Just as the week wraps up, Amazon’s drone dreams hit some turbulence.
Two of its delivery drones crashed into a crane in Arizona, forcing Amazon to pause operations and triggering investigations from the FAA and NTSB.
- This is the ad that drives a strong holiday season 🎯
- ChatGPT gets a checkout button 🛒
- Amazon hikes Q4 delivery fees 📦
- No-return refunds land in Seller Central ✅
- Get Looped In and take the chaos out of ecommerce accounting ✉️
- We’ll link your newsletter for FREE. Send your applications here. 🤝
HOT TOPIC
Online shopping has long felt the same: scroll, click, and end up at Amazon's checkout. But that familiar flow just got a shakeup.
According to AIM Media House, OpenAI is rolling out an “Instant Checkout” feature in ChatGPT, letting U.S. shoppers buy products without ever leaving the conversation.
🛒 Chat and checkout
No more bouncing between tabs, just chat, pick, pay, done. This isn’t future talk, it’s already here:
- Who’s selling? Starts with Etsy and Shopify merchants, including big brands like Glossier, Skims, Spanx, and Vuori. 🛍️
- How do you pay? Apple Pay, Google Pay, Stripe, or credit card
- What’s powering it? The open-source Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), co-built with Stripe to keep everything secure.
And yes, it already works and shoppers are already testing it. One demo showed the feature in action:
- ChatGPT pulled up Etsy listings for a Bichon Frise sticker 🐶
- Each result came with reviews and a shiny “Instant Checkout” flag
- With just a quick click, then Google Pay, and it was done—the $4.81 sticker was ordered, confirmed, and already on its way.
🤖 AI at the register
This move puts OpenAI on Amazon and Google’s turf. For decades, those two controlled visibility and charged sellers hefty ad fees to get seen. Now ChatGPT promises:
- Organic results (no pay-to-play… yet)
- Seamless buying without leaving the chat
But heads up: OpenAI will still take a small merchant fee per transaction. Yep, less “free lunch,” more “new boss, new rules.”
⚡️ Not just “checkout in chat”
The real shift: discovery. Sellers must now optimize for AI-driven surfacing, not Amazon SEO or Google search.
The upside? Small and mid-sized brands could finally compete without pouring cash into ads.
The downside? OpenAI is now a gatekeeper, and how “fair” they keep results will determine if this is truly a level playing field.
Watch the full test here:
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BITES OF THE WEEK
- Bulk for Less: Sellers can now access reduced referral fees for bulk Amazon Business orders.
- Build Holiday Trust: Build trust before the holiday rush with trusted Vine Voices championing your brand.
- More Managers: Have a merrier time selling this Q4 with more seller support managers.
- Mastercard Advertising: Mastercard unveiled Mastercard Commerce Media, a new digital media network dedicated to delivering personalized content.
AMAZON NEWS
Here come Amazon’s holiday shipping surcharges (again)
The holiday shopping season might bring joy to customers, but it usually comes with an extra shipping bill for sellers. Supply Chain Dive reported that Amazon Shipping will add peak surcharges from October 26, 2025, to January 17, 2026.
Like Santa’s last-minute rush, the steepest fees land in the busiest stretch: November 23–December 27.
🎁 Unwrapping the fees
Here’s the damage, plain and simple:
- When the fees hit
- October 26–November 22: $0.40 per package
- November 23–December 27: $0.60 per package
- December 28–January 17: $0.40 per package
- Other surcharges stacked on
- Extra handling: $8.25–$10.80
- Large package: $90–$107
- Extra heavy package: $485–$540
Amazon’s reason mirrors UPS, FedEx, and USPS: holiday chaos costs, and surcharges keep deliveries on time.
🥾 Hiking boots on
If you’ve been around, you know the Q4 drill: holiday deliveries cost more, especially for bulky packages.
The twist this year? Amazon’s expanding network could still give sellers a shot at faster and sometimes cheaper shipping compared to rivals, even with the surcharges baked in.
CASH CORNER
Amazon rolls out no-return, partial refund option
Sellers long faced a refund dilemma: pay return shipping or refund in full. Now Amazon’s finally easing up with an option that feels… surprisingly practical.
Amazon now offers a practical fix, partial FBA refunds without physical returns.
💰 Less shipping, more savings
Refunds and returns have always been a lose-lose: sellers eat the cost, buyers wait forever for their money back. With partial refunds, you get:
- Cut costs: No return shipping or processing fees
- Save time: Fewer returns to manage
- Stay flexible: Choose which products qualify and set your own refund percentage
🧠 Refund smart, not hard
- Go to FBA Settings → Returns evaluations & ownership settings
- Switch on Partial Refunds and pick eligible products
- Set your refund percentage
- Track activity in FBA Returns Dashboard → Complete – Return not expected
📦 Returns without the ride back
This update is especially handy for low-value or bulky products where the return costs more than the item itself.
Customers still get something back, and you avoid paying extra to receive a product you probably can’t resell anyway.
