2026-06-11 · 14 min read
Amazon FBA Fees in 2026: Complete Breakdown of Every Charge
Every Amazon FBA fee explained for 2026, including fulfillment fees, storage fees, inbound placement fees, and the new surcharges that went into effect this year.
Amazon raised FBA fees again in 2026. Fulfillment fees increased by $0.08 to $0.31 per unit depending on size tier. Storage fees added a new non-peak monthly rate. And the inbound defect program, which used to charge $0.02 to $0.07 per unit, now charges $0.32 to $5.72 per item for shipments that arrive damaged or mislabeled. If you have not recalculated your margins in the past six months, you are probably underestimating your costs. If you are weighing fulfillment methods from scratch, see our FBA vs FBM comparison for how these fees stack up against shipping it yourself.
Fulfillment fees by size tier
Amazon charges fulfillment fees per unit shipped based on the product's size and weight. The 2026 rates:
Small standard (16 oz or less): $3.06 to $3.68. Large standard (up to 20 lbs): $4.75 to $10.88. Large bulky (up to 150 lbs): $9.61 to $13.58 plus $0.38 per lb over 2 lbs. Extra-large: $26.33 and up. Apparel and dangerous goods have different schedules and generally cost more.
Amazon also added a low-inventory surcharge in 2024 that carried into 2026. If your inventory level is consistently below 28 days of supply, you pay an additional $0.32 to $1.11 per unit. Keeping inventory in stock reduces fees here.
Storage fees
Monthly storage fees are charged on the 7th to 15th of the following month. The 2026 rates: January to September, $0.78 per cubic foot for standard-size, $0.56 per cubic foot for oversize. October to December (peak season): $2.40 per cubic foot for standard-size, $1.40 for oversize.
Q4 storage costs three times more than the rest of the year. Sellers who send in too much inventory in October pay for that mistake through November and December. Use the FBA inventory planning tool in Seller Central to match supply to projected demand.
Long-term storage fees kick in on any unit that has been in a fulfillment center for more than 365 days. The rate is $6.90 per cubic foot per month or $0.15 per unit, whichever is greater. These fees used to apply only twice per year; now they are assessed monthly.
Inbound placement fees
Amazon now charges for how your shipment gets distributed across fulfillment centers. If you send everything to one location (minimal placement), you pay $0.21 to $1.32 per unit for the freight Amazon needs to move your inventory to demand regions. Distributing your shipment to multiple fulfillment centers yourself (optimized placement) reduces or eliminates this fee.
The practical tradeoff: shipping to one location is simpler, but inbound placement fees eat margin on high-volume SKUs. For items you sell more than 200 units per month, run the math on whether multi-destination shipping saves money.
Inbound defect fees
New in 2025 and carried through 2026: inbound defect fees apply when your shipment arrives at a fulfillment center with problems. The main defect types are unexpected items (product not on the shipment manifest): $0.32 per unit. Unscannable barcodes: $0.16 per unit. Prep problems (not poly-bagged, not bubble-wrapped as required): $0.32 per unit. Damaged product: up to $5.72 per item for items that are unsellable on arrival.
These fees are charged per defective unit. A single shipment of 500 units with 10% prep errors costs $16 in defect fees on top of your normal fulfillment costs. At scale, this adds up fast. The fix: audit your prep process, use a 3PL that knows Amazon's requirements, and review the inbound problem report in Seller Central after every shipment.
Referral fees
Referral fees are a percentage of the selling price paid on every sale. These are separate from FBA fees. Most categories run 8% to 15%. Jewelry and fine art run 20%. Kindle accessories pay 45%. Referral fees do not change with FBA fee adjustments, but they apply to the full sale price including any shipping you charge.
How to calculate your true landed cost
True landed cost per unit equals: product cost + shipping to Amazon + inbound placement fee + fulfillment fee + storage fee (estimated days in warehouse divided by 30 multiplied by monthly rate multiplied by cubic footage) + referral fee. Add any expected inbound defect fees if your prep is imperfect.
Most sellers only calculate product cost plus fulfillment fee plus referral fee. The other charges, especially storage and inbound fees, are what makes a product that looks profitable on paper break even or lose money in practice.
The April 2026 surcharge update
Amazon added a temporary peak-period surcharge in April 2026 for large and extra-large items. The surcharge adds $0.20 to $0.40 per unit on items shipped between mid-April and late June. If you sell heavy or bulky products, check whether this applies to your size tier and adjust prices accordingly.
