Amazon launches Haul, its $20-and-under answer to Temu
Amazon has launched Haul, a low-priced storefront aimed squarely at Temu and Shein, in time for the holiday shopping peak. Everything lists at $20 or less, with many items at $1.50, through a mobile-only experience with one-to-two-week delivery. Shipping is free over $25, orders above $50 and $75 earn 5 and 10 percent discounts, returns run 15 days, and purchases carry A-to-Z protection. The interface borrows the emoji-heavy, FOMO-driven design language of its rivals.
Brand-protection specialists are circulating a packaging playbook against counterfeiters: distinctive materials and shapes, holograms and foil stamping, per-item serial numbers and QR codes, tamper-evident seals, microtext and watermarks, embedded RFID tags, UV and color-shifting inks, NFC authentication labels, and customer education with a reporting channel.
Anthropic's chief executive, in a five-hour interview, put superintelligent AI as early as 2026-2027, with security level ASL-3 expected next year and ASL-4 by 2026. He described models progressing from high-school to PhD-level competence in three years, now completing 50 percent of real programming tasks, and urged regulation by the end of 2025.
Cash-flow tips circulating among sellers include paying suppliers by card through services like Melio, which charges a 2.9 percent fee, to exploit 0-percent introductory card periods. Reimbursement specialist Getida is promoting FBA inbound reconciliation ahead of Q4 with $1,000 in free refunds.
More than 60,000 third-party sellers grossed $1 million or more on Amazon last year, but 81 percent of sellers gross under $120,000 annually.
