Brandon Fuhrmann

Got a product sample from China coming - what a scam

Taking part in the Amazon ads boycott today. Between DD+7, a 3.5% surcharge, and now credit card ad changes — something has to give. I wish they understood how critical cash flow is to the sellers funding their entire ads ecosystem. Facebook and Google sell ads to drive traffic — they don't care what happens after the click. Amazon is different. Their ad revenue only exists because sellers are actually moving products on their platform. Squeeze sellers too hard and the whole flywheel breaks.

We’re dealing with a tough situation on Amazon right now, and I’m sharing it because other brands heading into Q4 may face the same thing. One of our flagship products was approved for a 12-day Best Deal (11/20–12/1). We built inventory, planned our strategy, and launched exactly at the price Amazon approved - the lowest Q4 price we've ever offered. A few days into the deal, the system suddenly changed the discount requirements with no notice. Our deal badge disappeared, and Amazon started requiring an additional ~30% off beyond the approved deal price - a price point where we’d lose money on every unit. We’ve never sold anywhere near that price. The choice became: run the deal at a loss or lose the deal entirely. Sales dropped immediately. And because the change happened after inventory was already shipped in, we now have a large amount of stock stuck in FBA during the most expensive storage period of the year. While we wait in appeal limbo, every day adds: • High Q4 storage fees • Risk of long-term storage fees • Capital tied up • Lost ranking and deal momentum The bigger concern: if the system locks in this ultra-low price as the “correct” discount baseline, it may become impossible to run profitable deals this season. Small brands can’t absorb sudden algorithmic price shifts like this. We followed the process, agreed to the terms, shipped the inventory and the requirements changed mid-deal. At this point I don't know what to do - been panicking all day and feeling kind of stuck.

This was truly our best Innovate yet. Thank you everyone for coming out!! @jaredorkin, @DimitriVorona and I have been working on this for the last year - and it's always so rewarding to see the results. I'm so proud of the show we put on and the attendees who come back year after year. Thanks to all the speakers and sponsors who enable us to put this show on- and of course @SHEIN_Official , for putting on a killer after party! See you all at the next one!