How Was Your Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2025?
Hello sellers,
Now that one of the biggest shopping events of the year is over, we want to hear about your experiences during Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2025. Whether this was your first peak season or you're a seasoned seller, your experiences can help build our selling community's knowledge base.
Tell us:
- What strategies worked well for you this year?
- Did you try anything new that showed promising results?
- What lessons did you learn that you'll apply to future sales events?
- How did your preparation and execution compare to previous years?
- What would you do differently in 2026?
Already planning for next year? Share what adjustments you're considering - your practical tips could help other sellers strengthen their peak season strategy next year.
💡 Pro Tip: Consider making notes about your experience now while the details are fresh. Even small observations can lead to big improvements for future events.
Drop your top "I wish I had known..." moment below, and don’t forget to upvote helpful replies!
How Was Your Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2025?
Hello sellers,
Now that one of the biggest shopping events of the year is over, we want to hear about your experiences during Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2025. Whether this was your first peak season or you're a seasoned seller, your experiences can help build our selling community's knowledge base.
Tell us:
- What strategies worked well for you this year?
- Did you try anything new that showed promising results?
- What lessons did you learn that you'll apply to future sales events?
- How did your preparation and execution compare to previous years?
- What would you do differently in 2026?
Already planning for next year? Share what adjustments you're considering - your practical tips could help other sellers strengthen their peak season strategy next year.
💡 Pro Tip: Consider making notes about your experience now while the details are fresh. Even small observations can lead to big improvements for future events.
Drop your top "I wish I had known..." moment below, and don’t forget to upvote helpful replies!
37 replies
Seller_EpXPhVLnbs8X3
My sales for this Festive season on Amazon have been completely diabolical with a huge disparity on sales last year. I am a handmade sole trader who makes my own handmade jewellery at home, and my items have been in the process of being changed from the GUILD product type to being listed in the main catalogue since the summer. I am now competing for sales with large overseas sellers who own factories and can machine make or assemble jewellery on a production line . Whereas I used to regularly be in the top 100 handmade drop and dangle earrings list, this list no longer exists so I have lost my ranking for good. I have made 5 sales for the whole of December . November this year I sold 14 items all month for just under £135 compared to last year's 29 items at £283. I have been doing everything I can for sucessful sales, but I'm not in control of these changes.
Seller_tQCfsb3zoC4AP
on Amazon this year record daily sales sadly those records are all for worst sales since I started selling have been selling on Amazon since April 2008 and this year Amazon sales have been horrific . Every single day I have recorded the worst sales ever down by 70 plus percentage what was particularly noticeable was each day between 12 to 5pm. It seemed that my goods were all hidden as we barely got a look never mind a sale during this time maybe 2 or 3 sales during this time in the past I would have got 80 to 100. In the past at this time of year I would have myself and 2 helpers packing Amazon orders from 4am to 5pm daily 7 days a week now I can do it myself in under 2 hours. To give an example my sales in the last 24 hours on Amazon is the sales level of a bad day in the summer time and not what should be my busiest week of the year Amazon is no longer a serious sales partner for 3rd party sellers unless you are an Ali baba seller as Amazon now see these fake sellers as their future
No tools no seller support no permissions cannot list new products can not adjust existing products to comply with Amazons ever changing demands for catalogs pages Amazon has become a total nightmare we I can no longer function as a business
Your questions answered
Q1 on Amazon none as I cannot function as a business on Amazon anymore
Q2 yes I focused on new sales channels
Q3 I learned to stop wasting so much time on Amazon and focus on other sales channels were my future lies hich is something if asked a few years ago would have been a completely different answer
Q4 we could not prepare or execute as we spend months going round in circles with SS trying to do the most simplistic tasks
Q5 for 2026 increase my presence on other sales channels as there is no future here the sales on here have become hiobby seller statue not business seller status.
To finish on a positive note all of my other sales channels my sales continue to rise
Seller_AL7vlMXYBK4uQ
We had a strong BFCM across the brands we manage — better YoY than expected. One client even hit +30% in net profit, which surprised them given we only took over earlier this year.
The most interesting case this year was a brand hit hard by tariffs early on. Their COGS jumped ~20%, and because they already operated at a high level on Amazon, we didn’t have easy wins lying around. We were already competing for the #1 spot in the category, so the tariff surprise forced us to rethink planning and forecasting.
