September 23, 2023
BY dhris1289@gmail.com

Amazon FBA's Week in Revolution: Six Game-Changing Updates Every Seller Must Know

The Amazon FBA landscape shifted dramatically this past week, bringing revolutionary changes that will reshape how sellers operate, compete, and scale their businesses. From groundbreaking artificial intelligence capabilities to mandatory policy shifts, these updates signal Amazon's bold vision for the future of ecommerce. Whether you run a kitchen table startup or manage a global brand, these changes demand your immediate attention and strategic adaptation.

AI Takes the Wheel: Your New Business Partner Arrives

Amazon unveiled a revolutionary upgrade to its Seller Assistant, transforming it into an agentic AI system that can now reason, plan, and take authorized actions on behalf of sellers. 1 2 This represents far more than a simple chatbot upgrade. The enhanced Seller Assistant can now not only monitor account health and inventory, but also help develop strategies and take action when authorized, Amazon says.

The practical implications are staggering. The upgraded Seller Assistant now monitors inventory levels, flags slow-moving items before long-term fees apply and recommends when to mark down or remove products. For sellers drowning in daily operational tasks, this means having an intelligent partner working around the clock to optimize their business.

  • However, this powerful tool comes with considerations. While the AI promises to save countless hours on routine tasks, sellers must maintain oversight and understand the logic behind its recommendations. Sellers must trust the system's accuracy and maintain full control over actions. Transparency into why suggestions are made, and clear approval flows will be critical to adoption. The system requires sellers to grant permissions for actions, ensuring human control remains paramount.

Product Launch Tools Get Smarter and Faster

The enhanced Vine program particularly stands out. Sellers can now enroll products in Vine as soon as they ship inventory into FBA, allowing them to gather feedback from Vine Voices much earlier in the process, helping ensure that on day one of their new product launch, they'll have rich reviews on their product listing. This early review capability can make the difference between a product launch that struggles for visibility and one that gains immediate traction.

Yet sellers should weigh the costs carefully. While faster reviews accelerate growth potential, participating in these programs requires investment. The low inventory launch option helps reduce initial capital requirements, but sellers must still balance the desire for rapid market entry against sustainable profitability margins.

The September 30 Deadline: Liquidations and Donations Turn Mandatory

On September 30, 2025, we'll update the enrollment process for the US and Canada Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) Liquidations and Donations programs. The FBA Liquidations program, which allows you to potentially receive recovery for eligible inventory, will become the default option for your unsold inventory. If you haven't configured your automated fulfillable settings and automated unfulfillable settings, you'll automatically be enrolled in the Liquidations program.

More controversial is the donations requirement. The FBA Donations program, which allows your eligible products to be donated instead of recycled, will become mandatory. As of September 30, 2025, you won’t be able to opt out. If you’ve previously opted out, you will be re-enrolled.

These changes create both opportunities and challenges. While liquidations can recover some value from unsold inventory, recovery rates typically range from pennies on the dollar. The mandatory donations program offers zero cash recovery, with only a potential tax certificate benefit for sellers in the US. Sellers maintaining premium brand positioning may find their products appearing in secondary markets without their control.

Accelerate 2025 Reveals the Future of Selling

Day 1 at Amazon Accelerate delivered major updates across advertising, seller tools, and API capabilities, all designed to create a more data-rich and automated selling environment. The conference showcased Amazon's commitment to empowering sellers with sophisticated tools previously reserved for enterprise operations.

According to Intentwise, all sellers now have direct access to Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) through the Ad Console by default. This democratization of advanced analytics tools allows even small sellers to understand customer journeys and optimize advertising spend with precision previously impossible.

The emphasis on hybrid fulfillment strategies particularly resonates. The discussion has evolved from a simple "FBA vs. FBM" choice to a nuanced, hybrid approach. Amazon is enhancing its suite of FBM tools to make seller-fulfilled options more competitive and data-driven. This flexibility helps sellers avoid the all-or-nothing approach that often leads to excess inventory fees.

Prime Big Deal Days: The October Rush Begins

With October Prime Big Deal Days approaching, sellers face a critical preparation window. Amazon opened submissions for October Prime Big Deal Days, with sellers having until September 12, 2025, to lock in their Best Deals. This compressed timeline requires immediate inventory planning and deal strategy development.

Success during these peak events increasingly depends on preparation and technology adoption. Sellers using the new AI tools for inventory optimization and advertising automation will likely see significant advantages over those relying on manual processes. However, the rush to participate must be balanced against maintaining healthy margins, as deep discounts can erode profitability even with increased volume.

European Fee Revolution: Simplification with Surprises

The changes, effective February 1, 2025, include fee reductions in several key areas while maintaining or adjusting others to align with operational costs. Amazon will lower average FBA fulfilment fees for parcel and oversize tiers across major European markets (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain).

The restructuring brings welcome simplification. The current 28 oversize tiers will be reduced to just 17, streamlining the structure. This dramatic consolidation makes fee calculations more predictable and reduces the complexity that often led to pricing errors.

However, not all changes favor sellers. Aged inventory surcharges will now apply to items stored between 241 and 270 days. Envelope tier sellers face fee hikes of 50-60p per item, impacting sellers of small books, games, and DVDs. These increases particularly affect sellers of slower-moving inventory or those in specific product categories.

Preparing for the New Reality

These six changes represent more than incremental updates; they signal a fundamental shift in how Amazon envisions the future of third-party selling. The push toward AI-driven automation, mandatory sustainability programs, and sophisticated analytics tools creates both unprecedented opportunities and new challenges.
Successful sellers will embrace these changes proactively rather than reactively. This means investing time now to understand and configure the new AI assistant, reviewing inventory settings before the September 30 deadline, and developing strategies that leverage both FBA and FBM capabilities. The sellers who thrive will be those who view these tools not as threats to their autonomy but as force multipliers for their expertise.
The message is clear: Amazon is betting big on technology and sustainability while giving sellers powerful new tools to compete. Those who adapt quickly will find themselves with significant competitive advantages. Those who resist may find themselves struggling to keep pace in an increasingly automated and data-driven marketplace. The future of Amazon selling has arrived this week, and it demands nothing less than a complete rethinking of how we approach ecommerce operations.
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