Amazon charges FBA sellers a fulfillment fee on every unit it ships, a monthly storage fee, an aged inventory surcharge on stock held 181 days or more, an inbound placement fee when you send inventory to a single location, a low-inventory-level fee when stock runs thin, and a returns processing fee on products that come back too often. The referral fee and selling plan sit on top, and you pay those whether you use FBA or not. Fulfillment rates reset each January 15 and rise for the holiday peak, which runs from October 15, 2026 to January 14, 2027.
Every figure below comes from Amazon's US Seller Central fee pages, checked October 4, 2026. Amazon updates these rates each January and adds peak rates each fall, so use the linked page for the exact number on your product.
Every FBA fee at a glance Referral fee: a percentage of each Amazon sale, charged with or without FBA.Selling plan: $39.99 a month on the Professional plan, or $0.99 per item sold on the Individual plan.FBA fulfillment fee: per unit shipped, set by size tier, shipping weight and price.Monthly storage fee: per cubic foot of average daily space, billed the following month.Aged inventory surcharge: on units stored 181 days or more, assessed on the 15th of each month.Inbound placement service fee: per unit received, when you ship to fewer locations than Amazon asks for.Low-inventory-level fee: per unit shipped, when a product drops below 28 days of supply.Returns processing fee: per returned unit above a category return-rate threshold, or every returned unit for apparel and shoes.Referral fee and selling plan The referral fee is a percentage of the total sale price, including any shipping or gift-wrap charge the buyer pays, and in most categories it is 15% with a $0.30 minimum per item, according to Amazon's Selling on Amazon fee schedule (checked October 4, 2026). Home and Kitchen, Toys and Games, and Sports and Outdoors are all at 15%, while a few categories use price tiers: Compact Appliances, for example, is 15% on the part of the price up to $300 and 8% on the part above it (fee schedule , checked October 4, 2026).
The Professional selling plan costs $39.99 a month when you have active listings, and the Individual plan has no monthly fee but charges $0.99 for each item sold (Amazon selling plans , checked October 4, 2026). You pay the referral fee whether Amazon ships the order or you do, so it never changes an FBA-versus-3PL comparison.
FBA fulfillment fee The fulfillment fee, which Amazon used to call the pick and pack fee, is charged per unit when the customer's order ships (FBA fulfillment fee , checked October 4, 2026). It depends on the item's size tier, its shipping weight, and its price band: under $10, $10 to $50, or over $50 (2026 US FBA fulfillment fee changes , checked October 4, 2026).
A size tier is Amazon's bucket for a packaged item based on its weight and dimensions, from small standard and large standard up through small bulky, large bulky and extra-large (Product size tiers , checked October 4, 2026). For small standard items the shipping weight is the unit weight; for most larger tiers it is the greater of unit weight or dimensional weight.
For an item priced $10 to $50, the 2026 non-peak fee is $3.45 for a small standard item at 4 to 6 oz, $4.60 for a large standard item at 12 to 16 oz, and $5.82 for a large standard item at 1.75 to 2 lb (2026 fulfillment fee table , checked October 4, 2026). Apparel has its own table on the same page.
Your actual fee can move away from that base number in these ways:
Since April 17, 2026, a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge applies to FBA fulfillment fees in the US (FBA fulfillment fee , checked October 4, 2026). Products priced under $10 get Low-Price FBA rates that average $0.86 less per unit than standard rates (2026 fee changes , checked October 4, 2026). Standard-size products certified for Ships in Product Packaging (SIPP), meaning they ship to the customer in their own box with no extra Amazon packaging, get a lower fulfillment fee on each certified unit (2026 fee changes , checked October 4, 2026). Monthly storage fee Storage is billed on the average daily space your inventory occupies, measured in cubic feet, and charged between the 7th and 15th of the following month (Monthly inventory storage fees , checked October 4, 2026). For standard-size products that are not dangerous goods, the base rate is $0.78 per cubic foot from January through September and $2.40 from October through December; oversize items are $0.56 and $1.40 (storage rates , checked October 4, 2026).
