Amazon Adds 2% Fee for Third-Party Vendors Who Ship Their Own Goods

Despite an impending Federal Trade Commission antitrust lawsuit for allegedly punishing third-party sellers on the platform that don’t use its logistics services, Amazon is reportedly adding a new fee for those businesses for that reason. 

According to a Bloomberg report, Amazon will charge a 2% fee on each sale on third-party vendors who sell their wares on Amazon but ship the goods themselves starting in October. 

Merchants told Bloomberg they received no clear reasoning for the new fee. The tax is directed at users enrolled in Seller Fulfilled Prime, a service where companies handle their own logistics but have an Amazon Prime badge to denote quick delivery.

Seller Fulfilled Prime launched in 2015, but the program was stopped accepting new enrollments a few years later over concerns that merchants couldn’t meet Amazon’s strict shipping expectations. The program since reopened registration in June.

One merchant told Bloomberg the fees will cost their company $1 million each year, but they rely on Amazon for customers.

An Amazon spokesperson said they are “excited to offer Seller Fulfilled Prime to sellers as a way to independently handle fulfillment of their products while also making those products available to Prime customers with fast, free delivery, great customer service and free returns.”