Amazon FBA fees explained for 2026

Selling on Amazon with Fulfillment by Amazon costs a seller two fees on almost every order: a referral fee, which is 15% of the sale price in Home and Kitchen and most other categories, and an FBA fulfillment fee, a flat per-unit charge that starts at $2.43 and depends on the size, the packed weight and the sale price. A 15% referral fee on a $100 sale is $15, and the fulfillment fee is added on top of that. Everything else — storage, low inventory, inbound placement, the selling plan — is situational. This guide sets out each one as Amazon publishes it, with examples computed by the same engine as the Amazon FBA fee calculator. Every rate below is quoted from Amazon Seller Central's fee schedule and its fulfillment, storage and inbound help pages, and was verified on 3 September 2026.

The referral fee: what Amazon takes for the sale

The referral fee is a percentage of the total sales price, charged whether Amazon ships the order or you do. Amazon publishes one rate per category, and the fee is always the greater of that percentage and the category's minimum referral fee, which is $0.30 wherever Amazon states one.

Six categories split the price into brackets and charge each rate on its own portion, the way income-tax bands work: Watches at 16% up to $1,500.00 and 3% above, Jewelry at 20% up to $250.00 and 5% above, Furniture at 15% up to $200.00 and 10% above, Compact Appliances at 15% up to $300.00 and 8% above, Electronics Accessories at 15% up to $100.00 and 8% above, and Fine Art at 20%, 15%, 10% and 5% across four brackets. Amazon's own example for Watches is a $7,000.00 sale: 16% of the first $1,500.00 plus 3% of the remaining $5,500.00.

On that watch, fulfilled by Amazon in the large standard 4 to 8 ounce band, the fee on $7,000.00 is $409.21 ($405.00 watches plus $4.21 large standard, 4+ to 8 oz) and you keep $6,590.79, an effective rate of 5.85%.

Five more categories switch rate for the whole price once it crosses a threshold, which is a different thing. Clothing and Accessories is 5% at $15.00 or less, 10% up to $20.00 and 17% above; Baby Products and Beauty, Health and Personal Care are 8% at $10.00 or less and 15% above; Grocery and Gourmet is 8% at $15.00 or less and 15% above; Lawn Mowers and Snow Throwers is 15% to $500.00 and 8% above. A $20.01 shirt therefore costs 17% of the whole $20.01, not 17% of a penny.

The FBA fulfillment fee: what Amazon takes for shipping

If Amazon picks, packs and ships the order, it charges one flat fee per unit. Which fee depends on three things: the size tier, the packed weight band, and whether the sale price is under $10.00, between $10.00 and $50.00, or above $50.00.

The calculator carries all twenty-three bands; the ten above are the ones most sellers land on. Three of them are formulas rather than flat fees. Large standard over 3 lb adds $0.08 for every 4 ounce interval above the first 3 lb. Both bulky tiers add $0.38 for every pound interval above the first pound, so a 6 lb large bulky unit pays five extra intervals on top of its base rate.

For a Home and Kitchen item in the large standard 4 to 8 ounce band, the fee on $100.00 is $19.21 ($15.00 home and Kitchen plus $4.21 large standard, 4+ to 8 oz) and you keep $80.79, an effective rate of 19.21%.

Since 17 April 2026 Amazon has added a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge to FBA fulfillment fees. It is 3.5% of the fulfillment fee, not of the sale price, so on a $4.21 fee it is $0.15. The calculator leaves it off by default and adds it when you tick the box, because Amazon presents it as a separate line.

Storage, low inventory and inbound placement

Three more FBA fees are charged per unit but are not triggered by a sale, so they belong in a margin calculation rather than an order calculation.

Monthly inventory storage is charged on your daily average volume, at $0.78 per cubic foot from January to September and $2.40 from October to December for standard-size units, and $0.56 and $1.40 for oversize. A unit of 0.05 cubic feet therefore costs about four cents a month to store off-peak, and a hundred of them cost $3.90.

The low-inventory-level fee applies when a product's historical days of supply falls below 28 days. For a large standard unit up to 3 lb it is $0.36 between 21 and 28 days, $0.70 between 14 and 21 days and $0.97 below 14 days; small standard units pay $0.32, $0.63 and $0.89, and large bulky units pay $0.57, $1.15 and $2.09. It is added to the fulfillment fee, so an item Amazon would ship for $3.95 costs $4.31 when your cover is 24 days.

