricer comparison covers Aura, Informed, Seller Snap, BQool, and the rest; this page does not repeat it.
What Amazon Automate Pricing Is and Who Can Use It
Automate Pricing is a rule-based repricer that runs inside Seller Central under Pricing > Automate Pricing. Amazon describes it as a tool that “automatically adjusts your prices in real time. You choose the rules and the tool responds 24/7” (data checked 2026-10-04).
| Item | What Amazon states (data checked 2026-10-04) |
|---|---|
| Cost | “included for free in the Professional selling plan” |
| Plan price | Professional selling account is $39.99/month + selling fees |
| Eligibility | A Professional selling account and an active offer on the products you reprice |
| Rule types | Competitive price-based, sales-based, business price and quantity discount-based |
| Price limits | Minimum price required; maximum price optional |
| Speed | Existing rules: usually under 15 minutes; new or edited rules: up to one hour |
| History | A “detailed 30-day history” to compare with Business Reports |
| Price update allotment | Automate Pricing changes “don’t count toward the daily price update allotment” |
Source for every row: Amazon’s Automate Pricing page.
Individual-plan sellers cannot use it. The Individual vs Professional plan guide shows where this sits in the plan comparison: Individual sellers set static prices, Professional sellers get the automation.
One more detail from the same page: you can limit which account users touch the tool. Under Settings > User Permissions, edit a user and set their access under “Pricing.”
The Three Automate Pricing Rule Types
Amazon groups its rules into three families. Within each, you can “Choose from predefined rules, or create custom rules that determine when and how your prices change,” and you can price “below, above, or at the reference price” (data checked 2026-10-04).
| Rule type | What it compares against | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| Competitive price-based | The Featured Offer, the lowest price, or the lowest external price | Resellers sharing an ASIN with other sellers |
| Sales-based | Your own sales volume over a period you specify | Private label listings with no competing offers |
| Business price and quantity discount-based | Your standard price; business prices and quantity discounts follow it | Sellers enrolled in Amazon Business |
Source: sell.amazon.com/tools/automate-pricing, data checked 2026-10-04.
Competitive rules are the classic repricer setup. A “Featured Offer” rule chases the offer that holds the Buy Box; a “lowest price” rule tracks the cheapest offer. The external option lets you “compare prices in and beyond the Amazon store.” One gap is easy to miss: Amazon’s help page says Automate Pricing “does not currently support the used Featured Offer,” so a used SKU assigned to a Featured Offer rule will not move (US help page, data checked 2026-10-04).
Sales-based rules are the option for listings where you are the only seller. A competitive rule does nothing there: Amazon’s help page states that if you are the only seller on an ASIN, “Your price will not change until there is a relevant offer on the ASIN.”
Business rules keep your B2B prices in step with your consumer price. Our Amazon Business guide covers how business prices interact with promotions and deals.
How to Set Minimum and Maximum Price Limits
The minimum price is the one setting that protects your margin. Build it from landed cost, Amazon fees, and the lowest margin you will accept, using the inputs in our FBA fees and profit guide. Amazon calls the maximum “optional,” but skipping it changes how the tool behaves.
Amazon’s “What happens to my price if…” help page (US, data checked 2026-10-04) lists the edge cases. The ones that matter most:
| Situation | What Automate Pricing does |
|---|---|
| Featured Offer drops below your minimum | Your price stops at the minimum (rule “become Featured Offer by $0.10”, min $20, Featured Offer $19: you stay at $20) |
| You become the Featured Offer on a Featured Offer rule | The rule stops repricing |
| You are the lowest price on a lowest-price rule | You stay your set increment below the second-lowest price |
| Two sellers both use Automate Pricing on one ASIN | Prices settle at the level both rules dictate instead of triggering many price changes in small increments |
| No maximum set, Featured Offer at $50, rule “become Featured Offer by $0.10” | Your price goes to $49.90 |
| You remove the min or max elsewhere, or set an invalid one | The rule pauses for that SKU at the last price |
What happens without a maximum. Amazon says that if you did not set one, Automate Pricing “will protect customer trust on your behalf by ensuring that your offers are not priced significantly higher than recent prices.” The same page gives a warning case: with a $150 minimum, a lowest price of $15, and reference prices of $20, the tool sets $150, but the offer risks being ineligible for the Featured Offer “or even disqualified under the Marketplace Fair Pricing Policy.”
We recommend setting both bounds on every SKU. The minimum guards your margin; the maximum keeps a rule from following a spiking Featured Offer up to a price that triggers pricing-policy trouble. The price match and fair pricing guide explains what that policy looks at.
Watch the reference price. In Amazon’s examples, the reference price can override your rule. With a match-lowest-price rule, a $10 minimum, and a $16 next-lowest price, a reference price of $15 makes the tool set $15 instead of $16 “to give you the best chance of being eligible to be the Featured Offer.” Your minimum is the only number that stops that pull.
How to Set Up Automate Pricing Step by Step
Amazon’s official setup path has five steps (data checked 2026-10-04):
- Open the tool. Log in to Seller Central with a Professional account, then select Pricing > Automate Pricing.
- Create the rule. Choose a predefined rule or build a custom one, and set the parameters: what to compare against and by how much to beat, match, or sit above it.
- Assign SKUs and limits. Apply the rule one SKU at a time or in bulk, entering a minimum price and an optional maximum.
- Start repricing. Select Start repricing.
- Measure. Compare the tool’s 30-day history with your Seller Central Business Reports to see the effect on Featured Offer percentage and sales.
