# The State of Amazon Wholesale, Q3 2026

What the supplier price lists of 782 verified wholesale sellers show about prices, margins, competition and Amazon. Amazon.com (US marketplace), July 2025 – August 2026.

This report uses 13.5 million supplier lines that 782 verified wholesale sellers uploaded and scanned. We publish it free, from anonymized Seller Assistant data. Wholesale sellers can use it to compare how they source products with the market.

By Oleg Kuzmenkov, Founder and CEO, Seller Assistant. Published 2026-09-28. Web page: https://www.sellerassistant.app/research/state-of-wholesale (this edition: https://www.sellerassistant.app/research/state-of-wholesale/2026-q3). Dataset (JSON): https://www.sellerassistant.app/research/state-of-wholesale/2026-q3/cost_curve.json.

## If you read nothing else

**A 10% supplier discount gives you about 29% more leads.** Of every 1,000 supplier lines, about 41 are real leads. When a supplier changes a price, the change is usually an increase. The usual increase removes about 24% of your leads.

**Prices changed on 3 out of 4 products this year, and slightly more prices increased than decreased.** On the products that you already sell, the margin of the median product changed little, and the average decreased by about 0.7 points. Four in ten supplier quotes stayed the same to the cent. When a supplier did change a price, **about 2 out of 3 times it was an increase, and the usual increase was about +10%**. Amazon's share of the sale price did not increase after two fee increases, and Amazon left thousands of listings that it held before. Out of every **1,000 lines that you upload** from supplier price lists, only **about 41 are real leads**. A lead has an Amazon listing that you can check, and it gives 20% ROI or more. The Amazon listing also sells at least 5 units a month (estimated), and Amazon does not have the Buy Box. (Home & Kitchen: about 43 leads per 1,000 lines that find an Amazon match, against 55 for all categories on that basis.) Because leads are few, the supplier cost has a large effect on them. **A 10% volume discount gives you about 29% more leads (40.8 → 52.7 per 1,000 lines). A usual +10% increase removes about 24% of them (40.8 → 31.2).** Select the right lines first. Then negotiate the cost.

## The Scoreboard: the eleven questions at a glance

| The question | The answer | vs. last year | What to do |
| --- | --- | :---: | --- |
| How many of 1,000 supplier lines are real leads? | About 41. This is about 8 or 9 of every 100 lines that have a supplier cost and a Buy Box price. Home & Kitchen: 43 per 1,000 matched lines (all categories: 55). | New | Compare supplier lists by their leads per 1,000 lines. |
| How did Amazon selling prices change? | Most of them moved. 42% of products increased by more than 2%, 33% decreased, and about a quarter stayed the same. | Up | Check your prices again. |
| Did margins decrease? | Yes, but only a little. For the median repeat product, the margin decreased by less than a tenth of a point. On average, it decreased by about 0.7 points. | Flat | Record the margin that you made on each sale. |
| Do suppliers charge more than a year ago? | Yes, usually. 2 of 3 price changes are increases. The usual increase is about +10%. | Up | Check your leads again before each reorder. A usual increase removes about a quarter of them. |
| Is it worth the effort to negotiate with suppliers? | Yes. A 10% volume discount gives you about 29% more leads (40.8 → 52.7 per 1,000 lines). A usual +10% increase removes about 24% of them (40.8 → 31.2). | New | Negotiate volume discounts. Challenge each price increase. |
| Did Amazon's 2026 fee increases take more of the sale price? | No. For the median product, Amazon's share of the sale price did not increase. | Flat | Plan for Amazon to keep about 40% of the sale price. |
| How many sellers compete for a listing? | Few. The median listing has 3 offers, and the number of sellers did not increase. But one seller locks about half of the listings that we can measure. | Flat | Before you buy, find which seller wins the Buy Box. |
| Does Amazon compete with you more than a year ago? | No, a little less. Amazon left about 1 in 80 repeat listings (net). | Better | If you rejected a product because Amazon sold on it, scan it again. |
| Do products sell more slowly than a year ago? | Yes, a little, in most categories. Estimated sales decreased by about 2%. | Slightly down | Base each order on the current sales of the product. |
| Is last year's catalog still useful? | Mostly not. 63% of the items this year are new. | New | Scan new catalogs immediately when they arrive. |
| How many products in supplier price lists have an IP risk? | About 3 in 10. Their brand has a complaint history in the shared complaint pool. | New | Check the brand before you order. |

_**New**: this is the first measurement, so there is no earlier value to compare._

## 1. The sourcing funnel: How many of 1,000 supplier lines are real leads?

**About 41.** Most lines are removed early. They have no Amazon match, they cannot be checked, or they give no profit. After the ROI checks, the sales check removes the most lines: half of the lines with 20% ROI or more sell fewer than 5 units a month.

**About 41 of every 1,000 lines that you upload from a supplier's price list are real leads.** A **line** is one row of the price list of the supplier, with one UPC. A **lead** is a line that you would buy, and it passes four checks. First, it has an Amazon listing that you can check: the Amazon fees are known, and it is not an Amazon multipack listing. Also, the Amazon title does not look like a set.

Second, the listing gives at least **20% ROI** on the Buy Box price after the Amazon fees, but not more than **200%**. (An ROI that high is almost always a pack-size or price error.) Third, the Amazon listing **sells at least 5 units a month** (estimated). This is the sales of the whole listing. We do not divide it between the competing sellers, so your own share is smaller. Fourth, **Amazon does not hold the Buy Box**.

One supplier line often matches several Amazon listings (a single, a 2-pack, a 6-pack). Because of this, 1,000 lines become about 1,300 listings after the match step. A line counts as a lead if **any one** of its listings is a lead.

Of 1,000 lines: **748 find an Amazon match**, 482 have a supplier cost and a Buy Box price, and **363 are checkable**. Of these, 153 are profitable, 100 have 20% ROI or more, 50 of those also pass the sales check, and **41 are leads**. That is about 8.5 of every 100 lines with a cost and a Buy Box price.

**Home & Kitchen is below average: about 43 leads per 1,000 matched lines, against 55 for all categories.** The median Home & Kitchen seller has 47. Home & Kitchen also has one of the highest rates of implausible ROI in the large categories. **About 53 of every 1,000 matched Home & Kitchen lines show an ROI above 200% on each listing that we can check.** This is almost twice the overall rate (29), and these lines have pack-size and price errors.

For lines with 20% ROI or more, the **sales** check removes the most lines. Half of these lines have no listing that sells 5 units a month. The exact sales limit has a small effect: 1 a month gives 48 leads per 1,000 lines, and 10 a month gives 39.

The shelf-margin table below answers an easier question. It shows the share of checkable, plausible items with any positive margin (47% in Home & Kitchen), without regard to sales or the Buy Box. It is not a lead count. In each category, the difference between the best and the worst sellers is much larger than the difference between categories. How you select products is more important than which category you select.

### What it means

**Conclusion: expect about 41 real leads per 1,000 supplier lines that you upload. This is about 8 or 9 of every 100 lines with a supplier cost and a Buy Box price. Leads are few, and the supplier cost has a large effect on them. A 10% volume discount gives you about 29% more leads (40.8 → 52.7 per 1,000 lines; see section 3).**

- **Compare supplier lists by their leads per 1,000 lines.** About 40 leads per 1,000 uploaded lines is usual. If a list gives much fewer leads, examine the supplier first.
- **Count leads per supplier line.** One UPC often matches the single, a 2-pack and a 6-pack on Amazon. You need one good listing per supplier line. The pack listings rarely match the unit that your supplier quoted.
- **Check sales before ROI.** Half of the lines with 20% ROI or more have no listing that sells 5 units a month. Filter on sales first.
- **Until you check it, consider each ROI above 200% a data error.** Possible causes: case price against unit price, pack size, or an incorrect match. In Home & Kitchen, this occurs on about 53 of every 1,000 matched lines.
- **Before you reject a list, ask the supplier for a volume discount.** A 10% decrease in cost gives about 29% more leads.
- Do not change categories because of the tables below. The difference in your category is larger than the difference between categories.

