GREYSCOUT RESEARCH
Grey Market
Risk Report
Every major Amazon US category, scored and ranked by grey market exposure. Q1 2026 data reveals a pattern in the seller base that many brand teams don’t see until it’s already affected their Q2 position.
BONUS: April and May monthly updates!
Download the Q1 report + April and May updates
Three assets, one form. Instant access.
4
CRITICAL risk categories
15
Subcategories above score 80
8
Categories with expanding seller base
0
LOW-risk categories remaining this quarter
Four findings that change how you think about Q2
Q1 2026 data confirmed something that consistently catches brand teams off guard. Here are the four findings. Download the report for the full data behind each one.
Finding 01
Grey market sellers don't follow revenue down
Revenue contracted sharply in January and February. The seller base moved in a different direction and by the time revenue partially recovered in March, the grey market infrastructure was already in place for the next demand cycle.
Finding 02
Tools & Home Improvement is a new CRITICAL entrant
One category crossed the CRITICAL threshold for the first time this quarter, driven by two specific subcategories that pushed the composite score above 70. Brands in this space without active monitoring are entering Q2’s peak season exposed.
Finding 03
Stable doesn't mean safe
Three categories moved down a risk tier in Q1. The data behind those movements tells a more complicated story, the one that brands in those categories shouldn’t read as a signal to reduce their monitoring cadence.
Finding 04
No LOW-rated category remains
This is the first edition of this report where every tracked Amazon US category carries at least MODERATE grey market exposure. Including one category that has historically been among the most insulated from grey market conditions.
What's inside the report
Risk Tier Snapshot
Full composite scores for all 20 categories, including all signal breakdowns, are inside the report.
Who uses this report
Brand Owners & eCommerce Teams
Use the Risk Index to prioritise monitoring resources, identify which categories require immediate Buy Box-level investigation, and brief senior leadership on marketplace exposure before Q2.
Brand Protection & Legal Counsel
Use the subcategory-level data to prioritise test purchase programmes, calibrate enforcement cadence for categories that have changed tier, and build the case for brand protection investment in new risk areas.
Every top 15 subcategory rates CRITICAL
For the first time in this series, every one of the 15 highest-risk subcategories carries a CRITICAL rating. The three highest-scoring subcategories are shown below. The full ranked list of 15, with signal breakdowns, is inside the report.
Scores represent structural risk conditions across 4 signals and not confirmed unverified seller counts.
April 2026 update
The index moves every month. So do we.
We re-score all 20 Amazon US categories every month between quarterly reports. The Q1 report set the baseline. Here is what has moved since.
Q1
April 2026
May 2026
April’s seller expansion pushed twelve categories into CRITICAL. In May, six dropped back to HIGH, and not one of them got safer. Five of the six downgrades came from seller expansion slowing, not from structural risk easing, and the third-party concentration that put those categories in CRITICAL is still in place. That is the pattern monthly tracking is built to catch: the headline number falls while the exposure underneath it holds. A category that looks calmer this month is not a category you can stop watching.