Top 5 Amazon Seller Reads this Week: Issue #235

Top 5 this week

1. More brands turn to ‘tariff engineering’ to avoid higher import taxes

“Tariff engineering can cut costs but works best with an experienced importer. They can help reclassify products or suggest tweaks like swapping clothing materials, removing zippers, or choosing different metals to lower tariffs. Small changes can lead to big savings.” ~Chelsea Cohen

2. Seller Updates: Tariffs Hit Amazon as Walmart Bets on India and Best Buy Backs Creators

“Tariffs aren’t temporary noise, they’re the new baseline. As Amazon sellers adjust prices and sourcing, it’s always smart to watch what the big players are doing, e.g, Walmart investing $10B in India. Think beyond China. The winners will diversify supply chains, use AI to optimize media spend, and lean into creator commerce to stay discoverable and competitive.” ~Vanessa Hung

3. The Rise of Vendor Fraud in a World of AI and Trade Chaos

“It’s no surprise that in today’s landscape of AI acceleration and global trade disruption that vendor fraud is on the rise and evolving. As companies lean on automation to manage supply chain disruptions, bad actors are leveraging the same tools to impersonate vendors and exploit payment workflows. Businesses need to rethink how they can secure every step of the vendor relationship.” ~Mak Bidikar

4. Potential Holiday Tariff Impact Among Suppliers, Sellers, Consumers

“Vendors should view these pressures as a signal to double down on operational efficiency. Whether you choose to raise prices in Q4 or not, make sure you’re not simultaneously leaking margin through preventable deductions—like labeling errors or inaccurate ASNs. Now is the time to tighten PO processes and leverage deduction data to find root causes. Losing margin on one side means you seek ways to make it up on another.” ~Shelby Owens

5. Fakespot shuts down today after 9 years of fake review detection

“As an Amazon seller, Fakespot shutting down is a mixed bag – it sometimes flagged legitimate reviews, but it also helped spotlight bad actors gaming the system. Its loss means fewer third-party checks, putting more pressure on sellers to build trust directly.” ~Tom Rohlf