Two of Amazon’s 2026 sale dates are confirmed and already behind us: the Big Spring Sale ran March 25–31 and Prime Day ran June 23–26, its earliest start since 2021. The two events still ahead — Prime Big Deal Days and Black Friday Week / Cyber Monday — still have no announced dates as of September 9, 2026. What Amazon has published is what constrains you, and half of it has expired: Big Deal Days submissions closed September 8, its AWD cutoff passed September 2, its last FBA deadline is September 16. Plan against the deadlines, not the dates.
That inversion is the point of this guide: the calendar Amazon enforces runs backward from a submission window and a receiving cutoff landing weeks before the event they feed. For what to do inside each window, see the companion Amazon Q4 checklist.
Confirmed 2026 Amazon sale dates
Both events have official, published dates, and both have already happened.
| Event | 2026 dates | Duration | Who can shop | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Spring Sale | March 25–31, 2026 (Wed–Tue) | 7 days, 12:01 a.m. PDT Mar 25 → 11:59 p.m. PDT Mar 31 | All customers; Prime members get “Prime Spring Deal” badged Best Deals | aboutamazon.com |
| Prime Day | June 23–26, 2026 (Tue–Fri) | 4 days, 12:01 a.m. PDT Jun 23 → 11:59 p.m. PDT Jun 26 | Prime members only, “more than 35 categories” | aboutamazon.com |
Data checked 2026-09-09.
The Prime Day move is the structural story of the year. It has fallen in July most years since 2015 — July 8–11 in 2025, July 16–17 in 2024, July 11–12 in 2023 — but not all: Amazon’s event history records October 13–14 in 2020 and June 21–22 in 2021 (checked 2026-09-09). The shift to late June pulled the submission and inbound windows two weeks earlier than last year’s rhythm; anyone who back-planned from “mid-July, like always” missed them. Treat last year’s dates as a weak prior and its lead times as a strong one.
Unannounced 2026 events: what is actually known
Amazon has published no dates for either remaining event. The honest framing is a historical range plus the one sentence Amazon has given.
| Event | 2026 status | Historical dates | What Amazon has said |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prime Big Deal Days | Not announced as of 2026-09-09 | Oct 7–8, 2025 · Oct 8–9, 2024 · Oct 10–11, 2023 | It “returns at the same time as last year to kick off the season” |
| Black Friday Week / Cyber Monday | Window not announced | 2025: Black Friday Week Nov 20 – Dec 1; Cyber Monday event Nov 29 – Dec 1 | Big Deal Days is “followed by Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday” |
Data checked 2026-09-09. The 2026 wording is quoted from Amazon’s Seller Forums announcement, “Holiday 2026: Same fees, same eligibility, earlier deadlines”, posted by News_Amazon on July 7, 2026 and readable without a login. Historical: Big Deal Days 2025, Big Deal Days 2024, Black Friday Week 2025, Cyber Monday 2025.
Two dates are fixed regardless, because the US holiday defines them: Thanksgiving falls Thursday, November 26, 2026, putting Black Friday on November 27 and Cyber Monday on November 30.
Last year’s press release confirming the Big Deal Days dates was dated September 15, 2025, and the 2026 equivalent has not arrived. The deadlines did not wait for it: the AWD cutoff (September 2), the submission close (September 8), and the minimal-splits deadline (September 9) have all passed with no event date published.
The deadlines that actually gate you: Q4 2026 cutoffs
This is the operative calendar, published by Amazon on July 7. Two gates per event, not one: a deal submission window that decides whether you carry a Deal badge, and an inbound arrival deadline that decides whether you have stock.
| Deadline | Date (2026) | Status on Sep 9 | Feeds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early-bird deal submission ($50 off) | August 5 | Closed 35 days ago | Big Deal Days |
| AWD inbound arrival | September 2 | Closed 7 days ago | Big Deal Days |
| Early-bird deal submission ($50 off) | September 5 | Closed 4 days ago | BFCM |
| Deal submissions close | September 8 | Closed yesterday | Big Deal Days |
| FBA — minimal shipment splits | September 9 | Closes today | Big Deal Days |
| FBA — Amazon-optimized splits | September 16 | 7 days | Big Deal Days |
| AWD inbound arrival | October 14 | 35 days | BFCM |
| Holiday peak fulfillment fees begin | October 15 | 36 days | To January 14, 2027 |
| Deal submissions close | October 20 | 41 days | BFCM |
| FBA — minimal shipment splits | October 21 | 42 days | BFCM |
| FBA — Amazon-optimized splits | October 28 | 49 days | BFCM |
| AWD off-peak storage rate ends | October 31 | 52 days | Auto-replenishment |
Source: the announcement linked above; data checked 2026-09-09. Amazon states the windows as “open from: July 8 to September 8 for Prime Big Deal Days” and “July 8 to October 20 for Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday,” and gives the inbound dates as when “your inventory arrives at our facilities.”
