Amazon adds automatic surcharge for certain users and they will immediately pay more with each sale
SOME Amazon users may be at risk of paying extra if they decide to take on special plan on the popular online marketplace.
While most know Amazon as the place to buy all sorts of products and ship them directly to your house, you can actually sell your own items on the website as a verified Amazon seller.
To start making those profits, however, you’ll have to choose a seller’s plan on the marketplace, and all will take a chunk of your sales.
With the Individual seller’s plan, Amazon charges an extra 99 cents for every sale.
Meanwhile, the Professional plan incurs a $39.99 fee per month, but this price is independent of how many sales you take on.
Amazon also collects what’s called a “referral fee” for each sale, which essentially operates as a percentage of the total transaction and can vary based on the product category.
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For full sized appliances, that fee is set at 8 percent, while backpacks, handbags and luggage incur a whopping 15 percent.
Those selling clothing and accessories will see an even higher percentage of 17 percent, while video game consoles are as low as 8 percent.
RESELLING ONLINE
Despite the surcharges Amazon enacts on its seller users, you can still make some hefty profits by selling goods on Amazon’s marketplace.
The best resellers find popular products that already exist and then offer them for sale in Amazon’s stores.
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However, you can also be a brand owner, which means you manufacture your own products under a private label so that shoppers can choose from more unique options.
WHAT YOU NEED AS AN AMAZON SELLER
Before getting started as an Amazon seller, there are several pieces of information you’ll need to be ready with.
You’ll need the following:
- Business email address or Amazon customer account
- Internationally chargeable credit card
- Government ID
- Tax information
- Phone number
- A bank account where Amazon can send you proceeds from your sales
MORE SURCHARGES TO AVOID
Beyond Amazon's seller fee, various other companies have also added surcharges to unsuspecting customers.
Walmart, for instance, charges customers five to 10 cents when buying bottled drinks, specifically ones in plastic packaging.
Shoppers can only get around this fee by returning their empty containers to the store.
The fee was enacted after 10 states passed a container deposit law to limit beverage waste.
Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Vermont, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, and Maine shoppers will all see the extra charge on bottled products.
That includes all soft drinks, malt beverages, and spirits at retailers.
Walgreens will also charge extra for same-day delivery, although some customers might be unaware of the automatic surcharge.
"Fees vary by store and will be shown when adding products to your cart," Walgreens said in its frequently asked questions section of its website.
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Restaurants in a major U.S. city have also tacked on an extra fee, but there’s an unpopular way to avoid it.
A popular bank also charges more when customers use a key service.