FBA Updates
Amazon FBA policy changes and fee updates for the US and Canada, summarized with action steps and links to official sources.
RSS FeedAmazon Retires the 'Rufus' Brand and Launches 'Alexa for Shopping' — Unified Agentic AI Assistant Rolls Out to All U.S. Customers (May 13, 2026)
On May 13, 2026, Amazon announced 'Alexa for Shopping', a unified agentic AI shopping assistant that merges its Rufus product-discovery chatbot with the Alexa+ voice assistant under one brand. Amazon is retiring the 'Rufus' name from its shopping interface — the assistant inside the Amazon app, on Amazon.com, on Echo Show devices, and in the Alexa app will now all be branded 'Alexa for Shopping' and share a single memory of the customer's preferences, past purchases, and conversations. Amazon stated the service is rolling out to all U.S. customers over the coming week, free for anyone signed into an Amazon account — no Prime membership, Echo device, or Alexa app subscription is required. Rajiv Mehta, VP of Conversational Shopping at Amazon, framed the change as solving the problem of customers starting a shopping 'mission' in one place (e.g., asking Alexa on an Echo) and restarting it elsewhere (e.g., on Amazon.com) because Rufus and Alexa did not previously share memory or context. The unified assistant retains the capabilities Amazon had been shipping under the Rufus brand — full 365-day price history, Scheduled Actions (auto-buy when a condition is met), Custom Shopping Guides, Shop Direct / Buy For Me, side-by-side product comparisons — and consolidates them in a single conversational layer that operates from inside the Amazon search bar.
Read summary →Amazon Officially Cancels SP-API Fees — $1,400 Annual Subscription and GET-Call Overage Charges Withdrawn (May 12, 2026)
Amazon has formally cancelled the Selling Partner API (SP-API) fee structure it first announced in November 2025 and delayed indefinitely in March 2026. In an updated announcement on developer.amazonservices.com titled 'Cancellation of Third-Party Developer Selling Partner API (SP-API) Fees', Amazon stated: 'After careful consideration, we have decided that we will not move forward with the SP-API usage and annual fees at this time.' The cancellation withdraws both the $1,400 per-developer annual subscription that would have begun January 31, 2026 and the monthly GET-call overage fees that were scheduled to start April 30, 2026. Amazon also said the Solution Provider Portal will be updated in the coming weeks to remove the fee preview dashboard. The phrase 'at this time' leaves open the possibility of a future fee proposal in a different structure, but no replacement timeline has been disclosed. For Amazon sellers, the practical effect is that third-party tool vendors (repricing platforms, PPC managers, reimbursement services, inventory analytics) no longer face the SP-API cost pressure they had cited when raising subscription prices between November 2025 and the March 2026 delay.
Read summary →Amazon Launches 'Amazon Now' 30-Minute Delivery Across Dozens of U.S. Cities — Mini-Warehouses Stock ~3,500 SKUs of Groceries, Essentials, and Electronics (May 12, 2026)
On May 12, 2026, Amazon announced the U.S. rollout of Amazon Now, a 30-minute delivery service that operates from a network of smaller, locally placed fulfillment locations — described in trade-press coverage as roughly the size of a retail drugstore and stocked with approximately 3,500 high-demand SKUs each — rather than from larger regional fulfillment centers. Amazon Now is widely available in Atlanta, Dallas–Fort Worth, Philadelphia, and Seattle at launch, with rapid expansion underway in Austin, Denver, Houston, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Orlando, and Phoenix; Amazon stated it expects to reach tens of millions of customers across these and additional cities by the end of 2026. Catalog at launch spans fresh groceries, dairy and eggs, fresh produce, bakery, household essentials, health and personal care, baby and pet needs, electronics, and alcohol where permitted. Prime members pay $3.99 per Amazon Now order plus a $1.99 small-basket fee on orders under $15; non-Prime customers pay $13.99 per order plus a $3.99 small-basket fee on orders under $15. In most cities, the service operates 24 hours a day. Amazon's press release and the major trade-press coverage do not describe a third-party seller participation model — the merchandised assortment at the mini-hubs is curated by Amazon, which is the structural change that matters for FBA sellers in the affected categories.
