Failed to escape! A group of sellers return to Amazon

All kinds of Amazon sellers!

New players flock to the cross-border e-commerce giant Amazon almost every day. Some sellers are able to stay at the table in the end, but there seem to be more sellers who come with high hopes but leave in disappointment.

A large number of sellers have quit Amazon due to various factors, such as the desire for a fair platform environment, lower costs, and more stable accounts . After seeing the outside world, some sellers have begun to return to the platform they once desperately wanted to escape from.

A large number of sellers have quit Amazon! Each has their own troubles

Marketplace Pulse data shows that Amazon added more than 900,000 new sellers across its 22 marketplaces in 2024, and more than 4 million sellers in the past five years. About a third of them joined the Amazon.com marketplace in the United States.

Despite the influx of new sellers, more than half of the sales on Amazon come from sellers who started selling more than five years ago. The products and brands sold by these sellers may continue to evolve, so they usually build a lasting business on Amazon. In comparison, new sellers are more likely to exit Amazon, and many Amazon sellers even stop selling after only a few sales.

Recently, Amazon seller Xiao Zhang stopped all advertising and deleted all FBA products, officially quitting Amazon. Xiao Li was planning to quit Amazon. Poor sales during the peak season became the last straw that broke the camel's back. In 2023, his Amazon business was already in jeopardy, but he was reluctant to give up his long-term investment and decided to stick with it for another year in 2024. Unfortunately, he did not reverse the loss situation in the end.

Summarizing the reasons why sellers quit Amazon, we can find that their actual situations are not the same. Higher fees, slow warehouse receipt and shelving, and other complaints are constantly driving sellers out of this platform.

Operating costs have risen dramatically. Every year most sellers pay Amazon a higher percentage of their sales.

In recent years , Amazon's operating costs have been rising year by year. FBA low inventory fees, return fees, storage fees, additional delivery fees in the fourth quarter, and inventory costs have become a considerable expense, and high advertising costs have also eaten up profits. According to Xiao Zhang's own account, the storage fees rose 8 times in December 2024, and many of the charges were not convincing. Unfortunately, the feedback was useless. After paying a large sum of "accounts payable" to Amazon, the account balance became negative and owed Amazon more than $500 . Xiao Li only made about $400 in December 2024. At the moment, he just wanted to sell all the goods as soon as possible to avoid more additional storage costs before exiting Amazon.

Too much pressure. Many sellers only see successful business cases and start working on Amazon alone. After entering the market, they find that the risk of failure is greater than the chance of making money. They need to be fully responsible for every link in the operation chain. If there is a slight mistake, they have to "pay to avoid disaster". After working alone for a few years, they find that the income is not much different from that of working , but the pressure and insecurity increase suddenly. Many sellers said that the first thing they think about when they open their eyes every day is: Is my Amazon account still there today?

Unfair treatment. More than one Amazon seller complained that the platform insists on the principle of customer first, which has caused sellers to suffer a lot of unfairness. For example, fraudulent A to Z claims are rampant, but the platform often stands on the side of consumers.

One seller said that many times the order has been delivered to the customer , providing the customer's signature proof, logistics tracking number and tracking delivery information, but the customer still successfully claims. " Amazon has made it clear that as long as the customer complains, they will give away anything from the seller. "

Sales are declining year by year. In recent years, the sales of many Amazon sellers have been declining year by year , and some have dropped by more than 50% or even more. The sales that could be achieved in a few days earlier now take a month to achieve. Relevant sellers have been insisting on compliant operations. It seems that since Amazon changed its algorithm, sales have begun to drop sharply. They believe that the platform is actively cleaning up small sellers, but is particularly protecting the business of large sellers.

The platform is inefficient. The problem of inefficiency in the platform is unbearable for many sellers. Sellers find that the platform always repeatedly asks for information, but in the end the problem may not be solved. Many sellers said that after the account encountered verification problems, they needed to verify the account 3 times, and submitted the same documents each time, which caused unnecessary delays. At the same time, the efficiency problem of FBA in 2024 caused public outrage, and it was common for goods to be signed for more than half a month but not accepted for listing.

A group of fleeing sellers have returned: It is more difficult to sell on the Amazon platform

How did those sellers who left Amazon eventually fare?

Independent sites, eBay, Walmart, Etsy and other platforms are the unanimous choice of a large number of sellers. There are indeed many sellers who can finally take root on other platforms, but some sellers have gone around in circles and deeply realized that Amazon is more attractive.

"I have worked on many platforms, and each platform has its own set of problems. After comparison, I found that Amazon is the most relatively fair cross-border platform. Both operation and advertising background are much better than other platforms. Moreover, as long as sellers do a good job of product selection and carefully study their competitors, they will be safe. " Xiao Liu is an old cross-border player. He has worked on many platforms such as Temu, Allegro, Walmart, Etsy, etc. He finally decided to return to Amazon and will increase investment in the Amazon platform in 2025.

Industry insider "Factory Manager in the Wind" also said that compared with other platforms, Amazon is the healthiest. Although there are many plagiarism and follow-selling on the platform, sellers do not need to rely solely on low prices to survive. One of the links in 2018, original patterns, regular maintenance, and sales are still stable until now.

"Every year everyone feels that it is the most difficult year, but every year there are people who make a fortune on Amazon. We are still optimistic about Amazon in 2025." A senior player said that he has only worked on the Amazon platform since he started his career. Many of his friends left Amazon and then returned. They found that it was more difficult not to sell on the Amazon platform, because Amazon's market share in the e-commerce field continues to grow, and consumers' recognition of Amazon is unmatched by other platforms. If sellers leave Amazon, it is equivalent to escaping from a huge traffic pool.

It can be found that although many Amazon sellers continue to complain, they are still unwilling to leave the table. Making money is the biggest motivation supporting this group of sellers. Data shows that Chinese sellers have maintained a very high growth rate in Amazon's global sites, including in emerging sites. From October 21, 2023 to October 31, 2024 , the number of goods sold by Chinese sellers on Amazon's global sites increased by more than 20% year-on-year. In the past two years, the number of Chinese sellers with sales exceeding US$1 million has increased by nearly 55%, and the number of Chinese sellers with sales exceeding US$10 million has increased by nearly 60%.

"Amazon is the fairest platform, but also the most difficult platform. You need to survive the first two to three years , but many sellers cannot make it through this hurdle , " said several sellers.

It is worth noting that sellers’ recognition of Amazon does not mean that this platform is their only business. At present, many sellers are working hard to expand their sales channels while insisting on deepening their presence on the Amazon platform in order to gain a sense of security and more revenue.

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