The three main Amazon seller fees are sale-related fees (which include referral and closing fees), seller account fees (which will depend on the selling plan you choose), and shipping/fulfillment fees. Miscellaneous fees may also apply in rare cases. Amazon deducts these fees directly from your sales earnings before payouts every 14 days.
Key Takeaways:
- Sale-related fees range from 8% to 45% of each product’s selling price, with the average seller paying about 15%.
- Account fees range from 99 cents per item sold to $39.99 per month.
- Fulfillment and shipping fees vary widely depending on your products and fulfillment method.
- In addition to these, you may incur other miscellaneous fees for things like textbook rentals, dangerous goods, or refurbished items.
We’ll walk you through all of the selling on Amazon fees and show you how to estimate what you’ll pay for each product you sell.
Amazon Sale-related Fees
There are two primary types of sale-related fees that you may pay each time you sell products on Amazon: referral fees and closing fees. If your orders are returned, you’ll also pay refund administration fees ($5 or 20% of the appropriate referral fee, whichever is lower).
These fees vary based on your item category and selling price, so getting an accurate picture of your specific costs might take a little research—but we’ll show you the right resources to use.
Here’s a snapshot of these fees, and we’ll examine each in detail below.
Seller Fee | Amount/Percentage | Based on | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
Referral Fee | Ranges from 8%–45% (most sellers pay 15%), charged if minimum referral fee is less than referral percentage of sale | Product category | Home and Kitchen products:  Referral fee percentage: 15%  Minimum referral fee: 30 cents |
Closing Fee | $1.80 | All Media Categories | Books, music, video, software products: Â $1.80 closing fee + 15% referral fee |
Refund Administration Fee | Lesser of $5 or 20% of referral fee | Original selling price of refunded items | A refunded item with a $10 referral fee: Â Refund administration fee is $2 (20% of $10) |
Referral Fees
All Amazon sellers (on Individual and Professional accounts alike) pay a referral fee for every item you sell on the marketplace. The two things that determine your referral fee are your product category and selling price.
Referral fees are calculated as a percentage of your product’s selling price. Most sellers pay an 8% to 15% referral fee. But these fees can go all the way up to 45%, depending on which categories your products fall under. The category with the most expensive referral fee is Amazon device accessories, while the cheapest include appliances, personal care products, and some electronics.
You can determine exactly what referral fees you’ll pay on the products you sell by checking Amazon’s Seller Fee Schedule, which lists referral fees for specific Amazon categories.
Minimum Referral Fees
Amazon assigns a minimum referral fee to most categories. If a category in which you sell has a minimum referral fee, you’ll pay the greater of the two fees based on your product’s selling price.
Items in the gift cards, fine art, grocery & gourmet, media, video games & accessories, and video game consoles do not have a referral fee minimum amount.
Example of Amazon Referral Fees:
The following products are sold in Amazon’s Office Products category. Products in this category incur a 15% referral fee or a 30-cent minimum referral fee, whichever is higher.
Here are the fees that sellers pay on two items with different selling prices.
Item Name | 3x5 Inch Index Cards | Composition Notebooks, 3-Pack |
|---|---|---|
Selling Price | $0.99 | $8.97 |
15% Referral Fee | 15 cents (not applied since it is less than the minimum referral fee) | $1.35 (applied since it is greater than the minimum referral fee) |
Minimum Referral Fee | 30 cents (applied since it is greater than the 15% referral fee) | 30 cents (not applied since it is less than the 15% referral fee) |
Referral Fee Charged | 30 cents | $1.35 |
Closing Fees
Amazon seller fees include an additional fee for products sold under its media categories. This is the closing fee, and it’s a flat $1.80 charge, which is added to the referral fees for items in any media category, including:
- Books
- DVD
- Music
- Software items
- Video items
In the past, Amazon’s closing fee was charged as a percentage of the sale price. Now, it charges one set amount. However, because of the old way, some sellers still call it a “variable closing fee.”
Amazon Seller Account Fees
Amazon offers two types of Amazon seller accounts: individual and professional. The fees and features of each type are geared toward the specific selling needs of low-volume individuals and high-volume business sellers.