Read summary →Amazon Ads Launches Dynamic TV Creative on Prime Video at Upfront 2026 — Auto-Personalizes Interactive Ads by Viewer Exposure; Expands to Live Sports and Prime Video Channels in Q3 2026 (May 11, 2026)
On May 11, 2026, onstage at Amazon Ads' Upfront 2026 at New York's Beacon Theatre, Amazon Ads introduced Dynamic TV Creative — the first capability from Amazon Ads that automatically personalizes Interactive Video Ads (IVA) on Prime Video based on a viewer's prior exposure to the brand and on first-party shopping signals from Amazon's household graph (shopping and browsing history, Prime Video activity, product availability, and geography). The system cycles through pre-approved creative variants rather than generating new copy from scratch: a first-time viewer sees a standard TV ad with a 'learn more' call-to-action; a viewer who has seen the ad once or twice sees a product carousel; and a viewer who has shown deeper intent (e.g., visited the brand on Amazon) sees a 'squeeze-back' format where the TV creative shrinks down next to product images, price, ratings, and an 'add to cart' button. The capability is currently available to select U.S. advertisers that sell on Amazon and run Prime Video campaigns in CPG, fashion, and electronics. Amazon stated the offer will expand to more advertisers in Q3 2026 with broader inventory access including live sports and Prime Video Channels. Amazon also said its broader interactive ad formats have driven 5x higher purchase rates compared to streaming TV campaigns without interactive elements.
Read summary →Amazon Pet Days 2026 Expands From Two Days to Five (May 11–15) — Open to All Customers, Prime Not Required (May 11, 2026)
Amazon launched Pet Days 2026 on May 11, 2026 at 12:00 a.m. PT and the event runs through 11:59 p.m. PT on May 15, 2026. In its own announcement, Amazon describes the event as 'expanded from two days to five' — the structural change that distinguishes this year's Pet Days from prior editions. Pet Days is open to all Amazon customers (Prime membership is not required), unlike Prime Day, which limits deal access to Prime members. Discounts on the Pet Deals page span 10% to over 70% across pet food, treats, toys, apparel, health care, grooming supplies, and accessories for dogs, cats, fish, horses, small animals, reptiles, and birds. First-time Subscribe & Save customers receive an additional 35% off pet health care products from brands like NexGard, HeartGard, Simparica, Credelio, and Trifexis. Participating brands include Purina, Blue Buffalo, Hill's Science Diet, IAMS, Wellness, Nom Nom, Stella & Chewy's, FURminator, Outward Hound, Chuckit!, Greenies, Kaytee, and others. For FBA sellers in pet categories, the doubled-plus event window changes inventory and promotional planning relative to the prior two-day format.
Read summary →Amazon Halts California Sales of High-Speed E-Bikes Exceeding State Speed Limits — Third-Party Sellers Must Comply With 28 mph Pedal-Assist / 20 mph Throttle Caps (May 11, 2026)
On May 11, 2026, Amazon confirmed it will no longer allow sales in California of two-wheeled electric vehicles that exceed the state's legal e-bike speed thresholds — 28 mph for pedal-assisted (Class 3) e-bikes and 20 mph for throttle-controlled e-bikes. Vehicles capable of exceeding those speeds are classified as mopeds or motorcycles under California Vehicle Code and require DMV registration, insurance, and a motorcycle license — credentials that Amazon stated it 'cannot verify' at checkout. Amazon told reporters (covered by CBS Los Angeles, Fox LA, ABC7, KTLA, and Electrek) that it is now requiring all e-bikes sold by third-party sellers in California to comply with state laws, regulations, and Amazon policies, and that it 'has already removed some listings and is investigating others.' The action follows an April 2026 'Too Fast, Too Furious' consumer alert from California Attorney General Rob Bonta and was publicly confirmed by Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer on X. The change was driven by a documented rise in fatal e-bike and e-motorcycle crashes — including teen fatalities in Southern California in April and May 2026 — and broader national trend data cited in the consumer alert. Amazon did not announce a formal effective date; listing removals are happening on a rolling basis as Amazon investigates compliance.
