When Amazon CEO Andy Jassy was asked about the impact of President Trump’s new sky-high tariffs recently in an interview on CNBC, he posited that the e-commerce giant’s vast network of sellers would try to “pass that cost on” to customers and said he would understand if they did so.
But when some brands and merchants have tried to do just that over the past two weeks, Amazon’s systems have penalized them, leading to plummeting sales, according to around a dozen sellers who spoke to Fortune this week.
These penalties have come in the form of the removal of “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now” buttons on their product pages, which the vast majority of Amazon shoppers use to make purchases. This is known as “losing the Buy Box” or “suppressing the Buy Box” in the lingo of the Amazon seller ecosystem, and it can be a death knell for a product—and, in turn, for merchants if such an item is among their main revenue drivers.
Historically, Amazon’s reasons for suppressing the Buy Box have ranged from protecting customers from price-gouging, to trying to pressure a seller or brand to lower their price on Amazon to match the seller’s pricing on their own website or a competing retailer’s shopping site. The latter strategy is a central point of contention in the Federal Trade Commission’s ongoing antitrust case against Amazon.
But according to the sellers who spoke to Fortune this week, the current penalties are being imposed even when a seller’s increased price on Amazon is the same as on their own website and any competitor sites, and when the seller is the brand owner of the product in question.
Anthony Preston, the owner of a wall sticker brand sold on Amazon called Wall Decals, told Fortune that his recent efforts to raise prices on his products by around $2 on Amazon, or around 5% to 10% on average, were penalized. Preston said his products, which are made in China, now cost him 25% more from the increased tariffs. He said he understands Amazon’s fears of price-gouging, “but it doesn’t really apply here.”
“This is [sellers] trying to keep their head above water,” he said.
The CEO of a home furnishings brand that sells $50 million to $100 million worth of items on Amazon annually said his company tried to raise its prices on Amazon by an average of 20% in recent days to combat skyrocketing import duty costs from President Trump’s China tariff attack, but lost the Buy Box on many of its listings as a result.
“It’s our product,” said the chief executive, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution from Amazon. “Punishing us for raising prices is overly controlling.”
Some sellers who spoke to Fortune said they were eventually able to push through some price increases after complaining to Amazon, but many others say they have been unsuccessful with their appeals.
Amazon spokesperson Jessica Martin did not directly address these sellers’ complaints, but said that product listings continue to be eligible to earn Buy Box placement when they are priced the same or lower than the same product on other websites.
To be sure, Amazon finds itself in a tricky position. Allowing sellers to raise prices as they see fit could allow some price-gougers free rein, while also risking shoppers directing their ire at Amazon over drastic price increases, whether done for valid reasons or not.
In his interview with CNBC, Amazon’s Jassy repeated several times that his company is doing everything in its power to keep prices “as low as possible.”
On the other hand, limiting price increases by sellers could eliminate the most straightforward and legal way for these business owners to survive the current tariff environment. Higher prices may also make it harder for U.S. merchants that import products from China to compete against China-based rivals, who also face higher tariffs in the U.S. under Trump, but enjoy lower labor costs and other advantages that have long given them a leg up.
While some Amazon brand owners who spoke to Fortune are contemplating moving manufacturing out of China to lower-tariff nations, it will take time. Others, as Fortune previously reported, say that isn’t an option because of the type of products they sell. And they added that they refuse to submit documents to the U.S. Customs Service that fraudulently undervalue their imports so they can pay lower tariffs, as some suppliers have suggested and which Fortune has exclusively reported on.
One of the issues for Amazon sellers is that it’s not entirely clear what level of price increase triggers Amazon’s systems. Amazon’s Fair Pricing Policy, for example, says customer trust is harmed when a seller sets “a price on a product or service that is significantly higher than recent prices offered on or off Amazon.” However, the policy does not define what “significantly higher” is.
Preston, the owner of Wall Decals, also helps other brands manage their presence on Amazon. He has recommended that clients try to slowly raise prices over a matter of weeks rather than all at once, and refrain from increasing prices on all of a brand’s product catalog on Amazon at the same time. He’s also encouraged some merchants to sell up to five products together in what are called “virtual bundles.” He’s found that strategy can sometimes let the sellers increase prices while getting around Amazon’s penalty system. Preston has recently used some of these same tactics to sell his own decals, to offset some of the rising costs from increased tariffs.
Still, he acknowledges, this may not be enough to save Amazon sellers who are getting hit with duty bills that they simply can’t absorb with their current prices.
“If Amazon is going to keep the ecosystem alive, they are going to have to do something,” he said.
Are you a current or former Amazon employee or seller with thoughts on this topic or a tip to share? Contact Jason Del Rey at jason.delrey@fortune.com, jasondelrey@protonmail.com, or through messaging apps Signal and WhatsApp at 917-655-4267. You can also contact him on LinkedIn or at @delrey on X, @jdelrey on Threads, and on Bluesky.
