Turkey 12 2025: Amazon Shipping Deadlines & Promotional Ad Strategy

The week of Black Friday and Cyber Monday is unequivocally the busiest shopping period of the year.

Also known as Turkey 12 on Amazon, this year’s promotional period spans from Thursday, November 20 to Monday, December 1, 2025. This window presents an enormous opportunity for Amazon sellers to capture significant sales – but not without meticulous, early preparation. Without a solid plan and, crucially, inventory in stock, brands risk missing out on this massive event.

In this article, we’ll cover essential shipping deadlines, powerful promotional strategies, and smart advertising tactics that ensure your brand is fully equipped to thrive during Turkey 12 2025.

Shipping & Arrival Deadlines for Guaranteed Turkey 12 Participation

If you don’t have inventory, you can’t participate in this critical shopping season. All promotional and advertising efforts are rendered useless without sufficient inventory available to shoppers. So, the first step to guarantee Turkey 12 participation is getting inventory to Amazon fulfillment centers by the specified due dates.

AWD Deadline for Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2025

Amazon Warehousing & Distribution (AWD) is a valuable tool for Q4 flexibility as it allows for bulk storing and auto-replenishing FBA inventory. Plus, critically, AWD inventory does not count toward FBA capacity limits.

Amazon’s official cutoff date for AWD inbound inventory is October 9, 2025 for the Turkey 12 period. This is the arrival date, not the ship date, meaning your inventory must be received by Amazon before this date to be eligible for Prime badge visibility during the peak sales event.

To meet this October 9 arrival deadline, you should ship inventory at least 2–3 weeks in advance, ideally by September 18–25, 2025. This buffer is crucial as it accounts for various potential delays including carrier transit time, receiving delays at AWD (which can be up to 1–2 weeks during peak periods), and seasonal congestion and backlogs.

Warning: If your shipment arrives directly on October 9, it may already be too late due to processing lags or potential labeling issues. Therefore, the best practice is to beat the deadline by at least a week.

Consider using Amazon-partnered carriers when possible, while continuously monitoring your shipment status in Seller Central.

FBA Inbound Inventory Cut-off Dates

For inventory sent directly to FBA, different shipment split strategies have different arrival due dates:

• For FBA minimal shipment splits, the arrival due date is October 20, 2025.
• For FBA Amazon-optimized shipment splits, the arrival due date is October 30, 2025.

If unsure which type of shipment split makes more sense for your brand, read more about the difference between both options here.

As a reminder, the due dates provided above are the arrival due dates, not ship dates. Similar to AWD, it is highly recommended to ship your FBA inventory out 2-3 weeks in advance to guarantee on-time arrival. This translates to a shipping window of September 29 – October 6 for minimal splits and October 9 – 16 for optimized splits.

General Shipping & Inventory Best Practices

To ensure a smooth inventory flow for Turkey 12, we recommend several best practices:

1. Ship Early: Do not aim for the deadline; always build in a buffer for potential carrier or receiving hiccups.
2. Plan Pickups: If you use the Partnered Carrier program, have your inventory ready at least 14 days before your target arrival date, and ideally ~21 days, to absorb transit and routing time.
3. Forecast Demand: Meticulously account for lead times from “shipment created” to “sellable” status and align your inventory volumes with the expected BFCM lift. It is advisable to maintain 4–6 weeks of inventory pre-event and 28 days post-event.

Crafting Your Promotional Strategy: Submissions are Open

Promotions during BFCM are absolutely critical for driving sales. They serve multiple purposes: acquiring new customers, moving excess stock, boosting conversion rates, and building repeat purchases.

Amazon-supported discounts (like Prime Exclusive Discounts and Lightning Deals) are pushed heavily and reliably increase product exposure during the marketplace’s tentpole events.

Choosing High-Impact Deals: Fees & Deadlines

Successful promotional strategies involve selecting the right deal types that align with your goals and budget. Here is a breakdown of the key options for Turkey 12 2025 including benefits to each promotion type, how the peak season’s fees affect each deal type, and when submissions for participation close:

Lightning Deals

These are designed for urgency, running within 6-hour windows:

• Requires a minimum 20% off.
• $500 flat fee.
• Timing for Lightning Deals is assigned close to the event. Since you’ll only have a 6-hour window of visibility (with the Lightning Deal badge and discount available), it’s advised to keep bids low outside of your assigned slot and then surge bids during your assigned window. Update Sponsored Products/Sponsored Display targets and Sponsored Brands creative when an ASIN goes on sale.
• Submissions close on October 28.

