A wave of anxiety is rippling through Amazon’s third-party seller ecosystem after what multiple sources describe as a partial leak of an internal Amazon initiative — allegedly codenamed Project Sequoia — that would fundamentally restructure how referral fees, fulfillment surcharges, and Buy Box eligibility interact for sellers doing between $500K and $10M in annual GMV.
Sources close to the matter say the leaked deck, which began circulating in private Slack channels and seller mastermind groups in early May 2026, outlines a tiered “seller health score” that would reportedly weight account standing, return rates, and external traffic contribution into a single composite metric — one that could directly influence Buy Box suppression thresholds.
Amazon has not officially confirmed the initiative. A spokesperson told Ecommerce Times: “We regularly test mechanisms to improve the customer and seller experience, but we don’t comment on speculation about internal roadmaps.”
That hasn’t stopped the speculation from spreading.
What Is Project Sequoia and Where Did the Leak Come From?
According to two independent sources who claim to have reviewed portions of the document, Project Sequoia is described internally as a “unified seller performance architecture” — a framework designed to consolidate at least six separate performance dashboards (including Seller Central’s existing Account Health Rating, IPI score, and Voice of the Customer metrics) into a single composite score visible to sellers in real time.
The alleged leak first surfaced on a private Discord server operated by a well-known Amazon seller coaching community, before screenshots were reportedly shared in the Helium 10 Serious Sellers Facebook group and at least two agency-side Slack workspaces. Several agency operators who spoke to Ecommerce Times on background said they couldn’t verify the document’s authenticity but described its contents as “plausible” and “consistent with the direction Amazon has been moving for 18 months.”
“If this is real, it’s the most significant structural change to the seller experience since Amazon rolled out the IPI score in 2018. The Buy Box implications alone would be massive for anyone running a hybrid FBA/FBM model.” — Bradley Sutton, Director of Training and Chief Evangelist, Helium 10
Sutton, who acknowledged he had not personally reviewed the leaked document, said the concept itself aligned with feedback Helium 10 had been gathering from its seller base about increasing Buy Box volatility in Q1 2026.
How Would the Alleged Fee Changes Impact Mid-Market FBA Sellers?
The most contentious element of the alleged Project Sequoia framework, according to sources, is a proposed “contribution adjustment” — essentially a modifier applied to referral fees based on a seller’s external traffic score. Sellers who drive measurable off-Amazon traffic via Amazon Attribution links would reportedly receive a fee reduction of between 0.5% and 1.8% depending on category.
Conversely, sellers with low external traffic scores and elevated return rates in high-velocity categories like apparel and consumer electronics could allegedly face referral fee increases of up to 2.1 percentage points — a change that, at scale, would devastate already thin margins.
- Apparel sellers currently paying 17% referral fees could face effective rates of up to 19.1% under the alleged model
- Consumer electronics sellers in the 8% referral bracket could see increases to 10.1% for poor-performing accounts
- Sellers actively using Amazon Attribution and DSP would reportedly be insulated or rewarded
- FBM sellers are allegedly unaffected by the fulfillment surcharge component but still subject to the composite health score
Kevin King, who runs the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and has spent decades in the Amazon seller space, was characteristically blunt when reached for comment.
“Amazon has been trying to get sellers to drive external traffic for years. If this is how they’re going to enforce it — by penalizing people who don’t — that’s a completely different game. A lot of seven-figure sellers are about to have a very uncomfortable conversation with their accountants.” — Kevin King, founder, Billion Dollar Seller Summit
Is Amazon Quietly Preparing Sellers for This Shift?
Interestingly, several Amazon agency operators say the alleged leak may explain a series of otherwise puzzling communications they’ve received from their Amazon vendor success managers over the past 60 days. At least three agency leaders — speaking on background — said they’d been encouraged by Amazon reps to “double down” on Attribution tagging across Meta and Google campaigns “ahead of upcoming platform updates.”
Ritu Java, CEO of PPC Ninja, told Ecommerce Times she’d noticed a distinct uptick in Amazon’s internal promotion of its Brand Referral Bonus program since Q4 2025, which she found notable given how underutilized the program remains.