Both account types enable you to sell on the platform, manage and list products one at a time, set static prices, receive help from Seller Support, and give you access to tools like Seller University training, Help pages, a Revenue Calculator, and the Amazon Seller App.
Account Type | Best for | Monthly Fee | Listing fee |
|---|---|---|---|
Individual Seller | Individuals and occasional business sellers | $0 | 99 cents per item sold |
Professional Seller | Businesses and high-volume sellers | $39.99 | Varies |
Along with the differences in fees, each type of account offers features that accommodate small or large sellers’ particular needs.
Individual Seller Accounts
Amazon Individual Seller accounts are ideal for occasional and low-volume sellers. These accounts are easy to set up and have no monthly fees, but they come with a 99-cent fee per item sold; you also cannot sell more than 40 items per month on an Individual Seller account.
Additionally, they have more restrictions compared to Professional Seller accounts:
- Cannot apply to sell products that require approval
- Cannot use Amazon Ads to improve visibility
- Cannot use business reports or B2B tools
- Cannot create promotions and coupons
- Cannot list products or manage inventory in bulk
Professional Seller Accounts
Amazon Professional Seller accounts are designed to meet larger businesses’ needs and provide many volume-selling features for your $39.99 per-month fee:
- Features unlimited product listings and restricted categories
- Amazon Ads and advanced selling tools are available
- Offers bulk product uploads
- Connects to selling apps and order management systems
- Can set dynamic pricing
- Can set your own shipping fees (for non-media products)
- Has inventory management and FBA inventory management
Professional Sellers can also enroll in any of Amazon’s optional paid programs, including:
- Amazon Ads
- Lightning and 7-Day Deals
- Amazon Currency Converter (you get paid in your local currency)
- Counterfeit protection
- Amazon Global Logistics ocean freight
- Amazon Lending
- Customer Service by Amazon
- Strategic Account Services
Which Amazon Account Is Best for You?
If you’re an established ecommerce seller moving to Amazon, the Professional Seller account is your best pick since the Individual Seller account has limited functionality in comparison and requires more hands-on management.
However, if you’re just getting started on Amazon or still deciding what products to sell, you can sign up for an Individual Seller account with no up-front costs. This plan will only charge fees when your products sell. In fact, you’re not even “charged”—Amazon takes its cut from your payout, so you don’t pay a dime out of pocket.
Amazon Fulfillment & Shipping Fees
Your Amazon fulfillment and shipping fees will depend on your products as well as your fulfillment method. Amazon lets sellers fulfill their orders in three different ways:
- Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM): You store, pack, ship, and service all your orders on your own and cover the associated costs. This fulfillment method has the fewest requirements and lowest Amazon fees but isn’t eligible for the Prime badge.
- Seller-fulfilled Prime (SFP): You offer Prime-branded shipping on your orders while still storing, packing, and shipping them on your own. You must adhere to Amazon Prime’s packaging and delivery speed requirements, and you will be charged a 2% fee per order.
- Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA): You ship your products to Amazon, and Amazon stocks, packs, ships, and services them for you. FBA gives your products the prime badge plus maximum visibility in search, but it has the highest Amazon fees.
Here’s a detailed explanation of the costs and fees associated with each Amazon fulfillment method. Remember, these costs are charged on top of your other selling on Amazon fees.
Amazon FBM Fees
With the Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) method, sellers primarily bear the costs of storage, packaging, and shipping. Amazon doesn’t charge a shipping or fulfillment fee for FBM; instead, the seller is in charge of getting things done.
Even if having fewer Amazon fees seems like a money-saver at first, sellers have to think about costs like rent for storage, boxes, tape for packing, postage for shipping, and potentially paying employees to help. Also, without the coveted Prime badge, your products won’t perform as well on the platform compared to those with Prime listings.
You’ll also need to personally handle returns, refunds, and customer service issues, all of which will take up time that you could be spending to sell and earn more.