### The data

**The lead funnel: the result for 1,000 supplier lines that you upload.** Each step keeps only the lines that passed the step above it. The expansion row is different: it counts the Amazon listings that those lines become.

| Per 1,000 supplier lines uploaded | Recurring scanners (headline) | All verified sellers (scope check) |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| **Supplier lines uploaded** | **1,000** | **1,000** |
| Amazon listings after matching: one supplier line often matches several Amazon listings (a single, a 2-pack, a 6-pack); a line with no match counts once | 1,301 | 1,323 |
| Lines matched to at least one Amazon listing | 748 (1.40 listings each) | 697 (1.46 listings each) |
| Lines with a supplier cost and a Buy Box price ("priced") | 482 | 440 |
| **Checkable**: a listing with Amazon fees known, not an Amazon multipack listing, title does not look like a set | **363** | 324 |
| Set aside: checkable, but every checkable listing shows ROI above 200% (likely pack or price error) | 22 | 14 |
| Profitable (a listing with ROI above 0%, up to 200%) | 153 | 124 |
| ROI 20% or more | 100 | 80 |
| …and the listing sells 5+ units a month (estimated) | 50 | 43 |
| **…and Amazon is not on the Buy Box = LEAD** | **40.8** | **33.9** |
| Leads per 100 priced lines | 8.5 | 7.7 |
| Median seller (leads per 1,000 lines) | 39.0 | n/a |
| Supplier lines / sellers | 4.6M / 100 | 13.5M / 782 |

_Method note: a supplier line = one row of an uploaded price list, with its UPC/EAN. If the same seller uploads a line again in the same quarter, it counts once. Lines with no Amazon match stay in the denominator. A line passes a step if **any** of its Amazon listings passes it. Headline = the recurring sellers (the 100 of the 108 that have lines in the period). The right column shows the funnel again for all 782 verified sellers with lines. ROI = (Buy Box price − supplier cost − referral fee − FBA fee) / supplier cost, per listing. It uses Amazon costs only, before prep and freight. "Sells" uses the analyzer estimate of the monthly units of the whole listing. Sales-limit sensitivity: 1 a month → 48.2 leads per 1,000 lines, 5 → 40.8, 10 → 38.6. Uncategorized, Books, CDs & Vinyl and Everything Else lines (about 14% of lines) have no sales estimate. The estimate is zero on almost all of them. Because of this data gap, those groups show almost no leads. If you remove them, the headline is 47.3 leads per 1,000 lines (9.6 per 100 priced lines). Cross-check: the upload counters of the lists give a sum of 7.51M lines for these sellers. The 7.13M analyzed rows become 4.63M lines when a UPC that a seller repeats in a quarter counts once. We do not include 316,187 rows that the analyzer did not process._

**Home & Kitchen against all categories, per 1,000 lines that found an Amazon match.** A line with no match has no category. The category funnels start at the matched step.

| Per 1,000 matched lines | All categories | Home & Kitchen |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Matched lines | 1,000 (1.40 listings each) | 1,000 (1.29 listings each) |
| Priced | 644 | 636 |
| **Checkable** | **485** | **479** |
| Set aside: ROI above 200% on every checkable listing | 29 | **53** |
| Profitable | 205 | 204 |
| ROI 20% or more | 133 | 147 |
| …and sells 5+ a month | 67 | 57 |
| **LEAD** | **54.5** | **43.3** |
| Leads per 100 priced lines | 8.5 | 6.8 |
| Median seller (per 1,000 matched lines) | n/a | 47.0 |
| Matched lines / sellers | 3.46M / 100 | 110,476 / 89 |

_Method note: the category of a line is the category of its best listing, which is the listing that passes the most funnel steps. Home & Kitchen passes the ROI limit more often than average. But it loses more lines to the 200% error flag and to the sales check._

**Leads by category.** Per 1,000 matched lines, sorted by the number of matched lines.

| Category | Sellers | Matched lines | Listings per line | Checkable (per 1,000) | Leads per 1,000 matched lines | Leads per 100 priced lines | Median seller (per 1,000) |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Grocery & Gourmet Food | 87 | 399,116 | 1.62 | 365 | 71.6 | 11.3 | 64.4 |
| Beauty & Personal Care | 92 | 276,663 | 1.53 | 562 | **125.1** | 17.7 | 92.8 |
| Tools & Home Improvement | 91 | 264,804 | 1.63 | 635 | 31.0 | 3.9 | 45.3 |
| Pet Supplies | 85 | 249,435 | 1.36 | 519 | 76.1 | 11.4 | 51.2 |
| Toys & Games | 89 | 223,466 | 1.09 | 692 | 70.6 | 9.3 | 61.3 |
| Sports & Outdoors | 93 | 187,660 | 1.12 | 662 | 82.7 | 11.3 | 52.0 |
| Arts, Crafts & Sewing | 85 | 183,323 | 1.25 | 625 | 84.8 | 11.6 | 46.1 |
| Health & Household | 92 | 181,803 | 1.74 | 435 | 55.4 | 7.8 | 65.6 |
| Patio, Lawn & Garden | 94 | 172,059 | 1.34 | 558 | 42.2 | 6.2 | 51.4 |
| Industrial & Scientific | 93 | 129,836 | 1.78 | 543 | 32.5 | 4.1 | 52.6 |
| **Home & Kitchen** | **89** | **110,476** | **1.29** | **479** | **43.3** | **6.8** | **47.0** |
| Office Products | 88 | 107,538 | 1.66 | 385 | 23.9 | 4.5 | 43.1 |
| Kitchen & Dining | 89 | 75,798 | 1.24 | 508 | **117.6** | 18.4 | **150.9** |
| Automotive | 87 | 67,682 | 1.32 | 582 | 44.5 | 6.1 | 68.1 |
| Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry | 91 | 65,731 | 1.07 | 608 | **110.0** | 16.2 | 73.0 |
| Electronics | 81 | 36,926 | 1.16 | 539 | 22.5 | 3.5 | 14.9 |
| Musical Instruments | 71 | 28,413 | 1.08 | 568 | 29.8 | 4.3 | 36.1 |
| Baby | 83 | 22,140 | 1.23 | 291 | 36.1 | 7.8 | 37.4 |
| Books | 71 | 21,203 | 1.14 | 755 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Video Games | 62 | 17,638 | 1.04 | 707 | 39.6 | 5.4 | 37.0 |

_Method note: recurring sellers, one line per seller × UPC × quarter. "Median seller" = the median of the leads per 1,000 matched lines of each seller, for sellers with ≥50 lines in the category (5+ sellers). Pooled rates give more weight to the largest sellers. In Beauty, the pooled 125 is much higher than the 93 of the median seller. In Tools, the median seller (45) is higher than the pooled rate (31). Books is n/a because it has no sales estimate (the estimate is zero on almost all Books lines). So we cannot measure the "sells" step there. Grocery and Health lose the most lines at the checkable step (365 and 435 per 1,000 matched lines, against 485 overall). Most of these lines are Amazon multipack listings (see the note at the end of this section). The table does not show Appliances, Movies & TV, Music, Cell Phones & Accessories, Computers & Accessories and Handmade Products (too few lines to publish). It also does not show CDs & Vinyl and Everything Else (no sales estimate)._

