Amazon is taking a step to offset its rising costs, announcing Wednesday it will add a 5% B次元官网网址渇uel and inflation surchargeB次元官网网址� to fees it charges third-party sellers who use the e-commerce giantB次元官网网址檚 fulfillment services.
The Seattle-based company said on its website that the added fees, which take effect April 28, are B次元官网网址渟ubject to changeB次元官网网址� and will apply to both apparel and non-apparel items.
The latest fee hike follows one announced in November and went into effect in January. Amazon didnB次元官网网址檛 immediately respond to a request for further details on the recent move. But in a notice sent to sellers Wednesday, the company said its costs had gone up since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic due to increases in hourly wages, the hiring of workers and construction of more warehouses.
It said it had absorbed costs whenever possible, and only increased fees to address permanent costs and to be competitive with other providers. Amazon competitors FedEx and UPS both have fuel surcharges.
B次元官网网址淚n 2022, we expected a return to normalcy as COVID-19 restrictions around the world eased, but fuel and inflation have presented further challenges,B次元官网网址� the company said in the notice.
Federal data released Tuesday showed Gasoline prices have rocketed 48% in the past 12 months.
Though the company is blaming inflation and rising fuel costs for the surcharge, Stacy Mitchell, co-director for the anti-monopoly group Institute for Local Self-Reliance, criticized WednesdayB次元官网网址檚 announcement, saying Amazon was taking advantage of the moment.
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B次元官网网址淎mazon keeps increasing its fees on the sellers that have to depend on its platform,B次元官网网址� Mitchell said, adding the new fees are a way B次元官网网址渢o take more money out of the pockets of independent businesses and put it into AmazonB次元官网网址檚 coffers.B次元官网网址�
AmazonB次元官网网址檚 third-party marketplace, where independent merchants list millions of their products, is a huge part of its business. It has about 2 million sellers, and more than half the goods sold on Amazon.com come from these sellers.
Last year, sellers paid Amazon about $103 billion in fees, which made up about 22% of the companyB次元官网网址檚 revenue. The online retailer said the new fees will apply to products ordered before April 28 but shipped and delivered after that date. Amazon is also expected to release its earnings report from the first three months of this year on April 28.
Amazon has long faced accusations of that sell on its platform by making B次元官网网址渒nock-offs,B次元官网网址� or very similar products, and boosting their presence on the site.
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