Sometimes I forget how privileged I (we?) are to have the opportunity to operate freely in the land of the free, and the home of the brave, with all the liberties this great nation affords us.

​

Free markets and entrepreneurship is what built this country for a quarter century. Here's to being a proud American, proud of that flag, showing we're not perfect but always chugging to make ourselves better. Happy 4th of July (even to those of you abroad!).

They Game the System. You Fund the Fun.

Any seller—or even seasoned buyer—knows the game: abuse Amazon’s return system and get free stuff, no questions asked. Amazon built and normalized this culture, training a generation to treat sellers like the free trial department.

But every time I see it, it still stings.

I’ve watched this play out for over a decade, and it never stops being insulting. Amazon will suspend a seller in two seconds flat for a minor hiccup (or none at all). But when it comes to customers like this? “Auto-authorized” return. Full refund. Reason? “Item arrived too late. We no longer need it.”

If the customer actually SELECTED the item was no longer needed, they'd be charged return shipping, but they were conditioned enough to select "Item Arrived too Late" (it didn't) and shameless enough to type in that they "no longer need it" knowing Amazon doesn't care about this abuse. Cool.

Whose margins take the hit? Not Amazon’s. And they know it.

In the name of enhancing customer experience and getting reviews

​

As I've explained here in past, this section of Amazon actually helps everyone. Every new review a customer leaves on your product will appear here.

1. 4-5 Star reviews = You can review and archive
2. 1-3 Star reviews = You can send an Amazon templated email through Amazon's buyer seller messaging to the buyer. You have two templates you can send.
   • Courtesy refund template
   • Customer Support template

​

So best case scenario, you send them the "courtesy refund template, they get super flattered that you're responding to them, even more flattered that they'll be getting a returnless refund, and potentially changing their rating to something better.

​

All the while, Amazon templated the message so that you're totally within the bounds of FTC review manipulation guidelines as well as Amazon Terms of Service.

But Amazon is discontinuing this feature probably because they want to act as if they are working with the FTC rules for review manipulation, or because of the pro tip above.

​

This is a move that will leave customers and sellers worse off.

It pays to have a FedEx/UPS recovery company on retainer.

Any of us sellers worth our skin, have been approached by a FBA recovery agency. Seller Investigators, GETIDA, and TrueOps are who I use (in that order .. what that means, let me know, I'll cover why I do it this way later).
​
BUT years after I started in the Amazon field I learned the same sort of companies exist for FedEx/UPS/DHL shipments.

I hope you guys have at least one recovery company on retainer. While they've recovered something like $74 over the past three years, I did get a VERY worthy update. Ship plug just let us know this week,

​LJM and Betachon are examples of a few companies that do this. There are plenty.

BNPL Now part of FICO

Here’s one that’ll hit close to home for eCom operators:

Buy Now, Pay Later is now officially credit.

Prof G — someone my audience should know I hold in the highest regard — broke this down brilliantly on his pod (link below). And if you sell on Amazon or Shopify, this absolutely matters to you.

Why?

Because now that FICO is factoring BNPL activity into your credit score, all those Shop Pay Installments, Amazon’s Affirm integrations, and Costco’s new Affirm rollout?

Honestly, I have no idea why Buy Now, Pay Later wasn't part of FICO Credit scoring until now. Like isn't the whole idea of a regular credit card buy now pay later?

BNPL is not just a convenient button. They’re credit liabilities — for your customer and possibly your business too.

Here's what matters for you:

• BNPL was always credit — it was just branded like kale-flavored debit.
• Shopify’s Shop Pay, Amazon’s Affirm, and every eCom BNPL button you’ve slapped on a PDP? Now fully inside FICO’s scope.
• 87 million Americans used BNPL last year. You will feel this in default rates.
• Gen Z — your next 10 years of customer growth — has no idea they’ve been racking up untracked debt… until now.

So what happens next?

No idea. Maybe easy access to money dries up? And merchants — yes, even you — may start eating the risk that BNPL once let you avoid.

I’m keeping a close eye on how Shopify, Amazon, and Affirm adjust disclosures and buyer-side approvals. You should too.

🏷️ Final Sale, Final Say?

Amazon just introduced a “final sale” designation — meaning certain clearance items are no longer eligible for returns. Sounds like common sense, right?

Sure. But here’s the part no one’s talking about:

Once again, Amazon is optimizing their losses while squeezing more dollars out of storage space — and you, the seller, are left playing by the old rules.

