Important Amazon Weekly News #5

In August 2025, Amazon introduced Manufacturing Central, a dedicated portal that connects marketplace sellers with vetted manufacturers in India. At launch, the platform covers seven key product categories, including furniture, textiles, home décor, linens, kitchenware, luggage, and office supplies.

The portal works like a supplier directory. Sellers can browse manufacturers by category, submit a request for quotation, and typically receive a response within five business days. Importantly, Amazon does not facilitate payments or logistics within this tool. Instead, sellers negotiate directly with factories. While Amazon does perform basic verification of manufacturer details, responsibility for due diligence lies entirely with the seller.

Currently, access to Manufacturing Central is free, though Amazon notes this may only apply “for a limited time.”

Why This Matters  

Manufacturing Central arrives at a time of major supply chain shifts. With tariffs on Chinese goods climbing and trade tensions persisting, Amazon is positioning India as a strategic alternative manufacturing hub. Beyond simple sourcing, the platform also supports customized product development by linking sellers to factories with in-house design and R&D capabilities.

Amazon likely sees this as an additional lever to attract new sellers who may lack experience in international sourcing and need easier entry points.

What Sellers Should Do  

For new Amazon entrepreneurs, Manufacturing Central removes much of the complexity of finding reliable suppliers abroad. For established sellers, it opens the door to diversifying production beyond China and exploring Indian capacity.

That said, it’s crucial to remember: all negotiations and transactions happen outside of Amazon’s ecosystem. This means sellers are fully responsible for payment terms, quality control, and production timelines.

The Bigger Picture  

For beginners, Manufacturing Central offers a smoother entry into e-commerce without the steep learning curve of supply chain management. For private label sellers, it represents an opportunity to expand product lines with new manufacturers. And for Amazon itself, it’s another step toward tightening integration across the supply chain — extending its influence upstream into manufacturing. Even if Amazon does not handle the actual transactions, the platform strengthens seller reliance on its ecosystem.

AI now reviews every message sent between sellers and buyers on Amazon. Even seemingly harmless phrases like “we’re a family business” or the use of emojis can get messages flagged or blocked. Seller Labs highlights these risks in a recent study.

What Changed?  

According to Seller Labs, Amazon’s AI scans all seller communications to detect restricted content. The system flags:

• external links,

• requests for reviews or ratings,

• buyer name personalization,

• images and unusual formatting,

• persuasive or “friendly” wording.

Messages such as “please leave 5 stars” or “we’re a small business” are no longer allowed. The outcome is blocked messages, reduced reach, and in some cases, warnings or even account suspension.

Why It Matters  

Amazon has been steadily applying AI to more aspects of seller operations, with communication being one of the most sensitive. Messages that fail compliance checks may never reach customers, which means missed opportunities for feedback, customer loyalty, and issue resolution.

Seller Labs stresses that even experienced sellers often underestimate how strict these filters have become. The most common pain points include blocked emails, uncertainty about safe language, time-consuming manual reviews, and confusion when drafting templates.

How to Communicate Safely  

To reduce the risk of blocked messages and maintain customer contact, Seller Labs recommends:

• Follow Amazon’s 2025 messaging rules. No review requests, incentives, emojis, or external links.

• Use only approved variables. Safe options include [[product-name]], [[feedback link]], and [[product review link]]. Buyer names are prohibited.

• Keep wording neutral. Use generic greetings like “Hello,” and keep the message short and factual.

• Know the difference between product reviews and seller feedback. Reviews affect the product listing, while feedback impacts account health. Don’t confuse the two.

• Audit templates regularly. Even automated campaigns should be reviewed to stay compliant with updated policies.

Following these steps ensures clear communication with buyers while staying aligned with Amazon’s policies.

What This Means for Amazon Sellers  

Buyer-seller messaging is becoming increasingly formalized, with AI dictating what reaches the customer. Even small missteps can prevent your message from being delivered. The safest strategy is not silence, but learning to “speak Amazon’s language” — concise, policy-compliant, and customer-focused.

Amazon has launched a new initiative called Account Health Assurance (AHA), designed to help sellers keep their accounts active even when policy violations occur — as long as they maintain a strong Account Health Rating (AHR). The program went live in August 2025 and is available to professional selling accounts.

What Changed?  

In the past, even minor policy violations could trigger immediate account suspension. With AHA, sellers who maintain a consistently positive track record gain extra protection.

To qualify, sellers must:

• Keep an AHR of 250 or higher for at least six months,

• Not drop below that threshold for more than 10 days,

• Have a valid emergency contact number on file.

Eligible sellers are automatically enrolled at no additional cost.

