Key Takeaways
- No date, still urgent: Amazon has not announced a date for Prime Big Deal Days 2026. The inbound deadlines start on September 2 regardless.
- FBA inbound: September 2 (AWD), September 9 (minimal shipment splits), September 16 (Amazon-optimised splits).
- Deal submission: September 23 for the German stores, the August 5 early-bird discount has passed.
- Black Friday Week is set: November 19 to 30, 2026 per Seller Central, early-bird on the deal fee still open until September 5.
- Peak fee from October 15: EUR 0.27 per unit on average plus a 1.5 percent surcharge, through January 14, 2027.
Prime Day in June is settled and the Q4 business begins. Two events are now in the calendar for sellers: Prime Big Deal Days in October and Black Friday Week in November. The difference between them matters for planning right now. For Black Friday Week, Seller Central already shows a concrete window from November 19 to 30. Prime Big Deal Days is selectable as an event, but without a date.
This is exactly where planning stalls in many accounts: people wait for the announcement, even though the deadlines that actually hurt are not tied to the event date at all. Inbound deadlines are fixed, submission windows are open, and the peak fee starts on October 15. This article sorts out what is confirmed, what is not, and in which order to work through it.
The date: what Amazon has said and what it has not
Prime Big Deal Days is Amazon's autumn event for Prime members, often referred to as the fall Prime Day. For 2026, Amazon has confirmed neither the date nor the duration.
What you can use for orientation is the rhythm of previous years:
- 2023: October 10 and 11
- 2024: October 8 and 9
- 2025: October 7 and 8
The pattern is stable: first half of October, Tuesday and Wednesday, 48 hours. There is one additional argument from this year: Amazon moved Prime Day 2026 into June to widen the gap to the autumn event. Pushing Prime Big Deal Days later would narrow that gap again and move it closer to Black Friday Week. Plan for an early-to-mid October window, and plan so that a one-week shift does not break your preparation.
The practical way to handle the uncertainty is simple: every preparation step hangs off the deadlines, not off the event day. Hit the inbound deadline and the submission deadline and you are ready regardless of whether Amazon calls October 6 or October 13.
The deadlines for both Q4 events
Amazon opened Q4 deal submissions on July 8, with noticeably earlier dates than in previous years. These are the dates to work against:
Prime Big Deal Days
- Early-bird on the deal fee: August 5, 2026, 30 percent off the upfront fee. This date has passed
- Deal submission: September 23, 2026 for the German stores. Amazon's global announcement names September 8 for the US stores. The binding deadline is shown in Seller Central under Advertising and Deals, so plan against the earlier date if in doubt
- FBA inbound: September 2 (AWD), September 9 (minimal shipment splits), September 16 (Amazon-optimised splits)
Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday
- Event window: November 19 to 30, 2026 per the deal event selection in Seller Central. Black Friday falls on November 27, Cyber Monday on November 30
- Early-bird on the deal fee: September 5, 2026, 30 percent off the upfront fee. This date is still open and is the most valuable lever of the coming weeks
- Deal submission: November 18, 2026
- FBA inbound: October 14 (AWD), October 21 (minimal shipment splits), October 28 (Amazon-optimised splits)
The most important line in that list today is September 5. Submitting Black Friday deals by then saves 30 percent on the upfront fee of every promotion. That is not a large amount per deal, but it adds up across a broad catalogue, and it forces a clean ASIN selection at a point when there is still time to correct it.
Inventory: the inbound deadline is the real deadline
Inbound deadlines are where Q4 planning actually fails. Inventory that arrives late may lose the Prime badge for that event. Without the Prime badge you drop out of the Prime Buy Box pool and lose visibility in search and on the product detail page, precisely in the days when traffic is most expensive.
