Amazon Hits Third-Party Sellers with Fee Increases in January 2022

Amazon notified sellers that it plans to increase fees to sell products on its marketplace platform effective January 18, 2022.

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The company justified the fee increases by claiming that it had doubled its US fulfillment capacity since the start of the pandemic, spending over $15 billion on expansion projects, including salaries.

Amazon says it hired over 628,000 people and opened more than 350 new fulfillment centers, sorting centers, regional air hubs, and delivery stations in the US.

In addition, the company is trying to add 150,000 more people in the US alone to bolster its resources during the busy holiday season.

“Throughout the pandemic we have worked to support you—postponing and keeping fee changes low, reducing or eliminating select fees like those for customer returns, and absorbing billions of dollars in increased costs on your behalf—all while making significant and necessary investments in people, technology, transportation, and infrastructure.”

Amazon Statement

Amazon Still Less Expensive Than Competitors

Especially sellers using the Amazon FBA program will see significant fee adjustments that the company said are necessary due to higher permanent operating costs to operate its logistics network.

However, it also believes sellers using the Amazon FBA service still save over 30% versus fulfilling orders themselves when using competing logistics service providers. And the company made the case that it provides a superior delivery service experience versus other logistics operators as its network allows it to offer faster delivery on most orders.

While Amazon did not provide an average fee increase percentage, it does appear to be mostly lower than UPS, FedEx, and DHL, all of which announced an average rate adjustment of 5.9% for 2022.

USPS has not announced any further postage increases for 2022 after going through two rounds of them in 2021, but it would seem one is likely considering the money the Postal Service is spending upgrading its network to handle more parcels.

Here are the links to the fee increases Amazon announced for each service:

• 2022 FBA fulfillment fee changes
• 2022 FBA monthly storage fee and aged inventory surcharge
• 2022 Amazon referral fee changes
• 2022 FBA removal and disposal order fee changes
• 2022 FBA Small and Light fee changes

Note: External links require an active Amazon seller account to view planned price adjustments.