AWD eligibility note (revised September 9, 2026): Amazon’s announcement recommends AWD for sellers “expecting higher holiday volume” and says nothing about size eligibility. Industry reports describe AWD narrowing its US intake by unit size and weight, but no threshold or effective date is confirmable on an Amazon-hosted page, so this guide states none — check your ASINs in Seller Central.
Four things to read off it:
The submission gate closes before the inventory gate. At Big Deal Days the deal window shut September 8, a day before the first FBA arrival deadline. Amazon: “Submit your Prime Big Deal Days deals by August 5 and Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday deals by September 5 to save $50 on the upfront promotion fee.” Both are past; a BFCM deal entered today still gets in, at $50 more.
The minimal-splits penalty is one week, not zero. Minimal shipment splits — fewer destinations, simpler freight — cost seven days of runway versus the Amazon-optimized option, which Amazon notes “most sellers select.”
Peak fulfillment fees start October 15, before any Black Friday inventory is due. Amazon says the increase is “the same per unit increase over non-peak rates as last year, averaging $0.32 per unit,” and that “the 3.5% fuel and logistics-related surcharge will apply on top of holiday peak fulfillment fees.” Its public Buy with Prime pricing page carries the same window and surcharge (checked 2026-09-09). Units arriving October 28 sell at peak rates all season. Our FBA fee and profit breakdown walks the per-unit math; the 2026 fee changes guide covers what moved this year.
“Arrived” is not “available.” Amazon says its teams “focus on receiving holiday shipments in September and October” and that sellers “may see lower capacity limits during this time.” A unit checked in on the deadline is not guaranteed buyable on day one; book freight to land two weeks early.
Prime Day 2026’s deadlines, as a template
Prime Day 2026 is past, but it is the most recent example of how far ahead Amazon’s gates sit:
- Early submission discount expired April 30 — 54 days before the June 23 start
- Deal submissions closed May 26 — 28 days out
- FBA minimal splits and AWD cutoff: May 27 — 27 days out
- FBA Amazon-optimized splits cutoff: June 5 — 18 days out
These figures come from a May 10, 2026 trade report summarizing a Seller Central announcement — a third-party account, not an Amazon-hosted page; we found no Amazon-published copy (checked 2026-09-09). Use the shape, not the numbers.
A back-planning framework for any Amazon sale date
Work backward in five gates from T = event start; use the historical midpoint while the date is unannounced, then re-anchor when Amazon confirms.
- T minus 10–12 weeks — forecast and PO. The only gate where the number is yours; everything after is logistics. Reorder-point modelling is what our restock software comparison covers.
- T minus 8–10 weeks — early-bird deal submission. The cheapest version of the same deal: $50 off at both 2026 Q4 events.
- T minus 6–8 weeks — freight booked and en route. Q4 capacity tightens; booking after the deadline is announced is usually too late.
- T minus 4–5 weeks — deal submission closes. Missing it does not stop you selling; it stops you carrying a Deal badge.
- T minus 2–4 weeks — inbound arrival, then pricing. Pick the splits option deliberately; set prices and ad budgets before traffic arrives, per the PPC strategy guide.
What a “deal” actually requires and costs
Amazon publishes the eligibility bar on its seller promotions page. Data checked 2026-09-09:
- Lightning Deals run “from 4 to 12 hours, as determined by Amazon” and only select products are eligible; Best Deals “can run for a select number of days.”
- Both require a “Professional selling plan and an overall rating of at least four stars to create deals.”
- Coupons require a Professional plan and “an overall rating of at least 3.5 stars,” carry “a redemption cost each time a coupon is used,” and expire after 90 days.