- Work backwards, not forwards: Take September 9 as the target date for Prime Big Deal Days and count back production, transit and receiving time. For imports from Asia the window for October is usually closed already, so existing stock is what counts
- Forecast realistically: Average daily units of the last 30 days times a factor of 3 to 5 for the event days, plus a safety buffer. Prime Big Deal Days sits below Prime Day and Black Friday in volume, but a stock-out costs the same amount of ranking on any event day
- Check the IPI score first: A low score limits your storage capacity exactly when you need it. Clear slow-moving inventory now, not in October. Details in our IPI score guide
- Two events, one supply chain: The Black Friday inbound date on October 21 is only six weeks after the October deadline. Planning October stock too tightly leaves no buffer for November
Submitting deals: formats, costs and the 3.5-star bar
The fee structure on amazon.de has changed since the start of 2026, and that matters more for your calculation than the choice of deal format:
- Upfront fee: EUR 16 per promotion, 30 percent less with early-bird submission
- Variable fee: 0.75 percent of promotional revenue, capped at EUR 1,000
- Peak fulfilment fee: from October 15, 2026 through January 14, 2027, an average of EUR 0.27 extra per unit for small and standard parcels, plus a 1.5 percent fuel and logistics surcharge
The formats themselves stay familiar: Lightning Deals run for a few hours with high visibility on the deals page, Best Deals run across the whole event window and require at least 20 percent off the 30-day average price, and Prime Exclusive Discounts are visible to Prime members only and require at least 10 percent. One thing is new: Prime Exclusive Discounts now require a minimum rating of 3.5 stars. Products below that drop out of the format, which effectively dictates the ASIN selection.
Coupons remain the flexible tool alongside, with a lower entry bar and the green badge in search results. A full comparison of all formats is in our guide to deals, coupons and promotions.
The price effect between October and November
One detail from Amazon's Q4 announcement decides whether your October hurts your November: promotional prices from Prime Big Deal Days are not included in the 30-day and 60-day price history Amazon uses to calculate the maximum permitted deal price for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
In practice: an aggressive October deal does not push your reference prices for November down. You can buy ranking and visibility in October without blocking your deal eligibility for the bigger event. Sellers who do not know this hold back in October out of caution and give away exactly the ranking head start that eases the CPC bill in November.
The reverse still applies: regular price reductions outside promotional windows do count towards price history. Discounting continuously through September lowers your own deal ceiling for both events.
PPC across the Q4 stretch
Advertising costs rise in two waves in Q4, and the second is considerably more expensive than the first. A staggered budget logic beats a single increase on the event day:
- Now through end of September: Clean up campaign structure and keyword sets while click prices are normal. Test new campaigns now, not in October at double the CPC
- One week before the event: Raise daily budgets for top ASINs and lift bids on the highest-converting keywords. The goal is visibility before the event, not only during it
- During the event days: Set budgets so no campaign runs out at midday. Check budget consumption every two to three hours. A budget-capped campaign no longer responds to bid increases, which is the most common avoidable mistake on event days
- Brand defence: Competitors bid harder on your brand keywords during both events. Ramp up defensive campaigns beforehand, not reactively
- After the event: Actively reset bids and budgets. Leaving event settings in place means paying event prices for normal traffic for two weeks
How to steer budgets via TACoS rather than campaign-level ACoS is covered in our ACoS and TACoS guide. If you would rather hand the steering over for the whole Q4 stretch, our Amazon PPC agency page shows how we set that up.
