Amazon FBA fees explained: every fee broken down for 2026
Amazon FBA fees are the #1 reason new sellers overestimate their margins. Understanding the complete FBA fee structure for 2026, including hidden fees most Amazon seller guides skip, is essential before you source your first product. Most people account for the referral fee and fulfillment fee, then get surprised by storage fees, long-term storage surcharges, removal fees, and return processing. Here's every Amazon FBA fee broken down, what it actually costs, and how to calculate your real profit per unit.
- Short answer: Amazon FBA fees typically consume 30-35% of your selling price on a standard-size product.
- The three main fees: referral fees (8-17%, usually 15%), fulfillment fees ($3.22 to $150+ by size and weight), and monthly storage ($0.78/cu ft standard, $2.40 in Q4).
- The silent killer: inventory over 181 days gets an aged-inventory surcharge that starts at $0.50/cu ft and climbs to $6.90/cu ft past 365 days. Start with 300-500 units.
- Bottom line: always calculate true net margin per unit before sourcing; the referral and fulfillment fees are unavoidable, storage fees are not.
What Amazon sellers use every day
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
The five fee categories
1. Referral fee (Amazon's commission)
Amazon charges a percentage of every sale as their commission for access to 300+ million active buyers. The rate depends on your product category:
| Category | Referral fee |
|---|---|
| Most categories (home, kitchen, toys, beauty, etc.) | 15% |
| Clothing & accessories | 17% (over $20), 10% ($15 to $20), 5% (under $15) |
| Electronics | 8% |
| Grocery & gourmet | 8-15% |
| Jewelry | 20% (first $250), 5% (above) |
| Amazon device accessories | 45% |
On a $25 product in the Home category, the referral fee is $3.75.
2. FBA fulfillment fee (pick, pack, ship)
This is what you pay Amazon to store, pack, and ship your product to the customer. It depends on size and weight:
| Size tier | Weight | Fulfillment fee |
|---|---|---|
| Small standard | 6 oz or less | $3.06 |
| Small standard | 6-12 oz | $3.15 |
| Large standard | 12 oz - 1.5 lb | $4.47 |
| Large standard | 1.5 - 3 lb | $5.44 |
| Small oversize | up to 70 lb | $9.73 + $0.42/lb above 1st lb |
| Large oversize | up to 150 lb | $89.98 + $0.83/lb above 90 lb |
Rates are approximate 2025 figures. Amazon raised FBA fulfillment fees by an average of $0.08 per unit on January 15, 2026, and, as reported by Digital Commerce 360, a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on top of the published fulfillment fee applies from April 17, 2026, so check Seller Central or the Revenue Calculator for current rates.
3. Monthly storage fees
Amazon charges for warehouse space by the cubic foot:
- January-September: $0.78 per cubic foot, per Amazon's FBA monthly storage fee schedule in Seller Central
- October-December: $2.40 per cubic foot (Q4 premium, Amazon needs the space)
A product measuring 10"×8"×4" takes 0.185 cubic feet. Monthly cost: $0.14 in normal months, $0.44 in Q4. Seems trivial, until you have 2,000 units sitting for 4 months.
4. Long-term storage fees (the silent killer)
Amazon's 10-K filings show warehouse and fulfillment costs as one of its largest operating expense lines, which is why inventory sitting in Amazon's warehouse for over 181 days gets hit with an aged-inventory surcharge, charged monthly on top of storage. It starts at $0.50 per cubic foot for days 181 to 210 and climbs in bands to $6.90 per cubic foot from day 366, with a per-unit minimum on the oldest stock.
Storage and aged-inventory rates cross-checked against the ylishi.tools Open FBA Fee Data (US 2026 rate card, version 2026.09.4, last verified 24 September 2026), licensed CC BY 4.0.
This is the fee that destroys new sellers who overorder. If you send 2,000 units and only sell 500 in 6 months, the remaining 1,500 start accumulating surcharges that eat your entire margin.
New sellers often order 1,000+ units to get a lower per-unit cost from their supplier, then can't sell through fast enough. The long-term storage fees wipe out the manufacturing savings. Start with 300-500 units. Reorder when you have 30 days of inventory left. There is a 2026 cushion for exactly this test order: Amazon's FBA New Selection program waives monthly storage on the first 200 units of each new parent ASIN for 120 days and cuts the referral fee to 10% on the first 100 qualifying units and 5% on the next 100, for sellers with an IPI of 300 or higher.
