Amazon is getting rid of billions of product listings deemed “unproductive” through a confidential project called “Bend the Curve,” according to the disclosure. “unhelpful” product listings.
The “Bend the Curve” program is a massive cost-cutting strategy launched by Amazon during the Andy Jassy era, that according to an inside source: it plans to reduce the number of active ASINs on the platform from 74 billion to less than 50 billion.These underperformers include items that are not selling well and items for which there is no actual inventory available for purchase.
Specific initiatives are described below:
- Automatically cleans up support lists that have no actual inventory, or product lists that have not been updated for more than two years.
- Blocking some poorly performing seller accounts from releasing new products, such as products with no sales history for more than 12 months.
- Single account violations will involve other linked accounts.
According to consumer surveys: the quality of Amazon's platform selection is experiencing a serious downward crisis, with users who believe Amazon has the best selection plummeting to a new low in its 12-year history.
When you try to search for "iPhone charging cable", more than 2,000 results appear, but more than 37% of the displays are duplicates or invalid items."This further highlights the urgency for platforms to optimize listings.
Currently, Bend the Curve has caused confusion among sellers about the scope of the policy. According to the policy, only “inefficient” accounts are affected, but feedback from sellers suggests that this is not the case.
The platform has not yet publicly stated the criteria for determining this, so e-commerce sellers can avoid the risk by checking themselves in advance.
Listing health comprehensive check
Focus on screening products with no sales in the past 2 years, and delete or archive them directly. Clean up inactive zombie Listings to avoid triggering the risk of associated accounts being affected.
Build account segregation firewall
Timely release non-essential sub-account associations to build a protective wall for core accounts.
Organize complaint evidence package
Take screenshots and save or record FBA warehouse inventory video of the Listing page of the current active sales items, so that you can quickly submit relevant evidence to make a complaint in case of misjudgment.
12 Jun, 2025
