How to Use Amazon Seller Vacation Mode?
If you’re an Amazon seller using FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon), you don’t have to stress about packing and shipping orders, because Amazon manages that on your behalf. So, when you decide to step away from your business for a few days, whether for a vacation or personal time, your orders will still be processed in the background.
On the other hand, if you’re an FBM (fulfilled by merchant) seller, you’re responsible for handling your own order fulfillment — unless you partner with a third-party logistics (3PL) provider. So what should you do if you want to take time off? Unless you have a reliable team managing things while you’re away, you’ll need to activate something called vacation mode through your Seller Central account. In this guide, we’ll explain what Amazon Seller Vacation Mode is, how to enable it, who should use it, and the essential steps to take before turning it on.
What is Amazon Seller Vacation Mode?
Amazon Seller Vacation Mode is a setting that lets sellers temporarily make their merchant-fulfilled listings inactive. This means those products won’t show up in Amazon’s search results, and customers won’t be able to purchase them during this period.
Once vacation mode is activated, your FBM listings will go inactive within about an hour. Meanwhile, your FBA products will continue to be available for sale and fulfilled by Amazon as usual.
This option is ideal for when you’re taking a break, dealing with bad weather, facing a personal emergency, or just need a pause from managing your business. You can turn vacation mode on and off as needed.
Keep in mind that even while your account is in vacation mode, Amazon’s policy still requires you to respond to customer messages within 24 hours.
Things to Do Before Activating Amazon Seller Vacation Mode
Before you disable your merchant-fulfilled listings, it’s important to go through a quick checklist to avoid any issues while you’re away.
1. Complete All Pending Orders
Before activating vacation mode, make sure you’ve fulfilled every pending order in your account. Setting your listings to inactive won’t automatically cancel any existing orders, so it’s your responsibility to handle those to prevent customer complaints or account problems.
2. Enable Vacation Mode Ahead of Time
Since it might take a little while to wrap up pending orders, Amazon recommends switching on vacation mode a bit before you leave. This ensures that you have enough time to complete outstanding orders without having new ones come in while you’re unavailable.
3. Arrange for Someone to Manage Customer Inquiries
Even though your listings might be inactive, you’re still obligated to reply to customer inquiries within 24 hours. Make sure you, or someone you trust, is available to check and respond to messages. If you haven’t already, download the Amazon Seller app on your phone to make handling these messages easier when you’re on the go.
Other Things to Know About Amazon Vacation Settings
You should be aware before enabling vacation mode of a few extra details:
- Return Requests Must Still Be Handled: Even if your listings are inactive, you’re still responsible for managing return requests. You can adjust your email preferences to receive return request notifications with quick links to Authorize, Close, or Reply. You might also set Amazon to automatically approve returns if preferred.
- Monthly Subscription Fees Continue: If you have a professional seller account, the monthly subscription charge will still apply while your account is in vacation mode. If you’re planning an extended break and want to avoid this fee, consider switching to an individual account temporarily.
- Permissions May Be Restricted for Some Users: If multiple people have access to your Seller Central account, remember that only users with the appropriate permissions can adjust listing statuses. Ensure whoever will be handling this has the necessary access rights.
How to Turn On Vacation Mode in Seller Central
Follow these simple steps to activate vacation mode in your Amazon Seller Central account:
Step 1:
Log in to Seller Central, hover over the Settings menu at the top right corner, and click on Account Info.
Step 2:
Navigate to the Listing Status section and select Going on a vacation?
Step 3:
Set the status of each marketplace you don’t want to sell on to inactive.
And you’re done! Within roughly an hour, your FBM listings will go offline. When you return, revisit this section to reactivate your listings and resume selling.
Enjoy Your Time Off Worry-Free!
Whether you’re going on a well-deserved vacation or need to pause your operations for any reason, Amazon makes it simple to take your self-fulfilled listings offline using vacation mode.
Instead of deactivating listings one by one, you can handle it all at once through your account settings.
We hope this guide helped clarify how Amazon Seller Vacation Mode works. Got more questions? Feel free to drop them in the comments — we’re here to help!
