Amazon isn't raising holiday fees this year. It just gave sellers a lot less time to hit them. Peak surcharges stay flat, but Black Friday Week inbound deadlines are days away.
Europe just ran the experiment the US tried in 2025: close the de minimis loophole on cheap Chinese imports, and watch what happens. Temu, Shein, and AliExpress just posted their worst quarter in Germany.
Missouri's attorney general says Temu is secretly tracking your phone's camera and mic, and selling counterfeit Chiefs and Royals gear while it's at it.
Here's what changed, and what it means for your business.
AMAZON NEWS
Amazon isn't squeezing sellers with higher Q4 fees this year. It's squeezing the clock instead.
📦 What's changing
Amazon's Holiday 2026 fee schedule keeps peak fulfillment fees flat versus 2025. FBA, Remote Fulfillment with FBA, Multi-Channel Fulfillment, and Buy with Prime orders all add an average of $0.32 per unit from October 15, 2026 through January 14, 2027. That stacks on top of the 3.5% fuel-and-logistics surcharge that's been in place since April 17, according to Chain Store Age.
The real squeeze is timing, not cost. Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday deal submissions close October 20, this week. Inbound deadlines for Prime-badge eligibility range from October 14 (AWD shipments) to October 28(FBA with Amazon-optimized shipment splits), per PPC Land's breakdown of the full schedule.
Miss your window and your inventory loses Prime-badge eligibility for the event. Full stop, regardless of what you paid in fees.
What this means for sellers
If you haven't submitted your Black Friday Week or Cyber Monday deals yet, this week is your deadline. Miss it and you're relying on organic traffic during the biggest sales weekend of the year.
Even with deals locked in, check your inbound shipment plan against Amazon's split-shipment cutoffs now. "Minimal shipment splits" and "Amazon-optimized splits" carry different deadlines, nearly two weeks apart.
Get inventory moving today. The fee is identical whether you ship early or late, but only one of those timelines keeps your Prime badge.
HOT TOPIC
The US closed its de minimis loophole on Chinese imports back in 2025. Germany just ran the same experiment at EU scale, and the ultra-cheap platforms took a beating.
🌍 What's changing
Since July 1, 2026, the EU replaced its duty-free exemption for shipments under €150 with a flat €3 customs charge per item category, in effect through mid-2028.
Germany's e-commerce association bevh reports that Temu, Shein, and AliExpress's combined German sales fell 35.5% year-over-year in Q3 2026, to roughly €566 million, according to Marketmaze.
Their combined share of German online-goods sales dropped to 3.1%, down from 5.3% just one quarter earlier. That's even as the broader German online-goods market kept growing (+2.9%) and online marketplaces overall rose 5%, per Archyde's coverage of the report.
What this means for sellers
Two things worth sitting with. First: the fastest way governments have found to blunt ultra-cheap Chinese platforms isn't a ban. It's a small flat customs fee at checkout, and the EU won't be the last region to try it. If you sell cross-border, watch your other markets for similar moves.
Second, and less comfortable: bevh's own data shows local and marketplace sellers haven't clearly picked up the slack. Multichannel sellers grew online sales just 2.5%, and the association's own CEO admits domestic providers "haven't gained" from their rivals' weakness.
Don't assume a policy win against Temu automatically becomes a sales win for you. The shopper who stopped buying cheap imports didn't necessarily start buying from you instead.
BLACK MARKET
Temu's legal troubles just picked up a new angle. This one isn't about prices or labor. It's about what's quietly running on your phone, and what's actually inside the box.
⚠️ What's changing
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway sued Temu on October 13, 2026, alleging the app secretly collects real-time location accurate to within 10 feet, accesses the microphone and camera, and catalogs every other app on a user's phone.
The suit also claims Temu can silently update its own behavior after installation, reusing code from an earlier version Google Play banned for malware, which cited experts call spyware, according to KCTV5. Because parent company PDD Holdings is largely based in China, the suit alleges that data may be compelled to the Chinese government without users ever being told.
Separately, the lawsuit claims Temu sold fake, unlicensed merchandise bearing logos from the Kansas City Chiefs, Royals, Cardinals, Blues, Anheuser-Busch, and Mizzou. That echoes a separate US House committee finding that goods shipped from Temu may involve forced labor with little supply-chain vetting, per KY3. Hanaway is seeking a permanent injunction and civil penalties.
What this means for sellers
If you compete against Temu-style pricing, this is useful ammunition. "They're under state investigation for spying on users and selling counterfeit sports merchandise" is a legitimate trust argument, not just a dig.
For brand owners, it's also a signal that state attorneys general are now a real enforcement lane for counterfeit logos beyond Amazon's Brand Registry. If your trademark shows up unlicensed on a platform like this, document it. This lawsuit shows AG offices will act on exactly that pattern.
And if you sell team-licensed or branded merchandise, counterfeit traffic typically spikes right alongside legitimate searches heading into Black Friday. Double-check your own listings aren't getting buried under knockoffs before the rush.
ECOMMERCE NEWS
A few other marketplace moves worth a scan before you close this email:
What this means for sellers
Brand-protection tech, Amazon's own push into multichannel management, and Temu's pivot toward hosting outside sellers are all pointing at the same shift. The lines between "platform," "competitor," and "sales channel" are blurring fast.
Whichever side of that you're on, Q4 is a good time to audit where your product data and inventory actually live. The tools to sell everywhere at once are arriving faster than most sellers' workflows are ready for.
