How Amazon FBA fees work in 2026
Last updated June 2026 · ~6 min read
Amazon FBA doesn't take one percentage — it stacks a commission, a flat fulfillment charge, storage, and a monthly plan. The flat fulfillment fee is the part that catches new sellers out, because it punishes cheap items far harder than a percentage would. Here's exactly what comes out of each sale, and what you actually keep.
The fees on a standard FBA sale
Selling with Fulfillment by Amazon means two fees fire on essentially every sale — a referral fee (Amazon's commission) and an FBA fulfillment fee (for pick, pack and ship) — plus storage while your stock sits in Amazon's warehouse, and a flat monthly selling-plan fee on top:
| Fee | Amount (US, 2026) | What it's charged on |
|---|---|---|
| Referral fee | 15% (most categories) | The total sale price. $0.30 minimum per item. Some categories differ (below). |
| FBA fulfillment fee | ~$3.30–$6.50 (standard size) | A flat dollar amount by size + weight. Oversize is higher. |
| Monthly storage | $0.78 / cu ft (Jan–Sep), $2.40 (Q4) | Per cubic foot of inventory stored, standard size. |
| Selling plan | $39.99 / mo (Pro) or $0.99 / item (Individual) | A flat account cost, not a per-sale fee — spread across all your sales. |
Fees as of June 2026 (US Amazon; referral rates frozen for 2026). Fulfillment and storage vary by size, weight and season — confirm in Seller Central.
The referral and fulfillment fees are the two that matter on every order. Add them up on a typical small standard-size item and Amazon's cut lands at roughly a third of the sale price — noticeably more than a flat-percentage marketplace, because the fulfillment fee is a fixed dollar charge rather than a percentage.
The fee that catches sellers out: fulfillment is flat, not a percentage
The single biggest FBA-fee surprise is that the fulfillment fee doesn't scale with price. A small item that sells for $12 pays almost the same ~$4–5 fulfillment fee as one that sells for $30. So as a share of the sale, that flat fee balloons on cheap products:
| Sale price | ~Fulfillment fee | Fee as % of price |
|---|---|---|
| $12 item | ~$4.10 | ≈ 34% |
| $30 item | ~$5.40 | ≈ 18% |
| $60 item | ~$5.90 | ≈ 10% |
Same warehouse work, wildly different bite. This is why experienced FBA sellers avoid low-priced, low-margin items: once you stack the 15% referral fee on top, a $12 product can hand Amazon half its price before you've paid for the product itself. FBA math works best on higher-priced, higher-margin goods that can absorb a fixed fulfillment cost.
The referral fee varies by category
15% is the headline, but it's not universal. The big exceptions sellers hit most often:
| Category | Referral rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Most categories | 15% | $0.30 minimum per item. |
| Consumer electronics | 8% | One of the lower-rate categories. |
| Apparel (tiered) | 5% / 10% / 17% | 5% on the portion ≤ $15, 10% from $15–20, 17% above $20. |
The referral fee is charged on the full sale price — there's no separating out shipping, because with FBA the buyer's shipping is Amazon's to handle. Always confirm your product's exact category rate in Seller Central, since a handful of categories sit above or below 15%.
Storage and the long-term penalty
Storage is small per unit but easy to underestimate. You pay $0.78 per cubic foot per month for standard-size inventory from January through September, jumping to $2.40 in the Q4 peak (October–December). Slow-moving stock that lingers also accrues aged-inventory surcharges on top. The takeaway: storage rewards inventory that turns over and quietly taxes the stuff that doesn't, so don't over-send units that sell slowly — especially heading into Q4.
What FBA does not charge (and the plan choice)
- No separate payment-processing fee. Unlike Etsy or Shopify, Amazon doesn't tack a card-processing percentage on top — the referral fee is the commission.
- No listing fee. You don't pay to create a listing; you pay when it sells (and the flat monthly plan if you're on Pro).
- The plan is a real decision. The Professional plan's $39.99/month is flat no matter your volume, so it pays for itself versus the Individual plan's $0.99-per-item fee at roughly 40 sales a month. Below that, Individual is cheaper.
Optional costs exist if you opt in — Sponsored Products advertising (PPC), removal/disposal fees, and returns processing in some categories — but none are automatic on a clean standard sale.
A worked example: what you actually keep
Say you sell a $29.99 product that costs you $7 to make, ships into Amazon for about $1 per unit, and is a large-standard size (~$5.40 fulfillment). Referral is the standard 15%:
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Selling price | $29.99 |
| Referral fee (15% of $29.99) | −$4.50 |
| FBA fulfillment fee | −$5.40 |
| Product cost (COGS) | −$7.00 |
| Inbound shipping / prep | −$1.00 |
| Net profit | ≈ $12.09 (≈ 40% margin, ~151% ROI) |
Amazon's two per-sale fees here total about $9.90 — roughly a third of the $29.99. That 40% margin looks great, but it's before advertising. Most FBA sellers run Sponsored Products to get sales, and PPC plus a small returns reserve commonly pulls a 40% gross-of-ads margin down into the 15–30% net range. That's the number that matters — so always model a realistic ad cost, not just the fee math.
How to keep more of each FBA sale
- Avoid cheap, small-margin items. The flat fulfillment fee hurts them most. Higher price points absorb it far better.
- Shrink size and weight. Fulfillment is priced by dimensions and weight — lighter, smaller packaging can drop you into a cheaper tier.
- Turn inventory over. Send what sells; slow stock racks up storage and aged-inventory surcharges, especially in Q4.
- Pick the right plan. Under ~40 sales a month, the Individual plan ($0.99/item) beats the $39.99 Professional plan.
- Model PPC before you launch. A product that's only profitable without ads usually isn't profitable on Amazon. Run the exact numbers first.
Run your numbers
The Amazon FBA calculator has every fee above as an editable field — referral rate, a fulfillment-fee size picker, inbound, storage and a "PPC / returns reserve" field — so you can see your real net profit, margin, ROI and break-even price before you send inventory:
Frequently asked questions
How much does Amazon FBA take per sale in 2026?
On a typical standard-size item, the 15% referral fee plus a flat fulfillment fee of about $3.30–$6.50 — so on a $30 product that's roughly $4.50 + $5.40 ≈ $10, about a third of the price, before your product and inbound costs. Cheaper categories (8% electronics) and tiered apparel rates change the referral share.
Is there a monthly fee to sell on Amazon?
The Professional plan is $39.99/month flat, regardless of volume. The Individual plan has no monthly fee but charges $0.99 per item sold, so it's cheaper below about 40 sales a month. Both are separate from the per-sale referral and fulfillment fees.
Why is FBA so expensive for cheap items?
Because the fulfillment fee is a flat dollar amount by size and weight, not a percentage. A $12 item pays nearly the same fulfillment fee as a $30 one, so on the cheap item that flat fee can be 40%+ of the price. FBA favors higher-priced, higher-margin goods.
How do I get my exact FBA fulfillment fee?
Look up your product (or a similar ASIN) in Amazon's FBA revenue calculator, or check the fee preview in Seller Central, then type that figure into the calculator for a precise result.