Here is an example. Say you sell cotton kurtas on Amazon. You booked your deals, sent stock to Amazon’s warehouse and raised your ad budget. On the first morning of the sale, orders come in fast. By 10 am, the medium size has sold out. Your ads are still sending shoppers to it, and half the day’s budget has gone on clicks that can’t become orders.
Nothing went badly wrong. Nobody checked the stock of each size the day before.
The Amazon Great Indian Festival 2026 starts on 8 October. In past years, Prime members have had a head start of about a day, so for many shoppers it starts on 7 October. That leaves you about two days. It’s too late for big changes, and the right time for checks.
Set aside about two hours. Here is the checklist, in the order we’d do it.
The rule for the last two days: check, don’t change
A change made now has no time to settle, and a mistake has no time to be fixed.
- Don’t raise prices to make a discount look bigger. Amazon compares deal prices with what you’ve charged recently, and can turn a deal down.
- Don’t change your variations, for example by merging sizes or colours into one listing. A mistake there can break the listing, and fixing it can take days.
- Don’t add “Sale” or a discount to your main image. Amazon doesn’t allow text on main images, and can hide a listing whose main image breaks the rules.
Everything below is a check. Most take a few minutes in Seller Central.
1. Account health (10 minutes)
A warning on your account in the middle of the sale is the worst surprise of all. Open Account Health in Seller Central and check three numbers against Amazon’s targets:
- Order Defect Rate: under 1%. This counts negative feedback, A-to-z claims and chargebacks.
- Pre-fulfilment Cancel Rate: under 2.5%. This counts orders you cancel before dispatch, usually because the stock wasn’t there.
- Late Dispatch Rate: under 4%. This counts orders you dispatch after the date Amazon gave the customer.
The last two apply to orders you ship yourself. If any number is close to its limit now, a busy week can push it over. Reply to any warning on the page before the sale starts.
2. Listings (30 minutes)
- Find your hidden listings. In Seller Central, go to Inventory, then Manage All Inventory, and look for listings marked “Search Suppressed”. They are live, but shoppers can’t find them. Amazon shows the reason, usually a missing detail or an image problem. Our guide to rejected images and suppressed listings explains the common ones.
- Open your ten best sellers on your phone, the way a shopper will. Check that the main image loads, the price is right and the title says what the product is.
- Check who has the Buy Box. If another seller’s “Add to Cart” button is showing on your own product, find out why today.
- Tap through every size and colour. Each one should open the right page, with the right image.
3. Stock, size by size (20 minutes)
- Check each variant, not just the total. The most popular size of your best seller runs out first.
- If you use Fulfilled by Amazon, check that your recent shipments show as received. Stock that is still being received can’t be sold.
- If you ship orders yourself, make sure the stock count in Seller Central matches your shelf. An order for stock you don’t have becomes a cancellation, and cancellations count against your account. Our guide to cancellation fees explains what they cost.
- Get ready to pack more. Buy enough boxes, tape and labels for a much busier week than usual, and check your pickup slots for 7 and 8 October.
4. Deals, coupons and your lowest price (15 minutes)
- Check every deal you’ve booked. In Seller Central, deals sit under Advertising. Each one should show the right product, the right price and the right dates.
- Missed the deals? A coupon can usually still be set up at short notice. Check that it shows on your listing before the sale starts.
- Work out your lowest price. Check what a shopper could pay if more than one of your discounts applies at once. Then take off Amazon’s fees and your shipping cost. If you lose money at that price, change it now, not during the sale.
5. Ads (15 minutes)
- Make sure your campaigns are already running. Amazon’s own advice to sellers is to start a few days before 8 October, so campaigns are ready when the sale begins.
- Raise daily budgets for 7 and 8 October. Clicks cost more in a sale. A budget that runs out by lunchtime hands the evening to another seller.
- Pause ads on anything low on stock, and move the money to products with plenty of stock and good ratings.
6. The first day: who checks what, and when
Write down who looks after stock, ads, deals and customer messages on the first day. Then agree three check times: first thing in the morning, at lunch and in the evening. Amazon is running “8 PM Deals” this year, so expect a busy evening as well.
- Reply to customer messages within 24 hours, including at the weekend. Amazon measures how quickly sellers reply.
- Answer the questions on your listings. In a sale, an unanswered question is often a lost order.
- Check each deal is live when it should be, at the price you set.
What can wait until after the sale
New products, new A+ content and new photo shoots can all wait until the sale ends. Keep a list as you go. This week’s returns, questions and reviews will tell you what to fix first. After the sale, our guide to payouts and settlements explains when the money arrives.
For the weeks before and after the festival, read our full Great Indian Festival 2026 guide.
Where we come in
We run Amazon accounts for brands through sales like this one, so we know the checks that get missed when everyone is busy: the size that sells out first, the deal at the wrong price, the ad budget gone by lunchtime.
We can run the account with you through the sale, and manage your Amazon Ads on the busiest days. If you’d like a second pair of eyes before 8 October, tell us what you sell, and we’ll tell you what to fix first.
