Amazon hits sellers with ‘fuel surcharges’ as Iran war ravages global energy markets

The war in Iran has battered global oil markets, with US gas prices rising dramatically. Amid the rise in transportation costs, Amazon has imposed a new 3.5% fuel surcharge for sellers who use its distribution network. The policy has the potential to impose significant new costs on countless merchants who rely on the e-commerce giant to sell their products.

Amazon told TechCrunch that the additional fees will be in place for the foreseeable future, though the company said it will continue to evaluate a potential shift in policy as market conditions evolve. The news was originally published by Bloomberg.

“Rising fuel and logistics costs have increased operating costs across the industry,” a company spokesperson said. “We have absorbed these increases to date, but similar to other major carriers, when costs remain high, we implement temporary surcharges to partially recover these costs.” The spokesman added that the surcharge was “significantly lower than surcharges applied by other major carriers.”

Bloomberg wrote that the new policy will go into effect on April 17 and will affect sellers who use the company’s Fulfillment by Amazon service. Fulfillment by Amazon, known as FBA, allows businesses to send their products to Amazon warehouses, where they are packed and shipped to buyers. Amazon doesn’t disclose how many merchants use FBA, but the program supports the vast majority of third-party sales on its platform.

Amazon first instituted this type of surcharge in 2022, which, not coincidentally, was the last time crude oil traded at more than $100 per barrel. What was happening in 2022? Russia had just invaded Ukraine, throwing energy markets into disarray. Today, the war in Iran — sparked by the Trump administration and the Israeli government’s assassination of the country’s supreme leader — has similarly rocked markets.

Iran is strategically located along the northern border of the Strait of Hormuz — a narrow but critical shipping lane through which nearly 20% of global oil supplies pass — and the country has sought to close shipping lanes there, a move that has dramatically impacted energy prices around the world.