Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) ships orders from your own store and other sales channels out of the inventory you already keep in Amazon's warehouses. Three things catch Shopify founders off guard: the box is plain by default, with neither Amazon's logo nor yours unless your own product packaging is certified to ship without an overbox; returns sit outside the Shopify app; and Amazon charges more over the holiday peak. A one-unit, standard-speed order of a standard-size item up to 3 lb runs $7.34 to $11.75 per unit at Amazon's standard (non-peak) MCF rates, and $7.53 to $12.16 at the holiday peak rates in force from October 15, 2026 to January 14, 2027, before a 3.5% surcharge. MCF works well when Amazon is your main channel. When your Shopify store is the brand, the packaging, storage and returns rules below matter more than the fee.
What is Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment?
MCF is Amazon's pick, pack and ship service for orders placed anywhere other than Amazon.com: your own website, other marketplaces and social platforms, all filled from one pool of inventory. If you already use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), MCF ships from that same stock, so you don't need a second warehouse. You don't need to sell on Amazon at all, either. Amazon's own comparison of FBA and MCF says so directly: "You can use MCF, whether you sell on Amazon or not."
The two programs do different jobs. Amazon lists FBA for orders placed on Amazon.com and MCF for orders on your other sales channels. If you're weighing FBA itself against a 3PL for your Amazon orders, our Amazon FBA alternative breakdown covers that cost math.
How does MCF connect to a Shopify store?
Amazon's MCF and Buy with Prime app for Shopify links your store to your Amazon seller account, matches your Shopify SKUs to your Amazon SKUs and sends orders to MCF. Amazon's Shopify user guide names WebBee, ByteStand and Pipe17 as third-party apps that can automate order submission, tracking updates and inventory sync.
Read three limits in that guide before you route orders to Amazon:
- SKU mapping is one at a time. The app maps a SKU automatically only when the Shopify and Amazon SKUs match. Otherwise you enter each one by hand, and there is no bulk option.
- Returns live outside the app. MCF returns aren't handled through the Shopify app, so you refund in Shopify, and if the customer mails the item back to Amazon, Amazon doesn't cover the return postage.
- Amazon picks the carrier. MCF chooses among several carriers, including Amazon Logistics (AMZL), Amazon's own delivery network. You can block AMZL on US orders for an extra surcharge.
What does your customer receive?
A plain box, by default. Amazon picks and packs MCF orders "with unbranded packaging by default", so there's no Amazon logo on the outside and no branding of yours on the box either. The exception is your product's own packaging. Under Amazon's Ships in Product Packaging program, called SIPP, a certified item ships in its own custom-branded packaging with no overbox, and Amazon knocks a few cents per unit off the fulfillment fee on standard-size items. Certification means your packaging passes Amazon's durability and safety requirements; products already SIPP-certified for FBA are enrolled automatically. SIPP covers the product's own packaging only. Beyond it, Amazon's MCF pages describe no branded shipping box or custom inserts.
Standard MCF delivers in 3 business days and expedited in 2. If you want Prime delivery shown on your own site, that's Buy with Prime, a separate opt-in program Amazon describes as "fast, free Prime delivery on your ecommerce website".
What does Amazon MCF cost in 2026?
MCF charges a fulfillment fee per unit, based on the item's size tier, its shipping weight, the delivery speed and how many units are in the order. A size tier is Amazon's size class: small standard means up to 16 oz and within 15 × 12 × 0.75 inches, and large standard means up to 20 lb and within 18 × 14 × 8 inches. A multi-unit order is one order with two or more items in it, and those get a lower per-unit fee.
Amazon runs two price lists: standard (non-peak) rates for most of the year and holiday peak rates from October 15, 2026 to January 14, 2027. Through January 14, peak is what you pay. The first two columns below are the standard rates; the last column comes from Amazon's 2026 peak rate card.
Item (standard speed, US) | 1-unit order | 2-unit order, per unit | 1-unit order, holiday peak |
|---|---|---|---|
Small standard, 4–8 oz | $7.51 | $5.09 | $7.71 |
Small standard, 12–16 oz | $8.66 | $5.90 | $8.88 |
Large standard, 1–2 lb | $10.64 | $7.19 | $10.97 |
Large standard, 2–3 lb | $11.75 | $8.13 | $12.16 |
Fees in the table are before the 3.5% surcharge. Then come the add-ons, all printed on the rate card:
- Fuel and logistics surcharge: 3.5% on top of US MCF fulfillment fees, including during peak.
- Storage: billed at FBA rates. For standard-size items that aren't dangerous goods, that's $0.78 per cubic foot a month from January to September and $2.40 from October to December.
- Remote areas: orders to Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands carry a 100% surcharge on standard-size items.
- Lithium batteries: items with lithium batteries add $0.11 per unit.
- Blocking Amazon Logistics: a 5% surcharge, waived for MCF orders through January 14, 2027.
- Returns: a return processing fee by size and weight, starting at $3.22 for a small standard item of 4 oz or less.
- Discounts: eligible sellers can save up to 15% on MCF fulfillment fees through Preferred Pricing.
There's no single all-in price. Your real cost per order is the fulfillment fee for your item, plus the surcharge, plus your share of monthly storage and any returns, so price your own SKUs before you compare.
Should a Shopify founder use MCF or a 3PL?
Ask a 3PL to quote the same orders you priced on the rate card, and compare the full monthly cost on both sides. If Amazon is most of your volume and your Shopify orders are a side channel, MCF is a reasonable choice: one inventory pool, no second warehouse, and a plain box may be all your product needs.
A 3PL makes more sense when your Shopify store is the brand and off-Amazon orders are growing. Here's what changes with Simpl Fulfillment:
- Packaging: MCF ships in Amazon's plain box unless your product packaging is SIPP-certified. With Simpl, ask about packaging options when you get a quote.
- Storage: Simpl bills storage by bin, shelf or pallet. Ask for those rates in your quote and compare them with FBA's October to December storage rate above.
- Returns: a branded returns portal is included for every Simpl client.
- Every channel from one stock: Simpl connects to Shopify, Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, WooCommerce and Squarespace, plus Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Etsy and TikTok Shop. Tracking numbers sync back to the order on each one. Simpl doesn't send shipping emails; your store platform's own notifications handle that.
- Speed: orders received before 12pm CT ship the same day, and new inventory is received in 1–3 days.
On cost, Simpl is priced starting at $7/order. Standard ecommerce fulfillment accounts have a $750 monthly minimum, billed pay-the-difference: if a month's orders bill under $750, you pay only the gap. For light packages on standard shipping, that works out to roughly 90–100 orders a month; heavier, larger or faster shipments reach it with fewer orders. See the pricing page for what's included.
If you want Simpl to ship your Amazon orders from the same stock as merchant-fulfilled (FBM) orders, see Amazon FBM fulfillment. For the broader question of running every channel from one inventory, read our guide to omnichannel fulfillment, or see how Simpl works as a Shopify 3PL.
To see what your Shopify orders would cost with Simpl, get a quote.
Sources
- Amazon, Multichannel Fulfillment overview
- Amazon, FBA vs MCF comparison
- Amazon, MCF and Buy with Prime app for Shopify user guide
- Amazon, MCF holiday peak rate card, October 15, 2026 to January 14, 2027
- Amazon, MCF standard rate card, as of May 2, 2026 (archived copy; Amazon's live rate card link currently serves the peak card)
- Amazon, MCF pricing page (remote-area surcharge, Preferred Pricing)
- Amazon, Ships in Product Packaging for MCF and Buy with Prime
Updated October 2026.