Best Deals

These deals can run day-by-day during the event:

• Requires a minimum 15% off.
• $1,000 flat fee.
• Achieving ≥30% off makes your product eligible for extra merchandising.
• Submissions close on October 28.

Prime-Exclusive Discounts (PEDs)

These discounts specifically target Amazon Prime members:

• Requires a minimum 15% off.
• $245 flat fee per campaign.
• PEDs are typically cheaper, but they reach a smaller, albeit loyal, audience (Prime members only).
• Submissions opened on September 10. Amazon has not released any submission deadlines for PEDs during Turkey 12 but has allowed for their creation any time before or during events in the past.

Coupons

These offer a flexible discount option.

• Requires a minimum 5% off.
• The cost is $5 per coupon redeemed + 2.5% of sales.
• While they have the lowest direct cost, coupons generally receive less favorable organic and paid placements compared to other deal types.
• Submissions will open once we get closer to the event (Amazon has not released any specific dates yet).

Read more about different promotional options and what yields the highest ROI during Amazon tentpole events in this article.

General Promotional Best Practices

• Target Loyal Audiences: Maximize the impact of your promotions by using Brand Tailored Promotions from the Customer Loyalty Dashboard. This allows you to deliver event pricing directly to high-value customer segments on product detail pages and in carts.
• Avoid Fatigue: While running regular promotions is beneficial, avoid overdoing the frequency to help protect your profit margins.
• Creation: You can create Deals and Prime-Exclusive Discounts by navigating to Advertising → Deals in Seller Central.

Aligning Ad Strategy & Investment to Amplify Deals

Successful BFCM campaigns require alignment with inventory levels and promotions selected. This operational synergy maximizes visibility and potential sales during the competitive peak shopping season.

Leading with Discount Strategy

Your advertising efforts should be an extension of your promotional strategy:

• Product Selection: Pick products for advertising based on your primary goal (eg: new product launch vs liquidation of excess stock).
• Retail Readiness: Before launching ads, confirm that your chosen products have optimized titles, high-quality images, and sufficient positive reviews to be considered “retail ready”.
• Budget Allocation: Crucially, budget for both discounts and advertising spend.

Smart Ad Tactics for BFCM

• Mirror Discounts in Ads: Create a cohesive shopper experience by aligning your ad copy with your discounts. Target discount-seeking searches with relevant keywords to drive immediate sales.
• Pre-Event Week Advantage: The week leading up to BFCM is a critical “window shopping” period for consumers, and CPCs are often lower during this time. Leverage this advantage to build page views and audiences for retargeting utilizing Sponsored Display. Also consider running a pre-event discount to convert early shoppers.
• Budget Segmentation: Strategically allocate your ad budget across different targets based on your goals: generic keywords, branded terms, competitor targets, and specific audience segments.
• Full-Funnel Mix: Utilize a comprehensive mix of ad types to achieve both conversions and brand presence. Employ Sponsored Products for direct conversions and Sponsored Brands for broader brand presence and discovery.
• Peak Fulfillment Fees: Be aware that peak fulfillment fees apply from October 15, 2025 to January 14, 2026. Plan your costs accordingly.

Conclusion: Path to a Successful Turkey 12

Preparing for Turkey 12 2025 on Amazon demands a proactive and integrated strategy across all departments (logistics, marketing, and catalog management).

Meeting the critical shipping deadlines for AWD and FBA is non-negotiable as without inventory there is no opportunity to participate in the event.

By strategically selecting high-impact promotions that align with your business goals, ad campaigns, and creative assets, you can significantly boost your product visibility on the marketplace.

For those seeking expert guidance and hands-on support with their Turkey 12 planning, inventory management, promotional strategy, or ad campaigns, reach out to our team of Amazon experts to start a conversation.