Amazon Now Lets Sellers Offer Prime Exclusive Deals Year-Round
Amazon has lifted the calendar restrictions on Prime Exclusive Deals, meaning you can now run them anytime, not just during major events like Prime Day.
These deals are visible only to Prime members, a group known for shopping more frequently and making repeat purchases. Benefits for sellers include:
- Dedicated placement on the Deals page and Amazon homepage
- Prime Deal badges in search results
- Inclusion in targeted Amazon customer communications
This change gives brands flexibility to run promotions when they best fit inventory cycles, seasonality, or strategic sales pushes — without waiting for Amazon-led events. To see if your products qualify, check the Eligible Audiences column in your deals recommendations dashboard.
Prime Big Deal Days Submissions Now Open
Amazon has opened submissions for Prime Big Deal Days, a major pre-holiday sales event designed to give Prime members exclusive offers across all categories. Think of it as an extra Prime Day — a high-traffic, deal-driven event that can boost visibility and Q4 momentum.
Key details for sellers:
- Deal submission deadline: August 21, 2025
- Where to submit: Create a new deal in your deals dashboard
- Who sees the deals: Prime members only, with dedicated event placements and promotional visibility
- Timing: Event dates are still being finalized, but typically fall in early Q4
For brands, this is a strategic opportunity to clear inventory, test holiday pricing, and capture early seasonal shoppers before Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Experienced sellers should finalize offers now to ensure approval before the cutoff.
Amazon Clarifies How Deferred Transactions Work
Amazon has posted a detailed breakdown on deferred transactions — payments that are temporarily held before being released to sellers. These delays typically occur for two reasons:
- Delivery date policy – For most orders, Amazon holds sales proceeds for 7–14 days after delivery to ensure funds are available for returns, claims, or chargebacks.
- Invoiced orders – For Amazon Business customers paying by invoice, funds are held until payment is received, usually 30–45 days after the order date.
You can track these orders by selecting Deferred transactions in your Payments dashboard’s Transaction View or by pulling the Deferred Transaction report from the Reports Repository. Once released, they move into your regular payment schedule.
For sellers, this update means you can now see exactly which orders are on hold and why, making cash flow forecasting more transparent. This is especially important for high-volume sellers or those managing tight inventory and payment cycles.
The Modern Productivity Paradox: Why We Need Agents That Think With Us, Not For Us
Amazon Science is exploring a new AI frontier: agents that collaborate with humans rather than replace their decision-making. The piece argues that while technology has made work faster, it hasn’t always made it easier or more productive — a phenomenon they call the modern productivity paradox.
Key points for eCommerce and marketplace operators:
- Collaboration over automation – Instead of AI tools making decisions in isolation, future systems could work alongside sellers, brainstorming ideas, flagging risks, and refining strategies in real time.
- Context matters – An AI that “thinks with you” can adapt recommendations to your specific goals, market position, and operational constraints, rather than relying on generic outputs.
- Productivity redefined – The goal isn’t just to do more in less time, but to make higher-quality decisions that lead to better long-term outcomes.
For sellers, this vision hints at the next wave of Amazon tools — where AI could help you plan campaigns, optimize listings, or respond to market shifts as a true partner, not just an autopilot.
Criteo Is Holding Its Ground as Retail Media Rivals Try to Steal Its Share
Despite losing parts of major accounts like Target’s Roundel and Uber Eats, Criteo is showing resilience in the fast-growing retail media market. The company posted an 11% year-over-year lift in retail media revenue for Q2 and reported a 112% retailer client retention rate.
Criteo now faces increased pressure from agile competitors like Kevel, Koddi, Moloco, Pentaleap, Topsort, and Vantage, which are winning retailers over with advanced programmatic tools, flexible tech stacks, and AI-driven solutions. Many rivals are also forging partnerships with platforms like Pacvue and Skai to bypass Criteo’s buying channels.
To defend its position, Criteo is:
- Expanding capabilities with video ads and programmatic onsite display buying
- Partnering with Mirakl to bring small and mid-sized advertisers into its networks
- Leveraging an extended Microsoft partnership to attract PromoteIQ retailers
For sellers and brands, this battle matters because retail media tech partners influence measurement quality, targeting precision, and cross-platform buying ease. As the space matures and competition heats up, platform choice could directly impact ad efficiency and revenue growth.
AI Shopping Tools Threaten Affiliates
Generative AI shopping tools — from ChatGPT to Google’s AI Overviews — could disrupt affiliate marketing this holiday season by replacing traditional “best of” and gift guide searches with instant recommendations. This shift risks two main impacts for eCommerce sellers:
- Lost traffic – Shoppers bypass affiliate sites like Wirecutter or BestProducts.com, cutting referral clicks and potential sales.
- Attribution issues – AI often draws on affiliate-created content without driving traffic back, leading to sales that affiliates influenced but don’t get credit for.
For now, merchants could benefit from sales without paying commissions, but over time reduced affiliate revenue could lead partners to scale back content — lowering future traffic potential.
How sellers can respond:
- Collaborate with affiliates – Test hybrid commission models, co-run paid ads, or buy placements in affiliate email lists.
- Create your own content – Build review-style and gift guide assets to attract direct traffic.
