Amazon adds new fuel, inflation fee for sellers. What does it mean for your wallet?
Amazon announced it will now charge sellers who use its fulfillment services a 5% fuel and inflation surcharge to compensate for rising costs — a first for the company.
The 5% increase is set to go into effect on April 28, a spokesperson from Amazon told McClatchy News on April 14.
The surcharge will come on top of the current fulfillment fee per unit rates, according to the company — meaning if a seller had previously paid $5 in fees, they will soon have to pay $5.25.
“In 2022, we expected a return to normalcy as COVID-19 restrictions around the world eased, but fuel and inflation have presented further challenges,” Amazon told sellers in an email. “It is still unclear if these inflationary costs will go up or down, or for how long they will persist.”
The additional fee will only apply to U.S. sellers who use Amazon’s fulfillment services, which handle receiving, packing, shipping, customer service and returns for them, according to the company’s website.
About 89% of Amazon sellers use the company’s fulfillment services, according to a report from Jungle Scout, a product research tool.
“Consumers will lose,” Dan Brownsher, who runs Channel Key, a Las Vegas e-commerce consulting business with more than 50 clients that sell products on Amazon, told Bloomberg. “Amazon already raised fees in January, so sellers will have to raise prices.”
The company had already implemented a 5.2% fee hike in January, according to the outlet.
In 2021, vendors paid $103 billion in fees — which accounted for about 22% of Amazon’s revenue, according to The Associated Press.
“Amazon keeps increasing its fees on the sellers that have to depend on its platform to take more money out of the pockets of independent businesses and put it into Amazon’s coffers,” Stacy Mitchell, co-director for the anti-monopoly group Institute for Local Self-Reliance, told AP.
Last year, Amazon took 34% of each seller’s sale — an increase from 19% in 2014, according to Bloomberg, with sellers now saying they will have to raise prices to keep up.
The company said it had absorbed costs as much as possible and increased fees to address permanent costs and be competitive with other providers.
This story was originally published April 14, 2022 at 8:31 AM with the headline "Amazon adds new fuel, inflation fee for sellers. What does it mean for your wallet?."