A storage utilization surcharge is added only when all four of these are true for a size tier: you have a Professional account, your first shipment to a US fulfillment center was more than 365 days ago, your average daily inventory in that tier is 25 cubic feet or more, and you hold more than 22 weeks of stock relative to what you ship (storage surcharge rules , checked October 4, 2026). When it applies, it covers inventory aged over 30 days.
Aged inventory surcharge Units that have been in Amazon's network for 181 days or more pick up an aged inventory surcharge, formerly called the long-term storage fee, on top of monthly storage (Aged inventory surcharge , checked October 4, 2026). Amazon takes an inventory snapshot on the 15th of each month, counts age first-in, first-out, and bills the surcharge between the 18th and 22nd.
The rate climbs with age: $0.50 per cubic foot at 181 to 210 days, $5.45 at 271 to 300 days, and, since January 16, 2026, the greater of $7.90 per cubic foot or $0.35 per unit at 456 days or more (aged inventory rates , checked October 4, 2026). The three tiers below 271 days don't apply to clothing, shoes, bags, jewelry and watches. A removal or disposal order submitted by 11:59 p.m. Pacific on the 14th keeps that inventory out of the next charge, even if it hasn't physically left yet (same page , checked October 4, 2026).
Inbound placement service fee When you create a shipping plan, Amazon offers placement options with different costs (FBA inbound placement service fee , checked October 4, 2026). Minimal shipment splits send your inventory to as few locations as possible, usually one, for a per-unit fee, and Amazon spreads it across the network. Amazon-optimized splits have no fee, but you ship to several locations yourself and need at least five identical cartons or pallets per item. Bulky items also get a partial-split option at a reduced fee.
Since January 15, 2026, the minimal-split fee for a small standard item at 8 oz or less is $0.14 to $0.32 per unit, depending on factors such as the inbound location (placement fee table , checked October 4, 2026). Amazon charges it 45 days after the shipment is received and doesn't apply it to Extra-Large products. New sellers who send their first shipment within 90 days of listing can get $400 in credits toward this fee (placement incentives , checked October 4, 2026).
Low-inventory-level fee Days of supply is Amazon's measure of how long your stock in its network would last at your recent sales pace. When a product's 90-day and 30-day historical days of supply are both below 28, Amazon adds a low-inventory-level fee to the fulfillment fee on each unit shipped (Low-inventory-level fee , checked October 4, 2026). For a small standard item it ranges from $0.32 to $0.89 per unit, depending on how far below 28 days the product falls, and since January 15, 2026 it applies to Small Bulky and Large Bulky items too.
Several exemptions matter for a small brand (fee exemptions , checked October 4, 2026):
New Professional sellers, for 365 days after their first inventory is received. Products that sold fewer than 20 units in the past 7 days. New-to-FBA products enrolled in FBA New Selection, for their first 180 days. Products in the Grocery category. Returns processing fee For most categories, Amazon charges a returns processing fee only on returned units above a category return-rate threshold, such as 5.5% for Beauty, Health and Personal Care, 8.1% for Home and Kitchen, and 4.7% for Toys and Games (2026 returns processing fee changes , checked October 4, 2026). Apparel and shoes pay it on every returned unit, with no threshold. A product that shipped fewer than 25 units in a month is exempt for that month.
The per-unit fee follows size tier and shipping weight; above the threshold, a large standard item at 12 to 16 oz costs $3.39 per returned unit (returns fee rate card , checked October 4, 2026). Returns are measured over the month the units shipped plus the next two months, and the charge lands between the 7th and 15th of the third month after.
The 2026 FBA fee calendar January 15, 2026: non-peak fulfillment rates, the higher inbound placement fee and the per-product low-inventory rule took effect (2026 fee changes ).January 16, 2026: new aged inventory rates for units 366 days and older (aged inventory surcharge ).April 17, 2026: the 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge started on FBA fulfillment fees (FBA fulfillment fee ).October 1 to December 31: standard-size storage moves from $0.78 to $2.40 per cubic foot (storage fees ).October 15, 2026 to January 14, 2027: holiday peak fulfillment fees, with the 3.5% surcharge on top. A large standard item at 12 to 16 oz priced $10 to $50 goes from $4.60 to $4.89 before the surcharge (peak fee table ).The 15th of every month: the aged inventory snapshot.All dates and rates in this list were checked on Amazon's pages on October 4, 2026.
