Amazon Adds 5% ‘Inflation’ Fee to Sellers

Inflation has hit virtually almost every industry so far this year, with a new report from the Department of Labor showing that inflation rates jumped 8.5% month over month in March, the fastest increase in 40 years.

Escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine coupled with labor shortages and supply chain issues that have resided as a result of the pandemic have caused companies to compensate for lost revenue by adding fees or increasing prices of goods.

Amazon is the latest to do so as the company announced on Thursday that it would be implementing a 5% fee for “fuel and inflation” to third-party sellers on the retail site.

The new fee is set to roll out on April 28 and will equate to an additional $0.24 per unit of each good.

Related: Amazon Increases Prices for Prime Members Once Again. Is It Still Worth It?

“Like many, we have experienced significant cost increases and absorbed them, wherever possible, to reduce the impact on our selling partners,” an email shared with Amazon third-party sellers that was obtained by FOX Business stated. “When we did increase fees, we were focused on addressing permanent costs and ensuring our fees were competitive with those charged by other service providers.”

Amazon did not publicly comment on the new fees.

The e-commerce giant has been increasing fees over the past year amid the pandemic and competing costs, especially on services for Prime members.

Earlier this month, Amazon increased Amazon Music Unlimited prices for Prime members by $1, after a February price hike that left Prime members looking at an annual increase from $119 to $139, with monthly subscriptions raising from $12.99 to $14.99.

The price hikes were the first of their kind since 2018.

Amazon was down over 10% as of Thursday afternoon.