**Shelf margin and hit rates (secondary).** Hit rates = the share of analyzed items that pass each limit on the seller's own settings, for the median seller. "Shelf margin" = (Buy Box price − product cost − referral fee − FBA fee) / price. The column shows the median item of the median seller. There is one observation per seller × product × quarter. No row comes from fewer than 5 sellers.

| Category | Sellers | Items analyzed | Break-even hit rate | Investable (ROI ≥ 20%) | Median shelf margin | Break-even p25–p75 |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | --- |
| Tools & Home Improvement | 51 | 201,153 | 49.1% | 30.1% | +2.0% | 26.8% – 59.2% |
| Grocery & Gourmet Food | 53 | 191,366 | 39.0% | 27.3% | −3.7% | 24.4% – 53.3% |
| Beauty & Personal Care | 61 | 184,859 | 46.4% | 27.3% | +0.4% | 35.7% – 63.7% |
| Toys & Games | 49 | 173,424 | 38.2% | 24.0% | −5.7% | 20.1% – 62.7% |
| Pet Supplies | 50 | 158,314 | 37.1% | 22.9% | −8.0% | 22.3% – 49.5% |
| Sports & Outdoors | 54 | 134,925 | 50.8% | 31.9% | 0.0% | 34.5% – 71.6% |
| Arts, Crafts & Sewing | 35 | 124,258 | 55.3% | 33.6% | +3.3% | 37.1% – 68.5% |
| Patio, Lawn & Garden | 47 | 99,960 | 41.9% | 23.9% | −2.4% | 22.7% – 55.8% |
| Health & Household | 64 | 97,677 | 38.9% | 21.1% | −3.9% | 25.3% – 56.6% |
| Industrial & Scientific | 43 | 78,623 | 50.5% | 33.3% | +2.0% | 31.5% – 56.6% |
| Home & Kitchen | 48 | 55,953 | 48.5% | 33.6% | +0.2% | 32.4% – 65.7% |
| Office Products | 38 | 50,577 | 48.0% | 33.1% | +0.3% | 27.9% – 61.3% |
| Kitchen & Dining | 53 | 42,092 | 52.3% | 32.1% | +3.2% | 37.3% – 70.4% |
| Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry | 51 | 41,313 | 60.3% | 37.1% | **+7.1%** | 41.2% – 77.8% |
| Automotive | 40 | 38,084 | 49.4% | 32.0% | +5.2% | 30.4% – 69.7% |
| Electronics | 26 | 20,257 | 43.9% | 23.5% | −2.4% | 31.6% – 63.9% |
| Musical Instruments | 18 | 17,648 | **61.3%** | 34.2% | +6.3% | 43.6% – 81.8% |
| Books | 16 | 15,462 | 21.2% | 9.3% | **−15.6%** | 5.5% – 28.5% |
| Video Games | 8 | 14,286 | 20.8% | 10.0% | −8.1% | 16.3% – 24.3% |
| Baby | 35 | 7,091 | 24.6% | 13.9% | **−12.1%** | 17.3% – 49.6% |
| Computers & Accessories | 5 | 5,366 | 16.9% | 3.5% | **−22.9%** | 6.9% – 17.5% |
| Cell Phones & Accessories | 7 | 1,209 | 47.2% | 18.0% | −1.7% | 24.6% – 63.2% |
| Music | 5 | 845 | 27.0% | 21.7% | −20.4% | 0.0% – 31.0% |

_Method note: the source is the **108 recurring sellers** (≥3 real price lists over ≥30 days). A seller counts in a category when the seller has ≥50 items there, and the Sellers column counts these sellers. Plausibility filters apply: we remove items with an ROI above 200% or an Amazon title that looks like a set. These are almost always pack or price errors. A supplier case quantity does not remove an item now (see the note below), so this table has more items than the last edition. We calculate the median shelf margin item-first (the median item of each seller, then the median seller). A small group of items with extreme losses (~5% are below −100%) cannot change the value much. Of the 1.56M priced items in this table, 43.8% have a positive shelf margin (Home & Kitchen 46.6%), and the median item is at −4.3%. Shelf margin is before prep, freight and tax. The p25–p75 column shows the range of results for sellers in the same category._

Data volume in the report, by quarter (all verified lists, with a limit per seller):

| Quarter | Active sellers | Lines uploaded | Items analyzed |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| 2025-Q3 | 175 | 2,488,014 | 2,469,843 |
| 2025-Q4 | 145 | 2,145,816 | 1,992,112 |
| 2026-Q1 | 206 | 3,613,420 | 3,552,005 |
| 2026-Q2 | 282 | 4,161,758 | 3,073,630 |
| 2026-Q3 (partial) | 150 | 1,637,452 | 1,884,959 |

_Method note: this table counts the values from the lists (analyzer upload counters) before we combine repeated supplier lines. Amazon multipack listings (Amazon pack quantity above 1; about 19% of analyzed rows; 25% in Grocery, 24% in Beauty, 23% in Health) are not checkable. The unit cost and the pack price are for different units, so these listings are never leads and are not in the shelf-margin table. **New this edition:** we keep supplier lines with a case quantity above 1, which shows how the supplier sells (by the carton, minimum order). The quoted cost is per unit and the ROI spread and profit rate equal those of single units, so the old exclusion removed real leads. The category tables do not include uncategorized supplier lines (about 18% of matched lines)._

## 2. Price churn: How did Amazon selling prices change?

**Most of them moved. 42% of products increased by more than 2%, 33% decreased, and about a quarter stayed the same.** Expect prices to change.

**Most of them moved. Three out of four products changed price this year, and slightly more prices increased than decreased.** The price in this section is the Buy Box price: the price that a shopper pays on Amazon, whoever wins the Buy Box. It is not the supplier cost (section 3), and it is not the sold price. We compare the average Buy Box price of the same repeat products in the two periods.

The median price change is about 0% because the increases and the decreases cancel. The spread shows what occurred: **42% of products had a price increase** (>2%), **33% had a decrease**, and only a quarter did not change. Nearly 4 in 10 changed by more than 10%. On average, the price of a product increased by about **+2.4%**.

### What it means

**Conclusion: prices changed all year, so a price that you set once is soon out of date. Check the prices of your products regularly.**

- **Check your prices regularly.** 3 out of 4 products changed price this year.
- When you calculate future margins, include price changes. 4 in 10 products will change by a double-digit percentage in a year.

### The data

Same-product comparison: sellers in our data scanned the same 504,282 products in H2-2025 and in 2026. So a different catalog mix cannot cause a false result:

| Price movement (H2-2025 → 2026) | Share of repeat products |
| --- | ---: |
| Repriced **up** more than 2% | **41.6%** |
| Repriced **down** more than 2% | **33.2%** |
| Stayed within ±2% | 25.2% |
| Moved up more than 10% | 23.1% |
| Moved down more than 10% | 16.0% |
| **Average price change** | **+2.4%** |
| Median price change | 0.0% |

_Method note: the price is the Amazon Buy Box price. This is the price that a shopper pays on Amazon, whoever wins the Buy Box. It is not the supplier cost and not the sold price. For each repeat product, we calculate the average Buy Box price over its scans in each period. The average change does not include 5,356 pairs (1.1%) with a price change of more than ±100%. Most of these are listing errors that would otherwise control the number alone. In every published category, 35–48% of products had a price increase and 26–42% had a decrease. Toys & Games has the most price changes (47.5% increased / 34.8% decreased). Health & Household is the most stable (32.7% unchanged)._

## 3. The margin squeeze: Do suppliers charge more than a year ago?

**Yes, usually. 2 of 3 price changes are increases, and the usual increase is about +10%.** **Margins changed only a little:** −0.08 points for the median product and −0.7 points on average. Where supplier costs increased most, margins decreased by up to 6.1 points (Home & Kitchen).

