Amazon’s fee schedule is long, but for an FBA seller in the United States almost everything comes down to four numbers per unit: the referral fee, the FBA fulfillment fee, monthly storage, and your selling plan. This guide takes each one in turn with the rates in force on 2026-09-20, then works through a real example. Figures are from Amazon’s public pricing page and the Seller Central fee help pages; check the data sources page for links and verification dates.
1. Referral fee — Amazon’s commission
The referral fee is a percentage of the total sales price (item price plus any shipping or gift-wrap charge the buyer pays, excluding sales tax). It applies to every sale on Amazon, whether you use FBA or ship yourself.
| Category (examples) | Referral fee |
|---|---|
| Most categories — Home & Kitchen, Toys, Sports, Office, Pet, Tools, Footwear | 15% |
| Consumer Electronics, Computers, Video Game Consoles, Full-size Appliances | 8% |
| Electronics Accessories | 15% up to $100, 8% on the portion above |
| Clothing & Accessories | 5% up to $15, 10% from $15–20, 17% on the portion above $20 |
| Beauty, Health & Personal Care; Baby | 8% if the price is $10 or less, 15% if above |
| Grocery & Gourmet | 8% if the price is $15 or less, 15% if above |
| Jewelry | 20% up to $250, 5% on the portion above |
| Watches | 16% up to $1,500, 3% above |
| Amazon Device Accessories | 45% |
Two details matter for cheap items: the minimum referral fee is $0.30 per unit in most categories, and media categories (books, music, video, software) add a $1.80 closing fee per item on top of the 15%. Amazon has said referral rates are unchanged from January 2024 through 2026. The full 32-category table is in the referral fee guide.
2. FBA fulfillment fee — pick, pack and ship
This is the per-unit charge for Amazon storing, picking, packing and shipping the order, including customer service and returns handling. It depends on three things:
- Size tier — small standard (≤ 16 oz and ≤ 15 × 12 × 0.75 in), large standard (≤ 20 lb and ≤ 18 × 14 × 8 in), small bulky, large bulky (≤ 50 lb) or extra-large (over 50 lb or oversized).
- Shipping weight — the packaged unit weight for small standard items; for larger tiers, the greater of unit weight and dimensional weight (L × W × H ÷ 139 in lb).
- Price band — under $10 (Low-Price FBA), $10–$50, or over $50. The over-$50 band costs about $0.26 more than the middle band; the under-$10 band about $0.80–1.00 less.
Selected 2026 non-peak rates (effective 2026-01-15):
| Size tier & shipping weight | Under $10 | $10–$50 | Over $50 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small standard, ≤ 4 oz | $2.49 | $3.42 | $3.68 |
| Small standard, 12–16 oz | $2.95 | $3.96 | $4.22 |
| Large standard, ≤ 4 oz | $2.91 | $3.73 | $3.99 |
| Large standard, 1–1.25 lb | $4.22 | $5.04 | $5.30 |
| Large standard, 2.75–3 lb | $5.85 | $6.67 | $6.93 |
| Large standard, 3–20 lb | $6.15 + $0.08/4 oz over 3 lb | $6.97 + $0.08/4 oz | $7.23 + $0.08/4 oz |
| Large bulky, 0–50 lb | $8.58 + $0.38/lb over 1 lb | $9.35 + $0.38/lb | $9.35 + $0.38/lb |
| Extra-large, 0–50 lb | $25.56 + $0.38/lb over 1 lb | $26.33 + $0.38/lb | $26.33 + $0.38/lb |
On top of the table rate, a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge has applied to fulfillment fees since April 17, 2026. Apparel uses its own, slightly higher table, and peak season (October 15 – January 14) uses a table that is $0.19–0.54 higher per unit for standard-size items. Dangerous goods (lithium batteries, aerosols) have separate rates not covered here.
3. Monthly storage fee
Storage is billed per cubic foot per month, measured from your inventory’s average daily volume:
| January – September | October – December | |
|---|---|---|
| Standard size | $0.78 / cu ft | $2.40 / cu ft |
| Oversize (bulky, extra-large) | $0.56 / cu ft | $1.40 / cu ft |
A 10 × 6 × 2 in package is 0.069 cu ft, so it costs about $0.05 a month in storage during most of the year and $0.17 in Q4 — small for fast-moving stock, painful for slow stock. Sellers with a storage-utilization ratio above 22 weeks pay an additional surcharge; new and low-volume sellers are exempt. Inventory stored more than 181 days also attracts aged-inventory surcharges. Details are in the storage and peak-season guide.
4. Selling plan
- Professional: $39.99 per month, no per-item fee. Required for advertising, Buy Box eligibility in most cases, and bulk tools.
- Individual: no monthly fee, $0.99 per item sold. Cheaper only below about 40 units a month.
Spread the Professional fee over your monthly units: at 300 units it is $0.13 per unit, at 50 units $0.80.
5. Fees that depend on how you run inventory
These are real but cannot be computed from a single unit, so the calculator leaves them to you:
- Inbound placement service fee — charged per unit when you send standard-size inventory to a single location instead of letting Amazon split the shipment.
- Low-inventory-level fee — applies when your days of supply for an ASIN fall below 28 days relative to recent sales.
- Returns processing fee — charged on returned units in categories with high return rates, once your return rate exceeds the category threshold.
- Removal, disposal and aged-inventory surcharges, and the refund administration fee (Amazon keeps $5 or 20% of the referral fee, whichever is less, when you refund a customer).
A common approach is to add 3–5% of the selling price as an allowance for these.
Worked example: a $24.99 kitchen gadget
Large standard item, shipping weight 1.2 lb, Home & Kitchen, sold on the Professional plan at 300 units a month, product cost $8.00, inbound shipping $1.20, 0.08 cu ft stored for one month (January – September):
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Selling price | $24.99 |
| Referral fee 15% | −$3.75 |
| FBA fulfillment fee (large standard, 1–1.25 lb, $10–50 band) | −$5.04 |
| Fuel & logistics surcharge 3.5% | −$0.18 |
| Storage 0.08 cu ft × $0.78 × 1 month | −$0.06 |
| Professional plan $39.99 ÷ 300 units | −$0.13 |
| Product cost | −$8.00 |
| Inbound shipping | −$1.20 |
| Net profit before advertising | $6.63 (26.5%) |
Amazon’s fees total $9.16, or 36.7% of the price. If PPC costs $3 per unit sold — normal for a new listing — the margin drops to 14.5%. That is why a 25–30% margin before ads is the usual target for an FBA product, and why the same product at $19.99 (margin 11.9% before ads) rarely works with FBA.
Run your own numbers in the Amazon FBA calculator: it applies the full referral table, the 2026 fulfillment tables including apparel and peak rates, storage and the plan fee, and shows the break-even price.