The three fees that matter most
Most of what Amazon charges an FBA seller comes from three fees. Get these right and you have ~90% of your cost picture. All figures below are for Amazon US in US dollars; other marketplaces (UK, India, Germany…) charge the same *types* of fee in their local currency, at their own rates.
| Fee | How it is charged | Typical size |
|---|---|---|
| Referral fee | Percent of the total sale price | Usually 15% (8%–17% by category), min $0.30 |
| FBA fulfillment fee | Flat amount per unit, by size + weight | ~$3.42 for a small standard item; rises with size |
| Monthly storage fee | Per cubic foot of space used | $0.78/cu ft (Jan–Sep), $2.40/cu ft (Oct–Dec) |
The seasonal jump in the storage rate is the one that catches sellers out: from October to December, standard-size storage more than triples. If you overstock for the holidays and do not sell through, Q4 storage plus aged-inventory surcharges can turn a profitable SKU into a loss.
Free calculatorSee your real per-unit profitEnter your price, cost and size — the calculator applies every fee below and shows the net you actually keep.Referral fees: Amazon’s commission on the sale
The referral fee is Amazon’s commission for making the sale. It is a percentage of the total price the buyer pays (item + shipping, before tax), and it applies whether you use FBA or ship the order yourself. For most categories it is 15%, with a $0.30 minimum per item.
A few categories differ: Clothing & Accessories is 17%, several media and grocery categories are lower, and some — like Beauty and Health — charge just 8% on items priced $10 or under and 15% above that. Because the fee is a straight percentage, it scales with your price, so it is the single biggest lever on a high-priced item.
Tip
Referral fee is charged on the price including the shipping you charge the buyer — not the item price alone. Free-shipping listings simply bake that into the price.
For the full category table and how the tiered and minimum-fee rules work, see the full guide: Amazon referral fees by category.
FBA fulfillment fees: pick, pack and ship
The fulfillment fee is a flat charge per unit that covers Amazon picking your item from the shelf, packing it and shipping it to the customer — including customer service and returns handling. Unlike the referral fee it does not scale with price; it scales with the product’s size tier and weight.
A small standard-size item (up to 4 oz) runs about $3.42, rising through the size tiers to well over $10 for large or bulky goods. Since 2024 the fee also varies slightly by price band — cheaper items pay a little less. This is why two products with the same price can have very different margins: the bigger, heavier one is quietly eating several dollars more per unit.
| Size tier | Approx. fulfillment fee |
|---|---|
| Small standard (≤ 4 oz) | $3.42 |
| Small standard (8–12 oz) | $3.78 |
| Large standard | $4–$7+ (by weight) |
| Oversize | $9–$50+ (by weight/dimensions) |
Shrinking your packaging to drop into a smaller size tier is one of the highest-return optimisations in FBA — it can cut the fulfillment fee on every unit you ever ship. See how FBA fulfillment fees are calculated for the full tier table.
Free calculatorAmazon FBA profit calculatorCombines referral, fulfillment and storage into one net-profit and margin figure per unit.Storage fees: rent on your shelf space
Monthly storage fees are charged per cubic foot of warehouse space your inventory occupies, billed for the previous month. The rate is seasonal: for standard-size items it is $0.78 per cubic foot from January to September and $2.40 per cubic foot from October to December, when warehouse space is scarce.
On top of that, stock that lingers gets more expensive. An aged-inventory surcharge kicks in once units have been in a fulfillment center for 181+ days, starting around $0.50/unit and climbing steeply the longer it sits — Amazon wants slow stock gone.
Watch out
Storage math punishes overstocking twice: you pay the Q4 rate spike *and* the aged-inventory surcharge on anything that does not sell through. Order to demand, not to hope.
Full breakdown, including how to compute cubic feet from your box dimensions: Amazon FBA storage fees & aged inventory.
The smaller fees that add up
Beyond the big three, a cluster of smaller charges can erode margin — several of them introduced in 2024–2026:
- Inbound placement service fee — from $0 (if you split a shipment across 4+ centers) up to ~$0.45+/unit for sending everything to a single center.
- Low-inventory-level fee — up to ~$0.89/unit when a standard item’s stock drops below ~28 days of supply, penalising thin inventory.
- Aged-inventory surcharge — the 181+ day storage penalty described above.
- Returns processing fee — on high-return categories, charged when a customer returns an order.
- Removal & disposal fees — to pull or scrap unsold stock.
And before any per-order fees, the selling plan itself: the Professional plan is $39.99/month flat, while the Individual plan is $0.99 per item sold with no monthly fee — so roughly above ~40 sales a month, Professional is cheaper.
A worked example: fees on a $25 product
Say you sell a small-standard Home & Kitchen item for $25, and it costs you $6 landed. Here is roughly what Amazon takes:
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sale price | $25.00 |
| Referral fee (15%) | −$3.75 |
| FBA fulfillment fee (small standard) | −$3.42 |
| Storage (per-unit share, off-peak) | −$0.05 |
| Product cost (landed) | −$6.00 |
| Net profit | ≈ $11.78 |
| Net margin | ≈ 47% |
That ~47% looks healthy — but drop the price to $15, add a 6% return rate and some PPC spend, and the same product can slip below 20%. That is exactly why you should model it rather than eyeball it.
Free calculatorRun your own numbersPlug in your price, cost, size and ad spend — get net profit, margin and a break-even price in seconds.How to reduce your Amazon FBA fees
- Shrink your packaging to drop a size tier — the biggest single lever on the fulfillment fee.
- Sell through faster — turn inventory before the 181-day aged surcharge and before the Q4 storage spike.
- Order to demand — keep 30–60 days of cover, enough to dodge the low-inventory fee without overstocking.
- Check your category — confirm your referral rate; some items qualify for lower or tiered rates.
- Split inbound shipments across multiple centers to zero out the placement fee.
Note
Amazon revises these fees most years, usually in January. The calculators are updated from Amazon’s published rate card — check the tool for the current number before pricing a new product.