Send us Fan Mail Amazon’s ad auction is headed to court, Good Good Golf turned one bad advertisement into a distribution crisis, and Walmart made a purse out of rotisserie chicken packaging. Ecommerce had a week. In this episode of Selling on Giants, Mr. Will breaks down the Federal Trade Commission’s challenge to Amazon’s advertising auctions, new insurance requirements for Amazon sellers, fourth quarter cost pressure, AI-powered product discovery, Sephora’s TikTok Shop strategy, and two completely different lessons in creating brand attention. What is the FTC alleging about Amazon’s advertising auctions? The FTC and twenty-two state attorneys general allege that Amazon used undisclosed reserve prices inside Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display auctions. According to the complaint, approximately 1.2 million advertisers paid more than $20 billion in additional advertising costs. Amazon disputes the allegations and says advertisers never paid more than their submitted bids. There has been no court ruling, refund program, or announced change to Amazon’s advertising auctions. Mr. Will explains why sellers should preserve historical campaign and billing reports while continuing to make advertising decisions based on conversion, ACoS, TACoS, contribution margin, and total sales performance. The lawsuit does not make Amazon’s advertising data useless, but it challenges the assumption that every increase in CPC comes from another advertiser bidding more aggressively. Read the FTC complaint against Amazon. Which Amazon sellers now need commercial liability insurance? Beginning November 2, sellers offering products in categories subject to enhanced safety requirements must carry at least $1 million in commercial liability insurance, regardless of monthly Amazon sales. The affected categories include children’s products, cosmetics, ingestible products, and products containing lithium batteries. Sellers need to confirm that their policies cover the actual products being sold and that the legal business name matches the information in Seller Central. This turns insurance into a product-level condition of marketplace access rather than a requirement limited to larger sellers. Why are fourth quarter margins facing more pressure? Canada’s new countertariffs take effect September 8, with rates of 15%, 25%, or 50% applying to selected U.S.-origin products. Exposure depends on the product’s classification and legal country of origin, not simply the warehouse from which it ships. At the same time, Amazon Shipping is joining USPS, UPS, and FedEx in applying holiday surcharges. Walmart Marketplace is also extending the return window for most eligible purchases made between October 1 and December 31 through January 31. Brands need to account for tariffs, carrier surcharges, promotional discounts, and January returns before judging holiday profitability. Fourth quarter revenue that returns after the margin has already been spent is not profitable growth. How is Alexa Plus changing product discovery on Amazon? Amazon has completed the U.S. rollout of Alexa Plus and included unlimited access with Prime. Customers can now describe a problem, compare options, and narrow their choices before viewing a traditional search results page. Amazon reports that more than 350 million shoppers used Alexa for Shopping during the previous twelve months and that those users spent approximately 40% more per order. These are Amazon-reported figures, but they point toward a larger shift in how shoppers discover products. There is no confirmed Alexa Plus optimization tool or secret conversational ranking formula. Sellers should focus on accurate attributes, compatibility information, use cases, reviews, and catalog consistency. AI cannot confidently recommend information the brand never provides. Read Amazon’s Alexa Plus announcement. Why is Target using AI to build larger baskets? Target says customers who create back-to-school wish lists generate approximately 45% more demand within the category. Its AI recommends products that may be missing based on browsing activity, previous purchases, school requirements, and similar customer behavior. The opportunity is no longer limited to ranking for an individual keyword. Brands also need retailers to understand which products belong together within a broader shopping mission. What is Sephora doing on TikTok Shop? Sephora is launching the Sephora Drop Shop, a TikTok Shop experience built around exclusive monthly product releases, creator content, teasers, interactive experiences, and live reveals. This is not Sephora uploading its entire catalog to another marketplace. It is using channel exclusivity to combine entertainment, product discovery, scarcity, and checkout within one coordinated launch. Participating brands gain access to TikTok’s audience, but Sephora controls product selection while TikTok controls the discovery environment. Inventory commitments, creative ownership, reporting access, promotional timing, and post-exclusivity pricing all need to be clear before participation. How did one advertisement become a distribution crisis for Good Good Golf? Good Good Golf published an advertisement showing a male personality shoving a female employee while promoting a Callaway driver. The advertisement was deleted, but the commercial consequences continued. Callaway ended the partnership. Dick’s Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy removed Good Good merchandise. The company lost sponsorship and media opportunities, and its chief executive officer and president left the business. This was more than social media backlash. It became distribution risk. Brands working with creators and retail partners need clear conduct standards, content approval rights, takedown requirements, and termination provisions. Retailers can remove a product faster than a brand can complete a traditional crisis response. Why did Walmart make a rotisserie chicken purse? Walmart transformed its rotisserie chicken packaging into a limited-edition purse priced at $5.97, the same price as the actual chicken. It sold out within hours and quickly appeared on resale marketplaces. The campaign worked because Walmart built on a product customers already recognized, purchased, joked about, and discussed online. It did not manufacture a random viral moment. Good Good Golf and Walmart both created attention, but only one strengthened the relationship between the brand, its retail partners, and its customers. The difference is judgment. The takeaway: Marketplace success increasingly depends on connecting advertising, compliance, logistics, product data, and brand governance. The operator’s job is to connect those decisions before the marketplace connects them for you. Selling on Giants delivers operator-focused ecommerce news and marketplace strategy for brands growing across Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, Target, and the broader retail ecosystem. Follow Selling on Giants for weekly operator-level coverage of Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, AI commerce, retail media, marketplace strategy, and the changes actually affecting ecommerce operators. Subscribe to Selling on Giants for weekly insights that go beyond the headlines and focus on what actually impacts your business. Support the show