The inbound placement service fee is charged per unit when you send a shipment to a single receiving location instead of splitting it across Amazon's network. It runs from $0.14 for the smallest small standard unit to $5.50 for a 50 lb large bulky one, at the low end of the published range; sending to five or more locations costs nothing.

Two worked examples

Because the fulfillment fee barely moves with the price, a cheap item loses far more of it than an expensive one.

For a cheap pair of shoes in the large standard 4 to 8 ounce band, the fee on $12.00 is $5.75 ($1.80 footwear plus $3.95 large standard, 4+ to 8 oz) and you keep $6.25, an effective rate of 47.92%. For an item in the Computers category, in the same band, the fee on $50.00 is $7.95 ($4.00 computers plus $3.95 large standard, 4+ to 8 oz) and you keep $42.05, an effective rate of 15.9%.

The first loses nearly half its price to fees; the second loses about a sixth, because 8% is a lower referral rate and the same fulfillment fee is a much smaller slice of a bigger number. That is the arithmetic behind the standing advice not to put cheap, heavy items into FBA.

Pricing to net a target

Because the referral fee is a percentage of the price you set, you cannot simply add your costs to the amount you want to keep. The fee grows with the price, and the fulfillment fee can jump when the price crosses $10.00 or $50.00.

To keep $50.00 you charge $63.78, and the fee is $13.78.

The calculator's "I want to net" mode solves this for any category and size tier, finding the smallest price whose net lands within a cent of your target.

How to pay Amazon less, honestly

Four levers move these numbers. Reduce packed size and weight: the fulfillment fee is set by the size tier and weight band and nothing else, so shaving an ounce off a 16 oz unit can drop it a band. Check your category assignment, because a product sitting in a 15% category that belongs in an 8% one pays nearly twice the referral fee. Keep cover above 28 days, which removes the low-inventory-level fee. And let Amazon split your inbound shipments across five or more locations, which removes the inbound placement fee. Nothing else here is negotiable on a standard seller account.

What this guide leaves out

Amazon's fee pages are long, and this guide covers the ones a typical US FBA seller meets on an ordinary order. It leaves out the separate apparel fulfillment table, the Extra-Large size tier, dangerous-goods rates, peak-season fulfillment rates for October to December, the storage-utilization surcharge and aged-inventory surcharge, partial and Amazon-optimized inbound shipment splits, the $1.80 media closing fee, the 22% veterinary-diet rate inside Pet Products, removal and disposal fees, returns processing, and anything negotiated for an individual account. It also covers the United States only. The $39.99 Professional selling plan is a monthly subscription rather than a per-order fee, so the calculator excludes it; the Individual plan's $0.99 per item is a per-order fee and can be switched on.

When these rates last changed

Amazon's current US fee schedule took effect on 15 January 2026, and the 3.5% fuel surcharge on 17 April 2026. This guide records the schedule as first verified on 3 September 2026, so the Amazon FBA fee changelog holds one entry; every later change is added there with its date and the rule affected, and the schedule is re-verified at least every 60 days. Amazon's public pricing page corroborates the referral rates, but the fulfillment, storage, low-inventory and inbound placement tables have no independent second source, so the schedule is marked medium confidence. If a figure here disagrees with what Seller Central shows you, report it and it will be checked.

Frequently asked questions

What percentage does Amazon take from sellers?

The referral fee is 15% in most categories, 8% in Computers, Consumer Electronics and Full-Size Appliances, 12% in automotive and industrial categories, 10% on Tires and 45% on Amazon Device Accessories. If Amazon fulfills the order, add the per-unit fulfillment fee: $2.91 to $7.23 on a large standard unit, depending on weight and price.

Do Amazon fees include shipping?

For FBA orders, yes: the fulfillment fee covers picking, packing and delivery to the customer, and Amazon does not bill postage separately. It does not cover getting your stock into Amazon's network, which is your own inbound freight plus, when you ship to a single location, the inbound placement fee.

Is the referral fee charged on the shipping the buyer pays?

Yes. Amazon calculates the referral fee on the total sales price, which includes any shipping and gift-wrap charges the buyer pays, so raising shipping instead of the item price does not avoid it.

Where do these numbers come from?

Every rate is quoted verbatim from Amazon Seller Central's own fee pages, saved as a dated snapshot and checked by a person. The methodology explains the process, and the whole schedule is quoted line by line, with the verbatim source text behind every rule, in the calculator's fee table for anyone who wants to check the work.