Amazon Fee Calculator

Amazon takes a referral fee of 15% in most categories, charged on the item price plus any shipping the buyer pays. That is only the first layer. If Amazon ships the order for you (FBA), a fulfillment fee is added per unit, and the Individual plan adds $0.99 per item. Media items pay a $1.80 closing fee on top. Put together, Amazon usually keeps 25% to 40% of a typical FBA sale, and more on cheap items where the fixed fees weigh heavily.

There is no listing fee on Amazon and no separate payment processing fee: card processing is built into the referral fee. Sales tax is added at checkout, collected by Amazon and sent to the state, so it never shows up in your payout or in your fees.

Every product sits in a category, and the category sets the referral rate. Amazon charges whichever is higher: the percentage, or the per-item minimum. The full list for the main categories, exactly as the calculator applies it:

Two kinds of tiers: whole price vs portion

Tiered categories work in one of two very different ways, and it changes how you should price:

• Whole-price tiers (beauty, baby, grocery, clothing, lawn mowers): one rate applies to the entire price. A beauty item at $10.00 pays 8% ($0.80), but at $11.00 it pays 15% on all of it ($1.65). Pricing a few cents under the line can leave you with more money.
• Portion tiers (jewelry, watches, furniture, electronics accessories, compact appliances): the higher rate only covers the first slice of the price. A $300 ring pays 20% on the first $250 and 5% on the remaining $50, so $52.50 in total.

Amazon has two selling plans. The Individual plan has no monthly fee and charges $0.99 for every item sold. The Professional plan costs $39.99 a month and removes the per-item fee. Referral, closing and FBA fees are the same on both.

The maths is simple: $39.99 ÷ $0.99 is just over 40, so Professional is cheaper from 41 sales a month. Below that, Individual costs less in fees, but Professional also unlocks the Buy Box, Sponsored Products ads, bulk listing tools, business reports and restricted categories, which is why most serious sellers pick it early. In the calculator, enter your monthly sales on the Professional plan to spread the subscription across each sale.

With Fulfillment by Amazon, you send stock to Amazon's warehouses and Amazon picks, packs, ships and handles customer service and returns. The fulfillment fee covers that work and depends on three things: the size tier, the shipping weight and the price of the item.

Small standard (up to 15 × 12 × 0.75 in and 1 lb)

Large standard (up to 18 × 14 × 8 in and 20 lb)

For large standard items, Amazon bills the greater of the actual weight and the dimensional weight (length × width × height in inches ÷ 139), so a light but bulky box can cost more than its weight suggests. Small standard items are billed on unit weight. The "under $10" column is Amazon's low-price FBA rate, which applies automatically.

The 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge

Amazon currently adds 3.5% to every FBA fulfillment fee. It is charged on the fee, not on your price, so a $4.20 fulfillment fee becomes $4.35. The calculator includes it by default; switch it off if Amazon removes it.

Bulky items, apparel and peak season

Items over 20 lb or larger than large standard fall into bulky and extra-large tiers with much higher fees, apparel can be billed on its own rate, and a holiday peak surcharge applies for part of the fourth quarter. For any of these, copy the fee from Amazon's Revenue Calculator or your fee preview into the calculator's "Enter my fee" option.

The referral fee is identical either way. What changes is who ships and who pays for it:

FBA usually wins for small, light, fast-selling products: the fulfillment fee is often lower than a retail label, and the Prime badge lifts conversion. FBM tends to win for heavy or oversized items, slow sellers that would rack up storage fees, and one-off or used items. Run the same item through both modes in the calculator and compare what you receive.

The calculator does this for you, but the steps are worth knowing:

1. Add the item price and any shipping the buyer pays (FBA orders have no separate shipping charge). This is the total sales price.
2. Apply your category's referral rate to that total, and use the per-item minimum if the result is lower. Media items add a $1.80 closing fee.
3. Add your plan cost: $0.99 per item on the Individual plan, or your share of the $39.99 monthly Professional subscription.
4. For FBA, add the fulfillment fee for the size tier, shipping weight and price band, plus the 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge. For FBM, add your shipping label instead.
5. Subtract everything from the total sales price to get your payout, then subtract your item and other costs to get your profit.

As formulas: referral = max(rate × (price + shipping charged), minimum), payout = price + shipping charged − referral − closing − plan − FBA fee × 1.035 − label and profit = payout − item cost − other costs.

Working backwards from a profit target is harder by hand, because the referral rate and the FBA price band both move with the price. The "Price for a target profit" tab searches every cent and returns the lowest price that reaches your target.

Four common sales, calculated with the same rates the calculator uses.

• Refund administration fee: when you refund a buyer, Amazon returns the referral fee minus 20% of it, capped at $5.00. On a $3.75 referral fee you lose $0.75.
• Monthly storage: $0.78 per cubic foot for standard-size stock for most of the year and $2.40 in the fourth-quarter holiday months (oversize $0.56 and $1.40). Stock that sits for many months adds aged-inventory surcharges.
• Inbound placement fee: a per-unit charge for sending FBA stock in, lower when you split shipments across several warehouses yourself.
• Low-inventory-level fee: charged when a fast-selling FBA item runs below about four weeks of supply. New and slow-moving items are exempt.
• Returns processing fee: applies to products whose return rate is above the threshold for their category, most often clothing and shoes.
• Advertising:Sponsored Products ads are optional but common. Add your ad spend per unit to "Other costs" to see the real profit.

Storage and inbound placement depend on your product and sell-through, so the calculator has an optional per-unit field for them on the FBA side.

Amazon's headline 15% is similar to Walmart and eBay, but FBA and storage put the full cost higher for most sellers. Resale apps charge less, though their buyers are looking for different things:

Amazon is built for new, branded and replenishable products with a barcode, while resale marketplaces suit used, vintage and one-of-a-kind items. Many sellers use both: Amazon for steady catalog items and resale apps for everything else.

• Price around the tiers. In whole-price categories, a total just under $10, $15 or $20 can pay half the referral rate.
• Shrink the package. Dropping from large standard to small standard, or under a weight band, cuts the fulfillment fee on every unit.
• Mind the $10 and $50 lines. FBA fees step up at both, so a price just over the line can cost more in fees than it earns.
• Switch plans at 41 sales a month. Past that, Professional is cheaper than $0.99 per item.
• Keep stock moving. Send inventory in smaller, more frequent batches to limit storage and avoid aged-inventory surcharges, while keeping enough on hand to stay clear of the low-inventory fee.
• Use FBM for heavy and slow items. When your label costs less than the FBA fee plus storage, ship it yourself.