Amazon is imposing strict new limits on warehouse space, mirroring its pandemic-era inventory caps, as US merchants rush to stockpile inventory ahead of looming China tariffs.
The Information reports that toy merchant Mason Beck saw his fulfillment center capacity slashed by 75%, blocking him from restocking and costing his company over $100,000 in sales and $30,000 in profit. Another seller, Eric Moore, who sells up to $3M a year on Amazon, said that the company cut his warehouse capacity by two-thirds in recent weeks.
In several instances, merchants have tried to send inventory to Amazon fulfillment centers and received an unusual error message that read, “COVID19_LIMIT_EXCEEDED” — the same message sellers received in 2020 when Amazon last imposed strict inventory restrictions.
An Amazon spokesperson said that the company adjusts capacity limits in order to “maintain an efficient fulfillment network to ensure we can continue providing customers with fast delivery of a broad selection of products.”
“Rules for thee, but not for me.”
Although Amazon is cracking down on sellers for stockpiling inventory, the company is doing it themselves. In early April, CEO Andy Jassy credited Amazon's own stockpiling as the reason they haven’t had to raise prices.