**Yes, usually. When a supplier changed a price, about 2 out of 3 changes were increases, with a median of about +10%** (median decrease: −10%).

We compared the same seller who bought the same product one year apart. **Four in ten quotes were identical to the cent.** Many of those are price lists that someone uploaded again. They do not show new supplier prices, and they hold the median cost change at 0.0%. Across all repeat pairs, supplier costs increased by about **+1.7% on average**.

**For the median product, margins almost did not change, and on average they decreased by about 0.7 points.** Margins changed in both directions: 45% of products lost more than a point of margin, and 43% gained more than a point. The net result is a small decrease: **−0.08 points** for the median product and **−0.7 points** on average.

In some categories, even the median cost increased by a large amount (Clothing +8%, Musical Instruments +5.5%, Home & Kitchen +5%, Kitchen & Dining +5%). In these categories, the sale prices increased little. **The seller paid for most of the increase** and lost 1–6 points of margin (Home & Kitchen −6.1, Clothing −5.9).

Supplier cost is important because there are few leads (about 41 per 1,000 supplier lines, section 1). Many leads are slightly above the 20% ROI limit. **A 10% volume discount increases leads from 40.8 to 52.7 per 1,000 supplier lines (about 29% more). A median cost increase of +10% decreases them to 31.2 (about 24% fewer).** The change is smaller in Home & Kitchen. Per 1,000 matched supplier lines, a discount gives 43.3 → 52.5 (+21%), and a median increase gives 43.3 → 35.1 (−19%).

### What it means

**Conclusion: the median supplier cost increase (+10%) removes about 24% of your leads, and a 10% volume discount gives you about 29% more. Negotiation with the suppliers that you have is as valuable as a search for new catalogs.**

- **Compare each supplier line in a new quote with the same supplier line in the last quote.** An unchanged quote can be an old price list that someone uploaded again. Make sure that the price is current.
- **If a quote changed, expect a cost increase.** 2 of 3 changed quotes increased, and the median increase was about +10%. A median increase removes about a quarter of your leads. Examine your leads again before every reorder and before every new purchase.
- **In 2026, supplier prices had more effect on margins than Amazon did.** Ask for volume prices (10% off gives about 29% more leads). Challenge every cost increase.
- Set minimum prices in your repricer, so that your margin cannot decrease between reorders without your knowledge.

### The data

**The effect of a supplier discount or cost increase on your leads.** The table shows leads per 1,000 supplier lines at a changed supplier cost. All other values stay the same (Amazon fees and Buy Box price). For more context, the table also shows the supplier lines with a profitable listing:

| Supplier cost | Leads per 1,000 supplier lines | vs. today | Home & Kitchen (per 1,000 matched lines) | Lines profitable per 1,000 (secondary) |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| 10% volume discount | **52.7** | **+29%** | 52.5 (+21%) | 180 |
| 5% volume discount | 46.5 | +14% | 47.5 (+9%) | 167 |
| **Today** | **40.8** | n/a | 43.3 | 153 |
| 5% increase | 35.6 | −13% | 38.8 (−10%) | 140 |
| Usual increase (+10%) | **31.2** | **−24%** | 35.1 (−19%) | 127 |

_Method note: the values are leads per 1,000 of the 4.6 million supplier lines from the recurring sellers (the section 1 funnel). We changed the supplier cost by a percentage and kept all other values the same. At a changed cost, a supplier line counts only if at least one of its listings passes every lead check (ROI between 20% and 200%). We calculated each listing again at each cost level, so each number is calculated from the data at that cost level. The median cost increase in this edition is +10.4%, and at +11% the count is 30.4 per 1,000 supplier lines. "Lines profitable" = supplier lines with a checkable listing at an ROI above 0% and up to 200% (a view of the shelf only)._

By category: the categories where discounts change the number of leads most (leads per 1,000 matched supplier lines):

| Category | 10% discount | Today | Usual increase (+10%) |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Grocery & Gourmet Food | 88.5 | 71.6 | 57.7 |
| Beauty & Personal Care | 155.8 | 125.1 | 102.0 |
| Tools & Home Improvement | 44.1 | 31.0 | 22.3 |
| Pet Supplies | 102.8 | 76.1 | 52.7 |
| Toys & Games | 95.3 | 70.6 | 51.6 |
| **Sports & Outdoors** | **117.2** | 82.7 | 57.2 |
| Arts, Crafts & Sewing | 102.0 | 84.8 | 70.9 |
| Health & Household | 76.5 | 55.4 | **37.4** |
| Patio, Lawn & Garden | 57.1 | 42.2 | 31.2 |
| Industrial & Scientific | 40.9 | 32.5 | 26.6 |
| **Home & Kitchen** | **52.5** | **43.3** | **35.1** |
| Office Products | 29.8 | 23.9 | 19.0 |
| Kitchen & Dining | 138.7 | 117.6 | 94.2 |
| Automotive | 60.1 | 44.5 | 33.0 |
| Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry | 129.1 | 110.0 | 83.9 |
| **Electronics** | **33.0** | 22.5 | **14.1** |
| **Musical Instruments** | **43.0** | 29.8 | **18.6** |
| **Video Games** | **65.7** | 39.6 | **26.1** |
| Baby | 45.1 | 36.1 | 28.5 |

_Method note: the values include all supplier lines of the recurring sellers (every seller with supplier lines in a category counts). The category of a supplier line is the category of its best listing. A 10% discount has the largest effect in Video Games (+66% leads), Electronics (+47%), Musical Instruments (+44%), and Tools and Sports (+42% each). A median cost increase has the largest effect in Musical Instruments and Electronics (−38% each), Video Games (−34%) and Health & Household (−32%). The table does not include Books, because it has no sales estimate (section 1). The estimate is zero on almost all of its supplier lines._

Same-buyer-same-product panel: 59,828 (seller, product) pairs from the 16 sellers that were active in both periods. The churn table below uses the 59,577 pairs from 15 sellers that stay after we removed implausible cost changes. **This panel is small: use the category rows only as an indication of direction**, and use the ALL row as the main result.

