Amazon facilitating UPS by charging extra fees after the agreed shipping label cost.
I purchased a shipping label using Amazon shipping. The correct weight and dimensions had been entered and UPS also agreed to that. 30 days later Amazon facilitated UPS to charge my account an additional shipping fee. Amazon claims this is a fuel surcharge and that I need to read the UPS agreement. The UPS agreement says nothing about Amazon/UPS changing the agreed costs after the agreed amount. Have any other sellers had an issue where Amazon is facilitating UPS in charging additional funds after the fact of the agreed amount? This seems illegal.
Amazon facilitating UPS by charging extra fees after the agreed shipping label cost.
I purchased a shipping label using Amazon shipping. The correct weight and dimensions had been entered and UPS also agreed to that. 30 days later Amazon facilitated UPS to charge my account an additional shipping fee. Amazon claims this is a fuel surcharge and that I need to read the UPS agreement. The UPS agreement says nothing about Amazon/UPS changing the agreed costs after the agreed amount. Have any other sellers had an issue where Amazon is facilitating UPS in charging additional funds after the fact of the agreed amount? This seems illegal.
8 replies
Nano_Amazon
Hello @Seller_8qAEngl5lZCxO
Thanks for reaching out to Amazon Forums.
Post-shipment adjustments can occur when there's a difference between the declared and actual package measurements, or due to fuel surcharges. While frustrating, these charges are part of the carrier agreement. However, if you're confident your original measurements were accurate, you can dispute this charge.
To challenge the additional fee:
- Go to Seller Central > Orders > Shipping Queue
- Find the shipment in question
- Request a review of the charge with your documentation showing original weight and dimensions
If UPS verified your measurements at drop-off, include that documentation in your dispute.
Best,
Nano
Seller_EAcOeUZIzXVtW
Many in the forums have experienced this issue from what I've noticed. To illustrate the severity of this issue, consider a comparable situation: imagine booking a flight at a confirmed price, only to receive a bill afterward stating that the airline reviewed your luggage weight differently and is now retroactively charging you additional fees. Such a practice would be considered unacceptable and deceptive in virtually any industry—and yet this is exactly what sellers are experiencing with UPS, USPS shipments facilitated through Amazon. No clarification as to the exact reason these charges occur, is unbelievable. Amazon places the burden on the seller to dispute these charges. Extra shipping charges from Amazon, after a shipping label is purchased, occurs often from what I can see in the forums. If you're absolutely sure that you provided correct shipping information to your selected carrier, by all means, dispute these charges!
In my experience, no other shipping carrier or platform has ever charged additional fees after a shipping label was purchased—except on Amazon. It’s concerning how frequently this seems to occur here, and how normalized it has become.
Seller_kDJuYJMIivMpB
Many sellers on this forum—including myself—have experienced recurring issues with unexplained additional shipping charges being applied after a label is purchased through Amazon Buy Shipping. This is not a one-off glitch but an increasingly widespread and concerning trend.
Yet this is exactly what sellers are facing with Amazon’s integrated shipping platforms—especially with UPS, USPS, and FedEx. Despite entering accurate package dimensions and weight, Amazon frequently facilitates retroactive shipping charge adjustments that lack transparency, justification, or any evidence from the carrier.
📦 In my case, a UPS or FedEx label was purchased with verified dimensions and weight. Weeks later, Amazon processed an additional charge citing a “fuel surcharge” or “carrier adjustment”—yet no supporting documentation was ever provided. The FedEx or UPS terms do not indicate that such charges can be levied after an agreed label cost is paid, particularly when using a platform like Amazon that confirms the data in advance.
Even more troubling is that Amazon places the burden of proof entirely on the seller, despite having full control over the transaction and access to the shipping data. Most disputes go unanswered or are denied, leaving sellers stuck with costs we didn’t agree to and can't contest effectively.
During the last holiday season, sellers reported being charged millions in shipping “adjustments”—with virtually no path to resolution. Many of us have proactively added buffer weight and dimensions to avoid penalties, and still get charged afterward, often without any clear reason or explanation.
The frequency and normalization of these retroactive adjustments—despite seller diligence—makes this practice feel not only unreasonable but possibly unlawful. It violates the basic principles of contract pricing, and no other platform operates like this.
💡 At this point, the only viable workaround many sellers are recommending is to abandon Amazon Buy Shipping entirely and switch to third-party solutions, where carrier agreements and costs are upheld transparently.
We urge Amazon to:
- Provide full transparency and evidence for any shipping adjustments.
- Require carriers to substantiate charges with photos or logs.
- Stop facilitating questionable billing practices without recourse.
- Reevaluate the fairness of its dispute resolution system for shipping fees.
Has anyone here successfully challenged and reversed one of these charges? Or had success moving to third-party shipping platforms to avoid this?
This issue needs more visibility and, ultimately, policy change.
Seller_Ha6JyVvDK6Ybs
We have caught this many time with Fedex and we no longer use Fedex and will cancel order before we ever use again! Wonder how many hundreds of millions Amazon skims off of sellers this way?
Seller_7mXEbpYLcoTis
It also happens in DHL buy shipping. See another thread on forum:
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/eadce883-bb8a-490a-a216-5fd4a3cf1ad1?postId=25b9ad52-b845-47d3-83b9-4ea17b3f5fdb
I thought it was only in DHL, but from what I can see now, it also happens in UPS, USPS, and FEDEX. Now I start to believe that it is a problem in amazon rather than the carrier. If I am correct, this problem all started from last month.
