Amazon is changing the way it displays its fees to its Marketplace sellers, it announced late on Monday. While Amazon says this won't impact the amount of money sellers receive for marketplace sales, the company is in effect changing its commission structure. The announcement is confusing at best, and sellers seemed upset at how buyers might react to the effects of the changes.

The heart of the matter goes to the way Amazon charges buyers for shipping and how the company credits sellers for shipping costs. Amazon forwards to its Marketplace sellers only a portion of the shipping fees buyers pay for purchases. Amazon calls the difference between what the buyer pays and the seller receives for shipping costs a "shipping holdback fee."

For example, Amazon collects a flat rate of $3.49 for books sent "Domestic Standard," no matter the size or weight of the book, and gives sellers $2.26 of that shipping fee. In this case, the shipping holdback fee is $1.23.

With the changes taking effect October 5, sellers will be credited the full $3.49, but will be charged $1.23 extra in commission fees.

Sellers say buyers get annoyed if they've paid a few dollars over the actual cost of shipping, but sellers don't have any say in what Amazon charges buyers for shipping. Currently, sellers can at least show buyers that they only received $2.26, not the full $3.49. But with the change coming next month, buyers will see that Amazon has credited sellers a full $3.49, even though the sellers aren't really getting the full $3.49, it's just showing up under "commission"! Imagine sellers trying to explain this to unhappy buyers.

Amazon said the reason for the change is to make things clearer regarding the shipping holdback fee. "Sellers have commented that it would be clearer to display this fee as part of Amazon's commission and at the same time credit sellers the full amount of shipping that the buyer paid."

One seller on the board said, "Actually, we didn't say anything like that. We asked for the full shipping (without additional fees). And we've said that it's deceptive to make the customer think we're receiving $3.49 when we're only getting $2.26,...What we did ask Amazon to do was make it clear to the BUYER."

Sellers posting on the board speculated on Amazon's motivation for the change - whether it would be more favorable to the company for tax purposes, or even whether Amazon anticipated higher postage rates that would be easier to pass off onto sellers (http://digbig.com/4enya).

http://digbig.com/4enxd

What buyers currently pay Amazon for shipping (shipping rates):
http://digbig.com/4enxt

What sellers currently get from Amazon to cover shipping (shipping credits):
http://digbig.com/4enxw