**Supplier-cost churn: what occurs when the quote changes.** "Repriced" = the cost changed by more than ±2%.

| Category | Pairs | Quote identical | Up >2% | Down >2% | Up >10% | Average cost Δ | Raises among repriced | Median raise | Median cut |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| **ALL (overall)** | **59,577** | **40.3%** | **26.9%** | **14.2%** | **13.7%** | **+1.7%** | **65.5%** | **+10.4%** | **−10.0%** |
| Tools & Home Improvement | 12,227 | 39.9% | 19.2% | 10.5% | 6.5% | +0.1% | 64.7% | +6.6% | −10.0% |
| Grocery & Gourmet Food | 5,888 | 25.3% | 33.8% | 23.3% | 19.9% | +0.3% | 59.2% | +12.1% | −9.2% |
| Industrial & Scientific | 5,473 | 42.2% | 14.5% | 10.1% | 4.0% | +0.1% | 58.9% | +4.5% | −9.0% |
| Arts, Crafts & Sewing | 4,342 | 75.0% | 15.8% | 7.7% | 8.5% | +0.6% | 67.4% | +12.2% | −36.4% |
| Sports & Outdoors | 3,875 | 65.4% | 17.0% | 11.7% | 6.5% | −0.3% | 59.2% | +6.7% | −14.5% |
| Beauty & Personal Care | 3,066 | 19.8% | 38.0% | 25.6% | 10.4% | −1.1% | 59.8% | +4.7% | −11.5% |
| Health & Household | 2,886 | 30.1% | 32.7% | 21.1% | 8.0% | −0.6% | 60.8% | +4.8% | −10.0% |
| Home & Kitchen | 2,391 | 31.9% | **53.3%** | 7.4% | 43.3% | **+13.0%** | 87.9% | **+35.1%** | −10.1% |
| Patio, Lawn & Garden | 2,190 | 33.8% | 15.4% | 23.5% | 9.8% | +0.1% | 39.6% | +11.1% | −5.5% |
| Kitchen & Dining | 2,141 | 20.2% | **54.1%** | 16.0% | 36.3% | **+7.1%** | 77.2% | **+23.5%** | −17.1% |
| Office Products | 1,831 | 62.9% | 16.9% | 14.2% | 8.0% | −0.6% | 54.4% | +9.0% | −20.4% |
| Toys & Games | 1,053 | 36.9% | 30.3% | 15.0% | 10.3% | +0.7% | 66.9% | +7.4% | −9.1% |
| Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry | 942 | 20.8% | **59.1%** | 15.5% | 48.5% | **+12.6%** | 79.2% | **+23.6%** | −12.7% |
| Musical Instruments | 909 | 3.5% | 58.6% | 30.4% | 32.3% | +9.2% | 65.9% | +12.5% | −5.4% |
| Automotive | 851 | 44.8% | 14.1% | 6.6% | 6.7% | +0.4% | 68.2% | +8.3% | −10.0% |
| Pet Supplies | 760 | 21.5% | 40.8% | 10.4% | 20.9% | +3.0% | 79.7% | +10.3% | −10.1% |

_Method note: these costs are the prices quoted in the price lists (**quoted price-list costs**). They do not include discounts that sellers negotiated on invoices. An identical quote can come from an old price list that someone uploaded again. It does not always mean that the supplier kept its price. This limit has an effect in two directions. The true share of frozen prices is probably below 40%. The true price-change behavior is probably nearer to the "repriced" columns. Plausibility filters remove a pair if its Amazon title looks like a set, or if its ROI is above 200% in one of the periods. We removed 251 pairs with implausible cost changes (below −90% or above +500%) as data errors, so 59,577 of 59,828 pairs stay. "Average cost Δ" does not include the few quotes that increased to more than double, so a small number of extreme quotes cannot control it. The medians do not change. **Increases are more frequent, but not for all sellers:** most of the six sellers with the most repriced quotes had more increases than decreases. The result does not depend on the largest seller: without that seller, 72% of the other changes were increases. One supplier does not cause the 2-in-3 result._

We keep the four-medians view (below) for continuity. The identical quotes above hold its 0.0% cells in place, so these cells do not show that the market kept its prices. We calculated all four medians on identical pairs.

| Category | Pairs | Sellers | Supplier cost Δ | Selling price Δ | Amazon's cut Δ (pts) | Shelf margin Δ (pts) |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| **ALL (overall)** | **59,828** | **16** | **0.0%** | **0.0%** | **−0.29** | **−0.08** |
| Tools & Home Improvement | 12,233 | 11 | 0.0% | 0.0% | −0.30 | −0.09 |
| Grocery & Gourmet Food | 6,009 | 10 | 0.0% | 0.0% | −0.01 | −1.11 |
| Industrial & Scientific | 5,478 | 9 | 0.0% | −0.6% | −0.38 | −0.39 |
| Arts, Crafts & Sewing | 4,345 | 10 | 0.0% | +1.4% | −0.64 | +0.95 |
| Sports & Outdoors | 3,883 | 12 | 0.0% | 0.0% | −0.13 | +0.55 |
| Beauty & Personal Care | 3,087 | 12 | 0.0% | 0.0% | −0.73 | +1.68 |
| Health & Household | 2,901 | 11 | 0.0% | 0.0% | −0.62 | +1.06 |
| Home & Kitchen | 2,400 | 10 | **+5.2%** | 0.0% | −0.08 | **−6.14** |
| Patio, Lawn & Garden | 2,191 | 10 | 0.0% | 0.0% | −0.69 | +0.98 |
| Kitchen & Dining | 2,149 | 10 | **+5.1%** | 0.0% | −0.53 | **−1.11** |
| Office Products | 1,837 | 10 | 0.0% | 0.0% | +0.04 | −0.39 |
| Toys & Games | 1,061 | 9 | 0.0% | 0.0% | −0.47 | +0.57 |
| Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry | 945 | 10 | **+8.1%** | +0.2% | −0.17 | **−5.89** |
| Musical Instruments | 909 | 5 | **+5.5%** | +2.5% | +0.60 | **−3.48** |
| Automotive | 854 | 9 | 0.0% | 0.0% | −0.50 | +0.45 |
| Pet Supplies | 761 | 12 | +0.4% | 0.0% | 0.00 | −1.76 |

_Method note: each category where even the median cost increased shows a margin decrease (rows in bold). To see how much changed below the flat medians, read the churn table above. The almost identical +5% in Home & Kitchen and Kitchen & Dining can come from the same suppliers, with price changes in adjacent categories. The panel is small, so use the category rows only as an indication of direction._

## 4. Amazon's cut: Did Amazon's 2026 fee increases take more of the sale price?

**No. For the median product, Amazon's share stayed at about 40% of the sale price.** Only Books and Video Games became more expensive.

**No. For the median product, Amazon's cut did not change after two fee events** (the Jan 15 fee schedule change and the Apr 17 fuel surcharge). For the same products, the median of Amazon's cut changed by **0.3 points or less in 18 of the 20 categories in the table**. The increases occurred in media: **Books +1.2 pts, Video Games +0.8 pts**. The level is more important than the change: Amazon takes about **40% of the sale price** (26.7%–46.6% by category). This occurs before you pay for the product.

### What it means

**Conclusion: Amazon's fees took about the same share as last year. Set your prices for a cut of about 40%. Media is the exception: there, Amazon's cut increased.**

- Set your prices for an Amazon cut of about 40% of the sale price.
- In Books and Video Games, calculate your margins again. Those categories became more expensive this year.

### The data

We compared the same products before Jan 1, 2026 and after Apr 17, 2026. This separates the fee change from the product mix. The values are medians. We removed pairs with implausible take rates (fees ≥ price on low-price products, 14,943 pairs).

| Category | Product pairs | Amazon's cut, pre-2026 | Post-Apr-17 | Change (pts) |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| Tools & Home Improvement | 50,867 | 39.7% | 40.0% | +0.12 |
| Industrial & Scientific | 32,168 | 42.2% | 42.0% | −0.02 |
| Beauty & Personal Care | 31,459 | 39.5% | 39.1% | −0.17 |
| Office Products | 30,644 | 40.0% | 40.5% | +0.24 |
| Grocery & Gourmet Food | 29,248 | 45.3% | 45.3% | −0.03 |
| Health & Household | 27,177 | 40.4% | 40.1% | −0.08 |
| Toys & Games | 23,404 | 41.2% | 41.0% | +0.26 |
| Arts, Crafts & Sewing | 20,272 | 46.6% | 46.1% | −0.18 |
| Pet Supplies | 16,309 | 45.9% | 45.6% | −0.24 |
| Sports & Outdoors | 15,582 | 30.5% | 30.6% | +0.07 |
| Patio, Lawn & Garden | 11,726 | 43.8% | 43.6% | −0.18 |
| Home & Kitchen | 10,170 | 41.0% | 41.4% | +0.05 |
| Kitchen & Dining | 8,760 | 43.4% | 43.0% | −0.09 |
| Automotive | 6,965 | 34.8% | 34.2% | −0.14 |
| Electronics | 4,590 | 30.6% | 30.4% | +0.05 |
| Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry | 3,974 | 33.9% | 33.8% | −0.18 |
| Musical Instruments | 3,948 | 28.8% | 29.1% | +0.30 |
| **Video Games** | 3,059 | 26.7% | 27.6% | **+0.76** |
| **Books** | 3,019 | 42.3% | 43.7% | **+1.20** |
| Baby | 1,544 | 45.9% | 45.4% | −0.02 |

