Overview

Amazon’s third‑party marketplace has contracted sharply over the last four years, with active sellers falling from roughly 2.4 million to about 1.8 million – a 25 % drop. At the same time, high‑performing sellers have surged: those earning at least $1 million annually have nearly doubled to around 100 000, and businesses surpassing $100 million have risen from roughly 50 to more than 230. The shift signals a marketplace that is consolidating around professional, well‑capitalized operators.

Key Points

• Seller count down 25 % — Active third‑party accounts slipped from 2.4 M to 1.8 M between 2022 and 2026.
• Million‑dollar sellers up 90 % — Sellers with $1 M+ in annual revenue grew from about 52 k to close to 100 k.
• $100 M+ sellers up 360 % — Enterprises generating over $100 M rose from ~50 to more than 230.
• Chinese merchants dominate top tier — 57 % of the $1 M+ cohort are based in China, outpacing any other nationality.
• Longevity correlates with success — 60 % of the current top 10 k sellers opened their accounts before 2019.
• Traffic per seller up 30 % — With fewer competitors, each remaining seller now captures roughly 30 % more buyer visits than in 2022.

What’s Changing

1. Marketplace compression — A quarter of all sellers exited the platform, leaving a slimmer pool where the remaining businesses command a larger slice of total sales. Example: A seller who launched in 2020 and earned $500 k in 2022 now competes with half the number of peers for the same buyer pool, boosting potential sales volume.
2. Brand‑owned storefronts expanding — Established retailers are creating official Amazon stores to recapture revenue lost to gray‑market sellers. Example: A major electronics brand opened a storefront in early 2025, targeting $70 M of annual sales previously captured by unauthorized resellers.
3. Cross‑border sellers leading the elite — Chinese merchants now represent the majority of sellers earning over $1 M, leveraging low‑cost manufacturing and sophisticated logistics.