More than a decade after first offering loans to merchants who sell goods through its online marketplaces, the Amazon Lending division will cease underwriting its own loans to merchants, according to an email sent to some sellers that was viewed by Fortune.
Amazon spokesperson Deniz Sonmez confirmed the news in an email to Fortune.
“We regularly evaluate our programs and services, and have made the decision to discontinue term loans underwritten by Amazon for Amazon sellers in the U.S. and U.K.,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “This change will begin to take effect March 6, 2024.”
Sonmez couldn’t immediately comment on any regions where Amazon will continue to underwrite loans.
Amazon Lending will continue to service existing loans for sellers that the company has already underwritten, as well as those that have recently been offered to sellers. But no new loan offers will be made.
The spokesperson added that Amazon will still market financing solutions offered by other “trusted third-party providers with deep experience in lending and servicing financing programs.”
Last year, Business Insider reported that some economists working at Amazon had raised concerns about the level of defaults that the program was exposing Amazon to.
“The increased uncertainty of business repayment ability” by sellers “necessitates higher inspection of our on–balance sheet credit/lending products,” noted the document viewed by Business Insider.
But at the time, an Amazon spokesperson seemed to dismiss the internal concerns saying, “The document in question does not reflect the company’s position on the economy and where it’s headed … This document simply reflects the thoughts of some of our economists.”
Perhaps not.
Amazon had initially pulled back drastically on loan offers during the early days of pandemic, but eventually reversed course.
Amazon began offering loans of thousands of dollars to select U.S.-based sellers back in 2011, providing funds quicker than a typical bank might and automatically deducting repayments from a merchant’s Amazon account. Independent sellers are the invisible secret behind the massive selection on Amazon’s marketplace, accounting for more than 60% of all goods sold on Amazon for the first time ever in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Amazon generated $140 billion in revenue last year from fees it charges sellers for everything from listing products for sale, to handling storage and shipping of orders, to loans. Last week Fortune reported that many top Amazon sellers are furious about a new slate of fees that Amazon recently announced, requiring sellers to either start using an additional Amazon warehousing service or pay additional new fees.
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