_Method note: The median changes from month to month (39–45%) because the product mix changes. This table uses the same products, so it shows only the fee change. The panel of the same buyers (section 3) gives the same result: Amazon's cut changed by −0.29 pts._

## 5. Competition & concentration: How many sellers compete for a listing?

**Few. The median listing has 3 offers, and the number did not increase.** But about half of the listings that we can measure are locked by one seller. A listing is "locked" when one seller wins the Buy Box 80% of the time or more. We can measure this only on the 26% of listings with Buy Box history, and 49% of those listings are locked. Find which seller wins the Buy Box before you count the sellers.

**Few. The median listing has only 3 competing offers, but one seller locks about half of the listings that we can measure.** Competition has two parts. The first part is the **seller count**. Overall, counts on repeat products did not change this year. They decreased in Arts & Crafts (−13%), Office, Toys, Books and Electronics, and only **Grocery** increased (+2.8%).

The second part is **concentration**: a listing is **"locked"** when one seller wins the Buy Box ≥80% of the time. On a locked listing with ten sellers, nine sellers share the remainder. **49%** of the measurable listings are locked. The median listing sells about **54 units a month** (estimated; Grocery 113, Baby 149, Books only 13).

### What it means

**Conclusion: Check the Buy Box history before each purchase. One seller locks about half of the measurable listings, and the seller count does not show this.**

- **Before you buy, check who holds the Buy Box and how many sellers there are.** A listing with few sellers and one dominant seller is more difficult to win than a listing with many sellers where the Buy Box rotates.
- Pet Supplies is the most difficult category: 3 offers at the median, but 62% locked. Video Games is the opposite: 12 offers, but only 35% locked. It has many sellers, but you can win the Buy Box there.
- Grocery is the most open large category (38% locked), and it is the only category that gains sellers. Expect more competition there.

### The data

This is the 2026 baseline for 14.2M analyzed listings. We can measure "locked" only on the 26% of listings with Buy Box history, and all shares are of measurable listings. No earlier data is available for comparison yet. The units column is the median sales estimate of the listings that have an estimate above zero.

| Category | Median offers | Locked share | Amazon on Buy Box | Est. units a month per listing |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| **ALL (overall)** | **3** | **49.3%** | **13.8%** | **54** |
| Grocery & Gourmet Food | 3 | 38.1% | 12.0% | 113 |
| Beauty & Personal Care | 4 | 41.3% | 12.5% | 70 |
| Health & Household | 4 | 53.7% | 12.7% | 61 |
| Pet Supplies | 3 | 62.4% | 22.5% | 68 |
| Tools & Home Improvement | 6 | 54.2% | 17.0% | 38 |
| Toys & Games | 5 | 47.6% | 25.3% | 50 |
| Office Products | 6 | 54.0% | 21.6% | 51 |
| Arts, Crafts & Sewing | 3 | 43.3% | 11.1% | 52 |
| Industrial & Scientific | 6 | 51.4% | 15.0% | 52 |
| Patio, Lawn & Garden | 4 | 47.8% | 11.6% | 51 |
| Sports & Outdoors | 3 | 51.1% | 15.8% | 51 |
| Home & Kitchen | 2 | 49.4% | 14.8% | 53 |
| Books | 10 | 63.8% | 26.7% | 13 |
| Kitchen & Dining | 2 | 53.9% | 21.6% | 57 |
| Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry | 1 | 56.5% | 14.3% | 51 |
| Automotive | 5 | 51.3% | 13.4% | 52 |
| Electronics | 5 | 50.1% | 16.1% | 53 |
| Video Games | 12 | 35.4% | 14.4% | 72 |
| Baby | 2 | 57.0% | 23.9% | 149 |
| Musical Instruments | 3 | 46.7% | 15.2% | 51 |

Year-over-year offer counts (same products): the median did not change overall. Counts decreased in Arts & Crafts −12.6%, Office −4.7%, Toys −4.0%, Electronics −3.9%, Books −3.9%, Video Games −1.7%. Grocery +2.8% is the only increase.

## 6. Amazon's share: Does Amazon compete with you more than a year ago?

**No, a little less. Amazon left about 1 in 80 repeat listings.** The largest decreases were in Video Games, Toys and Books.

**No, a little less. Amazon left about 1 in 80 repeat listings (net).** Its Buy Box presence on repeat products decreased from **23.4% to 22.1%**, and it decreased in **19 of 20 categories**. The largest decreases: **Video Games −6.7 pts, Toys −6.3, Books −4.0**. Amazon is still most present in Books (51%), Baby (42%), Musical Instruments (40%) and Kitchen & Dining (36%).

### What it means

**Conclusion: Amazon is on fewer listings than last year. Check again the products that you rejected because Amazon was on them, especially in Toys, Video Games and Books.**

- Each listing that Amazon leaves opens its **Buy Box** to other sellers. This year, this occurred on thousands of listings in media and toys.
- Scan again the products that you rejected because Amazon was on the listing. Some of these listings became open this year.

### The data

Share of the 504,282 repeat products where Amazon held the Buy Box on more than half of the scans:

| Category | Amazon share, H2-2025 | 2026 | Change (pts) |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| **ALL (overall)** | **23.4%** | **22.1%** | **−1.31** |
| Tools & Home Improvement | 21.1% | 20.0% | −1.08 |
| Beauty & Personal Care | 23.3% | 22.4% | −0.87 |
| Grocery & Gourmet Food | 21.1% | 20.6% | −0.54 |
| Office Products | 30.2% | 29.0% | −1.24 |
| Industrial & Scientific | 16.3% | 15.8% | −0.56 |
| Arts, Crafts & Sewing | 18.5% | 17.0% | −1.51 |
| Health & Household | 20.9% | 20.0% | −0.88 |
| **Toys & Games** | 39.0% | 32.7% | **−6.28** |
| Sports & Outdoors | 22.1% | 21.6% | −0.51 |
| Pet Supplies | 32.5% | 32.0% | −0.49 |
| Patio, Lawn & Garden | 20.0% | 18.9% | −1.11 |
| Home & Kitchen | 24.5% | 22.8% | −1.70 |
| Kitchen & Dining | 36.5% | 35.5% | −1.03 |
| Automotive | 22.0% | 20.7% | −1.26 |
| Electronics | 29.4% | 27.8% | −1.56 |
| Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry | 26.6% | 25.2% | −1.38 |
| Musical Instruments | 41.0% | 40.3% | −0.71 |
| **Books** | 55.5% | 51.4% | **−4.03** |
| **Video Games** | 25.9% | 19.2% | **−6.72** |
| Baby | 41.3% | 41.5% | +0.23 |

_Method note: The Amazon-on-Buy-Box field has data on 100% of rows. It is the most complete field in this report. Baby is the only category where Amazon increased its share._

## 7. Demand: Do products sell more slowly than a year ago?

**Yes, a little. Estimated sales decreased by about 2%.** In Electronics, products moved up in their category rankings, but estimated sales decreased by 0.7%.

