An Amazon employee works to fulfill same-day orders during Cyber Monday, one of the company's busiest days, at an Amazon fulfillment center in Orlando, Florida, on Dec. 2, 2024.
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo | Getty Images
Amazon is adding a 3.5% "fuel and logistics-related surcharge" to fees it collects from third-party sellers who use its fulfillment services, as the war in Iran stretches into its fifth week, driving up oil prices.
The surcharge will take effect on April 17, for sellers in the U.S. and Canada, the company wrote in a note to sellers on Thursday that was viewed by CNBC.
"Elevated costs in fulfillment and logistics have increased the cost of operating across the industry," Amazon wrote. "We have absorbed these increased costs so far. However, similar to other major carriers, when costs remain elevated, we implement temporary surcharges on our fulfillment fees to recover a portion of the actual cost increases we are experiencing."
Amazon spokesperson Ashley Vanicek said in a statement that the surcharge is "meaningfully lower" than levies applied by other major carriers.
"We remain committed to our selling partners' success and to maintaining broad selection and low prices for customers," Vanicek said in a statement.
Oil prices surged Thursday as investors weighed how long the conflict in the Middle East would block shipments of crude traveling through the Strait of Hormuz. June futures for international benchmark Brent crude rose more than 6% to $107.35 per barrel.
Amazon, which hosts about 2 million sellers on its marketplace, isn't the only company grappling with surging oil prices. Last month, the U.S. Postal Service said it plans to impose a fuel surcharge on packages on April 26 "to better align its costs of transportation with the market."
Major shipping carriers UPS and FedEx also imposed higher fuel surcharges since the start of the Iran war.
Amazon's surcharge will be calculated based on sellers' fulfillment fees, not on the sale price of their items, the company said. The levy is "meaningfully lower" than surcharges applied by other major carriers, Vanicek said.
The surcharge, on average, equates to an additional 17 cents per unit for Fulfillment by Amazon, or FBA, shipments, though it varies based on item size and dimensions, the company said.
FBA is Amazon's widely-used service where that handles the process of picking, packing and shipping items. The majority of third-party sellers use FBA as their fulfillment method for products sold on Amazon.
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