If you are planning to sell on Amazon this holiday season, you need to plan early… in fact, Amazon requires that you sell your first item prior to September 17th to qualify as a holiday seller. There are a few other requirements that you should be aware of…

From Amazon’s site (see all the rules HERE):

Effective November 13, 2012, only those sellers who meet the following performance criteria will be eligible to sell in Toys & Games from November 13, 2012 through the first week in January 2013. Webstore sellers are also subject to these guidelines:

• Your first sale on Amazon.com must be prior to September 17, 2012.  The sale does not need to be specific to the Toys store.
• You must have processed and shipped at least 25 orders during the 60 consecutive days preceding November 1, 2012. The orders do not need to be specific to the Toy store.
• Your pre-fulfillment cancel rate must be no greater than 1.75% for the trailing 30 days preceding November 1, 2012.
• Your late shipment rate must be no greater than 4% for the trailing 30 days preceding November 1, 2012.
• Your order defect rate must be no greater than 1% short term as of November 1, 2012.  An order has a “defect” if it incurs a negative feedback, an A-to-z Guarantee claim or a service credit card chargeback. Your order defect rate is defined as the number of orders with a defect divided by the number of orders in the time period of interest. Order defect rate is the key measure of your ability to provide a good customer experience.