fmckinnon

Classic @Sell_on_Amazon

This is still happening—and it’s hurting our legitimate US-based sellers. @amazon is incorrectly mapping real third-party listings to Temu lookalikes, triggering Buy Box suppression on compliant products. Good sellers lose. Bad data wins. Anyone else seeing this?

Amazon just got caught running a secret price manipulation operation with Levi's, Home Depot, Walmart, and many more. Every time you "comparison shopped" online, you were looking at prices that were already rigged. Here's what happened: Amazon would monitor prices on Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Home Depot, and Chewy in real time. The second a competitor listed a product cheaper than Amazon, they'd contact the brand directly and tell them to "fix it." And the exact emails are now PUBLIC. Amazon sent Levi's links to two Walmart listings with the subject line "styles of concern." They basically said the prices on Walmart are too low and we have a problem. The next day, Levi's responded: "I talked to Walmart and they have partnered with us to take Easy Khaki Classic fit back up to ladder SPP price, $29.99 immediately." Levi's literally called Walmart and told them to raise the price. Because Amazon told Levi's to make the call. Walmart complied. Then Amazon matched the HIGHER price. Both retailers ended up charging more. The customer paid extra. Nobody competed. Same playbook with Hanes: Amazon sent them links showing Target and Walmart prices were lower. Hanes confirmed they "reached out to Target and Walmart to have the prices increased." Target increased the prices. Walmart increased the prices. Amazon kept their margins. But it gets even worse... Amazon told Allergan (the company that makes eye drops) that their product was "suppressed" on Amazon because it was cheaper on another site. Allergan responded: "Walmart got their price back up to $16.99." Amazon then unsuppressed the listing. They did this with pet treats on Chewy. Furniture on Home Depot. Products across dozens of categories spanning YEARS. The mechanism is simple but terrifying: If you're a brand and you sell cheaper on Walmart than on Amazon, Amazon suppresses your product, removes you from the Buy Box, buries you in search results, and effectively makes you invisible to 300 million customers. Brands can't afford that. So they call Walmart and Target and say "raise your prices or we'll lose our Amazon listings." Walmart and Target comply because they need the brand's products. Amazon captures 40 cents of every dollar spent online in America. That gives them the leverage to set prices across THE ENTIRE internet. Not just their own platform. So turns out, you were never comparison shopping. You were looking at a coordinated price floor set by Amazon through backroom phone calls between brands and their competitors. "Amazon is working to make your life more unaffordable." 3 separate antitrust trials are now scheduled for 2027. The FTC has its own case. 18 states plus the DOJ are piling on. This is literally happening during the WORST affordability crisis in a generation. Groceries up 25% since 2020. Housing unaffordable. Wages flat. And the largest ecommerce company on Earth has been secretly coordinating with brands to make sure you can't find a cheaper price ANYWHERE. "Competition" in retail is just a fantasy.

Watch me compete in @AceHardware’s Ace Shootout tonight on the @golfchannel. I’m playing to raise money for St. Louis Children’s (@stlchildrens) and SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital (@cardinal.glennon). Through @ChildrensMiracleNetwork, this event raises funds to support local children’s hospitals and the kids who need care. Tune in at 7PM EST to watch the Ace Shootout!

That feeling when the band your son tours with is playing @Stagecoach and the tour manager got you free passes but nobody told you until it was last minute and you have another trip already booked. 🤦‍♂️

1. Boy, Amazon is in a heap of trouble. Evidence made public today by California AG @AGRobBonta shows blatant price fixing. And there are so many examples. Here's Amazon scheming with a pet food supplier to get Chewy to raise its prices.

Amazon knew that many believed their pricing policy to be unfair and that it might become a legal problem over 6 years ago. Why did they refuse to change the policy and fight the lawsuits? It has the potential to be the largest judgment in world history.

2027 can't come soon enough. We are impacted by Amazon's price-fixing every day. Our clients are impacted significantly with bogus "competitor buy box scraping" that causes us to lose the Buy Box. And Amazon knows that in many cases, the supposed "competitor price" they claim exists is bogus. They (Amazon's Pricing Team) suppresses your Buy Box, and refuses to provide ANY feedback or intelligence on where these supposed "cheaper price on competitor website" exists If it truly exists, Amazon ... PROVE IT. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Walmart has launched its own version of Amazon's Vine program, called the Recognized Reviewer Initiative. Discover how to qualify, find it, and leverage it for your products. Full video on @youtube at: youtu.be/kJjZyqtxRx4 #Walmart #SellerTips

1. Amazon has built powerful pricing algorithms that have learned how to steer prices upward — not just on Amazon, but across the web. I have a new piece on how these algorithms work, and how they help sustain Amazon’s monopoly.