Here’s what moved the needle for them:
- Cutting spend on low-margin ASINs and reallocating toward hero SKUs to drive halo sales.
- Increasing investment in attribution, which brought lower CPCs and stronger incremental traffic.
- Doubling down on AMC to build more precise high-intent audiences.
- Rebuilding a tight full-funnel approach after the COGS shift compressed margins.
There was no avoiding a margin hit with a 20% COGS increase, but even so we still:
- Grew net profit ~15%,
- Increased market share by ~5% on major category terms
- And set them up to finish the year strong despite the rocky start.
We’re now planning 2026 launches based on this year’s learnings, with a focus on recovering margin back toward a 30% range through better product mix and operational efficiencies.
Big takeaway: competitors are dealing with many of the same macro issues. If you know your levers (Amazon and off-Amazon) and plan ahead, you can still outperform the field. Preparation + clarity on the numbers wins.
Overall, we’re up YoY across all brands, likely boosted by the BFCM surge, so Q4 is shaping up nicely indeed.
Seller_YggczqLpELtNd
Our Black Friday / Cyber Monday period went quite well overall. Despite the high order volume, we managed the processes as smoothly as possible. Although there were some expected logistics delays due to the seasonal surge, we were generally satisfied with our operations, and the customer feedback was very positive.
It was a successful period for us in terms of both sales and customer experience. We have also taken notes on areas for improvement and are already planning enhancements for next year.
I hope everyone had a successful and rewarding BF/CM season.
Seller_0AG9i8qKfX9Eu
as already aired by many sellers, this years sales have been by far the worst since we started 15 years ago. Daily sales are just like any other day in the year when they should be very high..
I can only put this down to the Economy in the UK at the moment.
Seller_RguKGMHvWFmo3
If Amazon stopped putting so many roadblocks in sellers place, the sales would be a lot more. Over reliance on AI certainly does not help IMO.
Seller_fLViBrSW573Aj
Sales were OK, however this is always offset by the big decline in sales in the week leading up to BF/CM - IMO Amazon push BF week too much, and the discounts Amazon expect us to offer to take part would be loss making. I'm sure it works well for Amazon in encouraging Prime sign ups but less so for 3P sellers.
Seller_soBD2wwhsVOww
12yrs + here sales worst ever down 50%+ on last year all asins still have a high ranking just not getting any sales,know some of my category competitors & they are also well down.
Seller_mS10UjVYuuGor
The whole BFCM thing is now outdated, it was a bad idea in the first place (why discount in peak season?), plus it's rightfully vilified in the press which puts off customers as many prices are simply inflated to then be discounted. Then there's the self inflicted surge in the courier system causing delays and upset customers that could be avoided if deliveries were more evenly spread across the month.
Amazon sellers are squeezed all year round by Amazon's competitive pricing rules and/or competitors, all of which is to be expected on a big marketplace like this, but leaves little room for discounting on BF/CM unless you've inflated prices (and reduced your own sales!) in the run up.
For me, sales via Amazon over the BFCM weekend were minimal, but on my own sites were the best ever (I didn't discount on either). Sales on Amazon have come back in the last few days but there's no guarantee that will continue.
All said and done old school BFCM discounting has already started to be, and might well be completely obsolete in one to two years anyway. A rapidly growing number of customers who used to search Amazon for products are now asking AI to find them the best price. Anyone with their own site that shows order attribution will have seen the growing trend. AI doesn't tell you the item is reduced from £49;99 to £34.99 on Amazon, that's pointless information, it just tells you the best price is £29.99 from somewhere else.
Seller_scExl4xpi8Duk
I just hope sellers soon realise to not do deals on BFCM. Its all designed to help Amazon to create press about how sales are growing while sellers face lower and lower margins. As much as Amazon is still a great platform where you can find customers who are ready to buy, all these deal days are not helpful to any seller. If you any seller wants long-term success, then stop doing deals. We been selling on Amazon for nearly 20 years and only do deals for lines we want to discontinue. Take a screenshot of search page related to your main keywords, you will see what I mean. How you will win if all sellers are doing deals. Play this deals game carefully, instead try to hold price , as traffic during BFCM is through the roof, you will end up making more profit. Scale down on ads, reduce bids on your account for every keyword by 10% .
