Fewer sellers are jumping on Amazon

Side-hustlers, last-minute planners, and over-caffeinated sellers: this one’s for you.

• What if you only paid for results? 💸
• Side-hustle sellers beware ⚠️
• Amazon's auto-buy is here 🛒
• Valentine's Day selling tips 💌

BLACK MARKET

Amazon is getting harder to break into. In 2025, it added 165,000 new sellers, the lowest in a decade and down 44% YoY.

According to Marketplace Pulse, Amazon is no longer a beginner-friendly marketplace; it’s infrastructure designed for serious, well-capitalized operators.

🛞 Driving the slowdown

They call it the Great Compression, when multiple pressures hit sellers all at once:

• Rising fees as Amazon pushes services
• Ads shifting from optional to mandatory
• Tariffs squeezing U.S. sellers while overseas competitors benefit
• AI raising the execution bar
• Margins getting crushed, all pushing casual sellers out

Resulting in fewer people even trying to enter.

📊 Fewer sellers, bigger rewards

Even as seller counts fell from 2.4M in 2021 to 1.65M in 2025, the marketplace kept growing.

• Roughly $305B in U.S. third-party GMV and $575B globally
• Traffic per active seller is up 31% since 2021
• More than 100,000 sellers now generate over $1M annually, and 235 exceed $100M (up from just 50 in 2021)

The money isn’t disappearing, it’s concentrating among sellers built to handle scale, volatility, and complexity.

🚨Amazon's wake-up call

The bar is higher, the field is smaller, and the upside increasingly goes to well-capitalized, system-driven businesses.

This isn’t a side-hustle marketplace anymore, it’s survival of the sharpest.

TOGETHER WITH LEVANTA

Book a Demo with Levanta. Get a $75 Gift Card.

Not all external traffic nourishes growth. Sometimes it shows up, eats the budget, and leaves.

Many sellers invest in seemingly promising traffic, but never achieve ROI.  Marketing clicks don't always turn into sales. And without clear visibility, it’s hard to know what’s actually worth scaling.

Levanta helps modern e-commerce brands turn affiliate and creator partnerships into a measurable, performance-based revenue channel, not wasted budget.

Instead of chasing clicks and impressions, sellers pay only when partners drive sales — while managing everything in one platform.

With Levanta, sellers can:

• Partner with 50,000+ vetted creators and affiliates.
• Track clicks, sales, and ROI with clear actionable analytics.
• Double down on what works — and stop paying for what doesn’t.
• Manage creators, samples, commissions, and payouts with ease.

That’s streamlined affiliate marketing, without the manual work or messy spreadsheets.

If you’ve been looking for a purpose-built platform, learn how Levanta works in a short walkthrough. Qualified sellers who book a demo will receive a $75 Uber Eats or DoorDash gift card on the house. 

Gift card available for qualified sellers. Eligibility confirmed after booking.

Book a Demo

BITES OF THE WEEK

• Amazon Held Accountable: Indian court orders Amazon India to refund a faulty TV, rejecting its “intermediary” defense and enforcing liability.
• China-Made Hazards: U.S. recalls highlight safety risks as 9 of 11 recalled products, mostly sold on Amazon, were made in China.
• AI Life Hacks: Amazon leaders use AI daily to streamline work, family routines, and personal projects, boosting productivity and creativity.
• Smarter YouTube Ads: AI-powered ad targeting helps creators boost revenue, viewer engagement, and channel trust with more relevant placements.

AMAZON NEWS

Shoppers can now auto-buy high-demand items

Amazon just rolled out a stripped-down retail bot for Prime members. The new auto-buy feature automatically purchases FBA items when they hit a shopper’s set price.

💡 How it works

Don’t get excited, this isn’t a high-volume bot. It’s a low-cost tool to catch 1–2 high-margin items while you sleep:

• One per transaction: Bulk buys still need premium bots
• FBA only: Third-party and Amazon Warehouse deals excluded
• Track multiple items: Run several auto-buys simultaneously to track hot SKUs
• Smart pricing: Balance restock chance vs. margin
• Free for Prime: Ideal for casual resellers or supplementing existing bots

🚀 No-cost seller boost

It won’t replace purpose-built bots, but auto-buy gives you no-cost automation for catching profitable items. 

For side-income resellers, it’s an easy way to increase revenue without spending extra on software.

ACTIONABLE ADVICE

5 ways to boost Valentine's sales

Valentine's day is almost here. 

Time to make your products irresistible to gift-givers and last-minute shoppers alike. A few smart updates can boost sales and make your listings shine this season. 💘

• Dress to impress. Maximize seasonal relevance with updated visuals.
  • Do this: Refresh product images and A+ Content to match Valentine’s Day themes and hype seasonal demand.
• From the heart. Curate themed collections in your Brand Store.
  • Do this: Group products under themes like “for the tech lover” or “last-minute gifts” to help shoppers find the perfect match fast.
• Bundles of love. Offer gift packs of similar or complementary items. 🎁
  • Do this: Combine complementary products into convenient bundles while staying compliant with Amazon’s bundling policies.
• Made with love. Run holiday-focused ad campaigns.
  • Do this: Use Amazon Ads guides for your category to target shoppers when they’re most likely to buy.
• Forward-thinking. Plan ahead for next year. 🔮
  • Do this: Start prepping for Valentine’s Day 2027 now, plan products, campaigns, and visuals early to stay ahead of competitors.

Even a few targeted updates can drive meaningful sales growth. 

Seasonal visuals, curated collections, and strategic ads help your listings stand out, while forward planning ensures you never miss the next holiday opportunity.