An Amazon rate hike will hit sellers on January 18, 2022, the company announced today. It said it had kept selling fee changes low throughout the pandemic while “absorbing billions of dollars in increased costs on your behalf” while at the same time investing in its fulfillment and delivery network as well as in tools and services for sellers.
The good news for sellers who fulfill their own orders: there are only two referral-fee changes, and both are decreases, although those sellers will likely be impacted by the higher shipping costs announced by carriers.
Sellers who use Amazon FBA fulfillment services are not so lucky. Amazon said, “In 2022, we will adjust FBA fulfillment fees to partially offset the higher permanent operating costs we face going forward.” There are increases to numerous services, including the following:
- introduction of dim-weight pricing for large standard-size products excluding apparel;
- higher monthly off-peak storage fees;
- higher removal and disposal fees (liquidation fees will remain unchanged);
- higher FBA Prep Service fees;
- introduction of a tiered rate structure for long-term storage fees.
Amazon characterized the fulfillment fee changes as a 5.2% increase, on average, “to reflect increasing costs of operations.
“Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve more than doubled our U.S. fulfillment capacity, spent over $15 billion across our fulfillment network to help keep employees safe, hired more than 628,000 people, and increased our U.S. average starting wage to $18.00 an hour. That includes opening more than 350 new fulfillment centers, sortation centers, regional air hubs, and delivery stations in the U.S. With the 2021 holiday shopping season in full swing, we are hiring 150,000 more people across our U.S. fulfillment network to ensure we are able to quickly receive your inventory and deliver your products to customers.”
In late 2020 as the pandemic still raged, Amazon postponed its annual fulfillment fee adjustments until June 2021 (instead of January), saying it would “continue to absorb the costs we are incurring on your behalf.” In announcing the changes in June, Amazon had stated: “Most referral fees will not change, and we are making only modest increases (about 2-3% on average) to fulfillment fees, in line with or below industry averages. We will also reduce certain fees, like the returns processing fee, which reflects feedback we have received from sellers and our continued efforts to reduce costs.”
Amazon provided the following statement to EcommerceBytes about the 2022 rate hike coming in January: “We hugely value our selling partners and continue to invest in their success and making Amazon their preferred place to sell online. We are adjusting selling and fulfillment fees to reflect increased costs, in line with increases across the logistics industry. These changes allow us to better serve and innovate for sellers, while continuing to be 30% more competitive on average than other offerings with fast shipping.”
There’s more news included in the announcement. For example, it’s making a change to the FBA Small and Light program.
Amazon also teased the launch of two new programs – the launch of FBA Grade & Resell, which lets sellers recover value from returns by grading and listing them as used offers. And a rebate on sales of certain new-to-FBA items for sellers who complete Brand Registry. More information about those programs will be forthcoming early next year.
Amazon will offer sellers the chance to liquidate certain inventory at no charge for a “specified duration of time and number of units on eligible selection.”
Read the full announcement on the Amazon rate hike for 2022 to ensure you don’t miss anything, you can find it on Amazon Seller Central. And let us know in the comments below how the new rates will impact your business.
Rate Hike ?
SELLERS :TAKE A HIKE.
FREE YOURSELVES.
Move in to real world jobs.
Stop letting these do-nothings control you with false visions of success.