How the Protection Works  

When an issue arises that would normally lead to account deactivation, Amazon assigns an Account Health Specialist to reach out instead of shutting down the account immediately.

• The account remains active.

• Sellers have 72 hours to respond and begin addressing the issue.

• As long as they cooperate with Amazon’s team, their account will not be deactivated.

What This Means for Sellers  

This program represents a shift from a purely punitive model to a more collaborative approach. It provides reassurance for compliant sellers, particularly those in Private Label and FBM, where even short-term suspensions can cause major revenue loss.

However, Amazon makes it clear: serious violations such as fraud, deception, or harmful activities still result in immediate suspension. AHA does not shield sellers from these cases.

Amazon has expanded its AI shopping assistant, Rufus, with a new feature that lets shoppers set price alerts directly in the app. Buyers can now enter their preferred price point and receive a notification as soon as it’s met. While it looks like a convenient customer perk, this change represents a major shift in buyer behavior — and it forces sellers to rethink their pricing playbooks.

What Changed?  

With just a couple of taps in the Amazon app, customers can now:

• Set alerts for 5%, 10%, or 15% price drops,

• Track the lowest price over the past 30 days,

• Define their own “ideal price” and wait for an alert,

• Manage active and inactive alerts for products they follow.

Previously, shoppers had to use third-party tools like CamelCamelCamel or manually check listings. Rufus now does the monitoring automatically, removing friction from price-driven decision-making.

Why It Matters  

Industry experts note that this update fundamentally changes how discounts and promotions work on Amazon:

• Buyers take control. Sellers can no longer rely on urgency tactics like “deal ends soon.” Customers simply wait for Rufus to notify them when the price matches their expectations.

• Artificial FOMO disappears. The psychological push of limited-time offers loses effectiveness, since shoppers know they won’t miss out on a better deal.

• Margins face more pressure. With instant visibility into discounts, competitive pricing becomes tougher, and sellers may be forced into “race to the bottom” dynamics.

• Pricing becomes a performance metric. Sellers will soon be judged not just on conversions but also on how responsive their pricing is to customer signals — what some call a “Price Responsiveness Rate.”

What This Means for Sellers  

The rules of pricing on Amazon are shifting. Simple price cuts are no longer enough — sellers must be strategic about when, how, and why discounts are applied. To stay competitive, it’s crucial to:

• Build a transparent and consistent pricing strategy,

• Align promotions with seasonal demand, product lifecycle, and customer insights,

• Strengthen branding and product value to avoid a pure price war.

In short, Rufus is signaling to sellers: discounts alone won’t win — smarter, data-driven strategies will.

On August 20, 2025, Amazon announced that irrelevant or redundant variation themes will be removed from product listing templates. These outdated themes are marked as “Deprecated: do not use”. The initial announcement sparked discussion among sellers, leading Amazon to release an update.

What Changed After the Update?

• Only variation themes with no sales in the past 12 months will be removed.

• Core variation themes — such as size, color, and style — will remain unaffected.

Impact on Sellers

• Existing variation families will continue to function normally.

• Child ASINs will remain active, with no disruption to sales.

• Sellers can manually update their variation themes at any time.

In short, this is not a full overhaul but a targeted cleanup of unused templates. Amazon encourages sellers to review the updated removal list (available in Seller Central) and check the Variation Relationship FAQ for detailed guidance.

Amazon has introduced a structured 30-day roadmap to help sellers maximize visibility and sales for new products during their first month.

Key phases include:

• Pre-launch: Use AI to optimize listings and A+ Content, enroll products in Vine for early reviews, and activate Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).

• Day 1: Ensure inventory is live, launch Sponsored Products campaigns, and create coupons to boost visibility.

• Day 30: Review customer feedback, refine listings with AI-powered A+ Content, and adjust inventory and ads based on demand.

Sellers who complete all pre-launch steps may also receive complimentary marketing placements across Amazon’s channels.

Sellers can now create Best Deals and Lightning Deals for Prime Big Deal Days. The deadlines and requirements are:

• Best Deals: Minimum 15% discount, $1,000 fee per deal. Discounts of 30%+ receive extra merchandising support.

• Lightning Deals: Minimum 20% discount, $500 fee per deal.

Inventory deadlines:

• September 10, 2025 for FBA minimal shipment splits.

• September 19, 2025 for Amazon-optimized shipment splits.

Amazon reminds sellers to prepare early using the FBA Peak Season Readiness Playbook.

Starting September 22, 2025, sellers will once again be able to ship meltable inventory — including chocolate, gummies, and certain wax-based products — to FBA warehouses.

Amazon will resume fulfilling customer orders for these products on October 13, 2025.
Sellers can create shipments through Send to Amazon and review the list of eligible ASINs in Seller Central.

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