Mumbai: If you are planning to shop at the Amazon India sale that started from August 9, chances are, you will be paying a little extra due to the company hiking shipping fees for its sellers by 10-15 per cent.
The hike in shipping fees will affect Amazon’s 2 lakh sellers and also its customers, who will ultimately be paying for it.
According to a report in Business Line, the rate hike is linked to weight handling fees in national zones.
The retail giant has also introduced a new regional zone concept which reduces shipping costs by up to 35 percent. According to the email Amazon sent to sellers: “The new ‘Go Local’ fee structure by introducing distance-based, weight-handling fee rates for FBA (Fulfilment By Amazon) sellers will reduce your cost of doing business on Amazon whenever you place inventory closer to your customers, resulting in faster deliveries, satisfied customers and increased sales for you”.
However, sellers consider this regional zone concept as misleading. Some sellers that in reality Amazon does not provide any technical facility on the basis of region for which they can charge customers separately.
Amazon does not even compensate sellers on costs incurred due to GST registrations that will have to be done for each state. Sellers claim their whole GST benefit is wiped out by the hike in shipping prices.
All India Online Vendors Association, a forum consisting of 3,000 online marketplace sellers said, “The benefits received under the GST tax regime could have been passed on to online shoppers in the form of reduced prices, which in our estimate would range from 1-5 percent across categories and price points. However, with the national shipping fee hike of 10-15 percent, it may no longer be possible.”
