Will tariffs end the race to the bottom on Amazon Haul? [MDSR #42]

Time is running out to secure your spot at MDS Inspire 2025 — that’s 2 days, 20+ speakers, 30+ experts, Las Vegas, and YOU right in the mix.

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📅 When: March 24-25, 2025

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Hot Off The Presses 📰

We’ll start with some good news: If and when the antitrust suit against Amazon goes to trial in 2026, the FTC will challenge Amazon’s monopoly power over merchants — particularly, their policy barring sellers from offering lower prices on other platforms. 

In the meantime, though, sellers are footing a pretty steep bill. Search listings have never been so pay-to-play, putting pressure on Amazon sellers to up the ante on ad spend. At the same time, the dreaded Frequently Returned badge is taking a toll on sales, while the new Voice of the Customer tools Amazon rolled out to help sellers avoid it kind of miss the mark. 

And when it comes to tariff uncertainty? The race to the bottom on Amazon Haul is shaping up to be less of a threat, but there will 100% be other financial hits thrust onto sellers’ plates. 

Strategic or not, Trump’s tariff tinkering leaves businesses no choice but to sound the alarm as global trade chaos rears its head across the economy — with investors and betting markets agreeing that a recession is imminent — and consumer sentiment plunging to a 29-month low. 

To that point, bringing as much inventory as possible into the US right now is a better gameplan than passing the cost increases onto shoppers. Taking business south of the border is also on the table now that TikTok Shop’s done some leg work to help US brands expand into Mexico. 

Turns out that when people feel powerless over actual politics, they focus on controlling how and where they spend their money. But let’s just say boycotts haven’t stopped Amazon from getting an early start on Easter promo. 

Or gaining market share in categories like beauty and electronics. Or even trying to expand their dominance over everyone’s supply chain through Buy With Prime.

Reading between the lines of launches like Amazon’s new visual search features and the forthcoming Alex+ x Rufus integration? 

Every giant wants to be a tech giant and an eCom giant. Google and Amazon are resembling each other more and more. 

In fact, Amazon is now ranking among the top search engines just behind Google and ChatGPT. 

Million Dollar Advice 💸 

Even in a perfect world, spending money on digital ads can feel like rolling the dice.

But when you factor in the customer acquisition cost crisis — and the fact that consumers don’t really want to be advertised to, anyway — you realize that the math isn’t mathing, and that there has to be another way. 

There is, and Oliver Brocato has lived to tell the tale of going from $0 to $10M in 12 months with zero ad spend…

New Scary Seller Statistics 😱

Profits are down. Suspensions are up. And international competition is turning market dynamics completely upside down. 

The latest Voice of the Amazon Seller Report from SmartScout just dropped and we’re rounding up the top insights to help you quantify what the changing landscape means for you and your business:

Here are the highlights:

• Profitability Challenges Intensify – More than half of sellers saw reduced profitability in 2024, citing rising fees and heightened global competition as key factors.

• Price Increases Aren’t The Answer – While 67% of sellers raised prices in response to Amazon FBA fee hikes, nearly 60% of them still experienced a decline in profits.

• Prime Event Discounts Shrink Margins – While 38% of sellers take part in Prime shopping events, many are increasingly worried about the pressure to offer deep discounts and shrinking profit margins.

• Account Suspensions Abound – 35% of sellers have faced account suspensions, with mid-sized businesses ($100K-$1M in revenue) being the hardest hit.

• Sub-Par Seller Support – About 46% of sellers say Amazon’s support has worsened over the past two years, and 60% believe it actively hinders their business growth.

• Underwhelming AI Benefits – Despite Amazon's push for AI-powered tools, only 15.6% of sellers report any positive impact, while 16.6% say these tools have negatively affected their business.

• Sellers Aren’t Thrilled – Nearly two-thirds of sellers feel Amazon’s marketplace is unfair, though wholesalers remain the most optimistic, with 40% expressing a positive outlook.

Check out the full report here. 

Think these tips are helpful? Feel free to pass ‘em along 🙂 

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Click on the table below or view the full size data here. 

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Did you see that post 📲

Let’s end on a high note with some motivation for uncertain times 🤝

Until Next Time ✌️

As always, thanks for sticking with us until the end. 

If you’d care to share your thoughts on this newsletter, we’re all ears. Just hit reply to sound off. 

See you next time with more of the latest and greatest content you need to succeed this year 🔥

Sincerely, 

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Million Dollar Sellers (MDS) is an exclusive community of 700+ like-minded Amazon and DTC sellers from all over the world. Collectively, our members generate more than 8 billion in annual sales and dominate some of the biggest categories on Amazon. MDS offers world-class events, chapters, industry discounts, resource libraries full of SOPs, templates, and video recordings of private trainings, workshops, events and so much more.

If you are looking for a business professional community made for ecom entrepreneurs, then consider applying today. 

*To qualify, you must be a full-time seller or brand owner and do at least 1 million in verified annual revenue. Will Amazon’s Returnless Resolutions solve the returns debacle? [MDSR #30]