Rising international oil prices driven by the prolonged U.S.-Iran conflict are spreading cost pressures across the global retail and logistics industry. Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce company, has moved to raise logistics fees for sellers in response.
Amazon notified sellers in the United States and Canada using its Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service that it will impose a 3.5% "fuel and logistics-related surcharge" starting June 17, the Wall Street Journal and CNBC reported Monday.
"Logistics and shipping costs have risen significantly across the industry, and we have been absorbing these increases internally," Amazon said in a notice. "As the high oil price environment persists, we are introducing a temporary surcharge to recover a portion of the actual cost increases." The company added that the surcharge is "meaningfully lower than those of other major carriers."
The surcharge is calculated based on logistics service fees, not product sale prices. While the amount varies by product size and weight, Amazon estimates the charge will average approximately 17 cents per item for FBA fulfillment orders.
The scope of the surcharge will expand in phases. Sellers using Amazon's Buy with Prime and Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) services — which handle deliveries for orders placed on external platforms — will face the same surcharge starting July 2.
