Latest / Selling on Giants: The eCommerce Marketplace Podcast / FTC Hits Amazon With $2.5B Settlement, Walmart Wins on AI Traffic, and Holiday Deals Start Early

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FTC Hits Amazon With $2.5B Settlement, Walmart Wins on AI Traffic, and Holiday Deals Start Early · Selling on Giants: The eCommerce Marketplace Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Selling on Giants, e-commerce news and updates for the week of September 30th, 2025.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Mr.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Will, host of the Selling on Giants podcast.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Every week I cut through the noise across Amazon, Walmart, and the rest of the e-commerce universe, so you don't have to dig through endless press releases or forum threads.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Sellers don't have time for that.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: You need clarity, not corporate spin.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get into it.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: FTC to Amazon friction isn't free.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon is paying two and a half billion dollars to settle with the FTC after regulators accused the company of making it far too easy to sign up for Prime and far too hard to cancel.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: The case centered on what the agency called dark patterns, design tactics that confuse, delay, or outright discourage customers from ending their subscriptions.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: The judge didn't drag this one out.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon folded within three days of trial after internal documents showed teams raised red flags about cancellation friction as early as 2021, but executives blocked fixes.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: The settlement is split, 1 billion in penalties and 1.5 billion in consumer refunds, making it the largest consumer protection settlement in FTC history.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Why does this matter?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because regulators just turned UX into a compliance issue.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Retention tricks are no longer clever design choices, they're potential liabilities.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you're building subscribe and save flows, loyalty programs, or anything that impacts churn, you need legal sign-off.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Friction isn't free anymore, it's a billion-dollar liability.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: How Prime Subscribers can claim refunds.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're a Prime member, here's how the money comes back to consumers.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Out of that$2.5 billion settlement,$1.5 billion is being refunded, capped at$51 per subscriber.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Refunds roll out in two waves.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: The first wave is automatic.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: If you signed up through one of Amazon's challenged enrollment flows and used fewer than three prime benefits, you'll see an automatic refund in your account within 90 days.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: No paperwork, no claims, just a refund.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: The second wave is claims-based.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: This covers customers who either enrolled through those same flows or tried unsuccessfully to cancel between 2019 and 2025.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: If you use fewer than 10 Prime benefits in a 12-month period, you'll be able to submit a claim by email, prepaid mail, or through a settlement site.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon then has 30 days to approve or deny, and valid claims will pay out up to$51.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Beyond the money, Amazon is being forced to redesign its flows.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: A clear decline prime button instead of vague no thanks language.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Transparent disclosures on cost and billing dates.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And a cancellation flow that's as simple as sign up.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: An independent supervisor will monitor compliance.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: For sellers, this sets precedent.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Behavioral nudges aren't a gray area anymore, they're regulatory red lines.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: ChatGPT becomes a top traffic driver for Walmart while Amazon sits out.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: From dark patterns to new traffic patterns, ChatGPT is quietly reshaping how shoppers discover products online, and Walmart is a major beneficiary.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: In August, one in five of Walmart's referral clicks came directly from ChatGPT, up 15% from July.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: That puts AI ahead of some paid ad channels as a traffic source.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just Walmart.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Etsy, Target, and eBay are also seeing double-digit referral lifts from ChatGPT.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: While it's still under 5% of total traffic, the growth rate is what matters.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: 2% of all ChatGPT queries are now shopping related, about 50 million queries a day.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Think questions like best laptop under$1,000 or how much are Nikes?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Those are clicks that would have gone to Google, but are now landing directly on retailer pages.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon, on the other hand, has blocked most AI crawlers.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Chat GPT referrals to Amazon dropped 18% last month, now accounting for less than 3% of traffic.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Why block it?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon doesn't want to give away free visibility that could undercut its$56 billion ad business.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, it's betting on Rufus, its own in-house AI assistant that keeps shoppers inside the Amazon app.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the trade-off.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart's 420 million SKUs now appear more often in AI shopping conversations, while Amazon's 600 million listings sit behind a wall.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: For sellers, that means if you're on Walmart, you're suddenly showing up in new discovery channels.