AMAnews March 2025 — Grade & Resell, Collapsible PDPs, and B2B Ad Modifiers

March 2025 has brought a wave of fundamental changes to the Amazon marketplace, impacting everything from product page layout and FBA returns to the underlying mechanics of the ad auction. This month, Amazon is finally rolling out features that have been in beta for years, including collapsible content on desktop product pages and the much-discussed "Frequently Returned Item" badge.

Two major new programs are also making their debut. The "Grade and Resell" program offers a new path for sellers to recover value from FBA returns, but with significant implications for listing management and Buy Box competition. In the advertising console, new B2B bid modifiers have appeared, creating a complex new layer of bid stacking that can dramatically inflate CPCs if you're not paying attention. Let’s dive into the details.

Platform & SEO

This month, we’re focusing on small keyword adjustments that can have a big indexing impact, plus a reminder of the off-Amazon power of your Brand Store.

Minor Keywords, Major Impact

Sometimes SEO hinges on a single word. We've seen that words like "Zweck" (purpose) and its variations like "Vielzweck" (multi-purpose) or "Mehrzweck" (multi-purpose) are treated as distinct keywords by Amazon's search algorithm. A "Mehrzweckschere" (multi-purpose scissors) might capture a different audience than just "Schere." It's a crucial reminder to dive deep into the language of your specific product niche and ensure you’re not missing out on high-intent compound keywords.

Indexing Quirks: Hyphens, Spaces, and Prefixes

How you write your keywords matters for indexing. Incorrectly placed (or missing) spaces and hyphens can cause your product to not be indexed for certain terms at all. A term like "Küche geruchsdicht" (kitchen odor-proof) needs to be written correctly to be found. Furthermore, we’ve found that the "un-" prefix is highly searchable and can be used in advertising. It pays to check your backend search terms and ad copy for these small but critical formatting details.

Rank Your Brand Store on Google

Don't underestimate your Brand Store's power in external search. We're seeing Brand Store sub-pages achieve high rankings on Google for competitive terms. One brand, Jungheinrich, successfully ranked multiple store pages for terms related to pallet trucks "mit Waage" (with scale). The keys to this are creating cleanly named sub-pages for specific product categories, using relevant keywords in the page titles, and adding descriptive alt-text to all images. This is a highly effective, long-term SEO strategy to capture traffic from outside Amazon.

Catch-All Keywords: Numeric & Symbol Variations

Customers search in unpredictable ways, especially with numbers. For a product like a standard-sized suitcase, shoppers might search for "68", "69", "70", "71", or "72". They might also use different separators, like "68.69.70". It is vital to research these variations and include them in your backend. On a related note, while comma-separated numbers are often not allowed in Sponsored Ads, period-separated numbers usually are. This is another reason why a robust keyword tool is essential—it helps you find the exact phrasing you need to be visible where your competitors aren't.

Listing & Catalog

The product detail page itself is undergoing significant transformation, with changes to content display and the official launch of the "Frequently Returned Item" badge.

Content Now Collapsed on Desktop PDPs

After nearly two years in beta, Amazon is now collapsing content blocks on the desktop product detail page, mirroring the mobile experience. Instead of a long scroll, information is now consolidated, and shoppers must actively click to expand sections. This is a net positive. It forces brands to be more concise and makes the page more scannable for the customer, ensuring key information like the title, images, and bullet points are seen without requiring a long scroll.

The "Frequently Returned Item" Badge Is Here

The controversial "Frequently Returned Item" badge is now being actively rolled out. If you see this on a listing, it’s a major red flag for customers. According to Amazon, the program is a test targeting products with the highest return rates within their respective categories.

Heads Up: To be flagged, a product must not only have a high return rate relative to its category average but also have "sufficient sales volume to calculate an accurate rate." For listings with multiple sellers, Amazon uses only the return data of the seller who sold the item.

You can't officially "check" a list, but you can see if you are affected by viewing your live product pages. If the badge isn't there, your offer is not currently affected.

Glitch with Virtual Bundles

We're noticing a usability issue with how Virtual Bundles are being displayed. In some cases, they appear as product variations. When a customer clicks on one of the products in the bundle, the other product disappears from view, creating a confusing and potentially misleading experience. For now, this seems to primarily affect Vendors, but it’s a flaw to watch out for if the feature is rolled out more broadly.

Advertising

The ad console saw the most complex updates this month, with new bid modifiers, placement competition, and controversial settings for off-Amazon ads.

