Beginning on April 28, Amazon will issue a 5% fuel and inflation charge on third-party sellers who use the platform’s shipping services.
Inflation hikes prices: “Like many, we have experienced significant cost increases and absorbed them, wherever possible, to reduce the impact on our selling partners,” Amazon said in an email sent to merchants on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg.
- Things were expected to return to normalcy as COVID-19 restrictions have lessened, but inflation and higher fuel prices have presented challenges for the company, Bloomberg reported.
- “The surcharge will apply to all product types, such as non-apparel, apparel, dangerous goods, and Small and Light items,” the notice continued, according to CNBC. “The surcharge will apply to all units shipped from fulfillment centers starting April 28.”
Who will be affected? The fee increase will only apply to sellers who use Amazon’s shipping services.
- Sellers who ship items themselves or use third-party shipping services won’t be affected by the surcharge, according to NPR.
- Amazon’s fuel and inflation surcharge is 24 cents per unit, which they claim is cheaper than the UPS surcharge of 42 cents and FedEx’s charge of 49 cents, CNBC reported.
Will this raise product prices? The pressure was already high for sellers, considering Amazon had already increased their fees in January of this year.
- “Consumers will lose. Amazon already raised fees in January, so sellers will have to raise prices,” Dan Brownsher, who runs an e-commerce consulting business out of Las Vegas, told Bloomberg.