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: If you're on Amazon, you're shielded for now, but you're also invisible in the fastest growing funnel.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Free traffic never stays free, and we'll likely see affiliate models or paid placements around AI referrals sooner rather than later.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon wants to fulfill Walmart orders too.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of Amazon's strategy, here's a move that surprised a lot of people.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon's multi-channel fulfillment, the service that already powers orders for eBay, Etsy, Timu, and TikTok Shop, will now handle orders for Sheen, Shopify, and yes, Walmart.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: This means sellers can pull inventory through FBA and let Amazon ship orders placed on competing platforms.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: For brands, this eliminates redundant warehouses, cuts costs, and gives customers prime style delivery speeds no matter where they shop.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: For Amazon, it keeps its logistics network indispensable, even when sales happen off-platform.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a seller, this could simplify your fulfillment stack dramatically.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: One pool of inventory, multiple sales channels, faster delivery times.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: The strategic takeaway is bigger.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon isn't just competing with Walmart, Shopify, or Sheen.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's embedding itself inside their supply chains.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon offers fee discounts on bulk business orders.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: While Amazon builds out logistics, it's also throwing sellers a small but meaningful financial break.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: As of last week, sellers who set Amazon business pricing or quantity discounts of at least 3% can now qualify for per unit FBA fee discounts.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Here's how it works: discounts only apply to Amazon business orders, not consumer orders.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: The eligible tiers are small, standard, and large standard products.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: The more units a business customer buys, the bigger the discount.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: For example, a small standard unit under 6 ounces saves 39 cents per unit on two to four unit orders and up to 70 cents at 25 units or more.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: With more than 8 million B2B buyers on Amazon, this program rewards sellers who make bulk orders attractive.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Fewer returns, larger basket sizes, and now lower fees.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Sellers should review their fee tables and set up business pricing to unlock the savings.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of the few levers left where you can increase margin without raising prices.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Amazon lets you see who owns product images.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: On the creative side, Amazon is rolling out a new image manager feature that finally clears up one of the most common seller frustrations, figuring out whose images are live on the detail page.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now you can see whether an image came from your own account, a partner vendor, or another seller entirely.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Each image will be marked live or not live, and hovering shows the source account ID.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: For anyone who's fought brand hijackers or wondered why their upload wasn't showing, this eliminates the guesswork.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Images are one of the top drivers of conversion on Amazon.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Sellers can now audit their catalog, confirm which assets are actually live, and adjust their strategy to protect brand presentation in a crowded marketplace, knowing exactly what the customer sees is no longer a guessing game.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: eBay buys TICE to grow its fashion resale footprint.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, eBay is doubling down on resale with the acquisition of TICE, a social first secondhand fashion marketplace based in Norway.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: TICE has about 2.5 million active users and is known for its community-driven approach.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Price tag for the deal is estimated at$130 million.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: For eBay, this strengthens its consumer-to-consumer play in Europe and deepens ties to Gen Z and millennials who increasingly choose resale over retail.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Expect eBay to sharpen its edge against Poshmark, Depop, and Vinted as the resale category grows.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: For fashion sellers, the signal is clear.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Resale isn't just a niche, it's a core growth market, and platforms are willing to pay big money to own that community.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Kroger bets big on AI to speed fulfillment and personalized shopping.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: From resale to retail, Kroger is going all in on artificial intelligence as the backbone of its operations.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Interim CEO Ronald Sargent called AI a core driver of efficiency, pointing to robotic fulfillment centers built with Okado, two-hour pickup windows, AI-driven assortment planning, and smarter pricing.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Kroger's third-party marketplace also leans heavily on AI to optimize listings, manage data, and personalize recommendations.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: For brands selling into grocery, this means tighter demand forecasting, more targeted promotions, and a higher bar for supply chain agility.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: AI is no longer an experiment in grocery.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's the operating system, turning tariffs into cash with duty drawback.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pivot to trade policy.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: With tariffs rising on Chinese imports, brands are feeling the squeeze.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a hidden lever, duty drawback.