The e-commerce giant said the new fee will begin April 28 and is being imposed because inflation has worsened significantly in recent months.
“In 2022, we expected a return to normalcy as Covid-19 restrictions around the world eased, but fuel and inflation have presented further challenges,” Amazon wrote in memo that was provided to CNN by the company. “It is unclear if these inflationary costs will go up or down, or for how long they will persist.”
Amazon’s fee hikes on sellers could translate to higher costs to consumers as businesses seek to pass along rising expenses to their customers.
Amazon said in its memo that the company has attempted to minimize the impact of inflation.
“Like many, we have experienced significant cost increases and absorbed them, wherever possible, to reduce the impact on our selling partners,” Amazon said. “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.”
