Amazon Seller Briefing: October 28, 2026

USPS will swap its 8% package surcharge for a weekly fuel surcharge in January 2027, and UPS raises rates an average 5.9% on December 21, 2026.

Published October 28, 2026 · Seller Signal daily briefing

Good morning, sellers! Welcome to October 28, 2026's edition. Today: USPS will replace its 8% temporary package surcharge with a fuel surcharge that resets every week from January 2027, and UPS has set a 5.9% average increase for December 21, 2026. Let's dive in…

Data gathered at 6:20 AM ET, October 28, 2026.

No new Seller Central fee or Amazon Ads change was verifiable this morning. The Amazon news page carried nothing seller-facing for October 26-28, 2026, and the CPSC has posted nothing newer than the October 22 items covered Friday.

1. Top Story of the Day

USPS will price packages with a weekly fuel surcharge from January 2027

What happened: On October 26, 2026, the U.S. Postal Service said it will add a fuel surcharge to four package services starting in January 2027: Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage and Parcel Select, including their return services. It applies to domestic shipments only. Coverage so far gives no exact start day.

The mechanics, as reported:

The surcharge is a percentage of base postage. It excludes additional services and nonstandard fees.
Ground Advantage and Parcel Select follow diesel prices. Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express follow jet fuel prices. Both come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The rate changes weekly. USPS publishes each new percentage 3-5 days before it applies to diesel-based products and 3-4 days before for jet-fuel-based products.

USPS called it "the permanent mechanism" that follows the 8% temporary price increase in place since April 26, 2026, which runs through January 17, 2027. USPS has not disclosed the starting percentage.

Status: Confirmed in trade press reporting of the USPS announcement. Value Added Resource cites a USPS Fuel Surcharge Implementation FAQ on PostalPro. We did not open it.

Why it matters: The 8% that FBM sellers have built into shipping charges since April becomes a number that can change every week. The January starting rate is unknown, so there is no dollar impact to calculate yet, and we are not estimating one. Returns are in scope. That matters because prepaid return labels become mandatory on US seller-fulfilled returns from December 18, 2026, so a return label bought in January carries the surcharge too.

Action items:

List which FBM SKUs ship on each of the four services, and which fuel index applies to them: diesel for Ground Advantage, jet fuel for Priority Mail.
If you charge flat shipping rates or offer free shipping, set a date in January to re-check the USPS percentage against your shipping templates.
Ask your shipping software provider whether it will pull the weekly percentage into label quotes automatically.

Sources: Supply Chain Dive, October 26, 2026; Value Added Resource, October 26, 2026.

2. Amazon Policy & Program Updates

Shipping

UPS 2027 rates arrive December 21. This is our first coverage of it. UPS announced on October 26, 2026 an average 5.9% increase on ground, air and international services, effective December 21, 2026, with 4.5% for small business rates. The minimum billable weight for packages that need Additional Handling rises from 40 to 50 pounds. UPS will also change which ZIP codes carry area surcharges and how ZIP codes map to zones, and will add per-package surcharges on Ground and Ground Saver shipments from certain ZIP codes for some customers. Details are due in early November. Paul Yaussy of Loop: "Don't plan around 5.9%. It's an average on base rates and won't reflect your actual cost." The FedEx 5.9% increase for January 4, 2027, covered earlier this month, is unchanged. (Supply Chain Dive)

Seller Central Tools

Real-time chat beta in Buyer Messages. Status: Reported. PPC Land reported on October 26, 2026 that some sellers see an Enable Real-Time Chat toggle, marked Beta, in the Buyer Messages header. The tooltip reads: "Turn this on to appear online and chat with customers in real-time." Amazon has published no announcement or help page and has not said which marketplaces are included. A Sellers Ask Sellers member who switched it on reported "No chat yet." Reinstatement specialist Lesley Hensell told PPC Land: "The real question is what happens when a seller misses a message." (PPC Land; Sellers Ask Sellers)

Action items:

If you ship packages over 40 pounds on UPS, check which ones fall between 40 and 50 pounds. Those cross the new Additional Handling billable weight from December 21, 2026.
Leave Enable Real-Time Chat off unless someone can staff it during set hours. Amazon has not said how missed chats are measured.

3. False Alarms & Noise Filter

Claim: Amazon is reassigning some ASINs to different fee categories effective October 31, 2026.

Status: Monitoring. First logged October 19.

What we know: With three days to go, there is still no Amazon announcement naming the categories or fee figures. Coverage still traces to agency write-ups. Check your Fee Preview report before acting. (Novadata)

4. Seller Community Pulse

NWD update. First covered October 26. On the Seller Forums NWD thread, Amazon moderator Glenn_Amazon has since written: "If you do have the Brand Representative role for this brand, you may have received this notification in error." A later reply from a seller who says they own the brand reads: "listing was removed and i lost too much money and no help was received by support." This is a single seller report, and the forum shows only relative timestamps. Amazon has not confirmed that any brand owner's listings were removed. If you hold the Brand Representative role and got the notice, check those ASINs today. (Seller Forums)
Sellers doubt "temporary" carrier fees. A Sellers Ask Sellers thread on the USPS fuel surcharge, started October 27, 2026, had 6 posts by October 28. A Canadian seller wrote that Canada Post's "temporary" Covid-era fuel surcharge never went away: "Last week it jumped over night to 45%, and Purolator to 50%." Another said the change hurts sellers who offer free shipping. (Sellers Ask Sellers)

5. Looking Ahead

October 28, 2026: BFCM FBA inbound deadline for Amazon-optimized shipment splits. (Amazon Seller Forums)
October 29, 2026: Amazon Q3 2026 earnings call at 2:00 PM PT / 5:00 PM ET. (Amazon)
October 30, 2026: Business Hour Delivery Rate enforcement in Germany, France, Italy and Spain. (Amazon SP-API changelog)
October 31, 2026: New Selection Program (2026) enrollment confirmation. (PPC Land)
November 1, 2026: EU product identifier requirement and the €2 handling fee take effect. Holiday return-window purchases begin. (European Commission)
December 18, 2026: Prepaid return labels required on US seller-fulfilled returns (reported). (PPC Land)
December 21, 2026: UPS 5.9% average rate increase. (Supply Chain Dive)
January 17, 2027: USPS 8% temporary package price increase ends, and the weekly fuel surcharge replaces it in January. (Supply Chain Dive)