How much stock to send to Amazon Three of these fees pull in different directions, and a founder shipping in small batches feels all of them. Send too little and a product that sells 20 or more units a week can drop below 28 days of supply and pick up the low-inventory-level fee. Putting the whole shipment into one location triggers the inbound placement fee, unless you can split it into at least five identical cartons per item. Overstock, and you pay for the extra space every month, at about three times the per-cubic-foot rate from October through December, and any unit still there after 180 days starts collecting the aged inventory surcharge.
Read together, Amazon's thresholds point to a target: keep more than four weeks of supply for your faster-moving products, and stay well short of six months on anything. Slower products that sell fewer than 20 units a week are outside the low-inventory fee, so for them the risk is overstocking, not running thin.
How much does Amazon take from a $100 sale? Here is one example, built only from Amazon's published 2026 non-peak rates, checked October 4, 2026: a $100 item in Home and Kitchen, large standard size, with a shipping weight of 12 to 16 oz, sold with free shipping.
Referral fee: 15% of $100 is $15.00 (fee schedule ).Fulfillment fee: $4.86 in the over-$50 price band, plus the 3.5% surcharge of about $0.17, for about $5.03 (2026 fee table ).Storage: if each unit takes up 0.1 cubic feet, a month in storage costs about $0.08 from January to September and $0.24 from October to December (storage rates ).That puts Amazon's share at about $20.11 of the $100 in a non-peak month, before the $39.99 monthly plan fee, any placement, low-inventory or returns fees, and your advertising. During the peak window the fulfillment fee on the same item is $5.15 before the surcharge, which brings the fulfillment line to about $5.33.
FBA or a 3PL if you also sell on your own store FBA fees cover Amazon orders. To ship your Shopify or other store orders from the same FBA stock, you use Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF), Amazon's service for filling orders from other sales channels. MCF has its own rate card, picks and packs in unbranded packaging by default, and carries the same 3.5% surcharge and October 15 to January 14 peak fees (Amazon MCF , checked October 4, 2026).
Prep is also on you now. Amazon stopped offering prep and item labeling for US FBA shipments on January 1, 2026, and shipments created after that date that arrive without proper prep and labeling aren't eligible for reimbursement if they're damaged or untraceable (FBA Prep Service , checked October 4, 2026). Our FBA prep checklist covers what each unit needs, and Simpl offers Amazon FBA prep if you'd rather not do it yourself.
For a light standard-size item sold only on Amazon, the FBA fulfillment fee, $3.45 to $5.82 in the examples above, is lower than Simpl's starting price of $7 per order. If that describes your business, FBA is hard to beat on per-unit cost.
A 3PL is worth pricing when some of these apply:
You sell on your own store as well as Amazon and want those orders handled outside MCF, where unbranded packaging is the default. You hold extra stock for the fourth quarter, when Amazon's storage rate is $2.40 per cubic foot. Some products sell slowly enough to approach the 181-day aged inventory line. You want to keep bulk stock in one place and send Amazon smaller, prepped replenishments, or ship Amazon orders yourself through Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM) . Simpl's pricing starts at $7 per order, storage is billed by bin, shelf or pallet, and orders received before 12pm CT ship the same day. There is a $750 monthly minimum, billed pay-the-difference: if your fulfillment bill for the month comes in under $750, you pay only the gap. That works out to about 100 shipments a month at the lightest weight (0.5 lb or under); heavier shipments cost more each, so fewer of them reach $750. See the pricing page for details, or compare the two side by side in our Amazon FBA alternative breakdown .
If you sell on Amazon and your own store and want to see what your order mix would cost, request a quote .
