The four types of Amazon fees
- Selling plan: $39.99 a month for a Professional account, or $0.99 per item sold on the Individual plan.
- Referral fee: a percentage of each sale’s total price, set by category — 15% for most categories.
- Fulfilment fees: if you use FBA, a per-unit fee based on size and weight, plus monthly storage.
- Other fees: for example returns processing, low-inventory and inbound placement fees in some cases, and advertising.
Referral fees by category
The referral fee is charged on the total sales price, including any shipping and gift wrap the buyer pays. Most categories also have a $0.30 minimum per item.
| Category | Referral fee |
|---|---|
| Most categories (home, kitchen, toys, sports…) | 15% |
| Consumer electronics, computers | 8% |
| Clothing & accessories | 5% up to $15 · 10% $15–$20 · 17% over $20 |
| Jewelry | 20% on the first $250 · 5% on the rest |
FBA or FBM?
With FBA, Amazon stores and ships your products and you pay a fulfilment fee per unit plus storage. With FBM you ship yourself and pay your own postage and packaging instead.
FBA usually increases conversion through Prime eligibility, but the fees are significant on low-priced or bulky products. Compare both with real numbers before deciding.
How to calculate your profit per unit
- Start from the selling price (plus any shipping you charge).
- Subtract the referral fee for your category.
- Subtract FBA fees (or your own shipping cost if FBM) and any other per-unit fees.
- Subtract your landed cost — not just the supplier price.
- Divide the profit by the price to get your margin.
The Amazon Fee Calculator does all of this in one step — enter your FBA fee from Amazon’s own calculator for your product’s size tier.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting that the referral fee applies to shipping charged to the buyer.
- Using the supplier price instead of landed cost (freight and duty often add 20–50%).
- Ignoring advertising — your profit before ads sets your break-even ACoS.