[PYMNTS] Amazon Says New Fulfillment Fees Reflect Underlying Costs ("Amazon charges Sellers more, kick in the gut")

[papy]

“We have been listening to seller feedback and working with our seller partner community to explain our updated fees, which are designed to more accurately reflect underlying input costs for Amazon and sellers, give sellers more choice for how they inbound their inventory to our sites, and ultimately help spread inventory across our fulfillment network so we can deliver products faster and increase sales for our selling partners,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement emailed to PYMNTS Thursday (May 9).

This statement followed a Bloomberg report posted Thursday that said that Amazon’s revised fees have shifted more costs onto merchants even as shoppers are trading down to less expensive products, merchants are struggling to make money and Amazon’s revenue from seller services has grown faster than its cost of providing those services.

The report quoted one merchant who said the new fees will reduce his profit margin from 20% to 8%, another who said the fee structure is getting increasingly complicated and cost-prohibitive, and a third who said Amazon reduced a size limit and increased the shipping cost of one of his products from $10 to $26.

Amazon Says New Fulfillment Fees Reflect Underlying Costs

[papy]

@papy

a Bloomberg report posted Thursday

^{Amazon Charges Sellers More: The online retailer’s revenue from seller fees, including logistics, is growing three times faster than its fulfillment costs}

Available here:

Amazon’s New Fees on Sellers Likened to 'Kick in the Gut'

Revenue from seller services, which includes the popular Fulfillment by Amazon logistics operation, increased at a faster rate than fulfillment expenses in each of the past seven quarters. Amazon’s seller services revenue of $34.6 billion for the period ended March 30 was up 36.5% from two years earlier, more than triple the pace of growth of its fulfillment costs, which were $22.3 billion in the period.

[primetime]

“Amazon charges sellers more” might get more attention as a thread title then the justification claim “Amazon says …”

More info here than I expected from the title and lack of activity. Good finds @Papy.

[papy]

@primetime

More info here than I expected from the title and lack of activity.

Thanks @primetime ! In this category we try to stick to the headlines of the articles we’re posting–and yeah, someone really buried the lede

I’ll add a note.