On August 31 the FTC and 22 state attorneys general filed suit in the Western District of Washington, alleging Amazon told advertisers its Sponsored Products auction was second-price (you pay one cent above the next bid) while quietly inserting a 'soft reserve price' since 2019. By 2024, the complaint says, advertisers paid their own full bid about 80% of the time, up from 30 to 40% in 2021. The FTC says the practice 'likely extracted tens of billions of dollars' from advertisers. Amazon disputes the claims. Nothing changes in your ad console today, but this is the biggest question mark over Amazon PPC economics in years.
Amazon's March 31 policy revision extended the testing, inspection and certification (TIC) requirement from the 2024 high-risk categories (weight management, sports nutrition, sexual enhancement, bodybuilding, joint health) to all dietary supplements sold in the US store. Documentation goes through an Amazon-approved TIC provider (NSF, USP, BSCG, Clean Label Project, GRMA, INFORMED), not directly to Amazon. FDA inspections and internal audits do not count. Sellers typically get 90 days after Amazon's outreach. Amazon is also using AI to check that listing claims match the Supplement Facts panel exactly, and is removing products without confirmed compliance.
Amazon cut the product title to 75 characters including spaces, with the remaining 125 characters of the old 200-character budget moving to a separate Item Highlights field that displays under the title on desktop and mobile. Recommendations started July 27; Item Highlights began displaying August 10. Both fields are indexed for search with no priority between them. For listings still over 75 characters, Amazon generates an AI rewrite and gives brand owners 14 days to review and approve before it goes live.
Amazon's holiday peak fulfillment surcharge returns for the 2026 season, averaging roughly $0.32 per unit on FBA orders from October 15, 2026 through January 14, 2027, on top of the ongoing 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge. Amazon also reminds sellers that the low-inventory-level fee ($0.32 to $2.09 per unit by size tier) applies whenever both 30-day and 90-day supply fall below 28 days, which is exactly when Q4 sell-through spikes.
The August 24 BSA update prohibits sellers from transferring their rights under the agreement or pledging future Amazon disbursements. That language matters if you have revenue-based financing, a merchant cash advance, or any lender that takes an assignment of your Amazon payouts. Existing arrangements may need to be restructured, and new financing conversations should start with this clause.
Since July 27, any lifestyle or product image that includes an AI-generated person must carry a 'contains-synthetic-performer' keyword in its XMP metadata. If you have been using AI image tools for lifestyle shots, the images themselves are still allowed, but untagged files can be rejected or removed. This is a workflow change for brands and their designers, not a ban.