- Explore alternatives – Tap into AI shopping tools themselves or diversify low-cost acquisition channels.
The 2025 holiday season will be the first big test of whether brands can adapt to AI’s growing role in product discovery without losing a key source of affordable traffic.
Survey: Tariffs on Chinese Goods Cost U.S. Consumers About $12.2B Each Month
New tariffs on Chinese imports are hitting American shoppers’ wallets, with an estimated $12.2 billion in extra spending each month — about $47 more per person — according to an Omnisend survey. One in seven shoppers reports monthly increases of $100 or more.
Key consumer shifts:
- Price hikes felt quickly – 66% of shoppers have noticed higher prices, especially on Amazon (39%), Temu (30%), and Walmart (27%).
- Marketplace migration – 68% have reduced or stopped shopping on Temu and Shein, as the end of the de minimis rule erased much of their price advantage.
- Workarounds emerging – 23% are already buying from Canada or Mexico to avoid higher costs, and another 26% are considering it.
Why it matters for sellers:
- The tariff shock is prompting consumers to seek alternatives, including domestic goods and imports from tariff-free regions (until August 29, when de minimis expires globally).
- Price increases are the top reason (34%) for abandoning Chinese marketplaces, opening opportunities for brands with competitive pricing or local supply chains.
- Even U.S.-made goods can see cost increases if they rely on imported parts or packaging.
For eCommerce brands, Q4 strategy may need to factor in price sensitivity, supply diversification, and messaging around U.S.-made or tariff-free products to win over displaced shoppers.
NRF: Retail Sales Make Strong Comeback in July
Retail spending saw a solid rebound in July as shoppers took advantage of summer promotions and purchased ahead of incoming tariffs.
Key numbers from the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor:
- Core retail sales (excluding restaurants, auto dealers, and gas stations) rose 1.55% month over month and 5.93% year over year.
- Total retail sales (including restaurants, excluding autos and gas) rose 1.45% month over month and 5.89% year over year.
- Year-to-date through July, core sales are up 5.07% and total sales are up 4.83%.
Category standouts:
- Sporting goods, hobby, music, and book stores: +2.36% MoM, +9.99% YoY
- General merchandise: +2.04% MoM, +6.94% YoY
- Clothing and accessories: +1.75% MoM, +6.73% YoY
- Grocery and beverage: +1.43% MoM, +5.42% YoY
- Digital products: +1.35% MoM, +25.01% YoY
The only monthly decline was in electronics and appliance stores (-0.51% MoM, still +2.11% YoY).
NRF CEO Matthew Shay noted that July’s gains reflect both effective sales events and consumers pulling forward purchases before tariff-driven price increases, with early signs of inflation showing in commodity goods.
For eCommerce sellers, these trends suggest shoppers are still spending despite cost pressures — but they’re highly responsive to deals and may shift purchase timing to avoid higher prices.
Update on Amazon Handmade Reclassification Project
Amazon is continuing its multi-year effort to reclassify Handmade products into standard product types — a change it says will improve discoverability, enhance detail page features, and enable multi-marketplace listing capabilities. The project is expected to wrap up by the end of 2025.
What’s changing:
- Handmade items previously used broad “GUILD” product types (e.g., GUILD_HOME). These are being replaced with more granular standard types (e.g., PILLOW).
- Listings will retain sales history, ratings, and reviews, but sales ranks will shift from Handmade-specific to their corresponding standard product types.
- A new Handmade Classification attribute will be added so products remain in the Handmade category and store.
Seller requirements:
- Once notified, sellers must validate new product types, assign Handmade attributes, and complete all required attributes for the new classification.
- Requirements vary by product type — for example, SHOES will need the footwear_size attribute, and FBA listings will need fulfillment center attributes.
- Updates can be made through the Listing Quality Dashboard in Seller Central.
Seller concerns:
Some sellers report products being reclassified without prior notice, leading to additional work to correct listings. Others worry that execution is lacking safeguards, particularly during the busy holiday season.
Takeaway for Handmade sellers:
Be proactive in checking listings, even if you haven’t received a notification yet. Ensure attributes are complete to maintain visibility and buyability during and after the transition.
eBay Uses a ‘Boost’ Icon to Increase Seller Ad Spend
eBay has quietly added a “Boost” icon to listings — visible only to sellers — that prompts them to either start advertising through Promoted Listings or increase their current ad rate. Clicking the icon triggers a pop-up suggesting higher ad spend, often with a sizable jump from current rates.
Example:
A seller promoting at 2% saw eBay recommend an 11% ad rate, claiming that “sellers saw 40% more impressions when increasing their ad rate.”
Seller reaction:
- Some find the constant prompts — along with daily messages about promoted listings — irritating and intrusive.
- Concerns center on the profit impact of steep ad rate increases and the aggressive push to advertise.
- Others worry this tactic could alienate sellers, especially when paired with what they view as limited customer service support.
Why it matters:
For marketplace sellers, this is another sign that platforms are leaning heavily on ad revenue, making paid visibility an increasing cost of doing business. On eBay, sellers who don’t engage with promoted listings — or keep rates low — may find themselves at a competitive disadvantage in search placement.
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