Amazon FBA Fees: How to Calculate Profit and ROI Per Unit

Amazon shows you one number for a sale, the payout, and it rarely matches the profit you planned. Between the buyer's price and your money sit a referral fee, a fulfillment fee set by size and weight, monthly storage, a few fees that appear only when stock runs low or sits too long, and the costs Amazon never sees: factory, freight, labels and ads.

This guide lists every Amazon FBA fee on a US sale at the time of writing (2026), shows how each is calculated, and walks through profit, margin, ROI and break-even price per unit, with a worked example you can follow line by line. Amazon reviews these rates every year, so confirm them on the Amazon pages linked below.

Every Amazon FBA fee at a glance

The first two fees apply to every unit. The rest depend on how you ship, stock and store.

Referral fee: Amazon's share of the price

The referral fee is a percentage of the total sales price: everything the buyer pays for the item, including delivery and gift wrap, but not sales tax calculated by Amazon. You pay the percentage or the category minimum, whichever is greater. At the time of writing (2026), most categories charge 15% with a $0.30 minimum. Some exceptions:

• Beauty, Health and Personal Care, and Baby Products: 8% at $10 or less, 15% above $10.
• Clothing and Accessories: 5% up to $15, 10% up to $20, 17% above $20.
• Computers and Consumer Electronics: 8%.
• Books, music, DVDs, software and video games: a $1.80 closing fee per item on top.

The tiered rates apply to the whole price, so a beauty product at $9.99 pays 8% and the same product at $10.99 pays 15%. Every category is on Amazon's fee schedule, linked in the table above.

FBA fulfillment fee: size tier, weight and price

The fulfillment fee pays for picking, packing and shipping one unit. It is a flat amount per unit, set in three steps.

1. Size tier

Amazon measures the item as packaged. Under the 2026 definitions, small standard is up to 16 oz and 15 x 12 x 0.75 inches, and large standard is up to 20 lb and 18 x 14 x 8 inches. Anything bigger is Small Bulky, Large Bulky or Extra-Large. Full limits are on Amazon's product size tiers page.

2. Shipping weight and dimensional weight

Small standard items use unit weight. Larger tiers (except Extra-Large over 150 lb) use the greater of unit weight or dimensional weight: length x width x height in inches, divided by 139. A 9 x 6 x 4 inch box has a dimensional weight of 216 / 139 = 1.55 lb even if the contents weigh 10 oz, so a light, boxy product pays for its volume.

3. Price band, season and surcharge

Rates differ in three price bands: under $10, $10 to $50 (including exactly $10 and $50), and over $50. Some 2026 non-peak rates (January 15 to October 14) before the surcharge, in that band order:

• Small standard, 2 oz or less: $2.43, $3.32 and $3.58.
• Large standard, 8+ to 12 oz: $3.38, $4.20 and $4.46.
• Large standard, 1.5+ to 1.75 lb: $4.75, $5.57 and $5.83.

From October 15, 2026 to January 14, 2027, higher holiday peak rates apply: the last example goes from $5.57 to $5.89 in the $10 to $50 band. Since April 17, 2026, Amazon also adds a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge to US fulfillment fees. Apparel and dangerous goods have their own tables, all on Amazon's 2026 US FBA fulfillment fee page, linked in the table above.

Storage and the fees that depend on your stock

At the time of writing (2026), monthly storage for standard-size items is $0.78 per cubic foot from January to September and $2.40 from October to December; oversize pays $0.56 and $1.40. Sellers past their first year who hold more than 22 weeks of stock relative to sales can owe an extra storage utilization surcharge. For storage per unit, divide the packaged volume in cubic inches by 1,728, then multiply by the rate and by the months a unit waits to sell.

• Aged inventory surcharge: from 181 days in storage, starting at $0.50 per cubic foot for most categories and rising with age.
• Low-inventory-level fee: applies when both your 30-day and 90-day days of supply are under 28. For large standard items up to 3 lb it is $0.36 to $0.97 per unit. New Professional sellers in their first 365 days and products selling fewer than 20 units a week are exempt.
• Inbound placement fee: charged when you send a shipment to one or a few locations. Amazon's optimized split has no fee.
• Returns processing fee: charged on returns above the category threshold, for products shipping 25 or more units a month. Apparel and shoes pay it on every return.

Costs that are not Amazon fees but still come out of each unit

• Cost of goods (COGS): the supplier's price per unit, with packaging and inserts.
• Inbound freight: factory to Amazon, including duties if you import, divided by units shipped.
• Prep and labeling: since January 1, 2026, Amazon no longer preps or labels items in the US, so you, your factory or a prep center has to do it (Amazon notice).
• Advertising: a month's ad spend divided by all units sold that month.
• Selling plan: $39.99 a month spread over your units.

COGS plus freight plus prep is your landed cost, the cash it takes to put one sellable unit on Amazon's shelf. ROI is measured against it.

