Profits have dropped by one-third! Sellers can no longer rely on their old profits!

Amazon is becoming increasingly untenable.

Since the beginning of 2023, Amazon's rules have been constantly changing, and the front page has been changed again and again. Not only are there "high return rate" labels and "same page price comparison" functions that make sellers run naked, but there are also changes to the traffic distribution mechanism and major algorithm updates...

Amazon Prime is one of the world's largest online shopping platforms. Sellers participating in the Prime program can bring more exposure and sales opportunities. However, Amazon recently plans to increase Prime seller fees.

Starting October 1, all third-party sellers who ship their own items will pay a 2% fee on top of their commission (usually 8%-15%) for each item sold.

That means each item will cost at least another $0.25.

SFP is a program launched by Amazon in 2015. Sellers who use SFP can not only deliver goods by themselves but also obtain Amazon's Prime membership badge, and can directly target the Prime membership market.

Joining SFP can get more traffic exposure, the operating cost is lower than FBA, and it is also very flexible and convenient in terms of inventory, delivery and packaging. Therefore, many sellers have joined the SFP program. [Scan the QR code at the end of the article to join the Amazon operation exchange group]

Once the news of the fee increase was released, it caused a lot of concerns among sellers:

It is understood that sellers who participate in SFP generally sell large-volume products, such as furniture. Amazon's automated warehouses are only suitable for handling small-volume products, and large-volume products such as furniture are not suitable for Amazon's logistics services. A seller of office furniture even said that if Amazon's new fee increase is calculated, it will lose about $1 million per year. Isn't this a disguised way of asking sellers to raise the price of their products?

Amazon sellers already had meager incomes, and now the situation is even worse, with profits falling by more than a third. What's even more outrageous is that Amazon sellers have already prepared inventory for the shopping season, and it is really puzzling that Amazon notified sellers at this critical juncture.

It is not difficult to see that Amazon is now gradually giving new products more exposure opportunities, and is even willing to close many of its own stores to "prove its innocence" - anti-monopoly.

Not only does the Amazon platform itself need to deal with the monopoly problem, there is also another problem - "cliff-like monopoly of old products". I believe that many people are like NANA. When searching for a certain product, they will subconsciously click on the products with more comments, or choose the brands they are familiar with. These are Amazon's "old products", which means that the new products have fewer opportunities to gain traffic exposure, and the conversion rate will not be high. On the contrary, old products will become more and more popular. Those who are dry will die of drought, and those who are flooded will die of floods. [Scan the code at the end of the article to join the Amazon operation exchange group]

In order to reduce this "wealth gap", Amazon has gradually adjusted the platform's ecology, allowing new and old sellers, large and small sellers, and new and old products to find their own place on the platform, forming a benign ecological environment.

In fact, Amazon's choice to use AI to summarize reviews is also a "catch all". It is not only to combat fake reviews, but also to allow sellers to turn their attention to their own products, rather than focusing on how to increase product traffic exposure and ignoring consumer suggestions and comments. AI reviews will summarize both the good and the bad, and then it will be clear which ones are made with care.

Product proportion > marketing proportion.