Amazon's Copycat Machine: How AmazonBasics Systematically Clones Third-Party Seller Products

For years, Amazon's marketplace has been pitched as a level playing field where small businesses can reach millions of customers. But an OPV investigation reveals a far more troubling reality: Amazon has been systematically mining its own sellers' data to identify winning products, then launching near-identical versions under its AmazonBasics and other private labels. The result is a marketplace where the referee is also a player — and the player has access to everyone else's playbook.

The Data Pipeline Behind the Clones

Former Amazon employees who spoke to OPV on condition of anonymity described internal tools that aggregate third-party seller performance data across the platform. These tools flag products meeting specific criteria: high sales velocity, strong margins, low return rates, and categories where Amazon's private label penetration remains low. Once flagged, Amazon's product development teams receive detailed briefs, including supplier information gleaned from shipping records. According to one former manager, the turnaround from identification to AmazonBasics launch could be as short as four months.

The impact on sellers is devastating. James Thornton, who built a $2 million annual business selling phone accessories on Amazon, watched his revenue collapse by 65% within three months of an AmazonBasics equivalent appearing. "They didn't just copy the product," Thornton told OPV. "They copied the exact keywords from my listing, used similar product photography angles, and then priced it 30% lower. I never had a chance." Thornton's experience is far from unique — a coalition of over 500 sellers has documented similar patterns across dozens of product categories.

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Regulatory Pressure Mounts

The European Commission opened formal antitrust proceedings against Amazon in late 2025, specifically targeting the company's use of non-public marketplace data for private-label development. In the United States, the FTC's ongoing case against Amazon includes allegations of private-label abuse among its broader antitrust claims. Amazon has consistently denied wrongdoing, stating that its private-label products represent less than 1% of total retail sales and that the company does not use individual seller data to develop competing products. However, internal documents obtained through discovery in the EU proceedings appear to contradict this claim.

Sellers Left With Few Options

The power imbalance is stark. Sellers depend on Amazon for access to its 300 million active customer accounts, yet that same dependence makes them vulnerable to Amazon's private-label strategy. Some sellers have begun diversifying to Shopify, Walmart Marketplace, and direct-to-consumer channels, but most acknowledge that no single platform can replace Amazon's reach. Industry analysts estimate that Amazon's private-label operation generated over $30 billion in revenue in 2025, making it one of the largest consumer goods businesses in the world — built, in significant part, on the insights harvested from the very sellers it competes against.