eCommerce News Update: New Tariffs, Amazon Seller Rights, TikTok Shop Plus, and AI Shopping

This week’s Selling on Giants News and Updates examines how new tariffs, marketplace regulation, artificial intelligence, fulfillment costs, and platform loyalty programs are reshaping eCommerce heading into Q4.

The expected tariff relief did not arrive. Amazon and Walmart sellers are facing new landed-cost calculations, Congress is proposing stronger protections for suspended marketplace sellers, TikTok is testing its own Prime-style membership, and AI assistants are moving closer to selecting products and completing transactions.

For marketplace operators, the platforms are becoming more powerful, but they are also facing greater scrutiny over pricing, seller enforcement, advertising automation, and control of the customer relationship.

In this episode, Mr. Will covers:

New tariffs and Q4 landed costs

The temporary ten percent import surcharge expired, but new Section 301 tariffs of ten percent or twelve and a half percent took effect across imports from sixty trading partners.

Brands need to review country of origin, HTS classifications, product exemptions, customs entry dates, and the effect of higher duties on contribution margin before approving Q4 purchase orders, pricing, or promotions.

New tariffs on certain Canadian imports

Covered Canadian products are scheduled to face an additional fifty percent duty beginning August nineteenth. This does not apply to every Canadian product, but it reinforces that North American sourcing is not automatically protected from trade disruption.

The Online Sellers Bill of Rights

Proposed federal legislation would establish new standards for how dominant marketplaces notify, investigate, suspend, and withhold funds or inventory from third-party sellers.

The bill is not yet law, but it signals that seller suspensions, frozen funds, automated appeals, and marketplace due process are becoming national policy issues.

Amazon marketplace enforcement scrutiny

A Senate inquiry is reportedly examining allegations that intermediaries offered to bribe Amazon employees to reverse suspensions or provide marketplace advantages.

The allegations remain under investigation, but sellers should avoid anyone promising guaranteed reinstatement through internal Amazon contacts.

Amazon pricing and channel conflict

California’s ongoing case against Amazon raises questions about how Amazon’s pricing policies may influence prices across Walmart, Target, direct-to-consumer websites, and other retail channels.

Brands need centralized pricing governance because one discount can affect Featured Offer visibility, Vendor Central negotiations, wholesale relationships, and margin across every channel.

Amazon Business reaches sixty billion dollars

Amazon Business now generates sixty billion dollars in annualized gross sales and serves more than eleven million organizations.

Sellers should review business-only pricing, quantity discounts, recurring orders, bulk fulfillment, pallet delivery, and product content designed specifically for commercial buyers.

Amazon Ads expands automation

Amazon introduced new Brand Plus and Performance Plus features involving first-party audiences, AMC data, audio inventory, Prime Video signals, and automated Streaming TV buying.

The opportunity is stronger campaign optimization. The risk is allowing Amazon’s systems to make more decisions without understanding where budgets are being spent.

TikTok Shop Plus tests a Prime-style membership

TikTok is testing a paid U.S. membership that may include free shipping, coupons, and product discounts.

The unresolved seller question is who funds those benefits. Brands need to understand the effect on shipping costs, commissions, discounts, returns, and contribution margin before participating.

Facebook Marketplace launches a seller app

Meta introduced Seller, a dedicated application for frequent Facebook Marketplace sellers. The app includes bulk listings, inventory management, buyer messages, performance reporting, relisting, and AI-assisted listing creation.

FedEx announces holiday demand surcharges

FedEx released its 2026 peak-season fees, including increased charges for residential deliveries, expedited services, additional handling, oversized packages, and Ground Economy shipments.

DTC and merchant-fulfilled sellers should model Q4 shipping costs now rather than discovering in November that holiday orders are no longer profitable.

Shein feels the impact of tariff changes

Shein reported declining U.S. revenue and a quarterly loss as the end of duty-free de minimis treatment increased costs.

The company remains a major global competitor, but its results show that ultra-low-cost cross-border retail is losing part of its structural advantage.

Microsoft Copilot moves toward eCommerce checkout

A new agentic-commerce integration from ESW is designed to support product discovery, checkout, and payment through Microsoft Copilot.

AI shopping is moving from answering product questions toward becoming a transaction channel. Product titles, specifications, compatibility, availability, pricing, and structured catalog data will increasingly determine which products AI systems recommend.

The bigger takeaway:

Profitable growth is becoming more operationally demanding.

Brands need to understand landed cost, protect seller accounts, centralize pricing, monitor advertising automation, model holiday fulfillment expenses, and improve product data for both traditional search and AI-assisted shopping.

Follow Selling on Giants for weekly operator-level breakdowns on Amazon, Walmart, retail media, AI commerce, marketplace strategy, and what platform updates actually mean for sellers.

Subscribe to Selling on Giants for weekly insights that go beyond headlines and focus on what actually impacts your business.