[Crew Review] How secondhand Amazon seller accounts are used for fraud

An investigation reveals how the underground market for secondhand seller accounts is being used for fraud and to sell dodgy products.

What is Amazon doing about it?

Amazon Top Terms

We did the math and pulled out the top 10 terms that rose in popularity on Amazon between September 4th and September 17th.

This week, we’ve got a large variety of keywords. Some of the most important trends made their way into our list, like “electric car jack.”

This term has caused an increase in sales of related products, going from selling 9 units to 20 units per day in the last few days.

Ad Testificandum

Jeff Bezos is a busy man. But the Federal Trade Commission doesn’t seem to care.

The Commission denied requests to exclude Bezos and his head honcho, Andy Jassy, from testifying in investigative hearings relating to alleged anomalies in Amazon Prime sign-ups. It is looking into Amazon’s possible violations of the FTC Act or the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA) after a March 2022 Business Insider article revealed that the company has “knowingly tricked people into signing up for Prime subscriptions.”



Amazon argued that Bezos and Jassy wouldn’t be that helpful to the investigation anyway because they aren’t steeped in the details of the case’s main issue—how customers sign up and cancel their Amazon Prime subscriptions.

According to the ecommerce giant, requiring both executives to testify in the hearings is “burdensome” and is a form of harassment.

The FTC, on the other hand, maintains that the company failed to provide a reason why the “Commission must accept anything less than all the relevant testimony it can obtain from these two witnesses.”

On a related note, it will be remembered that back in 2020, Bezos testified that there is no guarantee that Amazon’s policy against using seller-specific data to help develop their private-label brands has not been violated.

Will we see a similar testimony from the former CEO?

Battle of Deliveries

There’s an overall slowdown of ecommerce after the pandemic, and FedEx is one of the most affected companies. It recently withdrew its financial forecast, citing volatility in the shipping industry.

However, FedEx’s problems are not just limited to the economic trend. Sure, inflation and the fact that people are back to shopping in brick-and-mortar stores are big factors. But the company is also facing major competition—Amazon.

According to PYMNTS, Amazon now accounts for half of US ecommerce volume, giving FedEx a run for its money.



Both companies expanded their facilities because of the rising demand during the pandemic ecommerce boom, and both were not spared from the slowdown. Amazon scaled back on its delivery partner expansion, but it seems like the retailer is faring better overall.

It recently announced its Warehousing & Distribution Service, which offers third-party sellers long-term storage options, which is a clever move to make use of its otherwise unutilized “surplus” warehouses.

FedEx used to be one of Amazon’s delivery partners, but their contract was not renewed in 2019, when the latter started to focus on building its own delivery network.

Walmart’s Innovation Partners

Walmart is pushing its ads more on social feeds and live streams. The reason is obvious: That’s where a lot of their customers are hanging out.

Here’s what’s happening. Even if people aren’t purchasing online as much anymore, they still rely on online recommendations and reviews in deciding which product to buy even if they end up purchasing from physical stores. And Walmart knows that.

To help sellers and suppliers reach more customers, the retail giant recently announced its partnership with the following platforms:

• TikTok
• Snapchat
• Firework
• TalkShopLive
• Roku

These partnerships will allow advertisers to use Walmart Connect to buy ads on the platforms.

Last year, the company brought in $2.1 billion in ad revenue. It’s still playing catch-up with Amazon, so we’ll have to see if it succeeds.

When Are You Launching Your Next Best Seller?

Having more products doesn’t always result in more sales. Having a stellar product that rakes in $10,000 per month in profit is better than having fifteen products that earn you an aggregate of $5,000 monthly.

However, this doesn’t mean you should stop developing products or improving on your existing ones.

We’re always looking for new best sellers in all our eight brands. It’s a constant cycle of researching and finding the right suppliers.

After years of developing and selling products on Amazon, we’ve figured out the best ways of successfully launching #1 best sellers.

We’ve summarized these tried-and-tested strategies in a convenient book that you can get on Amazon. But since you’re an EcomCrew subscriber, you can get it for free here. All you need to do is pay for shipping.