The referral fee is Amazon’s commission on every sale. It is charged as a percentage of the total sales price — the item price plus any shipping or gift-wrap charge, excluding sales tax — and it is the same whether you use FBA or ship orders yourself. Amazon announced that referral fees remain at their January 2024 levels through 2025 and 2026, so the table below has been stable for almost three years. Rates were verified on 2026-09-20 against Amazon’s pricing page and fee schedule (see data sources).
The full table
| Category | Referral fee | Minimum |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Device Accessories | 45% | $0.30 |
| Appliances — Compact | 15% up to $300, 8% on the portion above | $0.30 |
| Appliances — Full-size | 8% | $0.30 |
| Automotive & Powersports | 12% | $0.30 |
| Baby Products | 8% if total price ≤ $10, 15% if above | $0.30 |
| Backpacks, Handbags & Luggage | 15% | $0.30 |
| Base Equipment Power Tools | 12% | $0.30 |
| Beauty, Health & Personal Care | 8% if total price ≤ $10, 15% if above | $0.30 |
| Business, Industrial & Scientific Supplies | 12% | $0.30 |
| Clothing & Accessories | 5% up to $15; 10% on $15–20; 17% on the portion above $20 | $0.30 |
| Computers | 8% | $0.30 |
| Consumer Electronics | 8% | $0.30 |
| Electronics Accessories | 15% up to $100, 8% on the portion above | $0.30 |
| Eyewear | 15% | $0.30 |
| Fine Art | 20% up to $100; 15% on $100–1,000; 10% on $1,000–5,000; 5% above | — |
| Footwear | 15% | $0.30 |
| Furniture | 15% up to $200, 10% on the portion above | $0.30 |
| Gift Cards | 20% | — |
| Grocery & Gourmet | 8% if total price ≤ $15, 15% if above | — |
| Home & Kitchen | 15% | $0.30 |
| Jewelry | 20% up to $250, 5% on the portion above | $0.30 |
| Lawn & Garden | 15% | $0.30 |
| Lawn Mowers & Snow Throwers | 15% up to $500, 8% on the portion above | $0.30 |
| Media — Books, Music, Video, DVD, Software, Video Games | 15% + $1.80 closing fee per item | — |
| Musical Instruments & AV Production | 15% | $0.30 |
| Office Products | 15% | $0.30 |
| Pet Supplies | 15% (22% for veterinary diet products) | $0.30 |
| Sports & Outdoors | 15% | $0.30 |
| Tires | 10% | $0.30 |
| Tools & Home Improvement | 15% | $0.30 |
| Toys & Games | 15% | $0.30 |
| Video Game Consoles | 8% | $0.30 |
| Video Games & Gaming Accessories | 15% | $0.30 |
| Watches | 16% up to $1,500, 3% on the portion above | $0.30 |
| Everything Else | 15% | $0.30 |
Two kinds of tiers
Amazon uses two different tier mechanics, and it pays to know which one applies to you.
Portion tiers (clothing, jewelry, watches, furniture, electronics accessories, compact appliances, lawn mowers, fine art): each rate applies only to the slice of the price inside that band, like income-tax brackets. A $30 item of clothing pays 5% on the first $15 ($0.75) + 10% on the next $5 ($0.50) + 17% on the remaining $10 ($1.70) = $2.95, or 9.8% — not 17% of $30. A $400 piece of jewelry pays 20% on $250 ($50) + 5% on $150 ($7.50) = $57.50, or 14.4%.
Whole-price tiers (beauty & health, baby, grocery): the price decides which single rate applies to the entire amount. A $9.99 skincare item pays 8% ($0.80); a $10.01 one pays 15% ($1.50). Crossing the $10 or $15 line costs a full 7 percentage points on the whole price, which is why so many products in those categories are priced at $9.99 and $14.99.
Minimum fee and closing fee
Most categories have a $0.30 minimum per unit. It only bites on items under $2 (15%) or under $3.75 (8%) — but for accessories and consumables sold in multi-packs it can be the difference between listing single units and bundles.
Media categories (books, music, video, DVD, software, video games) add a $1.80 closing fee per item on top of the 15% referral fee. A $12 used book pays $1.80 + $1.80 = $3.60 in referral-level fees before fulfillment — 30% of the price.
Where the fee is applied
- Base: item price + shipping charge + gift-wrap charge, after coupons and promotional discounts, excluding sales tax. For FBA Prime orders there is usually no shipping charge, so the base is the item price.
- Refunds: when you refund a customer, Amazon returns the referral fee minus a refund administration fee of $5.00 or 20% of the referral fee, whichever is less.
- Category assignment: the fee follows the ASIN’s browse node, not your listing intent. Products that sit between two categories — kitchen electrics, phone mounts for cars, fitness trackers — are worth checking in Seller Central’s fee preview before you commit to a price.
What it means for pricing
Because the fee is proportional, it never changes the ranking of prices — but it does change the break-even point. At 15% you need the price to be at least 1.18× your total cost (product + FBA + shipping) just to cover Amazon’s cut; at 8% the multiplier is 1.09×. Add the FBA fulfillment fee, which is a fixed dollar amount, and cheap items get squeezed twice: the Amazon FBA calculator shows the combined effect and the break-even price for any category in the table.