Guide · Updated
Amazon FBA Fees Breakdown 2026 — Every Charge Explained
Every Amazon FBA fee in 2026 — referral, fulfillment, monthly storage, Q4 surcharges, removal, and inbound. Real numbers, with the official source for each.
If you’re selling on Amazon through FBA, you’re not paying one fee — you’re paying five or six, depending on the season and your inventory age. The official Amazon Seller Central pricing page lists them all, but it’s spread across roughly fifteen separate help articles. This guide consolidates the 2026 fee structure into one place, with the math for a typical product.
The five FBA fees you’ll actually pay
1. Referral fee — Amazon’s commission on the sale. Almost always 15% of the total order (item price + shipping + gift-wrap). A handful of categories pay less (8% for Computers, 8–15% for Consumer Electronics depending on price band) or more (17% for Jewelry; 20% for Amazon Device Accessories). This fee applies whether or not you use FBA.
2. FBA fulfillment fee — Per-unit charge that pays for pick, pack, ship, customer service, and returns processing. Calculated from the unit’s dimensional weight and product weight, then mapped to a size tier:
| Size tier | Typical fee (2026) | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Small Standard (≤ 16 oz) | $3.22 | Cosmetics, small electronics, books |
| Large Standard (≤ 20 lb) | $3.74–$6.85 | T-shirts, midsize toys, household goods |
| Small Oversize (≤ 70 lb) | $9.61+ | Small furniture, kitchen appliances |
| Medium Oversize (≤ 150 lb) | $19.65+ | Large furniture |
| Large Oversize | $89+ | Major furniture, mattresses |
These fees increased ~$0.20 per unit across most tiers in January 2026 vs. 2025.
3. Monthly inventory storage fee — Charged on the average daily cubic feet of inventory you have stored at Amazon. Two seasons:
- January–September: $0.78/cubic foot for Standard-size units, $0.56/cubic foot for Oversize
- October–December (peak): $2.40/cubic foot Standard, $1.40/cubic foot Oversize
Peak storage is what hurts. A pallet of slow-moving inventory that costs you $30/month in Q1–Q3 jumps to ~$90/month for October–December.
4. Aged inventory surcharge (formerly Long-Term Storage Fee) — If a unit sits in FBA more than 271 days, Amazon charges an additional $6.90/cubic foot per month on top of regular storage. Above 365 days, the surcharge climbs further. This is the single biggest cost driver for slow-moving SKUs.
5. Low-inventory-level fee — New as of 2024, still in effect for 2026. If your stock-to-sales ratio drops below 4 weeks of coverage, Amazon charges $0.05–$0.32 per unit fulfilled. Designed to incentivize sellers to keep more inventory on hand. Frustrating if your product is genuinely seasonal.
The fees you’ll hit if things go sideways
These don’t always apply, but factor them into worst-case scenarios:
- Inbound placement service fee — If you ship to a single Amazon fulfillment center instead of splitting shipments across the regional network, you pay $0.21–$1.58 per unit for Amazon to redistribute it.
- Removal/disposal fees — $0.97–$3.50 per unit to get inventory back from a fulfillment center, or have Amazon dispose of it.
- Return processing fee — For categories with return rates over the category median (apparel, shoes, watches, jewelry), Amazon charges a per-return fee equal to the FBA fulfillment fee.
- Refund administration fee — When you refund a customer, Amazon refunds 80% of the referral fee but keeps 20% as an administration cost. Distinct from the FBA return processing fee.
What this means for your margin
Plug it into a typical example. A $25 product with a $7 COGS, $4 ad spend, sold through FBA in Large Standard tier:
| Line item | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sale price | $25.00 | |
| COGS | -$7.00 | |
| Referral fee | -$3.75 | 15% of $25 |
| FBA fulfillment | -$5.30 | Mid-Large-Standard tier |
| Monthly storage (allocated) | -$0.18 | Assumes 4-week turnover |
| Ad spend (typical 16% TACoS) | -$4.00 | |
| Net profit | $4.77 | 19.1% margin |
That’s a healthy outcome — but it’s a profitability cliff. If your COGS rises to $10, or your ACoS climbs to 30%, you’re at break-even. If you trip the aged-inventory surcharge on slow SKUs, you can go negative.
Run your own numbers through the Amazon FBA Calculator — it includes all the size tiers and peak storage math.
Three ways to reduce your effective FBA take rate
- Optimize for size tier boundaries. A product that’s 0.5 inches over a tier boundary pays the next tier up. Repackage tighter and you can move from Large Standard to Small Standard, saving $2–$3 per unit.
- Avoid the Q4 storage trap. Aim for under 8 weeks of inventory headed into October, then resupply weekly. The $0.78 → $2.40/cubic foot peak rate makes overstocking expensive.
- Move slow SKUs to FBM. If a SKU sells fewer than 4 units per month, the fulfillment savings rarely offset the FBA storage costs. Switch it to Fulfillment by Merchant or remove it.
Official sources
- Amazon Seller Central: FBA Fees overview (referral + fulfillment)
- Amazon Seller Central: Monthly inventory storage fees
- Amazon Seller Central: Aged inventory surcharge
Every fee in our Amazon FBA Calculator links back to Amazon’s official documentation with the date we last verified the rate.
Related reading
- How to calculate profit margin (formula + examples)
- Amazon FBA Calculator — model your actual numbers
- Glossary: FBA / FBM, referral fee, aged inventory surcharge