Which Amazon fees come out of a sale?
A single Amazon sale is reduced by several separate charges: the referral fee (a percentage of the sale price, by category), the FBA fulfilment fee (by size and weight tier), storage (monthly, by volume, higher in Q4), returns processing in some categories, and other items such as the Digital Services Fee and closing fees. They do not all appear in the same report, which is why adding them up by hand usually misses one.
The charges, and what drives each one
| Charge | Driven by |
|---|---|
| Referral fee | Category and sale price |
| FBA fulfilment | Size tier and weight |
| Monthly storage | Volume, and the month |
| Long-term storage | How long the unit has been there |
| Returns processing | Category |
| Other fees | Marketplace and programme |
The rates themselves are published by Amazon and change, so the number worth knowing is not the rate — it is which driver you can influence.
Size tier is the one you control
Referral percentage is fixed by category. Storage is fixed by volume. The fulfilment fee is where packaging decisions show up: a box one centimetre over a tier boundary costs the same to ship and more to fulfil, on every unit, for as long as you sell it.
Before a new product’s packaging is finalised, it is worth checking which side of a tier boundary it lands on.
Where the money actually goes missing
Not in the big obvious fees — those are expected. It is the small ones that never make it into a hand-built spreadsheet: a returns processing fee in one category, a closing fee in another, a disposal charge for stranded units. Individually small, and collectively the difference between a 6% and a 4% margin.
Checklist
- Do you read fees from Amazon’s financial events, not from an estimate?
- Is each fee type in its own category rather than lumped together?
- Do you know which size tier each product falls in?
- Are storage and long-term storage attributed to the products causing them?
Frequently asked questions
What fees does Amazon charge sellers?
A referral fee as a percentage of the sale price, FBA fulfilment fees by size and weight, monthly storage fees by volume, returns processing in some categories, plus items like the Digital Services Fee and category closing fees.
Where do I find the current fee rates?
In Amazon’s own fee schedule for your marketplace. Rates change and vary by category and size tier, so a figure copied from an article ages quickly.
Why is my FBA fee higher than I expected?
Usually a size tier. Dimensional weight, packaging that pushes a product into the next tier, or a change in Amazon’s tier definitions can all move a product up a band.