Hey Fellow Amazon Sellers,
It’s time for another hot-off-the-press edition of the Amazon Seller School Weekly Newsletter! This week’s highlights cover everything from Prime Day’s jaw-dropping sales numbers to new tools, policies, and marketplace moves. Let’s dive in:
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News
Amazon’s Prime Day Recap Raises Eyebrows with Missing Key Metric
Amazon broke tradition this year by not revealing how many items were sold during Prime Day 2025—a stat they’ve disclosed nearly every year since 2016. This omission comes amid a uniquely challenging year marked by tariffs and cautious consumer spending.
While Amazon claimed this year’s Prime Day beat all previous four-day periods in sales, the comparison is fuzzy since earlier events were only two days long. Adobe still reported a 30%+ online sales jump across retailers, but the lack of clarity from Amazon leaves sellers wondering just how strong the event really was.
Prime Day Drives $24B in U.S. Sales as GenAI Shopping Traffic Explodes
Amazon’s four-day Prime Day event drove $24.1 billion in U.S. e-commerce sales, up 30.3% year-over-year—equivalent to two Black Fridays. Adobe also reported a staggering 3,300% year-over-year increase in retail traffic from generative AI tools like chatbots and AI browsers.
Influencer-driven sales surged as well, converting 10x better than general social media and accounting for nearly 20% of online retail sales. For Amazon sellers, this underscores the growing impact of AI-assisted shopping and influencer marketing on consumer behavior.
Amazon Gave Prime Day Shoppers More Time to Browse — Many Went to Walmart
Amazon extended Prime Day to four days this year, aiming to give shoppers more time to explore deals—but that strategy also gave buyers time to compare prices, with many choosing Walmart instead. Walmart’s competing “Deals” event saw a 24% spending increase year-over-year, significantly outpacing Amazon’s 4–5% growth.
Walmart’s web traffic, app use, and seller participation all surged, reflecting its growing threat to Amazon’s dominance. For Amazon sellers, this signals a need to sharpen pricing strategies, optimize product listings, and be prepared for rising competition from Walmart Marketplace.
Prime Day Now Lifts All of E-Commerce
Amazon’s Prime Day 2025 triggered a 30% surge in U.S. e-commerce sales overall, yet Amazon’s own growth was a modest 4.9%, according to Momentum Commerce. This signals that Prime Day has shifted from being an Amazon-exclusive sales event to a catalyst for industry-wide online retail growth.
Retailers now strategically plan their own promotions around Prime Day, creating a multi-platform summer shopping wave. For Amazon sellers, this shift means more chances to succeed across other marketplaces while still benefiting from Amazon’s infrastructure and increased shopper activity.
Walmart Cracks Down on Unauthorized Beauty Listings — Amazon Sellers Take Note
Brandon Fishman highlights Walmart’s decision to restrict its Beauty & Personal Care category to brand owners and authorized distributors only. This change aims to eliminate unauthorized resellers, counterfeits, and pricing issues — giving brands more control over their customer experience.
Fishman calls out Amazon for falling behind and urges it to follow suit category by category before sellers lose patience. For Amazon sellers, this move signals rising expectations for marketplace accountability and brand protection.
Amazon Eases Premium Shipping Requirements — But Watch the Shorter Evaluation Window
Starting July 31, 2025, Amazon is lowering the eligibility bar for its Premium Shipping Options program, dropping the on-time delivery requirement from 97% to 92%. The performance evaluation window is also being shortened from 30 days to just 7, focusing more on recent delivery metrics.
This means sellers can recover from issues faster, but a bad few days can now have a bigger impact. For Amazon sellers, it’s a double-edged sword—greater flexibility but higher sensitivity to short-term performance.
Marketplaces Like Amazon Now Dominate Beauty E-Commerce — But Differentiation Is Key
Mikael Brakker, E-Commerce Director at L’Oréal Luxe, highlights that Amazon now accounts for 28% of global online beauty spend—outpacing all specialty retailers combined. He argues that marketplaces win on convenience, fulfillment, and user experience, but brands must do more than just list products.
For Amazon sellers, this means building premium brand experiences with tools like exclusive bundles, livestreams, and advanced retail media strategies. Brakker emphasizes that true channel differentiation is no longer a luxury—it’s the path to long-term survival.
100,000 Million-Dollar Amazon Sellers
The number of Amazon sellers making over $1 million annually has surged to over 100,000, nearly doubling since 2021, despite a 10% drop in active sellers. This signals that those who’ve adapted to rising fees and increased complexity are capturing more opportunity than ever.
Top sellers now dominate marketplace revenue, with just 2% of sellers generating over 50% of sales in the U.S. Amazon.com leads globally, hosting most of the $100M sellers, while Chinese sellers now make up more than half of those reaching $1M annually.
For Amazon sellers willing to evolve, scale, and optimize, the data proves that massive growth is still very achievable—just not for the faint of heart.
Shopify Sets Boundaries for AI Agents in eCommerce
Shopify has added new guidelines in its code, warning against fully automated AI agents that perform end-to-end transactions without final human review. While not enforcing new rules, this signals Shopify’s intent to limit how autonomous bots operate on its platform.
