Amazon sellers are being hit with a new fuel fee as global oil prices surge during the Iran conflict. As the war continues to rattle global oil markets, the retail giant has introduced a new 3.5% fuel surcharge tied directly to rising logistics costs.
The move comes as fuel prices surge worldwide, pushing transportation expenses higher across industries. Sellers using Fulfillment by Amazon, the company’s warehousing and shipping network, will start seeing the added fee on April 17. The program, widely known as FBA, powers a large share of third-party sales on the platform, meaning the impact could extend to thousands of independent businesses.
Amazon confirmed the change in a statement, saying: “Elevated costs in fuel and logistics have increased the cost of operating across the industry. We have absorbed these increases so far, but similar to other major carriers, when costs remain elevated, we implement temporary surcharges to partially recover these costs.” The company also noted the fee is “meaningfully lower than surcharges applied by other major carriers.”
Still, timing tells its own story. The last time Amazon introduced a similar surcharge was in 2022, when oil prices crossed $100 per barrel following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Now, renewed instability tied to the Iran conflict is once again squeezing global supply chains.
At the center of it all sits the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage responsible for moving roughly 20% of the world’s oil. With threats to that route escalating, energy markets are reacting fast, and companies like Amazon are moving just as quickly to protect their margins.
For sellers, though, that protection comes at a price.
