Amazon bans sellers from using FedEx for some deliveries

NEW
YORK (AP) — Amazon is banning its third-party merchants from using
FedEx’s ground service to deliver to Prime members, suggesting that it
thinks the service is too slow to get packages to their destinations in
time for Christmas.

The temporary ban will block those companies
from using FedEx Ground service, although they can still use pricier
FedEx Express shipping for Prime shipments.

More than half of the
items sold on Amazon.com come from third-party sellers, who post their
goods for sale on Amazon’s online marketplace.

News of the ban was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

FedEx
Corp. said in a statement that the decision affects “a very small
number of shippers” and said it “limits the options for those small
businesses on some of the highest demand shipping days in history, and
may compromise their ability to meet customer demands and manage their
businesses.”

Amazon and FedEx have a testy relationship.
Amazon.com Inc. has been expanding its own delivery fleet in the past
few years, hoping to rely less on UPS, FedEx and other delivery
services. Last week, research by analysts at Morgan Stanley estimated
that Amazon delivers about half of its own packages.

FedEx
severed ties with Amazon earlier this year, saying it wouldn’t make
ground or air deliveries for the online shopping giant. But third-party
sellers were still able to use FedEx.