Amazon sellers who use the company's "Fulfillment by Amazon" service are going to be hit by a new "fuel and logistics" charge.
The new 3.5 percent charge will be in addition to the existing fulfillment fees and will go into effect on Friday, April 17.
According to Amazon, the new fees will add an average surcharge of approximately 17 cents per unit for FBA sellers, but that price can differ based on the size and dimensions of the product being sent.
The company said the fee is just a temporary measure to offset the spike in fuel costs caused by President Donald Trump's war with Iran. It did not provide a timeline outlining when the fee will be removed.
“Elevated costs in fuel and logistics have increased the cost of operating across the industry," Amazon said in a statement.
The surcharge is being applied to FBA services in the U.S. and Canada, and for Remote Fulfillment with FBA shipping from the U.S. to Canada, Mexico, and Brazil.
The fee is also going to be applied to Buy with Prime in the U.S. and Multi-Channel Fulfillment services in the U.S. and Canada on May 2.
Though the surcharge is going to directly affect sellers, it's likely that Amazon customers will also foot some—or all—of the fee by way of price increases.
Amazon isn't the only major shipper boosting its prices to respond to surging fuel costs.
Both FedEx and UPS have introduced new fees to cover the cost of rising fuel prices, Supply Chain Dive reports.
In March, UPS announced it was introducing a $0.64 per-pound fee for parcels traveling between the U.S. and 15 Middle Eastern countries. FedEx also began applying a $0.50 per-pound charge for its parcel and freight shipments between the U.S. and the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. Shipments from nations in those areas to the U.S. pay a $0.70 per-pound fee.
FedEx is also charging a $1.50 per-pound surcharge on parcels and freight moving between the U.S. and Israel, raising that cost from its previous surcharge of $0.50 per pound.
Amazon said in a statement in early April that it had tried to absorb the cost to avoid applying additional fees, but ultimately followed suit with its competitors.
“We have absorbed these increased costs so far,” the company said at the time. “However, similar to other major carriers, when costs remain elevated, we implement temporary surcharges on our fulfillment fees to recover a portion of the actual cost increases we are experiencing.”
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