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: The US program allows importers to reclaim up to 99% of duties, taxes, and fees on goods that are later exported or destroyed.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Here's why it matters.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Refunds can cover up to three years of prior imports, so companies can file retroactive claims for significant cash flow.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: For exporters in electronics, apparel, or industrial goods, this can turn tariffs from a cost center into a hidden revenue stream.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Sellers should explore this program if they're moving goods across borders.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: It takes documentation and sometimes a partner, but the payoff is real.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Microsoft turns Copilot into a fashion concierge.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: And over in tech, Microsoft is turning its co-pilot AI into a personal stylist.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Shoppers can now type prompts like, What should I wear to a holiday party in New York?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: and get curated looks from brands like Revolve, Steve Madden, and Rent the Runway.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of scrolling endless grids, consumers are getting shoppable mood boards.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: Ralph Lauren and Target are experimenting with similar conversational experiences.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: For brands, this is a reminder that catalog data and creative assets need to be AI ready.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Discovery is shifting from keywords to natural language.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: If your listings aren't structured to plug into these systems, you'll miss the next wave of consumer traffic.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart kicks off holiday deals early with delivered event.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk holiday.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart is starting early with Walmart deals delivered from October 7th through 12.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Discounts will hit up to 50% across toys, fashion, electronics, and home.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Membership isn't required, but Walmart Plus members get a five-hour head start.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: The bigger hook is convenience, same-day delivery, early morning drop-offs, and even 30-minute express delivery.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart wants to lock in budgets before Amazon Prime Day and Target Deals Week.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Sellers should have promos, inventory, and ads loaded by early October or risk being late to the holiday party.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Halloween spending hits$13.1 billion as shoppers start earlier than ever.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: And since we're in October mode, Halloween 2025 is already on track to be the biggest ever, with$13.1 billion in projected spend.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Nearly half of shoppers are starting in September.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Candy leads the pack, decor is booming, costumes are climbing, and even greeting cards are growing.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: For kids, Spider-Man holds the crown, with Wednesday Adams making a splash.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: For adults, witches dominate, but K-pop demon hunters broke into the top 10.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Pets, as always, are mostly pumpkins.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: For sellers, the message is simple.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Halloween is now a two-month season.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not advertising and stocking theme bundles by September, you've already missed half the market.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart's ProSeller badge gives sellers a competitive edge.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's circle back to Walmart.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're rolling out a pro seller program that rewards high-performing marketplace sellers.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: The perks scale up from faster payouts to shipping discounts, referral fee breaks, and at the top, a pro seller badge that boosts visibility on eligible listings.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: The criteria are tough.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: 95% on-time delivery, 1.5% or lower cancellation rate, 95% responsiveness, plus competitive content and pricing scores.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Hit the benchmarks and Walmart will reward you with higher margins and better placement.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Operational excellence is now a growth engine, not just a survival tactic.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Walmart slashes referral fees on toys and pet supplies.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, Walmart is giving sellers a holiday boost with referral fee discounts in toys and pet supplies through January.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Toys get 100% off referral fees if they're priced competitively, ship in three days or less, and have Walmart Connect ad support.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Pet supplies get 50% off under the same rules.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: This is Walmart putting real dollars back into seller pockets and giving brands room to play with price while protecting margin.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you sell toys or pet supplies, now's the time to push inventory and back it with ads.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Deals like this don't come around often, and they can make or break Q4 profitability.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's your selling on Giants news and updates for the week.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: We covered Amazon's record FTC settlement, ChatGPT reshaping discovery, Walmart's logistics plays, Halloween's$13 billion spend, and fee cuts that could put real dollars back into your business.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: If this saved you hours of scrolling forums and debating strategy on Slack, do me a favor leave a review wherever you're tuning in.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: It helps us keep the lights on and gets us better guests for interviews down the road.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Mr.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Will, host of the Selling on Giants podcast.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: See you next week.