Amazon Haul, Amazon’s direct-from-China section for items under $20, has reached over 3,000 sellers since launching in November 2024, establishing itself as a credible competitor to Temu and Shein, though still smaller in scale. The milestone validates Amazon’s commitment to the “low and slow” direct-from-China marketplace model despite ongoing tariff volatility and confusion around imminent tariff rates.According to Marketplace Pulse data, 3,287 sellers currently participate in the Amazon Haul program in the U.S. The platform shows clear segmentation by price point: 994 sellers average under $10 per item across their catalogs, another 636 average between $10 and $15, and 424 average between $15 and $20. The remaining 1,233 sellers average above $20, suggesting they’re testing Haul with limited catalog integration rather than fully committing to the ultra-low-price model. Sellers in the under-$10 cohort average approximately $498,000 in annual revenue, while those in the $10-$15 band average $943,000, and those in the $15-$20 band average $1.3 million. Based on overall seller economics across all cohorts, Marketplace Pulse estimates Amazon Haul generates approximately $2 billion in annual GMV. The seller base remains overwhelmingly China-registered, with 97.5% of sellers averaging under $10 per item operating from China or Hong Kong, though the actual percentage is likely higher as some Chinese entities register U.S.-based legal entities. The growth aligns with Amazon’s recent earnings call claim that Haul selection has surpassed 1 million SKUs priced under $10. The company has aggressively subsidized growth through discounts reaching 90% off and expanded globally through Amazon Bazaar to over 25 markets. According to product page messaging, 75% of orders are delivered within 11 days, embodying the low-cost, slow-delivery trade-off that defines the direct-from-China model.Yet Haul remains dwarfed by its direct competitors. Temu generates approximately $30 billion in U.S. GMV and Shein around $18 billion, making Haul’s $2 billion a single-digit percentage of the direct-from-China market.The tariff landscape complicates long-term strategy. While Amazon expands Haul globally and Temu and Shein pivot toward local fulfillment, the fundamentals enabling ultra-cheap direct imports face persistent regulatory pressure. The May 2025 suspension of the de minimis exemption forced Chinese platforms to restructure operations entirely, and the recent Supreme Court ruling striking down Liberation Day tariffs has created renewed uncertainty around tariff rates.Amazon appears willing to absorb losses to maintain its market position in a segment that runs counter to decades of Prime optimization. The contradiction, though, could well be the strategy: rather than allowing competitors to define ‘cheap’ as the opposite of ‘fast,’ Amazon is proving it can compete on any dimension shoppers value. Haul’s progress demonstrates Amazon can build a meaningful direct-from-China business, but the ongoing test is whether it can do so profitably as subsidies eventually end in a regulatory environment that has already eliminated the tariff arbitrage that made the model viable.