Amazon is raising its fees for third-party sellers again. Now, they're adding a holiday fee to merchants who use their fulfillment service to package and ship items to their customers.
From October 15th to January 14th, sellers were charged an average of $0.35 in fees for each item sold using Amazon's fulfillment services in the United States and Canada. , according to a notice sent by Amazon to sellers on Tuesday.
This is the second fee increase the online retail giant has imposed on merchants this year. In April, the company added a 5% "fuel and inflation" surcharge to offset gas costs and inflation nearing their highest levels in 40 years.
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Use Amazon's Fulfillment Services requires merchants to pay different rates depending on the size, weight, or category of the item.
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In a notice sent out Tuesday, Amazon said it will be shipping more cargo during the holiday season. As such, fulfillment and logistics costs will increase. The company said it previously absorbed these cost increases. But seasonal spending has now "reached new heights," the company said.
"Distribution partners are very important to us and this is not a decision taken lightly," the company said.
CNBC was the first to report the fee increase.
Price adjustments are nothing new to Amazon. Last week, the U.S. Postal Service said it had submitted a notice to implement temporary price increases to cover extra fees during the holiday season.
But Amazon's seller fees (and their repeated price hikes) are a point of contention, given its large share of the e-commerce market. Critics say the company's excessive fees could keep merchants out of the market.
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"Companies with monopoly power tend to raise prices, and that's what we're seeing here," he said. said Amazon critic Stacy Mitchell. Co-director of the antitrust group Institute for Local Self-Reliance. "Amazon's dominance of the online market means that small businesses have little choice but to pay."
Last month, Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said: In a conference call with the media, it said third-party sellers accounted for 57% of total units sold on Amazon in the three months ending June 30. history.
Total revenue collected by Amazon from third-party sellers increased 13% year-over-year, according to the Seattle-based company's second-quarter earnings report. decreased his 4%.
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