New B2B Bid Modifiers and the Danger of Stacking

You can now apply a bid modifier specifically for Amazon Business (B2B) customers. While this sounds great for B2B-focused sellers, it introduces a dangerous new layer of bid complexity. This modifier stacks on top of your other settings. For example:

• Your base bid: €1.00
• B2B Modifier (+10%): Bid becomes €1.10
• Top of Search Placement Modifier (+50%): Bid becomes €1.65 (€1.10 * 1.5)
• Dynamic Bidding - Up and down (up to +100%): Your final bid could now be up to €3.30!

Warning: Do NOT simply duplicate your existing campaigns and switch on the B2B modifier. This will create duplicate keywords competing against each other in the auction, driving up your own costs and muddying your performance data.

Off-Amazon Ads: Reach vs. Spend

The ability to run ads on third-party sites (Off-Amazon) is being rolled out more widely from the US. However, Amazon is not giving sellers a simple on/off switch. Instead, you get two choices:

• Prioritize reach: This setting allows Amazon to increase your impressions outside of Amazon to find more potential customers.
• Minimize spend: This setting limits off-Amazon delivery to help control costs.

Essentially, you can’t opt-out. Your only choice is to tell Amazon whether to lean into off-site ads or pull back. There are no granular budget controls for this placement, making it a black box for many advertisers.

Sponsored Display Video Enters the Sponsored Products Auction

In a surprising move, Sponsored Display video ads can now win placements in traditional Sponsored Products slots on the search results page. This means two different ad types are now competing in the same auction for the same real estate. It’s unclear if this is a unified auction or if Amazon is allocating slots differently. What is clear is that video is a powerful, attention-grabbing format, and its presence will undoubtedly increase competition and the need for high-quality, engaging video creative.

Marketplace & FBA

Major changes are afoot for FBA sellers, with a game-changing new program for handling returns and an overdue upgrade to inventory forecasting.

Introducing "Grade and Resell" for FBA Returns

Amazon has launched "Grade and Resell," a new program that finally gives sellers a way to recover value from returned items that cannot be sold as new. This is the seller-facing version of Amazon Warehouse Deals.

Here’s how it works: Amazon’s fulfillment centers will evaluate your returned items and assign them a condition (Like New, Very Good, Good, or Acceptable). The critical detail is that for each graded item, Amazon will create a brand-new SKU under your existing parent ASIN. This is NOT a variation; it's a separate offer that will compete for the Buy Box on your product listing. The price is set based on automated rules you configure for non-new inventory.

Action Item: The "Grade and Resell" program is OPTIONAL. It is NOT enabled by default. You must go into your FBA settings to review the terms and activate it if you want to participate. The grading process can take up to three weeks per item.

AI-Powered FBA Restock Recommendations

Amazon is upgrading its inventory management tools with a new restocking model that uses AI and machine learning to generate more accurate forecasts. The system will provide replenishment recommendations for products that:

• Have had active sales in the last 3 months.
• Have an estimated stock coverage of less than 14 days.

The recommendations are based on your current inventory levels, potential cross-location transfers, and an 8-week demand forecast. This is a welcome update, bringing Amazon’s native tools closer to the capabilities of third-party inventory planning software.

What Sellers Should Do Now

1. Audit Your Keywords for Nuance. Check your top products for synonyms ("purpose" vs. "multi-purpose"), hyphenation, and numerical variations (e.g., "70" vs "70L" vs "70 Liter") to ensure complete indexing.
2. Activate "Grade and Resell" (If It Fits). Go to your FBA Settings and decide if the Grade and Resell program is right for you. If you enable it, be sure to configure your pricing rules for used inventory.
3. Create a Strategy for the B2B Ad Modifier. Review your ad campaigns and decide how to approach the new B2B modifier. Be extremely cautious about stacking it with other modifiers, and avoid duplicating campaigns.
4. Set Your Off-Amazon Ad Preference. Navigate to your campaign settings and choose between "Prioritize reach" or "Minimize spend" for off-Amazon ads to align with your advertising goals.
5. Check Your Titles for Policy Violations. Proactively scan your product titles for repeated keywords and remove them to avoid receiving a 14-day compliance warning.
6. Review Your Listings for the "Frequently Returned Item" Badge. Check the live detail pages of your top-selling products to see if any have been flagged, and if so, investigate the root cause of the high return rate.
7. Consider Video Ads. With SD Videos now appearing in SP slots, the format's reach is expanding. If you haven't invested in video creative, now is the time to start.
8. Download Amazon's New Search Trend Report. Amazon published a deep-dive PDF report with aggregated Product Opportunity Explorer data. Find it and use it to understand search behavior, category growth, and seasonality, particularly the reality of Prime Day's traffic impact.