That’s on top of the fees they’re paying for Amazon’s fulfillment services.
For the first time, Amazon will charge US sellers who use its fulfillment services a 5% fuel and inflation fee. Starting on April 28th, the e-commerce giant will add the fees to what it already collects from third-party sellers who use the Fulfillment by Amazon service to store, pack, and ship their goods. According to Bloomberg, Amazon raised its fulfillment fees by an average of 5.2 percent in January.
Amazon stated in an email to sellers that it has experienced “significant cost increases and absorbed them, wherever possible” to minimize the impact on its sellers. When it raised its fulfillment fees earlier this year, the company stated that it had more than doubled its US fulfillment capacity since the outbreak began, hired over 628,000 people, and raised its starting wage in the US. It raised its fulfillment fees at the time to offset its higher operating costs in the future.
- A union election has apparently been approved at another Amazon facility.
- Amazon has reached an agreement to continue accepting Visa payments all over the world.
Now, Amazon told CNBC in a statement that while it expected a return to normalcy this year after COVID-19 restrictions have started lifting, “fuel and inflation have presented further challenges.” Inflation in the US surged to 8.5 percent in March from the same period last year, according to the Labor Department, which is the highest increase the country has seen over the past four decades. Gas prices, as most people know, reached new heights after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Amazon explained that it chose to impose a fuel and inflation surcharge instead of raising its fees permanently again, because it’s “unclear if these inflationary costs will go up or down, or for how long they will persist.” The spokesperson said its surcharge will cost 24 cents per unit, which is lower than the fuel surcharge imposed by UPS and FedEx. All the same, some sellers told Bloomberg that they have to raise prices to remain in business, so buyers can most likely expect to pay more for their purchases in the near future.