This move contrasts with Amazon and Walmart, which are embracing agentic AI to enhance customer experience and drive conversions. For Amazon sellers, it highlights the competitive pressure to adopt AI—but also the need to align with each platform’s evolving policies.
Amazon Unveils ‘Fee Explainer’ Tool for Seller Transparency
Amazon has launched a new “Fee Explainer” tool that breaks down transaction-level fees in the Payments dashboard, aiming to give sellers greater clarity on how charges are calculated. It currently covers fees like referral, subscription, returns, disposal, and others, with plans to expand coverage.
Sellers can now click on a fee amount in their Transaction view to see definitions, related attributes, and fee formulas. While Amazon promotes it as a transparency win, early feedback suggests some charge explanations remain vague—especially under the ambiguous “other chargeback” label.
Seller Tips & Tricks
How Micro-Influencers and UGC Help Amazon Sellers Win
Amazon sellers are finding big wins by partnering with micro-influencers—niche creators who build trust and generate user-generated content (UGC) that feels authentic. Their content delivers higher engagement and ROI than traditional ads, and it can boost visibility, conversion rates, and even your organic Amazon search rank.
These partnerships help drive external traffic to Amazon listings and provide reusable content like reviews and videos to enhance product pages. Platforms like Stack Influence make it easier to scale these campaigns by automating influencer discovery, outreach, and performance tracking.
Amazon Unsuitable Goods: What They Are & How to Avoid Account Suspension
Amazon is suspending accounts over “unsuitable goods” – a vague term often tied to products suspected of being counterfeit, stolen, or incorrectly sourced from unreliable suppliers. Even sellers with clean records and invoices have been impacted, especially when inventory is shipped directly to FBA without inspection.
For Amazon sellers, the lesson is clear: you’re fully responsible for your supply chain, even if you never touch the product. Vet suppliers carefully, inspect new inventory before shipping to Amazon, and avoid mixing wholesale flips into private label accounts.
How 3 Farm Daughters Used Amazon’s Tools to Grow from Local to National
3 Farm Daughters, a small pasta brand from North Dakota, scaled their business nationwide by leveraging Amazon tools like Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), Seller Central, and Amazon Ads. These tools enabled them to outsource fulfillment, reduce shipping costs, and boost visibility—key advantages for Amazon sellers seeking national exposure.
With Amazon’s support, they expanded into all 50 states and Canada while continuing to serve 1,300+ retail stores. Their story shows how Amazon’s platform and programs help small sellers grow faster, reach wider audiences, and keep operational overhead low.
How to Remove Inventory from Amazon AWD FAST!
This video tutorial by Amazon Storage Pros breaks down how to quickly remove inventory from Amazon Warehousing and Distribution (AWD), including slow sellers and gated ASINs. Todd walks through the Seller Central workflow, from selecting “Move from AWD” to setting up your destination, including Walmart and 3PLs.
Todd also shares a trick to access cheaper shipping than FBA and how to include custom labels for better routing. For Amazon sellers, this is a must-watch to cut storage costs and streamline logistics.
Video of the Week
Save BIG Potentially on Amazon AWD Shipping with NEW Floor Loading Trick! (2025 Update)
Strong Opinions
Is an AI Backlash Looming on the Horizon?
AI tools are being rolled out across major ecommerce platforms, including Amazon, eBay, and Etsy—but not without controversy. Sellers are raising concerns about AI-generated product descriptions that can mislead buyers, damage brand reputations, and even open the door to legal liability.
For Amazon sellers, this is especially relevant as AI is already being used in product compliance and listing moderation—sometimes incorrectly, like misclassifying items as pesticides. As marketplaces rely more on AI for automation, sellers may face more challenges correcting errors and navigating appeals when the system gets it wrong.
Amazon Sellers: Why You Need 10–30% of Sales in Cash
Tax advisor Chris Potter advises Amazon sellers to keep 10–30% of their projected annual sales in cash reserves. While it may be tough to stash that much away, this financial buffer can protect your business when unexpected issues hit—like a surprise Amazon account suspension.
Emergencies happen without warning, and having cash on hand gives you breathing room to recover without disrupting operations. Treat this as a strategic safety net, not just a luxury.
Top Upcoming Amazon Events
- BILLION DOLLAR SELLER SUMMIT ONLINE 2025 – August 19-21, 2025, Online Event
- AMAZON ACCELERATE 2025 – September 16-18, 2025, Seattle, WA, USA
- AMAZON MASTERS SUMMIT 2025 – October 2-3, 2025, London, UK
- WHITE LABEL WORLD EXPO LAS VEGAS 2025 – October 15-16, 2025, Las Vegas, NV, USA
- SELLERS UNITED 2025 – October 16, 2025, Newark, NJ, USA
That wraps up this week’s must-know news. Stay sharp, stay informed, and don’t forget to take full advantage of the tools and insights available to you!
God Bless,
Todd Welch
Amazon Seller School