Do not waste the phase between the events
There are roughly six weeks between Prime Big Deal Days and Black Friday Week. That time is not downtime, it is the preparation for the main event:
- Retargeting: Visitors from the October event are a warm audience. Sponsored Display retargeting in the following weeks is much cheaper than new-customer traffic in November
- Collect reviews: Trigger the review request for all event orders after about five days. Building 30 reviews in October means entering November with better conversion
- Hold the ranking: The sales spike improves organic ranking. Keep the PPC budget slightly above normal for one to two weeks so the new position stabilises
- Evaluate the data: Which ASINs, keywords and deal formats carried the event? That analysis is the basis for the Black Friday submission, whose deadline is November 18
Common mistakes in Q4 preparation
- Waiting for the date announcement: The most common mistake this year. The inbound deadline on September 2 or 9 arrives regardless of when Amazon announces the date
- Not pricing in the peak fee: From October 15 every unit costs EUR 0.27 more on average, plus a 1.5 percent surcharge. On tightly calculated deals that tips the margin negative
- Registering too many ASINs: Every promotion costs an upfront fee plus a variable fee. Deals on products without sales velocity or a review base burn budget without generating ranking
- Planning both events from one pot of stock: A strong October without replenishment planning leads to a stock-out in November, in the most expensive window of the year
- Editing listings during the event: Changing titles, images or A+ content mid-event risks indexing and approval delays. Finish all changes beforehand
- Switching back to normal after the October event: Retargeting and review building in the following weeks are the cheapest part of Black Friday preparation
Timeline: August to December 2026
- August: Lock the ASIN selection for both events, check stock, book replenishment, finalise listings and images
- By September 5: Submit Black Friday deals and save 30 percent on the upfront fee
- September 2 to 16: Inbound window for Prime Big Deal Days, depending on shipment splits
- By September 23: Complete deal submission for Prime Big Deal Days
- Early to mid October: Expected event window, budget monitoring every two to three hours
- From October 15: Peak fulfilment fee applies, recalculate deal margins
- October 14 to 28: Inbound window for Black Friday Week
- By November 18: Final deadline for Black Friday deals
- November 19 to 30: Black Friday Week including Black Friday on the 27th and Cyber Monday on the 30th
- December: Manage remaining stock, normalise bids, document the analysis for 2027
Conclusion
The missing date for Prime Big Deal Days is not a reason to wait, it is the reason to work against the deadlines. Inbound in early September, submission by September 23 at the latest, Black Friday early-bird on September 5: those three dates decide your Q4 visibility, not Amazon's press release. Sellers who plan both events as one stretch rather than two separate promotions use October as a ranking head start for November without blocking their deal prices.
The full preparation for the larger of the two events is in our Black Friday checklist. What preparation for a Prime event looks like in detail is covered in the Prime Day guide.
Sources
Frequently Asked Questions
When are Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2026?
Amazon has not announced the date. Seller Central already lists the event as a selectable deal event, but without dates. In previous years the event always fell in the first half of October and ran for 48 hours: October 10 and 11 in 2023, October 8 and 9 in 2024, October 7 and 8 in 2025. Plan for an early-to-mid October window and work back from the deadlines rather than the event date.
What is the deal submission deadline for Prime Big Deal Days?
September 23, 2026 is cited for the German stores, while Amazon's global announcement names September 8 for the US stores. The deadline that binds you is shown in Seller Central under Advertising and Deals. The August 5 early-bird date, which saved 30 percent on the upfront promotion fee, has already passed.
When does FBA inventory need to arrive for Prime Big Deal Days?
Three staggered dates apply for Prime badge eligibility: September 2 for AWD, September 9 for minimal shipment splits and September 16 for Amazon-optimised splits. Inventory arriving later may lose the Prime badge for the event, and with it visibility in search and on the product detail page.
What does running a deal on amazon.de cost?
In Germany there is a EUR 16 upfront fee per promotion plus a variable fee of 0.75 percent of promotional revenue, capped at EUR 1,000. On top of that come the discount itself and, from October 15, the peak fulfilment fee averaging EUR 0.27 per unit plus a 1.5 percent fuel and logistics surcharge. Price all four positions into the deal margin before you submit.
Are Prime Big Deal Days worth it when Black Friday follows six weeks later?
Yes, for two reasons. First, the October event lifts ranking and reviews before the most expensive traffic phase of the year starts in November. Second, promotional prices from Prime Big Deal Days are not included in the 30-day and 60-day price lookback Amazon uses to calculate the maximum deal price for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. An October deal does not block your November.