The FBM method is most suitable for the early stages of your Amazon selling business when you have time but do not have a large budget, can’t afford to pay hefty shipping and fulfillment fees, and don’t have many customers yet. As your business grows and more orders come in, it may become more cost-effective to switch to Amazon’s other fulfillment methods.
Amazon SFP Fees
If you choose Seller-fulfilled Prime (SFP), you’ll handle storage, packing, and shipping on your own, just like in FBM. However, you have to follow Amazon’s rules for packaging and quick delivery so that your goods can be part of the Prime program.
Amazon charges a 2% fee for each of your SFP orders for the privilege of displaying the Prime badge, which is very effective at attracting customers. According to one report, items with the Prime badge get 17% more traffic and are 30% more likely to be bought compared to items without the badge.
The 2% fee falls on top of your fulfillment and shipping expenses as well as your Amazon fees, which can take a bite out of your bottom line. That said, you get to take advantage of Amazon Prime’s 24/7 customer service offering, helping reduce your personal workload.
Seller-fulfilled Prime participants have to keep up with a hefty list of requirements, including offering free one-day and two-day delivery for Prime members, free standard shipping for all customers, and free returns on items under 50 lbs. Other Amazon SFP performance requirements include:
- Deliver items on time at least 93.5% of the time
- A valid tracking rate (percentage of orders with a valid tracking number) of at least 99%
- A cancellation rate of 0.5% or less
FBA Fees
Both Individual and Professional sellers can use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) to stock, pack, and ship their Amazon products. Beyond the typical benefits of outsourcing your order fulfillment, using FBA also attracts customers by making your listings part of the Prime program and giving them maximum visibility on the marketplace—which may make FBA worth the price.
Here’s an overview of Amazon FBA fees:
The price for keeping your products in Amazon’s FBA warehouses changes with the season, notably shooting up by as much as 200% from October to December. This price varies based on your product’s size, length of storage time, and classification, especially if it’s considered a “dangerous good” by Amazon. Such items—including laptops, smartphones, cameras, battery charges, power banks, household cleaners, cosmetics, and spray paints—come with a heftier storage fee.
Non-dangerous goods | ||
|---|---|---|
Month | Standard-size | Oversize |
January–September | From 78 cents per cubic foot | From 56 cents per cubic foot |
October–December | From $2.40 per cubic foot | From $1.40 per cubic foot |
Dangerous goods | Â | Â |
Month | Standard-size | Oversize |
January–September | 99 cents per cubic foot | 78 cents per cubic foot |
October–December | $3.63 per cubic foot | $2.43 per cubic foot |
FBA also charges long-term storage fees for inventory held at an FBA warehouse for 22 weeks or longer. For non-dangerous goods, this added surcharge ranges from 23 cents per cubic foot for items stored for 22 to 28 weeks to up to $1.88 per cubic foot for items stored for 52 weeks or longer.
Fulfillment by Amazon’s fee structure covers a range of services, from picking an order from storage to packaging, shipping, and even handling customer service and returns. The cost begins at $3.25 per unit and increases up to $200-plus for certain oversized items. However, items under $10 qualify for the Low-price FBA program, which offers reduced fulfillment fees.
Factors determining this fee include the product’s size, weight, quantity, and category. Multichannel sellers should note that FBA charges greater fulfillment fees to fulfill non-Amazon orders. It also tacks on a greater fee for items in certain categories—such as apparel and dangerous goods, regardless of sales channel.
During the peak holiday season (October 15 to January 14), FBA charges slightly higher fulfillment fees.
In addition to the two primary FBA fees, you may also be charged other FBA fees depending on your products, packaging, and sales:
- Stock removal fees: For retrieving or disposing of unsold Amazon inventory, fees are set by the item’s size and weight.
- Inbound placement service: Amazon stores items in multiple fulfillment centers around the country in order to deliver products to customers quickly. The inbound placement service fee, which you’ll pay if you use the FBA method, reflects the costs of placing and storing items in these fulfillment centers. You’ll be charged this fee 45 days after the customer receives your shipment, and the fee will be based on location and item quantities.
