*The new fees may be passed along to consumers to offset business costs, say stakeholders

Alexander Davis | 绿帽献妻

In a strategic move to keep its bottom line from going into the red, Amazon, the world鈥檚 e-commerce and tech giant, has announced that it will increase its fulfilment fee rates to sellers by 5 percent 鈥� a surcharge related to inflation and rising fuel prices.

绿帽献妻 learnt the Big Tech noted that it is the first time in its 28-year history that it has had to do that.

Effective from April 28, 2022, sellers on the company鈥檚 platform will see an average increase of $0.24 to their per unit fulfilment fee rates, agency report said.

As an example, if a seller had previously paid $5 in fulfilment fees, they will now pay $5.25.

This fee covers the cost for Amazon to pick, pack, ship the products in less than two days, and provide customer service on the orders.

Amazon in an e-mail to its sellers stated: “Like many, we have experienced significant cost increases and absorbed them, wherever possible, to reduce the impact on our selling partners.鈥�

According to the tech company, while the surcharge is a mechanism broadly used across supply chain providers, the move was unplanned.

Going into 2022, Amazon anticipated a return to business as usual as COVID-19 restrictions eased, but fuel prices and inflation presented the company with unexpected challenges.

Consumers may have to pay more

As regards whether the company expected the extra surcharge to result in consumers鈥� paying more for products, the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

However, Amazon sellers are already speaking out.

Dan Brownsher, owner of e-commerce consulting business Channel Key, told Bloomberg, that 鈥渃onsumers will lose.

鈥淎mazon already raised fees in January, so sellers will have to raise prices.鈥�

While Amazon is in the spotlight at the moment, it is not the only company raising prices or adding surcharges to offset the impact of inflation and gas prices, report said. Rideshare leaders Lyft and Uber have also added fuel surcharges to help compensate their drivers for the spike in fuel prices that they have to pay out of their own pockets.

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