Something is moving inside Amazon’s vendor relationships, and it isn’t subtle. Over the past six weeks, multiple sources with direct knowledge of Amazon’s vendor operations have told Ecommerce Times that the company is accelerating a systematic offboarding of smaller and mid-tier Vendor Central accounts — pushing those brands into Seller Central’s third-party ecosystem whether they’re ready or not. The alleged purge, which sources say is being orchestrated under the leadership of Amazon’s North America Stores division, has reportedly caught dozens of brands off guard, with purchase orders drying up without formal notice.
“We had a seven-figure 1P relationship with Amazon for four years,” said one hardlines brand founder who asked not to be named pending ongoing negotiations. “In May, our POs dropped 90 percent. No email. No call. We found out from our vendor manager going dark.” The founder said they’ve since been funneled into a Seller Central migration program that Amazon is allegedly calling an “optimized selling model” internally — a term sources describe as corporate shorthand for offloading fulfillment risk back onto suppliers.
Which Categories Are Being Hit Hardest by the Alleged Vendor Offboarding?
According to three separate sources, the categories reportedly bearing the brunt of the purge include home goods, seasonal décor, and mid-tier consumer electronics accessories — verticals where Amazon’s own private label and low-cost Chinese sellers on the marketplace already provide significant price competition. One industry consultant who works with brands transitioning between 1P and 3P confirmed the pattern, noting that clients in the $2M–$12M annual Amazon revenue range appear most vulnerable.
- Home & Kitchen: Reportedly the hardest-hit category, with multiple brands citing sudden PO freezes starting in Q2 2026
- Consumer electronics accessories: Cables, chargers, and peripherals sellers say their vendor managers have become unreachable since April
- Seasonal décor: Several brands with strong Q4 dependencies say they’re being pushed to FBA just as they need to plan holiday inventory
- Health & Personal Care: Unconfirmed reports of selective offboarding, primarily brands with ASINs below a $29.99 average selling price
The timing is particularly painful for brands that built their Amazon operations around the 1P model’s advantages: net-60 payment terms, Amazon-managed advertising through AMC, and the implicit trust signal of the “Ships from and sold by Amazon” badge. Moving to 3P means absorbing FBA fees, managing their own PPC through Sponsored Products, and potentially losing Buy Box position to resellers who’ve been quietly undercutting them on the same ASINs for years.
Is Perpetua CEO Reza Mortazavi Right That This Is a Long-Term Structural Shift?
Reza Mortazavi, CEO of Amazon ad tech platform Perpetua, addressed the broader vendor dynamics at an industry briefing in Seattle last month — remarks that sources say were more candid than his usual public comments. According to two attendees, Mortazavi suggested that Amazon’s long-term architecture increasingly favors a marketplace model where brands own their customer acquisition costs, pointing to the company’s aggressive expansion of Sponsored Products inventory as evidence.
“Amazon has been signaling this for three years. The 1P model was always a subsidy. What we’re watching now is Amazon calling in the loan.” — Reza Mortazavi, CEO, Perpetua, according to two attendees of a Seattle industry briefing, June 2026
Mortazavi’s team at Perpetua has reportedly seen a spike in inbound requests from brands needing to stand up PPC programs from scratch — campaigns that previously ran under Amazon’s own managed advertising arm when those brands were vendors. Sources at Perpetua confirmed a 23 percent quarter-over-quarter increase in new Seller Central client onboardings in Q2, though the company declined to comment officially on whether that growth is tied to the alleged vendor purge.
What Does This Mean for Amazon Aggregators Like Thrasio and Perch?
The alleged offboarding is creating an unexpected secondary market dynamic: distressed brand owners being pushed to Seller Central for the first time are reportedly fielding acquisition offers from aggregators who see the transition chaos as a buying opportunity. Sources at two mid-sized aggregators, neither of whom would speak on record, said their deal flow pipelines are seeing an uptick in inbound leads from brands that built their entire business on Vendor Central and now face the operational complexity of FBA cold turkey.
Thrasio, which has been aggressively restructuring since its 2024 bankruptcy emergence under CEO Greg Greeley, is reportedly among the aggregators circling select opportunities — though sources describe the company as highly selective, focused only on brands with strong organic rank and defensible IP. Perch, the Boston-based aggregator backed by approximately $900 million in raised capital, is said to be similarly cautious, with sources close to the matter suggesting Perch’s acquisition team has tightened its EBITDA floor to 22 percent before considering any distressed vendor-transition deal.
“These aren’t the deals we want. A brand that’s never run its own PPC, never managed FBA inventory turns, never dealt with a stranded inventory crisis — that’s not a diamond in the rough. That’s a liability.” — A senior acquisitions executive at a top-five Amazon aggregator, speaking anonymously
Are Amazon’s Own Vendor Managers Frustrated With the Rollout?
Perhaps the most surprising element of the alleged purge is the reported internal friction it’s generating. Three sources, including one former Amazon employee who left the company in March 2026, claim that vendor managers — the account reps responsible for 1P relationships — were given little advance notice about which accounts would be flagged for offboarding. The former employee described a situation where vendor managers learned about PO freezes at the same time their brand contacts did, leaving them without answers and damaging relationships built over years.
“There’s a real morale issue on that team,” the former Amazon employee told Ecommerce Times. “You spend years building trust with a brand, and then you’re the one who has to explain why their purchase orders disappeared. Except you can’t explain it because nobody told you either.”
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment on the alleged offboarding program, the reported internal communications timeline, or the scope of affected vendor accounts.
How Should Sellers and Brands Respond Right Now?
For brand operators and agency leaders watching this unfold, the operational implications are significant regardless of whether the full scope of the alleged purge is confirmed. Several Amazon-focused agencies — including Incrementum Digital and Seller Candy — have told Ecommerce Times they’re fielding daily calls from brands in various stages of forced 3P transition and have begun offering dedicated Vendor-to-Seller migration packages.
- Audit your PO cadence immediately: Any drop greater than 40 percent over 60 days should be treated as a signal, not a seasonal anomaly
- Stand up Seller Central infrastructure in parallel: Don’t wait for official notice — create your SC account, register your brand, and enroll in Brand Registry now
- Pre-build your PPC architecture: Tools like Helium 10’s Adtomic or Perpetua can help you model keyword coverage before your first campaign goes live
- Negotiate FBA inbound placement upfront: With Amazon’s inbound placement fees already under seller scrutiny, brands migrating from 1P need to model fulfillment costs at the SKU level before sending a single unit
- Contact resellers on your ASINs: If unauthorized resellers are already on your listings, establish MAP enforcement before you lose pricing authority as the new 3P seller
The deeper concern among operators is what this signals about Amazon’s appetite for the operational overhead of managing thousands of smaller vendor relationships. If the alleged program is as systematic as sources suggest, it represents one of the most significant structural shifts in Amazon’s wholesale model in over a decade — one that could permanently reshape how brands of a certain scale approach the platform.
“The 1P dream is over for most brands under $50 million in Amazon revenue,” one agency founder told Ecommerce Times, asking not to be named. “The sooner people accept that, the sooner they can build something that actually works on 3P.” Whether Amazon confirms the scope of these changes or not, the brands receiving frozen POs aren’t waiting for an official announcement.
