Back-to-school volume appears to have peaked this week, based on seller reports, with a few other threads continuing quietly in the background.
Signs back-to-school is cresting
Several sellers noted order volume leveling off or beginning to slow slightly compared to the past two weeks, consistent with school start dates arriving across much of the country. If you’ve been heads-down in production, this is a reasonable point to start planning the transition toward fall inventory, which we’ll have more on in the coming weeks.
Shipping scam variant confirmed spreading
Following Friday’s scam alert on fake carrier notifications targeting sellers, we received several reader notes confirming similar attempts this week, suggesting it’s a genuinely active campaign rather than an isolated report. Worth continuing to flag to anyone who shipped internationally recently.
Creativity Standards: a small process update
A few sellers reported the appeals interface in Shop Manager got a minor usability update this week, mostly around how removal reasons are displayed. Not a change to the underlying standard itself, just a clearer presentation of the same information.
Tariff story: still simmering, not escalating
No major new development this week, but sellers sourcing internationally continue to report elevated costs as an ongoing reality rather than a temporary spike that’s resolving. We’d note this is shifting from “developing story” to “the new normal” in how sellers are talking about it.
What we’re watching
The back-to-school-to-fall transition, and whether any sellers report meaningful relief on the sourcing cost front as we head toward September.
Back next Sunday.
