Overview

California's Electronic Waste Recycling Act, originally passed in 2003 and effective since January 2005, requires retailers to collect recycling fees on certain electronic devices sold to California consumers. For Amazon third-party sellers, understanding how these fees work on the platform is essential to staying compliant with state law while avoiding unexpected costs.

Key Points / What Sellers Need to Know

• Covered devices trigger mandatory fees — Products with video display screens larger than four inches, including monitors, laptops, tablets, and televisions, are subject to California eWaste recycling fees when sold to consumers in the state.

• Amazon handles the fee disclosure on your behalf — Amazon includes a statement in order confirmation emails indicating that the third-party merchant has elected to pay any applicable eWaste fees on the consumer's behalf.

• Sellers bear ultimate compliance responsibility — Despite Amazon's messaging assistance, each seller is solely responsible for ensuring full compliance with the Act, including determining which products are covered, calculating fee amounts, and remitting payments to the appropriate California authorities.

• No separate fee collection mechanism exists on Amazon — The platform does not currently offer functionality for third-party sellers to separately charge and collect California eWaste fees from customers at checkout.

• The fee comes out of your margins — Since sellers cannot pass the fee through as a separate line item, the recycling fee effectively reduces your profit margin on covered electronics sold to California buyers.

How the California eWaste Act Works

The California Electronic Waste Recycling Act established a funding mechanism for the safe disposal and recycling of electronic devices containing hazardous materials. When a covered electronic device is sold to a California consumer, a recycling fee must be paid to the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). The fee amount varies depending on the screen size of the device, with larger screens carrying higher fees. Retailers must either collect the fee from the consumer at the point of sale or provide an express statement on the sales receipt that the merchant has elected to pay the fee on the consumer's behalf. This law has been in effect since January 1, 2005, and applies to all retail channels, including online marketplaces like Amazon.