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Amazon just announced they’re ending product commingling, and estimate that this will save sellers $600 million annually in stickering costs alone.

At Canopy Management, we’ve seen firsthand how commingling issues have affected our clients, so this announcement represents a major operational shift. The real story goes beyond stickers – it’s about Amazon positioning itself as the backbone infrastructure for all e-commerce, not just their own marketplace.

Let’s break down what this actually means for your operations.

What’s Commingling (And Why Everyone Hated It)

For those who’ve been lucky enough to avoid this headache: commingling meant Amazon mixed identical products from different sellers in their fulfillment centers.

The theory: More efficient storage and faster fulfillment.

The reality: A nightmare of quality control issues and brand protection problems.

What went wrong:

• Your premium product got mixed with knockoffs
• Customer returns for defective units hit your account even when they bought from a competitor
• Brand registry violations became impossible to track to the actual violator
• Quality control became a shared responsibility (which meant nobody’s responsibility)

The sticker tax: To avoid commingling, you had to pay Amazon to put unique stickers on every unit. For high-volume sellers, this added up to thousands per month.

What “No More Commingling” Actually Means

Amazon announced they’re phasing out commingling entirely. Every seller’s inventory will be kept separate, with no option to commingle.

The Immediate Benefits:

Quality Control: Your products stay your products. No more getting dinged for someone else’s quality issues.

Brand Protection: When there’s a policy violation, Amazon can trace it back to the actual seller instead of playing guessing games.

Cost Savings: The $600 million annual savings Amazon estimates comes from eliminating stickering requirements.

Return Accuracy: Customer returns go back to the seller who actually sent the defective product.

The Operational Changes:

Inventory Separation: Each seller’s units get distinct tracking throughout the fulfillment network.

Better Accountability: Policy violations, customer complaints, and quality issues can be attributed to specific sellers.

Cleaner Data: Your performance metrics actually reflect your performance, not a blend of everyone selling the same ASIN.

Global Warehousing and Distribution: Amazon’s Real Play

Ending commingling is just part of Amazon’s bigger move to become the infrastructure backbone for all e-commerce.

What Global Warehousing and Distribution (GWD) Offers:

Upstream Storage: Keep inventory closer to manufacturing hubs rather than final distribution centers.

Cost Reduction: Pilot programs are showing 20-40% reduction in storage costs compared to traditional FBA.

Supply Chain Flexibility: Store bulk inventory upstream, then distribute to FBA as needed for fast delivery.

Multi-Channel Preparation: Position inventory for distribution across multiple sales channels, not just Amazon.

The strategic insight: Amazon isn’t just optimizing for their own marketplace anymore. They’re building infrastructure that supports your entire e-commerce operation.

Multi-Channel Fulfillment Gets Serious

Amazon announced major expansions to Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) that show they’re serious about being your logistics provider everywhere you sell.

New Integrations:

Shopify: Direct integration for seamless order fulfillment
Walmart Marketplace: Use Amazon’s network to fulfill Walmart orders
Shein: Tap into Amazon’s logistics for Shein sales
Physical Retail Partners: Multi-Channel Distribution (MCV) launching 2026

Unified Order Management:

Single Dashboard: Manage orders from all channels in one interface 

Inventory Allocation: Decide how much inventory goes to each channel
Performance Tracking: See fulfillment metrics across all your sales channels

What this means strategically: Amazon wants to handle your logistics regardless of where you make the sale. They make money on fulfillment fees, not just marketplace commissions.

Returns and Support: Finally Getting Better

Amazon also announced several improvements to their most frustrating processes:

Partial Refunds for Minor Issues:

The problem: Customer gets a product with minor cosmetic damage, returns the whole thing, you eat the full cost.

The solution: Amazon now offers partial refunds for minor aesthetic defects, keeping more products in circulation.

Replacement Parts Support:

The impact: Amazon reports this helped avoid 4+ million returns in 2025.

How it works: Instead of returning a product with one broken component, customers can request just the replacement part.

Your benefit: Lower return rates, higher customer satisfaction, reduced logistics costs.

“Missing from Inbound” Resolution:

The improvement: Resolution times for missing inventory claims cut in half.

What this fixes: Those shipments that “disappear” into Amazon’s network now get resolved much faster.

Streamlined Reimbursements:

The change: Simplified processes for getting reimbursed when Amazon loses or damages your inventory.

Why it matters: Faster cash flow, less time dealing with support cases.

What This Means for Your Operations

Immediate Impact (Next 90 Days):

Evaluate Your Commingling Situation:

• If you’re currently paying for stickers, calculate your annual savings
• Plan transition strategy for new shipments
• Review quality control processes now that you have full control

Cost Structure Changes:

• Budget for the stickering savings (reinvest in inventory or advertising?)
• Evaluate whether upstream storage through GWD makes sense for your volume
• Calculate potential savings from reduced returns through partial refunds

Strategic Considerations (6-12 Months):

Multi-Channel Operations:

• Consider using Amazon’s network for your Shopify fulfillment
• Evaluate MCF for other marketplace sales
• Plan for unified inventory management across channels

Supply Chain Optimization:

• Explore Global Warehousing for bulk storage near manufacturing
• Consider hybrid FBA/MFN strategies for different product categories
• Plan for 2026 Multi-Channel Distribution to physical retail

Long-Term Vision (2026+):

Amazon as Infrastructure Provider:

• Amazon wants to handle your logistics everywhere you sell
• This creates opportunities for channel diversification
• But also increases dependency on Amazon’s ecosystem

What Amazon is really doing 

The Strategy: Amazon is building infrastructure to capture logistics fees from your entire e-commerce operation, not just marketplace sales.

What this means for you:

• More operational flexibility and cost savings
• Better control over quality and brand protection
• Increased dependency on Amazon’s ecosystem
• Opportunity to diversify sales channels without diversifying logistics providers

The trade-off: Amazon makes their money whether you sell on their marketplace or not. They’re betting that becoming indispensable infrastructure is more valuable than just marketplace commissions.

Your Action Plan

This Week:

1. Audit your commingling costs – how much are you spending on stickers annually?
2. Review quality control issues – which problems will be solved by inventory separation?
3. Check MCF integration options for your other sales channels

This Quarter:

1. Test Global Warehousing if you have sufficient volume
2. Plan commingling transition for new product launches
3. Evaluate multi-channel fulfillment for holiday season expansion

2025 Planning:

1. Budget stickering savings into growth investments
2. Develop multi-channel strategy leveraging Amazon’s logistics network
3. Prepare for MCV launch if you’re planning retail partnerships

Coming up next: The new product launch tools that are changing how winners get discovered, including enhanced Vine programs and flexible FBA options.

Canopy Management is a full-service marketing agency for Amazon, Walmart, and TikTok sellers. Our team consists of multi-million dollar, omni-channel entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and award-winning experts.