Amazon fba fees explained

August 25, 2022
Amazon Seller Beginner

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There is a lot of confusion about amazon fba fees. I’ll try to simplify it and even include the smallest of fees which goes unnoticed. Amazon fees can be broken into the following types:

1: Account fee:

The first fee that you will have to pay for selling on amazon is the amazon account fee. There are 2 types of accounts in Amazon i.e. the individual selling account and the professional selling account. The individual selling account is free but every time you sell an item on amazon, you pay a fee of $0.99. The professional selling account charges a monthly fee of $39.99 and you can sell unlimited products for free. A few more advantages of professional selling accounts are amazon promotes, sales reports and increased chances of buybox. There is no fit for all but my personal recommendation is if you are selling less than 40 items per month, you should use the individual seller account and upgrade to the professional seller account once the number of items you sell per month increases.

2: Amazon referral fee:

Amazon charges a fee everytime you sell a product on amazon. It’s the same for FBA or FBM. Thats what you pay to get in front of 310 million + amazon customers worldwide. Tip: You can reduce this percentage by signing up for the amazon brand referral bonus program. You can create a special link which you can share with potential buyers and direct them to amazon. This way you are sending that customer to amazon which amazon rewards you for by reducing the fees to up to 5%.

3: Pick and pack fee:

This is the fee that amazon charges to pack your item in their warehouse and ship it to the customer. This fee depends on the weight and size of your product. There are 2 types of sizes:

Small standard:

The longest side cannot be longer than 15 inches, the median side cannot be longer than 12 inches and the most minor side cannot be longer than 0.75 inches.

Large standard:

The longest side cannot be longer than 18 inches, the median side cannot be longer than 14 inches and the smallest side cannot be longer than 8 inches.

Depending on how much your product weighs, you can calculate your fees. Do refer to the below tables to understand which pricing tier do your products fall in.

4: Amazon storage fee:

Amazon charges a storage fee for storing your inventory every month. From January to September amazon charges $0.75 per cubic foot per month. From October to December they charge you $2.40 per cubic foot per month. The reason for this difference is because from October to December sales on amazon increases massively. Which is why a lot of people want to send products in amazon’s warehouse in this period. This is why amazon raises the fees from October to December.

Quick calculation of your products storage fee:

Take the product you want to sell on amazon. Measure the height, width and depth of the product. Eg: We are selling a product with a height: 5 inches, width: 4 inches and depth: of 3 inches The product will be 5 inches x 4 inches x 3 inches = 60 cubic inches. Now as we mentioned amazon charges $0.75 per cubic foot. A cubic foot is a height: 12 inches, width: 12 inches and depth: 12 inches. So a cubic foot = 12 inches x 12 inches x 12 inches = 1728 cubic inches So the price that amazon will charge us for storage per unit per month is (60 cubic inches/1728 cubic inches) x $0.75 = $0.026 – from January to September (60 cubic inches/1728 cubic inches) x $2.40 = $0.083 – from October to December In case if your inventory is in amazon’s warehouse for more than 365 days, amazon will charge a storage fee of $6.90 per cubic foot or $0.15 per item, whichever is greater. Tip: You should try to liquidate your inventory in 6 months from the time you send it to amazon’s warehouse. You can also get back your inventory from amazon’s warehouse once you see that your inventory is nearing the 365 day mark. Post that you can pack it again and send it back to amazon’s warehouse if it is financially viable.

5: Return fee:

If your customer decides that they want to return your product within 30 days, you have to pay another fee to amazon. This fee too depends on the size and weight of the product that you are selling. You can ask amazon to put the product back to your inventory or you can ask to dispose of it too. The disposal will cost you $0.50 per unit.

6: Prepping fee:

When you send products in the amazon warehouse, every product that you send needs to have an FN SKU barcode sticker on it. You can have your manufacturer put these stickers on the product for a really inexpensive cost or you can ask the manufacturer to print this on the barcode box. In case you do not do either one of the above, you can put the stickers yourself or amazon will charge a fee of $0.30 per unit. There are other services that amazon offers like putting your product in bubble wrap for which they might charge you between $0.50 to $2. I recommend you read the requirements for your product correctly and do these yourself since it will save you a lot of money.

FBA reimbursement:

One major issue that a lot of amazon fba sellers face is recovering more money from discrepancies. This is not a fee but it is money that amazon owes you. The process seems complicated and sellers lose a lot of money in this. Feel free to get a free consultation to recover maximum reimbursements from amazon FBA. P.S. Happy selling.