**Yes, a little, in most categories.** On the same products year over year, products moved slightly **down their category ranks** in 16 of 20 categories. Estimated monthly sales changed by about **−2%** overall, and the largest decreases were in Automotive (−23%), Musical Instruments (−22%) and Baby (−19%). **Electronics is the exception**: demand increased while competition decreased. Grocery estimated sales increased (+10%), and Grocery is also the only category that gains sellers.

### What it means

**Conclusion: Last year's sales rank shows more sales than a product has this year. Base each purchase on current sales, and make orders a little smaller than last year's numbers show.**

- Buy on the basis of sales that you can **measure now**. Demand is slightly slower, and prices change frequently. Use current data for your decisions.
- Examine Electronics again: demand increased and competition decreased, and this is the rarest combination in this table.

### The data

"Category position Δ" = the change in the percentile position of the product in its category. A positive value means that the product moved away from the top (weaker demand). We adjust this value for category size, so you can compare it across categories. "Est. sales Δ" = the median change in estimated monthly sales.

The last number column shows the raw rank change. It is zero-sum in a category: if one product moves nearer to the top, other products move farther from the top. So use it only to see the direction of a change.

| Category | Repeat products | Category position Δ (pts) | Est. sales Δ | Raw rank Δ | Read |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | --- |
| Tools & Home Improvement | 67,937 | +0.04 | 0.0% | +6.1% | Mild softening |
| Beauty & Personal Care | 48,393 | 0.00 | 0.0% | +1.5% | Stable |
| Grocery & Gourmet Food | 42,780 | +0.02 | +9.9% | +4.1% | Mixed: sales up, more sellers |
| Office Products | 42,559 | +0.03 | −8.1% | +3.4% | Mild softening |
| Industrial & Scientific | 42,374 | +0.08 | −7.5% | +8.3% | Softening |
| Arts, Crafts & Sewing | 42,181 | +0.02 | −0.9% | +4.5% | Stable-ish |
| Health & Household | 38,145 | 0.00 | −0.8% | +0.9% | Stable |
| Toys & Games | 28,063 | +0.09 | −12.3% | +10.6% | Softening |
| Sports & Outdoors | 26,342 | +0.05 | −6.6% | +11.2% | Softening |
| Pet Supplies | 19,785 | +0.00 | −5.9% | +3.0% | Mild softening |
| Patio, Lawn & Garden | 15,720 | +0.01 | −7.1% | +6.1% | Mild softening |
| Home & Kitchen | 15,597 | +0.02 | −5.2% | +9.7% | Mild softening |
| Kitchen & Dining | 12,058 | +0.01 | −6.0% | +6.0% | Mild softening |
| Automotive | 11,075 | +0.01 | −22.8% | +8.2% | Sales down hard |
| **Electronics** | 6,146 | **−0.02** | −0.7% | **−13.3%** | **Demand up** |
| Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry | 5,737 | +0.01 | −6.9% | +18.2% | Mild softening |
| Musical Instruments | 4,243 | +0.03 | −21.6% | +10.7% | Softening |
| Books | 3,549 | +0.03 | n/a | +11.3% | Softening |
| Video Games | 3,350 | +0.02 | −14.7% | +4.8% | Mild softening |
| Baby | 2,175 | 0.00 | −19.3% | −1.8% | Stable position, sales down |

_Method note: Amazon's own "bought in past month" figure became available only in the middle of the window. So this report does not use it yet. Est.-sales cells show a value only when there are ≥500 product pairs (Books has 12, so the cell shows n/a)._

## 8. Assortment rotation: Is last year's catalog still useful?

**Mostly not. 63% of this year's items are new.** In categories that change quickly, scan new lists first. In categories that change slowly, keep a good relationship with the supplier.

**Mostly not. 63% of all products that wholesalers scanned in 2026 were not in their pipelines in 2025.** The results differ by category. Staple products that sellers order again have the least rotation (**Arts & Crafts 32%, Office 37%, Grocery 44%**), so supplier relationships give good results there. In categories that follow style or product generation, almost all products change (**Clothing 93%, Electronics 88%, Automotive 84%, Musical Instruments 81%**). In these categories, **the frequency of your new catalog scans is most important**.

### What it means

**Conclusion: Supplier price lists become out of date quickly. In categories with fast rotation, scan new catalogs first. In categories with slow rotation, invest in the supplier relationship.**

- In high-rotation categories, scan the new catalog **first**. The first seller can take sales before other sellers arrive (the median listing sells about 54 units a month).
- In low-rotation categories, invest in the supplier relationship. The same catalog continues to sell.

### The data

Share of 2026 scanned products that were not in the 2025 scans (economics panel, 964,614 2026 products):

| Category | 2026 products | New in 2026 | Rotation |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| **ALL (overall)** | **964,614** | **609,888** | **63.2%** |
| Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry | 49,433 | 45,876 | 92.8% |
| Electronics | 19,343 | 16,934 | 87.5% |
| Automotive | 35,431 | 29,800 | 84.1% |
| Books | 10,770 | 8,780 | 81.5% |
| Musical Instruments | 19,594 | 15,908 | 81.2% |
| Sports & Outdoors | 113,087 | 89,985 | 79.6% |
| Video Games | 15,977 | 12,473 | 78.1% |
| Patio, Lawn & Garden | 34,582 | 24,872 | 71.9% |
| Home & Kitchen | 26,377 | 18,217 | 69.1% |
| Tools & Home Improvement | 113,493 | 76,113 | 67.1% |
| Baby | 3,021 | 1,907 | 63.1% |
| Pet Supplies | 35,455 | 21,645 | 61.1% |
| Kitchen & Dining | 19,957 | 11,243 | 56.3% |
| Toys & Games | 47,566 | 25,812 | 54.3% |
| Beauty & Personal Care | 77,025 | 41,400 | 53.7% |
| Industrial & Scientific | 32,354 | 16,201 | 50.1% |
| Health & Household | 33,750 | 15,746 | 46.7% |
| Grocery & Gourmet Food | 36,557 | 16,180 | 44.3% |
| Office Products | 37,580 | 13,976 | 37.2% |
| Arts, Crafts & Sewing | 45,879 | 14,752 | 32.2% |

_Method note: this is the first edition that measures rotation, so this is a level with no year-over-year trend at this time. We measured it on the economics panel after the plausibility filters (no Amazon multipack listings, no titles that look like a set, ROI ≤ 200%)._

## 9. IP risk: How many products in supplier price lists have an IP risk?

**About 3 in 10 products have an IP-risk flag.** Examine the brand before you order.

**About 3 in 10 scanned products have an IP-risk marker.** An IP-risk marker means that the brand has a complaint history in the shared complaint pool (IP claims, authenticity, condition, or policy records). This is a level, and it cannot show a trend at this time. The complaint pool only increases, so an increase in the marker share can come partly from the larger pool. In practice, **almost a third of the products in supplier catalogs need a brand check before you order.**

### What it means

**Conclusion: 3 in 10 products have a flag, so make the IP check part of product analysis, before the purchase order.**

- Make the IP/brand check part of **analysis**, before you write the PO.
- Use the category and the brand history to decide the weight of the check. A marker tells you to examine the brand more carefully. It is not an automatic no.

