In response to soaring inflation, Amazon plans to raise delivery fees for the holiday season in recent days , passing on some of the increased costs to the millions of third-party sellers who sell products on the platform .

On August 16th, Eastern Time , Amazon sent an email to many third-party sellers to change the delivery fee. The specific content is : From October 15th to January 14th, third-party sellers using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA ) must be in the United States. Or $0.35 per item sold in Canada .

It is reported that this fee is additional, that is, the seller 's existing fee for using the FBA service is added , and the specific fee varies depending on the size, category and weight of the item.

Amazon said it decided " like other carriers, it will charge holiday season shipping fees at certain times of the year " as costs such as operations have reached new heights, making it harder for the company to absorb other costs associated with the shopping season. .

In this regard, many Amazon sellers ridiculed "what a difficult decision ", and some sellers complained for a long time, saying that the storage fee is already high and the delivery fee will increase , and some sellers even give up some of the original profit because the delivery fee is getting higher and higher. lower product.

According to Amazon's financial report data for several consecutive quarters, third-party sellers have gradually become the dominant core of Amazon's e-commerce business . This group accounted for more than half ( 57% ) of Amazon 's online retail sales, according to its second-quarter earnings report .

Because of Amazon's global reach and large user base, many third-party retailers rely on the company for most or all of their business.

At the same time, Amazon also makes huge profits from the services it provides to third-party sellers. Amazon's total e-commerce revenue fell 4% in the second quarter , but revenue from third-party seller services , which includes commissions, fulfillment fees, shipping and other fees, rose 13% year over year to $27.4 billion .

Due to inflation, supply chain constraints and the Russian- Ukrainian conflict, Amazon ’s costs have increased significantly this year . To pass on these costs, Amazon also announced earlier this year that it will increase its delivery fees.

In April of this year, Amazon issued an announcement saying that from April 28, an average 5% FBA delivery surcharge will be imposed on sellers selling in the United States to deal with rising costs caused by fuel and inflation . Amazon said the surcharge is not permanent and is a mechanism widely used by suppliers.

It's not just Amazon, but major U.S. logistics operators like UPS and FedEx typically announce surcharges during the holiday shopping season .

It is understood that as early as last week, the USPS (United States Postal Service) issued a notice of temporary price adjustments for the 2022 holiday season.

The USPS said in the announcement that the temporary rate will take effect on October 2 and will continue until January 22, 2023, subject to PRC review, depending on the package weight and delivery distance .

With the arrival of the holiday season, the volume of parcels has surged . Currently, many logistics operators have stated that in order to reduce the pressure on operating costs and ensure the efficiency of parcel delivery , they have to adjust temporary rates . As a result, the profit margins of sellers are severely squeezed.