The Great Amazon Flip-a-Thon

Eco-Baby, TrailBuddy, Quility and TapeKing aren’t exactly household names, but they’re working on it. Their products are among the most popular in their categories on Amazon, accounting for millions of dollars in yearly sales.

They’re also owned and operated by a single company called Thrasio, which recently raised $750 million in financing. It’s just one among dozens of firms snapping up successful Amazon brands for millions of dollars.

Several of the largest firms, including Perch, Branded and SellerX, aspire to become, loosely speaking, the Unilevers and Procter & Gambles of Amazon’s third-party seller economy.

For them — and for Amazon — 2020 was an undeniable boom year.

These companies are already reshaping Amazon in ways both visible and invisible to its customers, few of whom have heard their names but plenty of whom have ordered their products. They’ve given Amazon sellers a way to cash out of their businesses and helped create a new class of listing flippers.

It’s an Amazon brand bonanza. How far will it go?

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A product can end up on Amazon in a few different ways. Much like a brick-and-mortar store, the company maintains relationships with vendors, whose products it stocks and sells. Amazon also operates dozens of private-label brands of its own, including Amazon Basics.

In recent years, though, most sales on Amazon have come through Amazon Marketplace, where millions of outside sellers compete to find customers. Many pay Amazon to store and ship their goods, making them eligible for Prime shipping, through an arrangement known as Fulfillment by Amazon, or FBA.