How to calculate Amazon FBA profit, margin and ROI

1. Price: use the price you expect to sell at most of the time.
2. Referral fee: price times your category rate, or the minimum if higher.
3. Fulfillment fee: size tier, then shipping weight, then price band, plus the 3.5% surcharge.
4. Storage per unit: cubic feet times monthly rate times months in stock.
5. Your costs: landed cost, plus ad spend and plan cost per unit.
6. Profit = price minus steps 2 to 5. Margin = profit / price. ROI = profit / landed cost.
7. Break-even price = all costs except the referral fee, divided by (1 minus the referral rate). Check it stays in the same price band, since the fulfillment fee changes at $10 and $50.

To skip the arithmetic, the free Amazon FBA calculator takes the packed length, width, height and weight, works out the size tier and dimensional weight for you, and applies your category's referral rate, peak or non-peak rates and the 3.5% surcharge. Add product cost and ads to get profit, margin, ROI, break-even price and monthly profit. You can also enter a fee you already know.

Worked example: a $24.99 foam yoga block

This is an example: the product and its costs are made up, but the fees follow Amazon's 2026 US rules. A foam yoga block sells for $24.99 in Sports and Outdoors. Packaged, it measures 9 x 6 x 4 inches and weighs 10 oz.

1. Referral fee: 15% of $24.99 = $3.7485, so $3.75.
2. Size tier: too thick for small standard, so large standard.
3. Shipping weight: 216 / 139 = 1.55 lb of dimensional weight beats the 10 oz unit weight, so the 1.5+ to 1.75 lb band applies.
4. Fulfillment fee: $10 to $50 band, non-peak: $5.57, plus $0.19 of surcharge.
5. Storage: 216 cubic inches is 0.125 cubic feet; at $0.78 that is $0.0975 a month, or about $0.20 for two months in stock.
6. Amazon fees: $3.75 + $5.57 + $0.19 + $0.20 = $9.71, 38.9% of the price.
7. Landed cost (example figures): $4.10 supplier + $1.15 freight + $0.45 prep and labels = $5.70.
8. Ads and plan (example figures): $2.50 ad spend per unit + $0.10 plan share at about 400 units a month = $2.60.
9. Profit: $24.99 - $9.71 - $5.70 - $2.60 = $6.98 per unit. Margin: 27.9%. ROI: $6.98 / $5.70 = 122%.
10. Break-even: costs that do not scale with price total $5.57 + $0.19 + $0.20 + $5.70 + $2.60 = $14.26. Divided by 0.85 (what the 15% referral fee leaves), that is $16.78.

Two things move this result most. The season: at peak rates the fulfillment fee is $5.89 plus $0.21 of surcharge, and two months of storage at $2.40 cost $0.60, so profit falls to $6.24. And the box: packed in 10 x 7 x 5 inches, the dimensional weight is 2.52 lb and the fulfillment fee alone rises to $6.26.

Try your own product in the Amazon FBA calculator above and compare.

Mistakes that make FBA math wrong

• Using unit weight for a boxy product. Larger tiers pay on dimensional weight when it is higher.
• Measuring the product, not the package. Amazon measures the unit as packed.
• Ignoring price bands. $50.99 instead of $49.99 moves you to the over-$50 fulfillment rate.
• Planning with non-peak rates only. From October to December, standard-size storage costs about three times the January to September rate.
• Calculating ROI on COGS alone, or leaving out ads. Both make a thin product look healthy.

Run these numbers before you order stock. The Amazon product research tool matches an idea to an Amazon niche and reports its search volume, the top products with prices and reviews, and a suggested price with its FBA and referral fees. It gives 1 report a day without an account and 3 with a free one.

If you also sell on Etsy, the costs work differently: no fulfillment fee, but a transaction fee that also applies to shipping, and a processing fee on every order. The Etsy fees calculator covers that side, and Etsy fees explained walks through each fee.

FAQ

How much does Amazon FBA take per sale?

For a $24.99 product in a 15% category that ships as large standard up to 2 lb, the referral fee is $3.75 and the 2026 non-peak fulfillment fee is $3.73 to $5.82. With the 3.5% surcharge, that is roughly $7.60 to $9.80, or 30% to 39% of the price, before storage.

What is a good ROI for Amazon FBA?

Amazon does not set one, and the right floor depends on how fast the product sells. A product that sells through its stock every month can work at a lower ROI than one that sits for six months, because your cash comes back more often. Whatever floor you pick, measure it on landed cost and after ads.

How is Amazon dimensional weight calculated?

Multiply the packaged length, width and height in inches and divide by 139. Amazon uses it when it exceeds unit weight for large standard, bulky and extra-large items up to 150 lb. Small standard items use unit weight only.

Is there a free Amazon FBA fee calculator?

Amazon's Revenue Calculator works once you sign in to Seller Central. The eMarketInsight Amazon FBA calculator is free, runs in your browser with no account and no daily limit, and needs no ASIN, so you can test an idea with a supplier quote and a package size.