5. Other fees most sellers forget
- Return processing fee: Charged on apparel and shoe returns and, since June 1, 2024, on products in every other category whose return rate exceeds Amazon's threshold for that category. If a customer returns your $25 product, you lose ~$3.50 in fulfillment + any return processing fee + potentially a damaged/unsellable unit.
- Removal/disposal fee: $0.97-1.04 per unit to get unsold inventory shipped back to you, or $0.32-0.39 to have Amazon destroy it, when we last checked in June 2026.
- Inbound placement fee: Introduced 2024, Amazon may charge $0.21-1.58 per unit if you don't split shipments across multiple fulfillment centers.
- Labeling fee: Retired. Amazon charged $0.55 per unit to apply FNSKU labels, but item labeling ended alongside prep services in the US on January 1, 2026, so every unit now needs its FNSKU label before it ships in.
- Prep service fee: Retired. Amazon used to charge $1.00-2.20 per unit to bag, wrap or prep your items, but since January 1, 2026 FBA no longer offers prep services in the US, so units must arrive prepped by you or a third-party prep center.
Real example: true profit on a $25 product
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Selling price | $25.00 |
| Referral fee (15%) | −$3.75 |
| FBA fulfillment (12 oz item) | −$3.15 |
| Monthly storage (avg) | −$0.20 |
| Product cost (landed from China) | −$4.50 |
| PPC advertising (~15% of revenue) | −$3.75 |
| Photography/listing (amortized) | −$0.30 |
| Net profit | $9.35 (37.4%) |
That's a healthy margin. But if your product costs $8 landed instead of $4.50, or your PPC is 25% instead of 15%, profit drops to $3-4 per unit. Always run the numbers before sourcing. Our step-by-step FBA profit calculator guide walks through the math on a real product.
Use Amazon's Revenue Calculator for exact fees on any ASIN, or track actual fees automatically with Sellerboard. For a deeper analysis of your true margins, see our Amazon profit calculator guide or learn 9 proven ways to reduce your FBA fees. If you're still validating your product idea, our product research guide walks through finding niches where these fees still leave healthy margins.
If you're comparing FBA with self-fulfillment, our FBA vs FBM comparison breaks down the real cost difference with examples. Many sellers also benefit from using AI-powered tools to optimize their listings, check out the best AI writing tools for generating keyword-rich bullet points and descriptions. And don't overlook the tax side: online seller tax deductions from CeoCult covers expenses you can write off against those FBA fees.
Stop guessing your fees, track them automatically
Sellerboard shows real-time profit per unit after ALL Amazon fees. Free 2-month trial, no credit card.
Read Our Sellerboard Review →The Bottom Line
Amazon FBA fees typically consume 30-35% of your selling price on a standard-size product. The referral fee (usually 15%) and fulfillment fee ($3 to $7 for standard items) are unavoidable, but you can minimize storage fees by maintaining lean inventory and avoiding long-term storage surcharges. Always calculate your true net margin per unit before sourcing.
Get new seller-tool reviews and verified deal alerts
We check the tools and track the real prices. New reviews and verified deals. We have not started sending yet; we will only email when we do. No fluff.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average FBA fee per item?
Are there monthly fees for Amazon FBA?
What is the Amazon referral fee?
Rules and data behind this page
What a seller may claim, must disclose, and owes in tax is set by published federal rules rather than by any marketplace's seller handbook, and the sources below are the primary ones. They are linked so a reader can check a claim here without taking this page's word for it.
- FTC advertising and marketing guidance sets the federal standard for what a product claim must be able to substantiate.
- FTC Endorsement Guides governs how a review or recommendation must disclose a material connection.
- FTC Made in USA standard defines when origin claims may be used, one of the most commonly misapplied rules in ecommerce listings.
- SBA business guide is the federal reference for forming and running the business a seller account sits inside.
- SBA compliance guidance sets out the licences and filings an operating seller is expected to maintain.
- IRS small business and self-employed is the authority on what a seller owes and must report.
- IRS business structures documents how entity choice changes liability and tax treatment.
- USPTO trademarks governs brand registration, which decides who may enforce a listing takedown.
- Census retail trade data publishes the official retail and ecommerce sales figures market-size claims are checked against.
This page describes tools and the rules that apply to using them. A seller's own structure, state and marketplace agreements decide what applies to them.