Sellers Pull Out Of Amazon Prime Day, Say Discounting Is 'Out The Window' Amid Tariffs

Several third-party sellers will not be participating in Amazon's 2025 Prime Day
The 145% tariffs on China-made goods are making it "unaffordable" to sell their merchandise at a discounted cost
In Q4 of 2024, 62% of units were sold by third-party sellers

Several third-party sellers will not be participating in Amazon's AMZN 2025 Prime Day sales due to tariffs, Reuters reported on Monday. The merchants, who previously sold China-made goods on Amazon's e-commerce platform, have said they will not be participating at all, or will greatly reduce the amount of discounted merchandise they offer in order to protect profit margins.

Prime Day, which is usually held in mid-July, is one of Amazon's biggest shopping events of the year. Participation for individual retailers is optional, but Amazon spends millions of dollars promoting the event, which can lead to a halo effect for sellers.

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Four sellers and six consultants, who represent hundreds of individual sellers, told Reuters they will not be a part of Prime Day this year.

One of these sellers, Steve Green, who lists China-made bikes and skateboards on his shop, told the agency he's planning to skip Prime Day for the first time since 2020. With tariffs on China sitting at 145%, the cost of newly imported merchandise will nearly double for him, making it "unaffordable." Rather than listing it at a discount during the sale, he plans to hold onto the stock he imported before the tariffs took effect to sell later at full price.

Kim Vaccarella, the chief executive of Bogg Bag, a China-made tote bag company, has a similar plan. She is working to move manufacturing to Cambodia and Vietnam, where tariff costs will be lower, and is electing to hold on to some of her existing U.S. inventory until the transition is complete. Rather than selling the rubber totes, which typically go for between $70 to $200, at a steep Prime Day discount, she's moving them to stores like Macy's M, Bloomingdales, and Dick's Sporting Goods DKS where they can be sold at full price.

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"Amazon will be fine, but I do feel for some of the third-party sellers – they’re the ones that are going to be hurt the most in this environment," Arun Sundaram, an analyst at CFRA Research, told Reuters.

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Consultants were quoted by Reuters as saying that Prime Day has always pinched profitability for merchants, who take just 15% to 20% of a sale as profit after accounting for the cost of goods and Amazon's fees. Now, tariffs will reduce that profit margin even more for third-party sellers.

“Last year Prime Day was a no-brainer,” said Rick Sliter, CEO of pillow company MedCline. “But if tariffs continue, discounting gets thrown out the window.”

According to Reuters, consultants who work with Amazon vendors have reported that the company has begun surveying some of their largest vendors and third-party sellers to see how tariffs are impacting their businesses. According to Marketplace Pulse, 62% of the units sold in Q4 of 2024 were sold by third-party sellers.

But that concern may be too little, too late. "Nearly all my clients are pulling back in Prime Day deals,” said Jon Elder, a consultant who counts 100 Amazon sellers as clients. “It's rough right now. Lots of difficult decisions are being made.”

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