Amazon Adds 3.5% Fuel Surcharge to Fulfillment Fees

Amazon announced a 3.5 percent fuel and logistics surcharge on fulfillment fees for third-party sellers using its services in the United States and Canada, effective April 17, as rising energy costs from the ongoing war in Iran strain operations.

The fee applies to Fulfillment by Amazon, which handles storage, packing, and shipping for many independent merchants on the platform. It also covers remote fulfillment shipments from the U.S. to Canada, Mexico, and Brazil starting the same date. For Buy with Prime and Multi-Channel Fulfillment services in the U.S. and Canada, the surcharge begins May 2. Amazon calculates the charge based on its fulfillment fees, not the sale price of items, resulting in an average increase of about 17 cents per unit for standard U.S. orders. The amount varies by product size and weight.

"Elevated costs in fulfillment and logistics have increased the cost of operating across the industry," Amazon spokesperson Ashley Vanicek said in a statement. "We have absorbed these increases so far, but similar to other major carriers, when costs remain elevated we implement temporary surcharges to partially recover these costs." The company described the measure as...