On cost, Amazon’s two channels say different things, and the public one is vaguer. The seller promotions page states only that “There may also be costs associated with your deal.” The July 7 Seller Forums announcement is specific: fees for Best Deals, Lightning Deals, and Prime Exclusive Price Discounts “will be the same as Prime Day,” namely an “Upfront fee: $100 per promotion, plus Variable fee: 1.5% of promotional sales (capped at $5,000).” So the variable fee stops growing at roughly $333,000 of promotional sales per deal. The authoritative figure for your account is the one on your own deal creation screen.
Choosing between a badged deal, a coupon, and a plain price cut? The coupons vs deals comparison lays them side by side. One announcement line is worth money: Big Deal Days prices “are excluded from the 30-day and 60-day lookback window and won’t affect the maximum deal price required for Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday deals.”
Common mistakes on the sale calendar
- Treating an unannounced event as unschedulable. Big Deal Days had no 2026 date on September 9, yet had already burned three of its four gates.
- Watching only the inbound clock. Deal submission closes before inventory is due — September 8 versus September 9 at Big Deal Days.
- Ignoring the peak-fee start when pricing deals. October 15 precedes every BFCM inbound deadline, and the 3.5% surcharge applies on top of the peak rate, not instead.
- Reading a trade-press date as an Amazon commitment. Amazon’s own announcement is public and quotable; prefer it.
Pre-event checklist
- Confirm the submission and inbound deadlines in Seller Central for your marketplace
- Get BFCM deals submitted before the October 20 window close
- Decide the shipment-splits option consciously; it costs a week of runway
- Check star rating against the 4.0 deals bar and 3.5 coupons bar per promoted ASIN
- Model the deal price against peak fulfillment fees plus the 3.5% surcharge
- Re-anchor the plan the day Amazon confirms Big Deal Days dates
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Prime Day 2026?
Prime Day 2026 ran June 23–26, starting 12:01 a.m. PDT June 23 and ending 11:59 p.m. PDT June 26 — a four-day, Prime-member-only event across “more than 35 categories,” and the earliest start since 2021, when it ran June 21–22 (aboutamazon.com, Prime Day history; checked 2026-09-09).
When are Prime Big Deal Days 2026?
Amazon has not announced the dates as of September 9, 2026. Its July 7 Seller Forums announcement says only that the event “returns at the same time as last year to kick off the season.” The historical range is early October: October 7–8 in 2025, October 8–9 in 2024, October 10–11 in 2023. Last year’s confirming press release was dated September 15, 2025 — later in the season than the 2026 deadlines for AWD (September 2), submission (September 8), and minimal splits (September 9), all now passed.
When is Black Friday 2026 on Amazon?
The calendar dates are fixed: Thanksgiving falls on November 26, 2026, so Black Friday is November 27 and Cyber Monday November 30. Amazon’s promotional window is not announced as of September 9, 2026. In 2025 it ran November 20 to December 1, with the Cyber Monday event November 29 to December 1.
What is the last date to send FBA inventory for Q4 2026?
Per Amazon’s July 7, 2026 Seller Forums announcement, October 28, 2026 is the arrival deadline for FBA shipments using Amazon-optimized splits ahead of Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday; October 21 applies to minimal splits, October 14 to AWD. For Prime Big Deal Days the dates were September 16, September 9, and September 2. They vary by marketplace — confirm them in your own Seller Central (checked 2026-09-09).
How much does an Amazon deal cost in 2026?
Amazon’s public seller pages say only that “There may also be costs associated with your deal,” but its July 7, 2026 Seller Forums announcement is explicit: Best Deals, Lightning Deals, and Prime Exclusive Price Discounts carry an “Upfront fee: $100 per promotion, plus Variable fee: 1.5% of promotional sales (capped at $5,000).” The $50 early submission discount expired August 5 and September 5 (checked 2026-09-09).
Conclusion
The 2026 sale calendar still has no confirmed date for either remaining event, and that changes nothing operationally: every gate that constrains you has a published date, and three Big Deal Days ones have shut. What is left is the Black Friday line — submissions close October 20, AWD lands October 14, FBA October 21 or 28, and peak fees plus the 3.5% surcharge start October 15 regardless. Build on those, and re-anchor the day the dates land.