Read summary →U.S. Court of International Trade Strikes Down 10% Section 122 Tariffs as Ultra Vires — But Limits Permanent Injunction to Two Importer Plaintiffs and the State of Washington (May 7, 2026)
On May 7, 2026, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) ruled that the 10% Section 122 import surcharge imposed under Proclamation 11012 (issued February 20, 2026) exceeded the President's statutory authority under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. The court held that 'balance-of-payments deficits' is a term of art grounded in 1974 economic concepts — specifically the three established measures of basic balance, liquidity, and official settlements — and rejected the administration's reliance on modern 'current account deficit' and goods-trade-deficit data as ultra vires. Critically, the CIT entered a permanent injunction only against collection of the surcharge from the named plaintiffs with standing: two private importers (Burlap & Barrel and Basic Fun!) and the State of Washington as an importer. The court declined to issue a nationwide injunction and dismissed claims from approximately 23 other non-importer states for lack of standing. For all other FBA and FBM importers, the 10% Section 122 surcharge continues to be collected pending the government's expected appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The Section 122 surcharge remains scheduled to expire by operation of the statute on or about July 24, 2026 (the 150-day statutory limit), unless Congress acts to extend it.
Read summary →Amazon Ads and LinkedIn Launch B2B CTV Partnership — LinkedIn Audience Targeting (Job Title, Industry, Seniority) Now Available in Amazon DSP for U.S. Streaming TV (May 7, 2026)
On May 7, 2026, Amazon Ads announced a partnership with LinkedIn enabling advertisers to access LinkedIn's Connected TV (CTV) ad inventory through Amazon DSP. The integration delivers LinkedIn's first-party audience signals — drawn from over 1 billion LinkedIn members and including job title, industry, and seniority — into streaming TV inventory served via Microsoft Monetize, the SSP from LinkedIn parent Microsoft and a preferred partner of Amazon DSP. Per Amazon's announcement, advertisers in the United States can now activate LinkedIn-targeted audiences alongside Amazon audiences in the same Amazon DSP campaign through deal-based buying — without splitting the media plan across LinkedIn and Amazon DSP separately. Chris Conetta, Director of Omnichannel Supply at Amazon Ads, said the integration lets advertisers 'reach B2B audiences alongside Amazon audiences through their Amazon DSP buys.' The partnership lands four days ahead of Amazon Ads' Upfront 2026 presentation on May 11, 2026 at New York's Beacon Theatre. Amazon's announcement does not specify markets beyond the U.S., does not give a separate launch/ramp date (the article frames the capability as currently available), and does not detail deal-based buying constraints beyond confirming this is the activation mechanism.
Read summary →Amazon Launches Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS) — Opens Freight, Distribution, Fulfillment, and Parcel Networks to All Businesses (May 4, 2026)
On May 4, 2026, Amazon announced the launch of Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS), opening the same freight, distribution, fulfillment, and parcel-shipping network it built for Amazon.com to outside businesses of any size and any industry. Procter & Gamble, 3M, Lands' End, and American Eagle Outfitters are named as launch customers using ASCS for raw-material freight, finished-goods distribution, multi-channel fulfillment, and parcel delivery respectively. Peter Larsen, VP of Amazon Supply Chain Services, positioned ASCS as the supply-chain equivalent of what AWS did for cloud — extending Amazon's internal logistics infrastructure as a service to external companies. Businesses can sign up today through a centralized console at supplychain.amazon.com. For Amazon FBA and MCF sellers, ASCS consolidates and extends services some sellers were already using piecemeal (Amazon Global Logistics, Amazon Warehousing & Distribution, Multi-Channel Fulfillment, Amazon Shipping) into a unified platform that can fulfill orders across both Amazon and non-Amazon sales channels using a single inventory pool.
Read summary →Amazon Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) API Exits Beta — Goes Generally Available Across 14 Markets (May 3, 2026)
On May 3, 2026, Amazon Ads' Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) API moved from beta to general availability, opening programmatic access to Amazon's MMM data feed to all advertisers and their measurement partners — no invitation required. The API uniquely combines advertising signals with retail signals from Amazon's marketplace, so brands modeling media performance can now ingest both ad metrics and actual sales data through one feed. GA coverage spans 14 markets across four continents: the United States, Canada, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, India, and Saudi Arabia. The release adds six new endpoints around brand group override management, product and campaign retrieval within brand groups, and report status listing, and the API operates asynchronously so report requests are processed in the background and replicate console-generated reports without manual download steps. API calls must be routed through the NA region endpoint, but a single API relationship can request data across any of the 14 supported marketplaces.
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