The e-commerce giant said the new fee would start on April 28th and is necessary as inflation has worsened significantly in recent months.
“In 2022, we expected a return to normalcy as Covid-19 restrictions around the world eased, but fuel and inflation posed additional challenges,” Amazon said in a note to CNN. “It is unclear whether these inflation costs will rise or fall, or how long they will last.”
Amazon spokesman Patrick Graham told CNN that the surcharge only applies to fees paid by vendors who choose to use Amazon’s performance services, which include storage, packaging and delivery of products. Other vendors who do not use Amazon’s Fulfillment will not be affected. The news of the additional fee was first reported by Bloomberg News. The tax increase is the latest example of how businesses respond to peak energy and other costs. Uber and Lyft have recently started applying temporary fuel taxes for travel, and airlines are picking up plane tickets.
Increasing Amazon’s reseller fees could lead to higher costs for consumers as businesses seek to pass on rising costs to their customers.
Suppliers rose sharply by 11.2% in March, the most since 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Wednesday. Consumer prices rose 8.5% year on year in March, the biggest jump since 1981.
Amazon said in a note that the company has tried to minimize the impact of inflation.
“Like many people, we have experienced significant cost increases and absorbed them whenever possible to reduce the impact on our sales partners,” Amazon said. “When we increased fees, we focused on tackling fixed costs and ensuring that our fees were competitive with those charged by other service providers.”
Add Comment