Bad news for resellers on Amazon, those who ship their own packages will be charged additional fees for each product sold from October 1st.
Ahead of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) antitrust lawsuit, Amazon.com Inc. announced a new 2% tax that merchants will have to pay if they don’t use the company’s logistics services from the month of October. According to Bloomberg these additional fees are on top of the approximately 15% commission that merchants already pay.
Known as Amazon’s Merchant Fulfillment Fee, this fee is levied on sellers who choose to handle their own shipments. However, the fee structure is far from straightforward, with variations based on seller’s specific shipping and delivery methods.
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Merchants on Amazon will still have to checkout
Pro plan users will need to pay a monthly subscription of $39.99. As for individual sellers, they must pay at least $0.99 for each unit of product sold. In addition to these fees, Amazon also charges a referral fee for each item sold. This commission is calculated as a percentage of total sales and varies by product category. Generally, Referral commissions vary between 8 and 15%.
It is from October 1 that members of Amazon’s Prime Seller Fulfilled program will pay the company this new 2% commission. ” We’re updating our requirements for the Prime Seller Fulfilled program to ensure it provides customers with an enjoyable and consistent Prime experience “, justifies Amazon.
The fee increase comes as the Federal Trade Commission is reportedly preparing to file a long-awaited lawsuit against Amazon as early as this month. The agency probed the company on a number of fronts, including its treatment of sellers in the marketplace, which now accounts for around 60% of its overall retail sales. As a reminder, Amazon was accused of anti-competitive practices with Apple on its own e-commerce platform.