### The data

| Quarter | Scanned rows | Flagged | Share flagged (floor) |
| --- | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| 2025-Q3 | 3,167,871 | 816,874 | 25.8% |
| 2025-Q4 | 3,097,319 | 988,608 | 31.9% |
| 2026-Q1 | 6,216,210 | 2,046,615 | 32.9% |
| 2026-Q2 | 6,282,895 | 1,916,046 | 30.5% |

_Method note: the flag is global and the same for every seller (a curated brand list + the shared complaint pool). The data does not store clean products explicitly, so these shares are minimum values. 2026-Q3 has no measurement, because the system did not add the flag after about June 2026. Do not read the 25.8%→32.9% change as an increase in risk: the pool only increases._

## Find your category

"Leads" = the number of real leads per 1,000 supplier lines with an Amazon match in the category (section 1; all categories: 55). "Hit rate" = the share of price-list items that the median seller can sell at break-even or better.

| Category | The one-liner |
| --- | --- |
| **Grocery & Gourmet Food** | 72 leads per 1,000 matched supplier lines, and 1.6 Amazon listings per supplier line, so expect many multipacks. This is the most open category (38% locked), and the number of sellers increased fastest here. |
| **Beauty & Personal Care** | 125 leads per 1,000 matched supplier lines, but the median seller finds 93. 46% hit rate, a low lock rate (41% of measurable listings), flat demand. Sellers who scan a large volume have the best results. |
| **Health & Household** | 55 leads per 1,000. The hit rate is low (39%) and most listings are locked, so choose carefully. |
| **Pet Supplies** | 76 leads per 1,000, but it is difficult to win: there are few sellers per listing, and 62% of the listings are locked. Examine the Buy Box first. |
| **Tools & Home Improvement** | Large catalogs, but few leads (31 per 1,000; the median seller does better at 45). 49% hit rate. Demand decreases slightly. |
| **Toys & Games** | 71 leads per 1,000. Amazon decreases its presence (−6.3 pts) and sellers leave, so more listings become available. |
| **Sports & Outdoors** | 83 leads per 1,000 and a 51% hit rate. Demand decreases, as in most categories (estimated sales −7%). Use current sales to decide what to buy. |
| **Arts, Crafts & Sewing** | 85 leads per 1,000. Sellers leave (offers −13%) and the rotation is the lowest, so good relations with suppliers give good results. |
| **Office Products** | 24 leads per 1,000. Competition decreases, the hit rate is 48%, and the rotation is low, so the same catalogs continue to give leads. |
| **Industrial & Scientific** | 33 leads per 1,000, although the hit rate is 51%. Demand becomes weaker. |
| **Patio, Lawn & Garden** | 42 leads per 1,000. Margins are small (median shelf margin −2.4%). |
| **Home & Kitchen** | 43 leads per 1,000 matched supplier lines (median seller 47). About 53 per 1,000 show an implausible ROI above 200%, so examine the pack sizes. Monitor supplier costs: the median reorder cost changed by +5%, and the selling prices did not increase to cover it. |
| **Kitchen & Dining** | 118 leads per 1,000 (median seller 151, the best in the report). The same supplier-cost warning applies (+5%). Amazon is on many listings (36%). |
| **Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry** | 110 leads per 1,000, the highest rotation (93%) and the worst supplier cost pressure (+8% median cost, −5.9 pts margin). The catalogs change almost completely. |
| **Automotive** | 45 leads per 1,000 and a 49% hit rate, but the estimated sales decreased most (−23%). |
| **Electronics** | 23 leads per 1,000. It is one of the categories that are most sensitive to a cost increase (a usual increase removes 38%). Demand increases and competition decreases, so examine this category again. |
| **Musical Instruments** | The best hit rate in the report (61%) and a good median shelf margin (+6.3%), but only 30 leads per 1,000. |
| **Books** | The most difficult category: 21% hit rate, 64% locked, Amazon on half of it, and fees increased. The lead count is not measurable (no sales estimate). |
| **Video Games** | 40 leads per 1,000. There are many sellers, but you can win (35% locked), and Amazon decreases its presence fastest. This category is best for sellers who know it. |
| **Baby** | 36 leads per 1,000. The hit rate is low (25%), and Amazon is on many listings (42%) and does not leave. The sales per listing are high (149 units a month, estimated). |

## Why we publish this report

Wholesale sellers decide what to buy from their own experience, from forum posts and from a small number of supplier lists. Seller Assistant analyzes millions of supplier price lines. Because of this, we can show the full market: how many lines become leads, how frequently suppliers increase prices, and where Amazon competes.

We publish this report free of charge. You can use it to compare your numbers with the market. We did not use a survey, and the report shows no data about one seller. It shows only aggregated patterns.

Oleg Kuzmenkov, Founder and CEO

## About this data

The data comes from 13.5 million supplier lines. 782 verified wholesale sellers uploaded these lines to Seller Assistant between July 2025 and August 2026, for Amazon.com (US marketplace). The headline numbers use the 4.6 million lines from the 100 sellers who scan regularly. All figures come from these uploads. We did not use a survey.

Seller Assistant's price list analyzer processed **13.5 million supplier lines** from **782 verified wholesale sellers** on **Amazon.com (US marketplace)** between July 2025 and August 2026. The headline of the lead funnel uses the **100 recurring sellers** (≥3 real price lists over ≥30 days; 4.6 million supplier lines). The economics tables use the **676** sellers with measurable sourcing economics. A **seller** in this report is one Seller Assistant account, with all of its users and VAs (virtual assistants).

We removed demo, test, and staff accounts, and we published no statistic from fewer than 5 sellers. Every year-over-year claim compares **the same products** (504,282 items scanned in both years) or **the same buyer and product** (59,828 pairs). Growth in our user base cannot make a false market trend.

The lead count uses the **supplier line** as its unit (one row of an uploaded price list, one UPC), because that is what you upload. When one UPC matches several Amazon listings, the supplier line counts once. It is a lead if one or more of its listings is a lead. A **lead** = a supplier line with a checkable Amazon listing (known Amazon fees, not an Amazon multipack listing, no set-like title). The lead also gives 20%–200% ROI on the Buy Box price after Amazon's fees. The Amazon listing sells at least 5 units a month (estimated), and Amazon is not on the Buy Box.

"Shelf margin" = Buy Box price − product cost − Amazon fees (referral + FBA). We calculate it on the observed Buy Box price, before prep and shipment costs.

**Plausibility filters:** we flag items with an ROI above 200% (almost always a pack-size or price error). We also flag items with an Amazon title that looks like a set or multipack. We keep these items out of every margin, cost and lead number, because their cost and price do not describe the same unit. We also exclude Amazon multipack listings (about 19% of the analyzed rows) for the same reason. A supplier case quantity is **not** a reason to exclude an item, because the quoted cost is per unit. The case quantity only shows how the supplier sells: by the carton, with a minimum order.

The data edition gives the full methodology, the complete tables, and every caveat.

Do you have questions about the data, or do you want a data cut that we did not publish? Send an email to research@sellerassistant.app

## About the data and Amazon

The figures in this report are estimates. Seller Assistant calculates them from aggregated, anonymized price lists that its users upload and from third-party market data. The figures can be incorrect.

No figure describes one seller, supplier or product. No statistic uses fewer than 5 sellers. This report does not use data from Amazon's Selling Partner API. Amazon did not supply, sponsor or endorse this report.

Seller Assistant is not affiliated with Amazon. Amazon and all related marks are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

## Cite this report

Kuzmenkov, O. (2026). The State of Amazon Wholesale, Q3 2026. Seller Assistant. https://www.sellerassistant.app/research/state-of-wholesale/2026-q3