Fees most sellers forget to model
Fulfillment, storage and referral are the three every calculator shows you. The charges below are the ones that turn a 22% margin into a 14% margin, and almost none of them appear in a pre-launch estimate.
| Fee | When it hits | Roughly what it costs |
|---|---|---|
| Aged inventory surcharge | Units sitting in a fulfillment center 181 days or longer | $0.50 to $1.10 per cubic foot per month on top of normal storage, rising with age |
| Returns processing fee | Return rate above the category threshold in apparel, shoes, watches, jewelry and a few others | Roughly your fulfillment fee again, charged on each return above the threshold |
| Refund administration fee | Every customer refund you issue | 20% of the referral fee you already paid, capped at $5 |
| Removal fee | Pulling inventory back out of FBA | About $0.97 to $1.60 per standard unit, more for oversize |
| Disposal fee | Destroying unsellable stock | Similar per-unit rate to removal |
| Unplanned prep service | Shipment arrives needing bagging, labeling or taping | About $0.55 to $1.35 per unit depending on the service |
Rates move, sometimes twice a year. Treat the table as a list of line items to go looking for rather than a price list. The current numbers for your catalog are in Seller Central under Reports, then Fulfillment, then Fee Preview.
What the fees look like on one real unit
Take a small standard product that sells for $24.99, weighs 12 ounces packaged, and occupies 0.08 cubic feet. You buy it for $5.20 landed at your door and pay $0.45 a unit to freight it to Amazon. It sells 120 units a month and turns over about every 45 days.
| Line item | Per unit |
|---|---|
| Product cost | $5.20 |
| Freight to Amazon | $0.45 |
| Inbound placement, minimal, single destination | $0.34 |
| Fulfillment fee, small standard | $3.55 |
| Storage, 0.08 cubic feet for 45 non-peak days | $0.09 |
| Referral fee at 15% | $3.75 |
| Refund administration on a 4% return rate | $0.02 |
| Total cost | $13.40 |
| Margin at $24.99 | $11.59, or 46% |
Now push the same unit into October. Storage triples to about $0.27. The shipment went in unlabeled, so every unit picks up $0.55 of unplanned prep. You overshipped, so a third of the batch crosses 181 days and starts paying the aged inventory surcharge. Nothing about the product or the price changed, and the unit now costs over $14 to move.
That is the real lesson in the fee schedule. Individually each charge looks like rounding. Stacked on a slow-moving SKU in Q4, they are the difference between a product that funds the next purchase order and one that quietly eats it.
Read your actual fees instead of estimating them
Four places tell you what Amazon charged, as opposed to what it expected to charge:
- Reports, then Fulfillment, then Fee Preview. Per-ASIN estimated fulfillment and referral fees, refreshed weekly. Good for planning, not for reconciliation.
- Payments, then Transaction View. Open a single order and expand it. Every fee line is itemized. This is the money that actually left.
- The FBA Revenue Calculator, reachable from Seller Central. It compares FBA against seller-fulfilled side by side on the same ASIN.
- The Inventory Age report. It flags units approaching the 181-day and 365-day marks before the surcharge lands rather than after.
If the fulfillment fee on the transaction does not match the Fee Preview, Amazon has your dimensions wrong. Request a re-measure through Seller Support and ask for a reimbursement of the overcharge. Amazon measures with an automated scanner and it gets packaging with soft edges wrong often enough to be worth checking once a year.
When FBA stops making sense
FBA wins on conversion because of Prime eligibility, and it loses on margin in four predictable situations: a selling price under about $12 at large standard size, anything over 10 pounds at a low price point, slow movers under one unit a day in a large size tier, and seasonal stock that would sit through peak storage rates to sell in January. In those cases run the same unit through the Revenue Calculator as seller-fulfilled with Buy Shipping, then decide. Seller-fulfilled Prime is a third option if you can hold the delivery speed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much are Amazon FBA fees in 2026?
Fulfillment runs $3.06 to $3.68 per unit for small standard, $4.75 to $10.88 for large standard, and $9.61 upward for bulky sizes. Storage is $0.78 per cubic foot per month for standard size outside peak and $2.40 during October to December. Referral fees are a separate 8% to 15% of the sale price in most categories.
Does the FBA fee include the referral fee?
No. They are two different charges and both apply to the same sale. The fulfillment fee pays for picking, packing and shipping. The referral fee is Amazon's commission on the selling price, including any shipping you charge the buyer.
What is the FBA inbound placement fee?
A per-unit charge for distributing your shipment to the fulfillment centers where demand is. Sending everything to one location costs $0.21 to $1.32 per unit. Splitting the shipment yourself across the locations Amazon nominates reduces or removes the fee.
How do I avoid the low-inventory-level fee?
Keep more than 28 days of supply on hand, measured against your recent sales rate. The fee is assessed on historical days of supply, so a restock today does not clear a charge already triggered. Sellers who order in large infrequent batches get hit hardest on the tail end of each cycle.
Can I get FBA fees refunded if Amazon measured my product wrong?
Yes. Compare the fulfillment fee on an actual transaction against the size tier your packaging should qualify for. If it is off, open a case, request a re-measure, and ask for a reimbursement on the units already charged. Amazon applies the corrected tier going forward once the re-measure completes.