“The Brand Referral Bonus has been sitting there for years and adoption has been sluggish because the Attribution setup is annoying. But if Amazon starts using external traffic as a carrot-and-stick on fees, that changes the math completely. Suddenly every agency is going to be building Attribution into every campaign by default.” — Ritu Java, CEO, PPC Ninja
The Brand Referral Bonus currently offers sellers a credit averaging 10% of sales driven through Amazon Attribution links from external channels — a meaningful offset if referral fee penalties for non-participants are simultaneously introduced.
What Are Aggregators and Private Equity Doing With This Information?
Perhaps the most telling signal that Project Sequoia has legs comes from the aggregator community. Sources at two mid-size Amazon aggregators — neither of which agreed to be named — said their diligence teams have already begun incorporating “external traffic infrastructure” as a weighted factor in acquisition scoring models for Q2 and Q3 2026 pipeline deals.
One source described an internal memo circulating at their firm that explicitly flagged Project Sequoia as a “material risk factor” for any acquisition target that generates less than 15% of Amazon revenue through attributable external channels.
Thrasio, which has been navigating its own restructuring, declined to comment. Perch and Branded — two aggregators that have been more active in 2026’s acquisition market — did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
- Aggregator diligence checklists are reportedly being updated to include external traffic percentage as a line item
- Attribution setup quality is allegedly being treated as a proxy for “platform risk” in valuations
- Some aggregators are reportedly pausing LOIs on acquisition targets with zero Attribution history pending clarification
- Agency intermediaries are reportedly seeing increased demand for “Amazon traffic audits” ahead of deal processes
How Are PPC Agencies and Tool Vendors Responding?
The agency response has been swift, if cautious. Several Amazon-focused PPC shops are reportedly already drafting client advisories — some holding them until Amazon makes an official announcement, others pushing them out proactively to demonstrate strategic awareness.
Downstream Impact, a boutique Amazon agency based in Austin, allegedly sent an internal team memo last week instructing account managers to audit every active client’s Amazon Attribution setup and flag accounts with zero or low external traffic scores as “priority risk” ahead of any potential Q3 2026 implementation window.
On the tool side, sources say Perpetua and Pacvue have both had internal discussions about incorporating Attribution score visibility into their dashboards, though neither has confirmed product roadmap changes tied specifically to Project Sequoia.
Helium 10’s Sutton suggested the tool landscape would need to move quickly if the framework rolls out as alleged. “Right now there’s no single place a seller can see their Attribution performance, their AHR, their IPI, and their return rate in one view. If Amazon’s composite score is going to drive Buy Box eligibility, every major tool is going to need to surface that data fast,” he said.
What Should Amazon Sellers Do Right Now?
Even in the absence of official confirmation, the consensus among operators and agency leaders Ecommerce Times spoke with is that the directional bet — investing in external traffic infrastructure now — is sound regardless of whether Project Sequoia is real, imminent, or exactly as described in the alleged leak.
- Audit your Amazon Attribution setup across all active Meta, Google, and email campaigns immediately
- Calculate your current Brand Referral Bonus accrual rate to establish a baseline before any fee structure changes
- Review your return rate by ASIN, particularly in apparel and electronics, where the alleged penalty thresholds are steepest
- Model a 1.5%–2% referral fee increase on your top 20 SKUs to understand margin exposure at worst-case scenario
- Pressure your 3PL or FBM partners to ensure fulfillment metrics remain strong as a hedge against Buy Box suppression risk
Whether Project Sequoia represents a real, imminent policy shift or an elaborate misreading of internal Amazon testing documentation remains unconfirmed. But in a marketplace where a 1% fee change can mean six figures in margin erosion for a mid-market seller, the mere rumor has been enough to accelerate strategic conversations that were already overdue.
As one seller mastermind leader put it privately: “Amazon doesn’t need to announce anything. The leak already did the work. Sellers are going to start building external traffic infrastructure either out of fear or out of opportunity. Amazon wins either way.”