For large catalogs, use the file. The on-screen tool handles “up to 100 SKUs at a time,” according to Amazon’s Automate Pricing file help page. The file route lets you “manage up to 30,000 SKUs per 24-hour period,” and Amazon says “There is no limit on the number of files you can submit,” though each file “supports up to 5,000 rows per upload” (US help page, data checked 2026-10-04). You create the rule in the tool first, then download a pre-populated file (500, 5,000, or 15,000 SKUs) or a blank template. Enter the rule name exactly as saved, add the minimum and maximum, and upload the result as a UTF-8 text file. Setting the rule-action field to STOP removes a SKU.
Selling in several stores. The official FAQ says the Automate Pricing file “also lets you associate your rules with products you’ve listed in multiple Amazon stores,” and that once products are cross-listed with Build International Listings, price changes “will be automatically synchronized.” The help page adds a Regional Automate Pricing file template for countries in the same region. See our Build International Listings guide for the cross-listing side.
How Fast Automate Pricing Changes Apply
Amazon gives two numbers on its official FAQ (data checked 2026-10-04):
- Existing rules: “price updates are usually processed in less than 15 minutes, but may take longer under certain circumstances.”
- New or edited rules: “it can take up to one hour for all products assigned to the rule to re-price according to the new parameters.”
In practice, a newly created rule or a parameter edit needs up to an hour before you can judge it. Checking after five minutes and concluding the rule is broken is a common false alarm.
To see the live result, Amazon says your current price appears on “any screen where the product and your price are displayed,” including Manage Inventory, Manage Pricing, Automate Pricing, and Business Reports. If you also track competitors’ price history, the price tracking guide compares Amazon’s 30-day record with longer-history trackers.
Why a Lower Price Alone Does Not Win the Featured Offer
Amazon answers this directly on the tool page. Asked whether automating guarantees the Featured Offer, it says: “No. Lowering your price can help you become the Featured Offer, but you also need to meet performance-based requirements in areas like inventory availability, fulfillment, and customer service” (data checked 2026-10-04).
Two consequences follow:
- A rule cannot fix an ineligible offer. If your offer is not eligible for the Featured Offer, repricing only lowers your margin. Check eligibility first with our Featured Offer eligibility guide.
- Price competes on more than the item price. Our Buy Box guide explains why the comparison runs on landed price and why the cheapest offer often does not win.
So the Featured Offer rule works best when your offer is already competitive on stock, delivery speed, and seller metrics, and the gap to the winner is price alone. Then a modest “beat by” increment above a solid minimum is enough. A race to the floor rarely pays.
When Automate Pricing Stops Changing Your Price
Amazon’s “Price not changing” troubleshooting guide (US, data checked 2026-10-04) lists five checks:
- The SKU is inactive. “If the SKU is inactive, it will not reprice or surface in Automate Pricing.” Confirm the status in Manage Inventory.
- You changed the price manually. A manual update through feeds, Manage Inventory, or a third-party repricer can pause the rule, showing “Repricing paused: Price changed manually.” In the rule parameters you can answer Yes, I want to continue repricing to the question about price updates made elsewhere.
- A promotion is running. “Automate Pricing does not reprice offers that have active promotions or a sale price.”
- The rule criteria do not match. The tool changes a price only “if the entire rule criteria matches.” A match-lowest-price rule does nothing when you already are the lowest price.
- The SKU has no rule. Under Edit SKUs, check that a rule name is assigned.
Two more behaviors from the “What happens” page: stopping a SKU or deleting a rule leaves the price at its last automated value until you change it another way.
Automate Pricing vs a Third-Party Repricer
Use Automate Pricing first if your catalog fits its three rule families and you want no extra bill. Amazon itself points sellers who need more options to third-party tools in the Selling Partner Appstore. Our repricer comparison covers when a paid tool’s extra strategies are worth the subscription. Prove a free rule moves your Featured Offer percentage before you pay for one.
Automate Pricing Setup Checklist
- Professional selling plan active and the offer is live
- Offer eligible for the Featured Offer before you reprice
- Rule type matches the listing: competitive for shared ASINs, sales-based for sole-seller listings
- Minimum price built from landed cost, fees, and margin
- Maximum price set, not left blank
- No promotion or sale price on SKUs you expect to move
- Manual-update setting chosen for each rule
- Bulk catalogs loaded through the Automate Pricing file
- Waited up to one hour after a new rule or edit before judging it
- Featured Offer percentage reviewed against the 30-day history
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Amazon Automate Pricing free?
Yes, for Professional sellers. Amazon says the tool is “included for free in the Professional selling plan,” which costs $39.99 per month plus selling fees (data checked 2026-10-04). Individual-plan sellers cannot use it.
How often does Amazon Automate Pricing change prices?
Amazon says the tool adjusts prices “in real time” and responds “24/7.” For existing rules, updates are usually processed in under 15 minutes. New or edited rules can take up to one hour to reprice every assigned product (data checked 2026-10-04).
Do I have to set a maximum price?
No, the maximum is optional. Without one, Amazon keeps your offer from being priced “significantly higher than recent prices.” Setting your own maximum gives you predictable control.
Does Automate Pricing work if I am the only seller?
Competitive rules do not: Amazon’s help page says your price “will not change until there is a relevant offer on the ASIN.” Use a sales-based rule for sole-seller listings.
Conclusion
Amazon Automate Pricing is the free, native way to reprice: pick one of three rule types, set a minimum built from your real costs, add a maximum, and give new rules up to an hour to take effect. It moves your price, not your eligibility, so fix stock, fulfillment, and service first. Once a free rule stops being enough, the repricer comparison is the next step.