In 2026, Amazon's U.S. platform is undergoing a "rule restructuring". While most sellers are still busy preparing for the Spring Festival and planning inventory, the platform has quietly laid out a series of policy "combos" - on February 8, mandatory prepaid return labels; on February 12, a subversive change in variant review sharing rules; on February 15, FBA removal fees charged by unit; and on February 16, the SAFE-T claim window period slashed from 60 days to 30 days. For sellers, these policies mean a significant reduction in operational error tolerance, a sharp increase in cash flow management difficulty, and a demand for refined compliance granularity. The little assistant will sort out the key response nodes of the new policies in February in chronological order for sellers.

Phase One: Full mandatory implementation of Amazon Prepaid Return Labels (APRL) (effective February 8)

Starting from February 8, 2026, all third-party sellers on Amazon's U.S. platform (except for a few exempt categories such as handmade products) must use the "Amazon Prepaid Return Label (APRL)" project when handling returns. The previous policy that high-value goods (priced over $100) could apply for an exemption from using prepaid labels has been cancelled.

Impact in-depth analysis:

Risk transfer and cost visibility: Sellers will unconditionally bear the cost of prepaid labels for all returns. For sellers of high-value goods (such as electronics, luxury goods), this directly increases operating costs. More importantly, during the mandatory return process, goods may face the risk of damage, loss of accessories, or being swapped, and sellers lose the opportunity to negotiate return methods with buyers (such as providing safer packaging or designating logistics providers).

Cash flow pressure intensifies: Although Amazon claims that the standardization of the APRL process can shorten the refund cycle from up to 14 days to about 7 days, improving consumer experience, this requires sellers to have faster capital turnover capabilities. Accelerated refunds mean that sellers' funds are deducted from their accounts more quickly, posing higher requirements for cash flow management.

Dangerous linkage with subsequent policies: This policy forms a "crossfire" with the shortening of the SAFE-T claim period effective on February 16. Once high-value goods are damaged during the APRL return process, sellers need to complete the claim within a very short window period, otherwise they will face the double loss of "insufficient insurance, no claim".

Phase Two: Subversive adjustment of variant review sharing rules (effective February 12)

On February 12, 2026, Amazon will officially launch a major adjustment to the product variant review sharing mechanism. The core of the new rules is: only variants with minor functional differences are allowed to share the review pool, and reviews of variants with significant functional differences will be forcibly split and displayed independently.

Specific rules and transition period: Variants that can share reviews are limited to the following five categories: color or pattern differences of the same product; bedding of different sizes but with the same function; differences in packaging specifications or quantity; fragrance variants of non-fragrance products (such as lemon flavor and fragrance-free cleaner); different model adaptations of the same product type (such as phone cases for different phone models).

Variants with forcibly split reviews: Functional differences (such as tables with lifting function and ordinary tables), core material differences (such as pure cotton and polyester sheets), product generation differences (such as new and old models), etc.

Phased implementation: This change will be gradually promoted by product category from February 12, 2026 to May 31, 2026. The platform will notify relevant sellers by email 30 days before the change takes effect.

Impact on sellers:

"Cliff-like" drop in the number of reviews: The past operation method of relying on "merging variants" to accumulate reviews for new products or long-tail SKUs has completely failed. The total number of reviews for many listings will decrease significantly, directly affecting product conversion rate and natural search weight.

Increased difficulty and cost of new product promotion: Newly listed variants or products will lose the "protection" of old product reviews and start accumulating evaluations from scratch. This means that sellers need to independently invest higher promotion costs (such as Vine programs, off-site drainage) for each important SKU, and the advertising conversion rate (ACOS) may significantly increase in the short term.

Inventory and product strategy need to be reconstructed: Sellers need to re-evaluate the independent profit model of each variant. For those marginal SKUs that used to rely on the main variant to drive sales, they may no longer have sales value due to the loss of review support, and inventory decisions need to be more refined.

Phase Three: FBA removal/discarding order fees charged by unit (effective February 15)

Starting from February 15, 2026, the fee collection method for Amazon FBA removal orders and discarding orders will change from "one-time deduction after the order is completed" to "per-unit billing"

Potential impact:

Although the platform claims that the rate remains unchanged and only adjusts the billing time point to improve "fee visibility", it actually poses a hidden challenge to the seller's cash flow management.

Cash flow planning disrupted: In the past, submitting a removal order containing hundreds of items, the fee might be deducted uniformly after the order is completed (or 90 days later). Under the new rules, the fee will start from the first day of processing and continue to be deducted in a dispersed manner as the items are removed one by one, making it difficult for sellers to accurately predict and plan the account balance at specific time points.

Increased complexity of financial reconciliation: Sellers need to deal with a large number of scattered small deduction records instead of a single, clear total fee bill, increasing the workload of financial reconciliation and cost accounting.

Phase Four: The claim window shrinks sharply, and risk response enters "life and death speed" (effective February 16)

Core event: The SAFE-T claim application window period is shortened from 60 days to 30 days

Starting from February 16, 2026, the SAFE-T claim application period for Amazon's U.S. self-delivered (MFN) orders will be reduced from 60 days to 30 days. This is a clear signal that the platform is transferring operational risks and financial pressure to the seller side.

Key time node calculation (sellers must remember):

Return/refund scenario: Calculate 30 days from the later of the "warehouse return scan date" and the "refund completion date".

Goods loss scenario: Calculate 30 days from the "last logistics scan record" date.

Once the 30-day window period is exceeded, sellers will lose the right to apply for compensation from Amazon for problems such as package loss, malicious return by buyers, or damage to goods during the return process, and all losses must be borne by themselves.

Seller's emergency survival guide: Level 4 response and action list

In the face of this dense policy storm, sellers should immediately start a systematic response. SAFE-T claim cleanup: Immediately review all self-delivered orders, screen out returns, refunds, or lost items that occurred after December 17, 2025, and are within the 30-60 day window period, and make sure to submit all SAFE-T applications before February 16. APRL system switch and risk control check: Confirm that the self-delivered account has enabled the APRL function. Focus on assessing the return risk of high-ticket items, and consider purchasing third-party commercial insurance to make up for the deficiency of platform insurance (usually with an upper limit of only $100). Review FBA removal plan: If not urgent, consider suspending large-scale removal orders, wait for the new billing method to stabilize after February 15, and then operate to avoid the impact of cash flow fragmentation.

The Amazon policy cluster in February 2026 marks the formal transition of the platform ecosystem from "savage growth" to the "precise calculation" era. Time window (30-day claim period), cost unit (billed by piece), traffic elements (review refinement) are all extremely refined. The essence of this storm is a comprehensive screening of sellers' refined operational capabilities, compliance awareness, and cash flow management level. Only those sellers who can quickly internalize compliance into processes and drive decisions with data can build a solid moat under the new rules of the game. Policies do not wait for people, and actions are urgent.