"Since mid-August, traffic has been declining and sales have worsened month by month. In previous years, peak season would have arrived by now, but this year it hasn't. Ads are either burning budget with no return or simply unable to spend at all..."

Recently, a Shenzhen seller operating on the German marketplace posted in a group, lamenting that local consumer willingness has fallen and inflation is severe, making Amazon business very hard this year. He asked peers: Am I the only one being beaten in the cold wind?

A group of sellers continue to see sluggish order volumes

"Last month, the top dozen or so in a small category had dozens of orders a day. Now rankings haven't changed much, but orders are in single digits."

"Germany has been volatile lately. We also feel it is harder than in the first half of the year, and ad costs are more sensitive."

"In November, sales have bottomed out—only clicks, no orders."

"I thought things would improve after July and August, but it is getting worse every month, much worse than last year. Inventory has piled up. I had to sign up for Lightning Deals before Black Friday, otherwise sales would look terrible."

While some sellers worry about orders, others have captured short-term dividends.

One Europe seller said the company was flat in the first half, but in the second half it seized high-demand categories and could make money even with little advertising, peaking at nearly 300 orders a day. Another mentioned that since October the strategy has been to cut ad spending—preferring fewer sales to protect profit. Europe is still profitable, while the US is losing money. Another said: "A UK category has been surging for nearly half a month and is still exploding; Europe started to follow suit a few days ago."

Why do sellers' experiences differ so much?

On one hand, German consumer willingness fell in September and October under inflation pressure, leaving less disposable income. This shrinking purchasing power directly means fewer orders for sellers. On the other hand, the pool has shrunk, and traffic is concentrating on very few listings with the highest conversion rates. The days of steadily getting orders just by holding a position are being replaced by a crueler funnel effect.

Clearly, traffic and orders have not disappeared; they have just become pickier, tilting toward regions and categories that better match current consumption habits.

Is the platform sliding toward low prices and ad involution?

When traffic gets more expensive and the market cools, sellers' most direct feeling is "involution".

In the past on Amazon, doing the right actions brought orders: optimizing listings, adjusting prices, increasing ads—the feedback was roughly linear. This year the actions have been done, but the expected results have not come.

One seller with years of Amazon experience lamented that products made with serious tooling and higher costs get little organic traffic, and once ads run, ACoS is frighteningly high. Meanwhile, nearby homogeneous competitors with thinner materials rely on low prices and heavy ad spending to firmly occupy top positions. He sighed that making good products used to make money, but now it seems whoever spends more on ads wins.

This sentiment resonates across cross-border circles. Some even sigh that in the past it was "30% operations and 70% product"; now it seems whoever spends more on ads wins.

In fact, the underlying business logic has not changed.

Some sellers believe the core criterion for Amazon's algorithm in allocating traffic has always been conversion rate. Under global inflation, consumers' disposable income is falling, and low-priced, cost-effective products naturally have higher conversion. If high-cost products cannot achieve high enough conversion among specific groups, the algorithm does not see them as "excellent" products. For small and medium sellers, the only choice is to adapt, adjust product development in time, and better find their place on the platform.

However, data bought through extremely thin margins and heavy ad spending is not sustainable. Another seller pointed out that heavy advertising is essentially buying data with cash, betting that the payment cycle can cover the spend. The premise is cost compressed to the extreme and the category still has room to grow. Once a category peaks and bids rise, the first to fall will be these frantically competing sellers.

In fact, many sellers are seeking balance in this traffic game. Some cut prices to maintain scale, some signed up for Lightning Deals before Black Friday to maintain appearances, and some are waiting to see next year's fees and exchange rates.

In a highly competitive environment, product life cycles are getting shorter. For most ordinary sellers, "product strength" no longer means only high quality polished behind closed doors, but offering cost-effective products that meet customer needs within expected price ranges. They must control costs while managing operations during promotion windows—error tolerance is becoming extremely low.

If you cannot change the times, learn to adapt to them. In the future, sellers chasing quick money will decrease, and those who remain will be long-term sellers focused on product quality and listing quality.