Creating variations
When editing the listing, under the variations tab it says: Variations are not available for this category.
@Sundance tagging you as you replied to this thread. OP’s issue is that they are trying to create the variation agasint the existing listing. Amazon does not allow that and shows the message that variations are not available. They need to create a parent listing and add the variations to the parent listing if the category allows that variation theme.
Agree @hdms.
And new sellers also need to understand that variations are enabled by category, not ASIN. It’s a big deal when variations become an option for a category, with announcements and such–which I actually haven’t seen in a while. 
We actually got “busted” for this over the weekend. Yet we did not do it. They gave us a violation on a listing that was made in 2017 since we “misused variations.”
Had not changed the listing since it was made. The variations were on size and color.
We were closed since we added and should not have “Multi-Packs” to the variations. We did not add Multi-Packs, we had made no changes for 6 years.
They also divorced the children from the parents.
We appealed, pointing this out. In one submission, 16 hours later they removed the violation. Now we have to go upload the parent again to bring the family back together.
Very surprised to have it fixed so quickly and in one try.
I wonder if they are getting tougher on multi-packs. Such a misused area, with a multi-pack of two, costing 4X more than one unit, by sellers gaming the system.
I just replied on that thread.
As explained in my post: " I’ve explained this in the past, but this is a stop gap for Selling Individually accounts, because they have no access to upload Templates.
IF … after you download a PT (Product Template) and it is not in there, then it is not allowed (**See note below).
However, I’ll just about put money on the ability to create Variation Relationships through the PT. Maybe not the one you want though."
I still remember back when this policy went into effect years ago after a seller (I can’t recall a name though) went through the catalog creating multi-packs at 2X & 3X the actual cost, with the model to dropship from other sellers on Amazon
I had this same thing happen a few months ago. The really odd thing was the violation came from Amazon.CA and I don’t even sell those products in Canada. I asked .COM why a complaint on .CA would cause issues with listings on .COM since I don’t even sell them on .CA. They had no idea (as expected).
I did manage to get the “violation” removed but also had to reinvent the parent sku and put the children under again. Not a huge issue, just annoying. Something must have triggered the bots though.
Good Luck,
TJB
I would have taken a different approach to helping him.
He’s asking about creating a variation, but what he should be asking about is setting up a promotion (discounted price when people buy more than one).
My response would have been something like…
It’s great that you’re getting people buying in multiples, but the way to encourage that, or offering a discount when they do, is by using a promotion, not by creating variations.
It appears that you want to offer a lower per-item price when people buy 3 at once. This would be done using a promotion, where you can either offer a percentage discount or a set dollar amount off, when a purchase meets certain criteria - in this case, a purchase of qty 3.
What you’re suggesting as a variation wouldn’t meet Amazon’s rules on variations, as ‘1 pc’ and ‘3 pcs’ are not valid children of a variation family.
What you want to do is simply offer a discounted price on purchase of multiple pieces, and you do that with a promotion.
… instructions on how to use promotions…
I think someone needs to tell Grandpa he needs to stop thinking in terms of variations, because that’s not the way to do what he’s trying to accomplish.
Unfortunately, I think @oneida_books may have confused him a little, because Grandpa seemed to take his post to mean - you can do it if you’re the manufacturer.
My take is that Grandpa needs to tell his seller to set up a promotion. For those who haven’t read Grandpa’s response, he says that he is the manufacturer and creates the Amazon listings, but he has a different person (the seller) authorized to actually list the product for sale on Amazon.
This seems like a good place to jump in with a musing I’ve had recently.
I sell my items in singles and in bundled sets - they’re not multiples of the same thing, but curated and discounted sets of 3-9 items that go together. I call them ‘Sets’ just because I always have.
I list the sets as their own product with size variations, but I can’t mention anywhere in the listing that they’re discounted (and they are, by a lot). I wonder if there’s better Amazon lingo for this sort of thing that might appeal to customers. 
Yes they can use a ‘Promotion’ but it has downsides.
It won’t appear unless they are the FO/BB winner
It will fluctuate based on the single unit price
The promo might work fine for 3 units, but maybe not so much for 5, 8, 10, etc.
That is not always true. As I mention, if the Category has the"Package Quantity" Theme available, then you can do ‘1 pc’ and ‘3 pcs’.
As the manufacturer I believe the easiest thing for him is to create the multi-pack.
JMO
I had a great LED light purchase from Amazon. The seller, obviously confused, had set the promotion for the first unit to sell for $6, with the second unit selling for full price at $20. So I bought only one light. 
Marilyn
- It won’t appear unless they are the FO/BB winner
Since Grandpa’s the manufacturer, with a single authorized seller for the product, there shouldn’t be any competition, other than possibly Chinese hijackers. But we can probably assume it’s a PL branded listing.
What you’re suggesting as a variation wouldn’t meet Amazon’s rules on variations, as ‘1 pc’ and ‘3 pcs’ are not valid children of a variation family.
That is not always true.
Yes, I realize that, but given Grandpa’s question, do you really think he fits one of those cases?
I tried to glean the context from his question, and it doesn’t sound like what he’s selling would be one of those multi-pack things (aspirin, toothpaste etc), especially since the category in question doesn’t allow variations.
If he wanted to create a multi-pack of whatever he’s selling, then he would make that a second stand-alone listing, as it wouldn’t be a valid variation to go with the single pack, even if variations were allowed for the category.
He seems to be trying to benefit from the momentum of the existing listing, and creating a new ASIN for the multipack wouldn’t do that, but adding promotional pricing would.
This is just my 2 cents worth, of course, based on my interpretation of what Grandpa is trying to accomplish. 
I list the sets as their own product with size variations, but I can’t mention anywhere in the listing that they’re discounted
I think most people assume (to the Chinese scammer’s benefit) that items bundled together and sold in sets are a better deal than if you bought the items individually. If, however, you wanted to make it more obvious, couldn’t you use the MSRP field? Set the MSRP to the total price of the items if purchased individually, then your selling price will look like a great deal by comparison.
We don’t know that this is the case. He is getting that message because he is trying to create the variation on the prodiuct page for the existing stand alone product. When you try to do this Amazon displays the message that variations are not available. You can only add variations on a parent listing.
Sadly, I don’t have that option. Whomp!
I did try ‘Your Price’ vs. ‘Sale Price’ but that didn’t do anything. I was hoping for a strikethrough of the ‘Your Price.’
ETA: I have List Price. Let me try it - that might be MSRP on the customer-facing side. Thanks for the tip!
True. That is only a small part of why I don’t believe a promo is the best way to go here.
So I decided to use the new doxxing to get a better idea. I won’t post their store but if you want it I can PM it). They sell in Kitchen. Lots of knife type products, with 1 Grocery (which I suspect could be the product)
The Kitchen category does allow for Variation Relationships. And in checking, Home > Kitchen (or other sublevel elements) does have “ItemPackageQuantity” as an available Theme.
However, for both Food and Gourmet - If the product is in either of these categories, that Theme is not available.
I suspect that the Variation Relationship is a no-go for them and I added a post to the thread discussing the options of Promo and Variation Relationship
Yes it does, we have quite a few items in Home, and many in Kitchen.
As an old guy in the group, we may have a “Grandpa, Grandma” issue here. Though in our clan we are referred to as Pop Pop and Granny.
Very smooth, @oneida_books !
Absolutely!
