Heads up: Amazon’s reference price rules change April 23 — strike-through pricing may disappear and PPC conversion will drop

Something significant hits in 6 days that most sellers have not heard about yet.

On April 23, Amazon is tightening how it validates your List Price. Starting then, your submitted List Price only displays as a strike-through if:

– The product has been purchased as the Featured Offer on Amazon at that List Price, OR

– The product is offered at that List Price at another retailer right now

If Amazon cannot validate, the strike-through disappears. No was-price. No you-save-X-percent. Just your current sale price.

Why this matters: conversion rate is heavily influenced by reference price framing. Studies estimate 15-20% conversion decline when reference price display disappears. For sellers running Sponsored Products, lower conversion means your same bids produce a higher effective CPA — without Amazon telling you what happened.

Who is most at risk:

– Sellers whose List Price was never the real price (an inflated anchor)

– New sellers who set a high list price at launch but have not sold at that price yet

– Products that only sell at promotional prices (the Typical Price calculation changes May 18 too)

What to do before April 23:

1. Check your ASIN price history. Has your product actually sold at its List Price as a Featured Offer? If not, that List Price will likely fail validation.

2. Check third-party retailer pricing. If your product sells elsewhere at your List Price, Amazon may still validate it. Make sure retail partners are priced consistently.

3. Audit your discount-dependent campaigns. If conversion relies on deal badges and savings messaging, model what happens to your CVR and ACoS if those disappear.

4. Do not wait until April 24. The 90-day window for Typical Price recalculation means recovery after May 18 is slow. Changes made now still help.

Amazon says this is about customer trust in pricing. They are right that fake reference prices are a problem. But the rule will catch legitimate sellers too, particularly those who launched at promotional prices and have not built enough list price sales history.