Amazon Sellers in Crisis: Black Friday Orders Plummet, Platform Chaos Triggers Collective Losses
Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2025-12-03 Origin: Site
The annual Black Friday has drawn to a close, but countless Amazon sellers are reeling from what the platform hailed as the "longest Black Friday ever."
Spanning 12 days from November 20 to December 2, the extended promotion failed to deliver the expected order surge. Instead, it turned into a collective disaster of losses: orders fell below daily averages, top brands engaged in aggressive price wars, and frequent errors in Prime Exclusive Discounts forced further price cuts… Amid such chaos, many sellers lamented: "This isn’t a sale—it’s charity."
Black Friday Orders Collapse
This year’s Black Friday ranks as the most disappointing for countless Amazon sellers.
"I thought Black Friday would be a sprint; instead, it was just making up the numbers and losing money."
"The first day started cold with flat traffic, and the slump only worsened over the 12-day period."
According to seller feedback, the first day’s orders were the best. A seller with 3–4 Black Friday experiences, Li Pingzhi, sighed: "In previous years, Black Friday maintained high order volumes for at least 3–5 days. This year, the first day was barely higher than usual, the second day saw a cliff-like drop, and today it’s down to a third of normal."
Contrary to the platform’s claims of record sales, most small and medium-sized sellers (SMS) saw not growth but a sharp decline in orders, with some categories underperforming even regular promotions.
This "Black Friday fiasco" swept global marketplaces:
US Marketplace: Orders plummeted.
Canada Marketplace: System glitches forced products to participate at 85% of historical prices, leaving no profit margin.
Japan Marketplace: System garbled text prevented sellers from adjusting prices, rendering pre-promotion advertising and inventory costs a total loss.
Competition also spiraled out of control. Amazon’s traffic was significantly siphoned by Temu, SHEIN, TikTok Shop, and other platforms. To retain customers, price wars intensified on Amazon itself.
"Top brands are slashing prices like crazy—small and medium sellers can’t keep up. They push prices below cost; if we don’t follow, we get no orders; if we do, we lose money for sales volume."
Discounts in multiple hot categories hit new highs, with most of these costs ultimately passed on to sellers. Combined with platform fees, peak-season storage, and fulfillment costs, every sale became a loss—equivalent to doing charity.
Widespread System Errors Force Repeated Price Cuts
If falling orders were an "act of God," frequent platform system errors and forced price cuts were the "man-made disaster" that pushed sellers over the edge.
One Amazon seller spent over $1,000 on Prime Exclusive Discounts. After the promotion launched, the platform suddenly glitched, demanding an additional 5% off the 30-day lowest price or revocation of eligibility.
"I set it up correctly when applying; halfway through, they changed the rules—it’s like taking the fee first and then setting a trap."
After reluctantly cutting prices, the system glitched again two days later, forcing another 1% off the lowest price. Customer service responded: "Large-scale issue; waiting for technical fixes."
Her flagship product’s discount was ultimately pushed to 21%, erasing all profit. "We’re not upset about the 5% cut—it’s the platform’s bait-and-switch after taking the fee, which is no different from theft."
This was not an isolated case. Li Pingzhi described the chaos as "total collapse across all regions":
US Marketplace: Order drops + forced price cuts.
Canada Marketplace: List prices failed to refresh; the platform used 85% of historical prices as promotion prices, leaving sellers "naked" in the market.
Japan Marketplace: System prompted to add discounts but didn’t specify requirements; multiple price adjustments still failed to edit the promotion, and pre-promotion investments were entirely wasted.
Multi-Platform Competition Reshapes Black Friday Dynamics
Amazon’s Black Friday failure was no accident—it reflected an inevitable shift in industry competition and consumer behavior.
On one hand, cross-border e-commerce competition has intensified, challenging Amazon’s dominance. On the other, consumers have become more rational, increasing operational pressure on sellers.
Black Friday is no longer Amazon’s "one-man show":
TikTok Shop leveraged short-video traffic to launch extended promotions, achieving explosive growth in the US market.
Walmart and AliExpress also extended promotion periods to seize market share.
Under such multi-platform pressure, Amazon’s traffic was severely fragmented, prompting the platform to extend Black Friday to 12 days—an effort that backfired.
The prolonged promotion dispersed consumer purchasing times, weakening the shopping spree. US consumers reduced impulsive buying, shifting from "indiscriminate spending" to "purchasing cost-effective essentials."
Browser extensions for historical price tracking also empowered consumers to spot fake "discounts" (price hikes followed by cuts), forcing sellers to deepen discounts and shrink profit margins.
This market shift has created a distorted scenario: platforms celebrate while sellers suffer heavy losses.
