Knowing everything I know today... every fee, every policy, every restriction...
By Max Sigurdson-Scott · April 16, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Knowing everything I know today... every fee, every policy, every restriction... would I start selling on Amazon from scratch?
From this week's Selling From the Beach newsletter:
Sit with that for a second.
Because theres a name for this exercise. Its called zero-based thinking. And it might be the most important thing you do today.
Because heres what "today" actually looks like...
Your cash is locked up for nearing a month thanks to DD+7 . A 3.5% fuel surcharge just dropped. Amazon killed their own prep services ... Theyre decoupling reviews across variations. Inbound defect fees jumped from pennies to dollars. PPC costs keep climbing. And that's just this year.
And every single one of these changes got announced the same way. "This is just a small adjustment."
$0.08 here. 3.5% there. Seven more days before you see your money.
The frog doesnt notice the water getting hotter. But he's being boiled alive.
Zero-based thinking forces you to feel the full temperature all at once.
Not "is this new change survivable?" That answer is always yes. Of course you can survive another $0.08. The real question is... would you jump into this water voluntarily today?
If yes... great. Youve made a conscious decision. Youre not trapped. Youre choosing.
If no... thats information. Doesnt mean you quit tomorrow. But it means you should probably stop doubling down and start building your exit ramp. A second channel. A DTC play. A plan that doesnt assume Amazon gets better from here (because it won't).
The pattern seems pretty clear: Amazon doesnt reverse these things. The 2022 and 2026 fuel surcharge? Folded into the base fees. DD+7? No opt-out. Every "small adjustment" becomes the new floor.
The danger isnt any single change. The danger is never stopping to ask the question. So ask it. Today. Out loud if you have to: "Would I start this... knowing what I know now?"
Also in this week's issue: why TikTok fulfillment beats Amazon MCF by $6 per unit, daily payouts might finally fix your cash flow nightmare, the $3 pharmacy visit that replaces a $190 doctor trip, and turn Claude Code into an autonomous worker that never stops.
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