- Return processing fees: While most returns are included in the fulfillment fee, some categories (like apparel) aren’t. For these, FBA charges a return fee plus potential repackaging costs.
Miscellaneous Amazon Seller Fees
In addition to the main selling on Amazon fees, several miscellaneous charges may apply depending on your specific selling scenario, products, and choices:
- High-volume listing fee: For those with an extensive inventory (over 100,000 listed products), there’s an additional monthly charge of $0.005 per qualifying item. This fee aligns with the timing of your regular FBA storage fees.
- Amazon Currency Converter for Sellers (ACCS) Fees: If you aren’t based in the US and sell to US customers, you can use the Amazon Currency Converter for your disbursements. Fees range from 0.75% to 1.50% and are based on net proceeds over a 12-month period.
- Textbook rental fees: For textbook rentals, Amazon charges a $5 fee per rental, which is deducted when a sale is made.
- Refurbished items: Amazon’s refurbishment program doesn’t usually come with a fee, but certain product conditions might entail extra charges.
- Repackaging service fee: Not all buyers are diligent about packaging when returning items. If Amazon has to step in and repackage a product for you, a service fee will apply, although the specific amount depends on the case or the product size. The fee might range from $1.50 to $10 per item.
How to Calculate Amazon Seller Fees for Your Products
How do you calculate the exact amount you’ll be paying in fees whenever you sell an item on Amazon? To figure this out, keep your item in mind while you go through the following steps. By the end, you’ll know how much you’ll be paying in fees for selling or storing that item.
Step 1: Determine the Product Category
The first thing to figure out will be the item’s referral fee, and this will depend on the category the item falls under. You’ll be paying either the minimum referral fee for that product category or the specific referral fee percentage for that product category—whichever is higher. The minimum fee is usually 30 cents, while the percentage ranges from 8% to 45% of the item’s selling price.
Note that a media item such as a book or DVD will incur a closing fee $1.80 on top of the referral fee.
Step 2: Know What Type of Amazon Seller Account You Have
There are two types of Amazon seller accounts, each with a different pricing system. If you’re using an Individual Seller account, you’ll be paying a listing fee of 99 cents per item you sell (deducted from your payout).
If you’re using a Professional Seller account, your listing fees will vary. You will also be paying a $39.99 monthly fee to maintain the account.
Step 3: Decide on a Fulfillment Method
Different shipping and fulfillment methods carry different fees. Your three options for fulfillment are Fulfillment by Merchant, Seller Fulfilled Prime, and Fulfillment by Amazon.
The accompanying fees range from zero (though you’ll be taking on all shipping and handling costs yourself) to $3.63 per cubic foot for product storage during busy months. The longer you store products with Amazon, the higher the fees become.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Click through the sections below to learn a few more details about Amazon fees and costs.
Amazon charges sellers a referral fee that ranges from 8% to 45%, depending on the item category. Most products have a 15% referral fee, while categories like consumer electronics and computers are at 8%. The only category with a 45% referral fee is Amazon Device Accessories.
You can sign up for an Amazon Individual Seller account for free; the only charges occur after you make a sale. Amazon charges individual sellers 99 cents for every sale, plus referral fees and sometimes other platform costs.
FBA’s storage fee is all you’ll be charged if nothing sells during the month. Your pick-pack-ship fees are assessed on top of your storage fees and tally up as items sell and orders ship. If you let your stock sit unsold for too long, FBA tacks on added fees for aging stock.
The Amazon seller fee is a separate charge, but the FBA fee previewer does include both the seller fee and FBA estimated fee in your cost estimates.
Bottom Line
Amazon is forecast to reach $491.65 billion in sales in 2024 and scores over 2 billion visitors a month—even in the low seasons. Its enormous popularity and customer-centric reputation make it a highly promising marketplace to use, but these advantages come at a significant cost with many complex parts.
The difference between profit and loss can be slim on every item you sell on Amazon, so it’s vital that you understand the Amazon seller fees and other costs that you incur. With this knowledge in mind, you’ll be able to find profitable products to source and sell and enjoy success in this huge, ever-growing marketplace.
