Amazon announced FBA fee changes for 2025. Did they raise fees for our sellers again? TikTok is testing something that could be game-changing for sending traffic to Amazon. These and more buzzing news on this week’s episode!

We’re back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10’s Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10’s newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level.



Update to US referral and Fulfillment by Amazon fees for 2025

https://sellingpartners.aboutamazon.com/update-to-us-referral-and-fulfillment-by-amazon-fees-for-2025



TikTok is quietly testing product links in posts as it looks to boost its reputation for shopping

https://www.modernretail.co/technology/tiktok-is-quietly-testing-product-links-in-posts-as-it-looks-to-boost-its-reputation-for-shopping/



Amazon announces the launch of Rufus, a new generative AI-powered conversational shopping assistant, in beta across Europe

https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/retail/amazon-announces-the-launch-of-rufus-a-new-generative-ai-powered-conversational-shopping-assistant-in-beta-across-europe



Sponsored Brands forecasting for impressions and clicks is now available in the advertising console

https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/sponsored-brands-forecasting-for-impressions/



eCommerce Growth Outpaces General Retail Sales, Hits 15.6%

https://www.pymnts.com/news/ecommerce/2024/ecommerce-growth-outpaces-general-retail-sales-hits-15percent/



Amazon DSP launches contextual keyword targeting GA in US, UK, CA, AU.

https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/amazon-dsp-launches-contextual-keyword-targeting/



Helium 10 vs. Jungle Scout Accuracy: Amazon Sales Data - h10.me/h10sales



Don't miss the opportunity to learn about these powerful resources that can give you an edge in the competitive e-commerce and Amazon-selling market.

In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers:

• 00:50 - 2025 Amazon Fees Update


• 04:56 - TikTok Link Testing


• 07:51 - Rufus in EU


• 09:11 - Sponsored Brand Forecasting


• 10:02 - E-Commerce Gains


• 10:48 - DSP Targeting Update


• 12:25 - Helium 10 vs Jungle Scout Sales Data Accuracy


• 16:57 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts

Bradley Sutton:

Amazon gives its annual announcement of fee changes for the following year. Did they raise fees for our sellers again? TikTok is testing something that could be game-changing for sending traffic to Amazon New updates to Amazon-sponsored brand and DSP advertising. These stories and more on today's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 weekly buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the goings on in the Amazon, TikTok shop and e-commerce world. We also give you training tips of the week and let you know what new features Helium 10 has. That'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing.

Bradley Sutton:

We got a few news articles today and the biggest one, I would say, is something that I think a lot of us sellers look at each year around this time of year, around November, with anticipation, but I would say frightful anticipation. What is that? That is the announcement of what's going on with Amazon fees. Now, we've been doing this weekly buzz for like four years and you can look back and we always have this episode right where Amazon announces it. And you know, two or three years ago you'd have seen things like OK here, there's a 15 cent increase here, and a 20 cents increase here, and blah, blah, blah, blah. Last year was like the worst we've ever had Fee increases. But then the big things was brand new fees. Like three big whoppers were announced around this time last year, which was the inbound placement fees which have affected all of us this year, the low inventory fees right, and the high refund rate fee right. Those are all announced in this annual announcement. So a lot of sellers were like, oh no, what is Amazon going to announce this year? Let's go ahead and show this article from Amazon and it says update to US referral and fulfillment Amazon fees in 2025. And, spoiler alert, here it is we will not increase US referral and FBA fees. I can't remember the last time they said that. And here's the more important one we will not introduce any new fee types and, as a matter of fact, we are decreasing some fees and offering new benefits.

Bradley Sutton:

So talk about music to sellers ears. Right, because if we would have gotten squeezed any more on the fees front, you know it'd have been pretty hard for us to keep you, because if we would have gotten squeezed anymore on the fees front, you know it'd have been pretty hard for us to keep, uh, you know, selling for some of us. So, they had a note to sellers here. They're like hey, we're trying to simplify things. You know, we heard sellers and we want to make sure that, um, you know, we're providing the best service and not, you know, complicating things with a bunch of new fees. And so that's what they said hey, our focus is on continuing to partner together to delight customers and providing our seller selling partners a great value that helps their businesses thrive.

Bradley Sutton:

Now they actually mentioned that some fees. Not only is it not being raised, it was actually being lower. For example, if you are doing a large, bulky sized product, you're actually going to see lower inbound placement service fees on average 58 cents per unit for minimal shipment splits. In addition, they're going to waive inbound placement service fees for new parent ASINs that qualify for the FBA new selection program. I'm not going to go into too much depth what that is. You're going to have to search that in seller central.

Bradley Sutton:

We could talk about 10 minutes about that FBA new selection program. But if you are eligible for that for a new product and you create a shipment between December 1st and March 31st, uh, it's, the first hundred inbound units will be exempt from inbound placement. Now again, remember what you have to do to be completely exempt from inbound placement fees is send at least five identical shipments to five different places, um, or three plus different places that Amazon specifies. Then you won't have to worry about email placement fees. But let's say you've got a full container. Actually, a full container probably wouldn't qualify as maximum 100 units, but let's say you had a container of a thousand units, right? Well, those first hundred units, obviously your containers are going to one place. Those first hundred units are not going to have a fee. If you qualify for this Right now, it does have a fee. So maybe wait to create your shipment until December 1st if this qualifies for you.

Bradley Sutton:

In addition, this article mentions that they're introducing more incentives for adding certain new selection in our store. We're going to enhance the new seller incentives and FBA new selection programs with greater fee discounts. All right, so take a look at the link. This is going into effect on January 15th, so a number of weeks still to go for this, but the seller benefits page and seller central will have a little bit more information. Some might ask well, does this mean that absolutely under no circumstances will there be any new FBA fees in in 2025? Amazon says no, hey, we do things in a dynamic way and who knows what might happen that might cause us to change stuff, but as of right now, no new fees. So I think everybody is very happy about that. Uh, switching marketplaces.

Bradley Sutton:

The next article is from modern retail.co and it's entitled. TikTok is quietly testing product links in post as it looks to boost its reputation for shopping. Now, to me, this is, I don't know if I would say, flying under the radar, but I think it's more important than it might seem because, as you know, obviously traffic from other websites is big, but when you have influencers talking about a product on a different platform right, like if it's on Instagram um, how can they put links? I'm influencers talking about a product on a different platform, right, like if it's on Instagram, how can they put links? I'm not talking ab