I commented on a post by JJ Eleff​ (better known as Dan from Dan's Deals) that hit the nail on the head: this change could be seismic if extended to 3P sellers. But I wouldn’t hold my breath.

If you're wondering how this affects sellers? Here's what I see:

• Amazon can clear space and limit loss by labeling items final sale. You can’t.
• If you place a disposal or liquidation order, Amazon might now quietly flip that inventory with a final sale tag — and not cut you in.
• This opens the door to Amazon profiting off the very inventory you paid to dispose of. (People already suspect, and there's convincing evidence, that Amazon already does this)

It’s not conspiracy — it’s business.

So the next time you issue a disposal order, you might want to ask: is this “final sale” for Amazon... or for me?

📦 Bottom line: If this doesn’t roll out to sellers, it’s yet another example of Amazon playing by a different set of rules while telling us it’s a level playing field. Cough cough, the FTC is suing Amazon for being overly predatory and unfair towards sellers.

🪙 Interchange Fees Might Crack Wide Open — and Stablecoins Are the Wrecking Ball

While everyone’s glued to the “Big Beautiful Bill” drama in Congress, the real tectonic shift for ecommerce sellers quietly passed the Senate with bipartisan support.

Buried beneath the headlines: the Durbin-Marshall Credit Card Competition Amendment could smash open Visa and Mastercard’s cozy duopoly on interchange fees. If this gets through the House, we're not just talking a minor tweak — this is potentially the most important development for processing fees in the last 20 years.

💳 Right now, credit card fees are the silent tax on every sale we make — eroding margins, inflating prices, and funding someone else’s yacht.

But if this amendment sticks? Big retailers will finally be able to shop around for cheaper processing networks. And here’s the kicker: smart ecommerce platforms (think Amazon, Shopify, even Walmart) will pass those savings down to sellers — or get undercut by the ones who do.

Amazon already has Amazon Pay. Shopify has Shop Pay. Everyone else might finally get a seat at the table.

🪙 And then there’s stablecoins.

Enter the GENIUS Act — the federal framework that could make it possible for merchants to issue store-backed digital coins, skipping Visa and Mastercard entirely. You could see stores offering their own coin systems — controlling the payment rail, reducing fees to near zero, and building their own rewards ecosystems without getting fleeced by the banks.

Think of it as:
➡️ Bye-bye to 2.9% + 30¢
➡️ Hello to real-time settlement and 0% fees

No, this won’t kill Shopify Payments or PayPal overnight. But it absolutely arms those platforms with the leverage to demand better rates or build entirely new rails that favor sellers.

Will big-box chains benefit first? Of course.

But if you think that means there’s nothing in it for you, you haven’t been paying attention.

I’m watching this closer than most. And you should be too.

Track the Legislation here. See the details of the GENIUS amendment here.​

🎭 Amazon's Secret Feedback Policy (AKA: The Theater of the Absurd)

So apparently… there’s a secret seller feedback removal policy.

No, seriously.

You know that classic policy we’ve all read? The one that says Amazon will remove feedback if it’s clearly a product review, or if the order was FBA and the complaint is fulfillment-related? Yeah, well, that’s still there—technically.

But now, brace yourself: if the review accuses your product of being counterfeit and you’re not brand registered, Amazon will deny the removal. Even if you’re a reseller with real invoices, selling an FBA order, and the review is clearly about the product, not you.

I pressed them on this. I quoted their own TOS. You know what I got?

Oh? Internal? As in... not disclosed anywhere to sellers? So how the hell are we supposed to comply with rules we don’t even know exist?

This is exactly the type of gaslighting sellers have to deal with daily. One negative review in 30 days against 107 positives, and they still won’t remove it—even when I prove it's a product complaint.

It's not just shady. It’s insulting to every legitimate seller out here trying to play by the rules.

Amazon’s feedback system is rigged, vague, and tilted toward buyer abuse. And if you’re not brand registered? Don’t expect justice.

Because as usual, the house always wins.

♻️ Share this with a fellow seller who still thinks Amazon’s feedback policies are fair and transparent.

So yeah… fireworks may be over, but if you're an Amazon seller, the whiplash never ends.

Between feedback farces, final sale hypocrisy, and a looming payment revolution — you’ve got to keep your head on a swivel. That's what I'm here for.

Until next week,
—Charles
🎤 Seller. Operator. Not your agency.

P.S. Got value? Forward this to a seller who’s still playing fair and wondering why they’re losing.

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