Most Amazon FBA sellers will tell you some version of this:
“Don’t worry, we have a great relationship with the factory.”
And sure, that sounds comforting.
But here’s the technical truth, friend: if that relationship lives inside casual WeChat messages, late-night WhatsApp chats, and vague promises, you are not buying a protected supply chain. You are buying hope. And hope gets expensive fast.
That’s why one of the smartest questions you can ask before buying an Amazon FBA business is this:
Will the supplier contracts transfer?
If the answer gets fuzzy, you need to slow down.
The “Evaporation” Risk
Key takeaway: If supplier terms live in informal chats instead of transferable contracts, your margins can disappear the moment the founder exits.
Picture this.
You just bought an Amazon FBA brand with incredible margins. The seller kept talking about their “great relationship” with the factory in Shenzhen. Everything looked solid on paper.
Then Day 1 hits.
You message the factory to place your first restock order, and they come back with bad news: your wholesale price is going up 30%, and your Minimum Order Quantities (MOQs) are doubling.
Just like that, the margins you thought you bought are gone.
This is the real risk buyers miss. A lot of sellers rely on personal rapport with a factory, not formal agreements. Maybe they’ve been chatting for years. Maybe the factory likes them. Maybe they’ve worked everything out informally.
But once the founder exits, that goodwill can disappear overnight. Those informal handshake deals have no legal weight during a transfer. That’s how supplier relationships evaporate.
So this guide is really about one thing: how to stop that from happening to you. We’re going to look at what actually transfers, what usually doesn’t, and how to use a real Supplier Transfer Playbook to protect pricing, MOQs, and supply continuity before the funds leave escrow.
The “Easy” Assets
Verdict: Seller Central, brand registry, trademarks, and inventory can transfer — but the supplier relationship is the real asset.
Some things do transfer pretty cleanly.
The Amazon Seller Central account, brand registry, the domain, trademarks, and current inventory sitting inside Amazon’s warehouses can all move over with the right process. But even there, you need to be careful. Before touching any FBA deal, it’s worth reviewing account health properly, because a clean-looking account is not always a healthy one:
FBA Due Diligence: How to Expose Hidden Account Health History Before You Buy
So yes, the admin side can transfer.
The hard part is the relationship behind the inventory.
The “Hard” Asset: The Supplier Relationship
Key takeaway: You cannot buy a personal relationship. If the seller has no formal transferable agreement, the factory can reset the deal on Day 1.
Here’s the cold truth: you cannot buy a personal relationship.
If the seller has been negotiating with the factory through WeChat for three years, that relationship belongs to them, not automatically to the company you just acquired.
This is the handshake trap.
If you ask, “Will the supplier contracts transfer?” and the seller says something like, “We don’t really have contracts, we just have a good understanding,” you are in dangerous territory.
Why? Because without a formal transferable agreement, the factory has every reason to reset the deal the moment ownership changes. That usually means:
- price hikes
- tighter payment terms
- larger MOQs
- slower production slots
- sudden supply shortages
- damaged profit margins on day one
And once you’re already in the deal, your leverage is weak.
Why Factories Squeeze New Buyers
Verdict: A new owner often looks like a reset button to a factory — which means higher prices, bigger commitments, and less flexibility.
This part is brutally simple.
Factories often see a new owner as a reset button. They don’t know you. They don’t trust your payment history. And they may assume you have money because you just acquired a business.
So they protect themselves first.
That means raising prices, asking for bigger commitments, or reducing flexibility. If you don’t have backup sourcing ready, you’re forced to accept the new terms. That’s how a healthy-looking FBA asset becomes a bleeding one in a week.
This is exactly why operational leverage matters so much. If you haven’t thought deeply about how much real upside exists after takeover, this is worth reading:
Concrete Growth Potential Post-Purchase: Fact vs. Fiction
The Supplier Transfer Playbook
Key takeaway: Supplier relationships must be formalized before closing — with introductions, contracts, and backup manufacturing data secured.
This is the part that actually protects you.
If you want to stop the evaporation of supplier relationships, the seller needs to formalize the relationship before the deal closes.
Step 1: The introductory call
The seller should schedule a proper video call with the factory manager and introduce you as the new operating partner. The positioning matters. The message should be: we are bringing in capital and planning to scale order volume. That frames the transition as good news for the factory, not a disruption.
Step 2: The formal manufacturing agreement
Before closing, get a legally binding agreement in place. This is often built around an NNN plus a manufacturing agreement. The goal is to lock in pricing, payment terms, and MOQs for at least 12 months after the sale.
That one move can save you from getting crushed on Day 1.
Step 3: Secure the backup roster
Never buy an FBA brand without the tech packs, CAD files, molds, and production specs. You need the legal right and the technical data to move production if the main factory gets difficult.
This is the same basic logic we apply when looking at other third-party relationships too. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when approvals or outside partnerships sit in someone else’s name, this is a useful parallel read:
What Happens to Non-Amazon Affiliate Approvals When Buying a Website
And more broadly, proper supplier due diligence and manufacturer vetting should never be treated like a side task. It is the business.
Don’t Buy an Unprotected Supply Chain
Key takeaway: A business is only as valuable as its supply chain. Informal supplier deals are not a moat — they’re a liability.
A business is only as valuable as its supply chain.
That’s the truth.
If the supplier relationship is built on informal handshake deals, it is not a strength. It is a liability. You need a real Supplier Transfer Playbook, real documentation, and real fallback options so the margins you’re buying are the margins you actually keep.
At Ecom Chief, we look hard at backend sourcing structures before listing FBA assets, because the goal is simple: you should be stepping into a protected supply chain, not a factory hostage situation.
If you’re looking for a secure, more defensible FBA brand, start with our Amazon FBA Businesses for Sale collection here:
Amazon FBA Businesses for Sale
And if you want to see a live example in the health niche, take a look at this Amazon organic health & beauty FBA business:
Amazon Organic Health & Beauty FBA Business
Video recommendation
Verdict: Watch this with one question in mind: is the supply chain truly transferable, or is it tied to one founder’s personal rapport?
This video is worth watching because it adds practical context around supplier vetting and how to think about manufacturer relationships before you inherit them. Watch it with one question in mind: is this supply chain really transferable, or is it just tied to one founder’s personal rapport?
