Going round and round is still Amazon.

For sellers, 2022 is an extremely difficult year. High-fever inflation has swept through many markets, the consumer market has become sluggish, and the cross-border e-commerce market has also shown a weak state.

By the end of the year, various renewal fees such as European station , German packaging law , VAT, etc. came one after another , coupled with the high return rate of Christmas products … the seller felt bitter.

Fees are rising every month, Amazon sellers: 2022, it's so hard…

After experiencing the rapid development in the past few years, especially in the early stage of the outbreak in 2020, the development of cross-border e-commerce in 2022 tends to ease.

Last year, problems such as the impact of the epidemic, high inflation, exchange rate fluctuations, Russia-Ukraine conflicts, and supply chain crises rushed to the fore. Under such a general environment, many cross-border sellers said that the performance pressure was unprecedented.

Even the financial report of Amazon, a retail giant, pointed to the depression of the market, the revenue has been declining, and the layoffs are planned to continue until 2023 in order to cut costs. The layoff data website Layoffs.FYI pointed out that in 2022, consumer and retail are the two hardest-hit areas of the US technology industry , with a total of about 40,000 layoffs .

In the past year, cross-border sellers not only have to face various market environment shocks, but also deal with Amazon's sporadic fee increases .

As early as the end of 2021, Amazon's US station announced that the new logistics fee and sales commission changes will take effect on January 18 , 2022 .

In March, the Amazon European station FBA fee increase took effect .

In April, Amazon imposed a 5% FBA delivery surcharge on sellers .

In May, the multi-channel fulfillment ( MCF ) fee of Amazon's US station began to be adjusted ; its European station levied a 4.3% fuel and inflation surcharge on the basis of the single-piece rate of the Amazon logistics delivery fee .

In June, Amazon’s U.S. station once again raised the Amazon logistics remote delivery fee .

In August, Amazon’s U.S. station charged a holiday peak delivery fee for the first time, and third-party sellers using Amazon’s logistics service ( FBA) must pay an additional fee of $0.35 for each item sold in the U.S. or Canada .

In November , Amazon UK officially increased multi-channel fulfillment ( MCF ) fees (including fuel and inflation surcharges) .

Frequent fee increases, sellers shouted "the pressure is huge", in order to maintain profits, they had to increase prices. But who ever thought that in order to win the favor of buyers, Amazon also has the "show operation" of extending returns .

Over the past year, Amazon has continued to extend product return deadlines. In this regard, the sellers are also complaining. Especially for holiday decoration products, the return rate after the holiday is really "soaring".

Regarding the latest return policy, Amazon stated that most of the products sold on the US station from October 11, 2022 to December 25 , 2022, and on the European station from November 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022, buyers Returns available until January 31, 2023.

In this regard, the sellers had fun in the bitterness, and joked: "Christmas decorations can be returned desperately", "Return intensive phobia has been committed", "It's time to contribute to charity again"…

Thought the hardships of 2022 could finally come to an end? no! Amazon announced early on its initial fee hike plans for 2023.

According to the announcement of the Amazon US station , starting from January 14 , 2023 , the self-delivery seller will bear the responsibility for the change of the carrier's shipping fee due to incorrect information on the return label. From January 17, 2023, the US sales commission and FBA fees will be updated , and many fees such as outbound fees, off-peak storage fees, storage usage surcharges, overage inventory surcharges, and increased removal and disposal fees will all be raised. Effective January 19, 2023 , MCF fees will increase .

In addition to the US station, Amazon Japan station also announced that sales commissions will increase from March 1, 2023, FBA fees will be raised on April 1, shipping fees for Amazon logistics small and light products will be increased, buyer purchase fees will be canceled, and inventory storage will be increased. Fee, increase FBA long-term inventory surcharge .

2023 has just arrived, and Amazon can't wait to solve the problem, and sellers say it is getting more and more difficult. But even so, various data still show that Amazon has a huge appeal to cross-border sellers.

The proportion of Amazon Chinese sellers has rebounded, sellers: Amazon is still fragrant

Affected by the wave of title bans in 2021 and the market depression, in the first half of 2022, many Chinese sellers withdrew from Amazon , and American sellers re-occupied the Amazon market , reversing the trend of losing to Chinese sellers over the years.

But the data shows that by the end of 2022, the share of Chinese sellers on the Amazon market will pick up again. The share of Chinese sellers on Amazon fell to 40% in February last year , but rose back to 45% by December .

Obviously , although Amazon has repeatedly raised various fees, or normalized the reduction of storage capacity, and various operations have reduced the profit margins of sellers , its attraction to Chinese cross-border sellers is still difficult to resist.

According to Amazon's latest data, Chinese sellers have sold billions of goods to consumers around the world through Amazon 's 18 overseas markets this year . digit growth.

The number of Chinese brand sellers on Amazon has nearly tripled in the past three years, and its turnover will achieve double-digit growth in 2022.

Yien.com has interviewed many cross-border sellers who have opened multiple platforms. They said that in terms of traffic and buyer base, Amazon is still relatively capable. Last year, many cross-border e-commerce platforms were launched in the United States, but because of It is in its infancy, various system vulnerabilities occur frequently, and the traffic and user volume are not large. Even if it settles in, it is just blindly spending money, and ultimately it depends on Amazon to support revenue.

As for the revenue situation, these sellers said that there is no way for the decline in the unit volume due to the market conditions, but the overall revenue is still possible.

The peak season in 2022 is not "busy", but there are still many sellers relying on the peak season to achieve a large increase in sales and sales. Some sales have skyrocketed by hundreds of times, and some products have been sold out of stock.

Previously, Amazon mentioned in a press release that in the 2022 holiday season, third-party seller sales hit a new high, accounting for 60% of Amazon's total holiday season sales. And that’s largely thanks to small and medium-sized sellers , who have sold nearly 5 billion items in the U.S. alone .

As far as last year’s market is concerned, these sellers who basically maintained their revenue said that product data should be checked regularly . Considering profits, returns, and advertising dependence, some products sold well, but their gross profit was negative . Storage fees , etc., are actually huge losses . It is necessary to eliminate unprofitable SKUs in a timely manner , and do not develop new products at will in such a market .

In the words of Amazon sellers, in 2022, the most important thing is to "live". However, there is room for choice in how to live. Understanding market demand, not blindly launching new products, and stabilizing the basics of original products are the way for the vast majority of Amazon sellers to survive in 2022.

Some Amazon sellers also told yien.com that there is no loss, but the profit is less, and the profit margin is not as big as before. The past year has been treated as a vacation, to recuperate, to slow down, and to improve performance in the new year.

Although some industry analysts say that the current market shock is only temporary, for cross-border sellers, Amazon is still the most important growth channel if they want to seek more vitality in such a shock.