A friend of mine was using Claude. His account got suspended.
He was locked out of all of his chats, all of his workflows.
Like any Amazon seller, this is a super familiar story. Amazon suspends your listing.
If you take nothing else away from the training, make sure you back up all of your data, all of your workflows, all of those artifacts that you have. Back it up off of Claude, off of GPT, off of Perplexity somewhere.
You want to have that flexibility so you're not tied down to one particular model.
In the webinar, I gave you a glimpse at what an AI eCom brain, or “eCom Second Brain,” looks like for your business.
In today's issue:
- The eCom Second Brain webinar replay
- Live training with Chris Rawlings next week on the 80/20 of your AI workflows
- Amazon's new AI workflows, peak shipping charges, and a B2B deal worth checking
Watch the eCom Second Brain webinar replay
I walk through the setup, show what the brain looks like, and use a fictional Amazon PPC example to make it concrete.
If you'd like to build this out live and do a lot more in two days in Tokyo, take a look at the 7 Figure Japan Mastermind.
Live with Chris Rawlings: the 80/20 of your AI workflows
Next week Chris Rawlings and I are doing live training on how to create the 80/20 of your AI workflows.
Once you have your eCom Second Brain set up, how do you use it to optimize the work that matters most? We'll show you how to approach PPC and listing optimization. PPC optimization is one of the biggest levers to pull going into Q4.
Monday, September 28 at 5:00 p.m. EDT / Tuesday, September 29 at 6:00 a.m. JST.
The Vital Few
Amazon announced that Seller Assistant is getting a memory of a seller's business and workflows that can keep an eye on things like inventory, pricing, and account health.
It also announced a Selling Partner plugin for Amazon Quick and a Claude beta for sellers in its U.S. stores. Check availability in your own account; the announcement does not mean every seller has the plugin today.
The interesting part for me is what happens after the tool notices something. Suppose it flags a drop in the rating of a top product and drafts a response plan. You can read that plan, check the reviews, and decide what to do.
Now suppose a workflow suggests changing a price or refreshing a listing. That is a different level of authority. The price may be tied to your margin, promotion, inventory, and channel strategy. The listing change may affect a top-selling ASIN.
Amazon says a seller can set a workflow to recommend only or take actions with approval, and that actions are logged. I'd spend more time on those controls than on the demo screen.
Who can turn the workflow on? Which data can it see? What exactly will it propose? Where can you see what it did? Those are the questions I'd want answered before connecting it to work that affects revenue or account health.
Why this matters: Amazon is moving from AI that answers a seller's question to AI that can keep watching and prepare an action. That can save review time. It also means you need a clear approval point, especially when the recommendation reaches pricing, listings, inventory, or account health.
TAKEAWAY: If this becomes available in your account, try one narrow monitoring workflow first. Set it to recommendations, inspect a few outputs and the audit trail, and keep a person approving any business change.
Peak parcel surcharges: check which orders actually get hit
UPS's 2026 demand-surcharge schedule starts September 27 for U.S. domestic packages that need additional handling or fall into its large-package or over-maximum categories. FedEx's schedule starts September 28 for selected additional-handling, oversize, and unauthorized-package charges. Both carriers have other charges beginning later in October, depending on the service.
If you ship orders yourself, use a 3PL, or send some items directly to customers, take a look at the packages you actually send. A lightweight small parcel and a bulky product near an oversize threshold are different margin problems.
The published surcharge is only one part of the calculation; your service, destination, and carrier agreement matter. This is not a new charge on every Amazon FBA order.
Why check now? Because a promotion can multiply a mistake in your margin sheet. If the price and shipping cost in that sheet came from the summer, you may be judging a Q4 campaign with an old cost. I'd rather find that on ten recent orders than after hundreds go out the door.
Why this matters: Peak charges can change which SKU, bundle, shipping method, or promotion makes sense. The seller who knows the cost by package has a better decision than the seller looking at an average shipping line.
TAKEAWAY: Pull a handful of real shipments, starting with the bulky or low-margin ones. Match their dimensions, weight, service, and destination to your current carrier quote. Recalculate contribution margin before you change a promotion or price.
Amazon says sellers can now create limited-time deals for Amazon Business customers, from one hour to 30 days, using a fixed price or percentage discount.
Its published eligibility includes new-condition products rated at least 3.5 stars and a minimum 10% discount for regular deals, or 15% for High Velocity Event deals. The announcement lists availability in ten marketplaces, including the U.S. and Japan. Check the actual deal options and eligibility for your ASIN in Seller Central.
This is worth a look if business buyers already purchase your products or you have a product they buy in quantity. But I would not start by asking, “How big a discount gets me into the placement?” I'd start with the unit economics.
A deal that brings more orders can still leave you worse off once you account for the lower price, fulfillment, returns, and any other promotion running at the same time.
Why this matters: A B2B deal gives you another way to reach business buyers, but it is still a pricing decision. For a seller with thin contribution margin, the minimum discount can be a meaningful hurdle. For a product with healthy repeat business demand, a small, controlled test may be worth the review.
TAKEAWAY: If B2B is relevant to your catalog, check one eligible ASIN. Calculate the contribution margin at the proposed deal price, decide how long and how many units you are willing to test, and review the result before making it a recurring promotion.
Talk soon,
Gary
P.S. Want to build this out together? Join us at the 7 Figure Japan Mastermind for two days in Tokyo. We’ll work on your eCom Second Brain, AI PPC workflows, AI video, TikTok Shop, and more. Check out the details here.