Amazon just dropped its 2027 fee schedule — and fulfillment fees are only the opener. Storage, low-inventory penalties, and even your Buy X Get Y promotions are all getting more expensive starting January 15.
Meanwhile, Alexa started texting customers back with Sponsored Products baked into the replies, fraudsters stole over £86,000 posing as Amazon support in just nine days, and TikTok Shop's new app, Shopify's payment options, and fresh AI-ad research round out what's moving before Black Friday.
Here's what changed, and what it means for your business.
- 💸 Amazon just announced your 2027 FBA fees — and storage, low-inventory fees, and promotions are all changing too
- 💬 Amazon turned Alexa into a texting sales rep — and Sponsored Products are riding along for free
- 🚨 Fraudsters stole £86K posing as Amazon support — in just nine days
- 📊 Quick hits: Shopify's new local payment options, AI-made ads underperforming, and TikTok Shop's new standalone app
AMAZON NEWS
Amazon's Alexa for Shopping agent now takes orders over text message — and starting this week, Sponsored PrAmazon dropped its 2027 fee schedule this week, and fulfillment is just the opener — storage, low-inventory penalties, and your Buy X Get Y promotions are all getting a rework too. Most changes land January 15, 2027, with storage and inventory rules following February 1.
🔍 What's happening
- FBA fulfillment fees rise by $0.19 per unit on average starting January 15 — about 0.8% of a typical item's price. Small standard-size items priced above $50 jump $0.70 per unit on average, per PPC Land.
- Storage gets simpler but pricier for slow movers: starting February 1, the storage utilization and aged-inventory surcharges merge into a single age-based rate — inventory that sells within six months stays flat or cheaper, aged stock costs more, per Novadata.
- The "temporary" 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge isn't going anywhere, and Buy X, Get Y promotions now carry a $5 upfront fee plus 2% of promotional sales, capped at $2,000, per PPC Land.
What this means for sellers
Run your own ASINs through Amazon's Fee Change Comparison Dashboard in Seller Central before January 15 — the per-unit hit looks small until it's multiplied across your catalog, and premium-priced, small-standard items take the biggest hit. If you're carrying aged inventory, the February 1 storage change is the one to watch: a SKU that's been sitting since summer is about to cost noticeably more to store, so this is a good week to run a clearance pass before the new rate card lands.
HOT TOPIC
Amazon Just Turned Alexa Into a Texting Sales Rep — Ads Included
Amazon's Alexa for Shopping assistant now takes orders over text message — and as of this week, Sponsored Products can show up right inside the reply, free for advertisers for now.
🔍 What's happening
- The text-to-shop feature went live November 6 for a small, invite-only group of U.S. customers, with Amazon planning to expand to "millions more" in the coming weeks, per PPC Land.
- Customers text a contact named "Alexa Shopping" to search, compare, build carts, complete purchases, and track orders — Amazon says a single conversation will carry across the app, website, and Alexa devices, per Amazon's own announcement.
- Amazon hasn't said whether sponsored placements will appear in every text thread, how products get ranked, or how Shop Direct and third-party sellers compete for the handful of items the assistant actually names — a text reply can only showcase a few products at a time, per PPC Land.
What this means for sellers
A new, free ad placement is rare — if you run Sponsored Products, there's currently no extra cost to show up in a text-based recommendation, so make sure your titles, bullet points, and images are written to win a quick-scan decision on a phone screen, not just a search results page. Treat early performance data from this channel as directional, not gospel, until Amazon publishes real reporting on how an "impression" is even defined here — and don't assume your current sponsored strategy automatically carries over to a conversation-based format.
BLACK MARKET
Fraudsters Stole £86,000 Posing as Amazon Support — In Just Nine Days
Criminals posing as Amazon representatives called shoppers, claimed unauthorized items had been added to their basket or that someone was trying to buy on their account, then talked victims into handing over remote access to "secure" it — and it worked often enough to net more than £86,000 in just nine days last month.
🕵️ What's happening
- Action Fraud logged 110 reports of Amazon impersonation calls between October 5–14, with victims losing an average of over £9,600 a day — more than half were aged 50 to 79, per BritBrief.
- The script: a caller warns of suspicious account activity or a basket full of items you didn't order, then pressures you to "secure" the account by sharing your screen, sending ID documents, or installing remote access software, per Yahoo News.
- Amazon's own fraud-trends page confirms the pattern isn't new or shrinking — account-related impersonation (fake security alerts, suspension warnings, requests for remote access) has been the most-reported scam type across 2025 and into 2026, per Amazon.
What this means for sellers
This hits your customers, not your seller account — but a scammed customer who loses money "because of Amazon" can still turn into a chargeback, a bad review, or a support ticket landing on your plate, especially if your brand name or order confirmation gets name-dropped in the call. Point customers who ask toward Amazon's official channels only, and remind your team that Amazon will never ask for remote access, payment, or ID over the phone — that one line, repeated, is the best defense you can hand a confused buyer.
ECOMMERCE NEWS
Quick Hits: New Shopify Payment Options, AI Ads Underperforming, and TikTok Shop's New Standalone App
TThree more marketplace moves worth tracking as Black Friday closes in:
- 💳️ Shopify Payments now supports five new local payment methods for in-store sellers, giving merchants more ways to let shoppers pay at checkout without a third-party processor, per Shopify's changelog.
- 🤖 AI-generated ads perform worse than human-made campaigns — even when shoppers can't tell the difference, new research finds, raising questions about leaning on AI for BFCM creative, per Harvard Business Review.
- 🛍️ TikTok launched a standalone TikTok Shop app in several Southeast Asian markets, betting that shoppers who won't buy inside a video feed will download a dedicated shopping app instead, per Social Media Today.
What this means for sellers
Checkout friction and ad creative are both back in play this week: if you're on Shopify, check whether the new local payment methods apply to your market and turn them on before Black Friday traffic hits. And if you've been leaning on AI tools to crank out BFCM ad creative, the HBR data is a nudge to keep a human pass in the loop rather than publishing straight from the generator — the performance gap shows up even when shoppers can't spot the AI.sh, you're ceding ground to competitors who are already live there with established brands.