@Seanfrank Congrats!

Just had a kid. two weeks old. 1- it is easier than everyone says. there is a lot of down time. he just wants to sleep, eat, be changed, then sleep. 2- it is also HARDER than people say. its a never ending marathon. there is not a break. 24 hours every day. So the hours are easy, the weeks are hard. And we have a LOT OF HELP. We are blessed. 3- I didnt understand how hard moms have it. everyone talks about how hard pregnancy is. my wife had a VERY easy pregnancy. But recovery? I feel like this is what everyone should be talking about. Its like getting hit by a car. My wife is a hero. 4- I know why people dont have kids. Its the money. It is just very expensive. Worth it, but if you are worried about money, I could see it being a blocker. 5- I wish I did it sooner. Being younger would just help. Having younger parents would help. But money got in the way of course. 6- It makes you want to do more. Looking at the little guy, I am like "fuck I am a loser" Its a good new sense of drive. I always wanted to do a lot, but it boils everything else down and just gives you clarity. 7- It does make you think you just wasted a decade NOT doing this. What the fuck was I doing 40 sundays ago? Just watching tv? ordering uber eats? All that time seems silly now. --- Love the guy. Wish everyone reading this the family they want.

Time to get tariff refunds!

Because they can and we (sellers) keep taking it on the chin.

@SPeeblesSports 7

On scale from 1 to 10, with 1 not making the playoffs and 10 being World Series champs, how optimistic are you about your MLB team right now?

@BlackLabelAdvsr Sellers need a team that lives and breathes it … like @eComCatalystCo 😁

Naive sellers don’t seem to realize that Amazon WANTS fewer sellers on their platform. I see way too many point to this chart and say “see, Amazon is suffering!” All the while, they just posted a $21 billion profit. You see, Amazon doesn’t want tons of copycat listings. They are turning into an elite platform for consumers who by the way, average $100,000/year in income. Amazon is consolidating. They are weaponizing their seller policies to push small guys out. They want the serious players who have teams. If you’re not willing to put in the work to adapt every week, then Amazon isn’t for you. It sounds harsh but I’m one of the few accounts on here who will tell you the truth. Fighting Amazon is futile. Don’t fall for the MDS nonsense. Don’t think for one second that one cute little “boycott” is going to change Amazon. Amazon reports to their shareholders. Welcome to capitalism. It’s both glorious and frustrating at the same time. 🇺🇸

@ByoungSFL @SurveyMonkey I just got auto-billed for my stupid blue checkmark here on @X - never bothered asking but would love for @elonmusk to refund that one. Cause i see zero data that says that blue check amplified my reach here

If I don't get my refund, I'm about to build a bot that posts 50 times a day about how @SurveyMonkey must be a failing company to need to keep my $1000. I haven't used it in a long time and the auto renewal set up by a former employee hit. They refuse to refund. Greed. Desperate.

I’ve done over $100,000,000 in Amazon sales. I do 8 figures a quarter. It is very hard to sell on Amazon and make money. This chart shows a 100,000 decline in active sellers in 12 months. Imagine if Meta lost 1/6 advertisers? Revenue would be destroyed right? But Amazon is such a perfect market, that these sellers can churn and nothing happens. Amazon is still a top 3 opportunity in Ecom to make money. But the platform is working against you. Every other seller is working against you. The system is working against you. Being good at Amazon is a life hack. But the barrier is higher than ever. My guess? Before 2028 we lose another 250k sellers. Sales volume will stay flat. Means bigger slices for those that can make it.

when TARIFFS hit last year margin went from 79% to 59% overnight! we then went on a cost cutting bender: over half the team gone, smaller office, forced vendors to cut bills in half or we’d stop paying. cut a ton of tech and went back to google sheets. the result a year later! no more bureaucracy in decision making. fast decisions we stopped being afraid to change because everything was changing already. and guess what…. on pace for the best year yet. team has been on fire! that saying is so true. what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. in 5 years the biggest BLESSING will be known as tariffs of 2025

@UncleCharlie50 @Phillies @Braves @MLBONFOX And we are waiting for you to say bomb Smith. 💣

Today we get a big time matchup of aces when the @Phillies host the @Braves at Citizens Bank Park. 2024 Cy Young Chris Sale takes the mound against 2025 Cy runner-up Christopher Sanchez. We’re live at 7:15 on @MLBONFOX so check us out! PS…phrase of the day is “Wet paper bag”

Amazon's Buy Box Suppression due to AI-bot price scraping has cost us thousands & brand owners MILLIONS. We've proven the bots are WRONG, the supposed competitor price DOESN'T EXIST yet Amazon refuses to fix the issue. Full story: youtube.com/live/leU8Pa6_i… #amazonseller #amazonfba