Amazon.com Inc. will start charging sellers who use its shipping services a 3.5% “fuel and logistics” surcharge later this month, joining the ranks of shipping companies raising prices as the war in Iran pushes oil prices higher.
The fees take effect on April 17 for customers of the company’s Fulfillment by Amazon service — which is used by many of the independent sellers who list their products on Amazon’s retail sites — in the US and Canada.
Items shipped by Amazon on behalf of merchants who sell on their own sites or at other retailers will carry the surcharge beginning May 2.
“Elevated costs in fuel and logistics have increased the cost of operating across the industry,” Ashley Vanicek, an Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement on Thursday. “We have absorbed these increases so far, but similar to other major carriers, when costs remain elevated we implement temporary surcharges to partially recover these costs.”
More than 60% of products sold on Amazon come from independent merchants who pay Amazon sales commissions as well as fees for warehouse storage and delivery. The surcharge shows how Amazon can use its marketplace model to pass rising costs on to its merchant partners rather than shoppers.
The fee will apply to the sum Amazon charges to ship an item, not the product’s sale price, Vanicek said, adding that the levies were “meaningfully lower” than those imposed by other carriers.
The US Postal Service last week said it would increase prices by 8% on some packages.
