What selling on Amazon costs a seller in 2026

Selling on Amazon costs a plan fee ($0.99 per item sold on Individual, or $39.99 a month on Professional), a referral fee on each sale (15% in most categories) and, if Amazon ships for you, an FBA fee per unit. Storage, the holiday peak fee and returns come on top. At $29.99 in Home and Kitchen through FBA, fees come to about $10.52 a unit before your own costs.

Rates change. The plans and referral fees were read on Amazon's pricing page on October 14, 2026. FBA, storage, peak and returns figures come from third-party 2026 rate cards checked October 13, 2026, because Amazon's own tables sit behind the Seller Central login. Those are estimates, marked "about". Our rates page lists every figure with its source.

The two selling plans

The account you sell through, Seller Central, comes with one of two plans. Individual costs $0.99 for each item sold, with no monthly charge. Amazon's page describes it as a way to "list one product at a time". Professional costs $39.99 a month, however many items you sell.

Where the two meet is plain arithmetic on those two numbers. Forty items on Individual cost $39.60 in plan fees, still under $39.99. Forty-one items cost $40.59, which is more. So from 41 items sold a month, Professional costs less. Below that, Individual costs less, as long as you only need what it offers.

Referral fees by category

Every sale pays a referral fee, a share of the sale price set by the category. Most categories pay 15%. Amazon lists a $0.30 minimum per item for most categories, and media items (books, music, video and software) pay a $1.80 closing fee on top. The fee is charged on the item's total price, which Amazon's pricing page says includes shipping and gift wrap, so on orders you ship yourself it applies to the shipping the buyer pays too.

The stepped categories have a price line worth knowing. In Clothing and Accessories, a $20.00 item pays $2.00 and a $20.01 item pays $3.40, if the higher rate applies to the whole price as Amazon's wording reads. Amazon's public page doesn't confirm that reading, so check a listing near a line in Seller Central.

FBA, the surcharge and the peak fee

With Fulfillment by Amazon, Amazon stores, packs and ships your orders, and charges a fee per unit by size tier, weight and price band. Third-party 2026 rate cards, such as GOAT Consulting's, are the best public guide. A large standard item weighing 1.75 to 2 pounds and priced between $10 and $50 has a card fee of about $5.82.

Since April 17, 2026, a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge applies to FBA fees, as Digital Commerce 360 reported. It applies to FBA fulfillment fees, not to the sale price or the referral fee. On that $5.82 card fee it adds about $0.20, for about $6.02 all-in.

From October 15, 2026 to January 14, 2027, Amazon adds a holiday peak fee. AMZ Prep puts the US average at about $0.32 a unit, with the surcharge on top. On the same item, the FBA fee rises to about $6.35 in peak. The FBA fee also steps at price lines: on that item, about $6.02 at $50.00 or less and about $6.29 above.

If you ship the same item yourself with free shipping, Amazon's fee is the $4.50 referral fee, leaving $25.49. You then pay for the label, the packaging and your own time.

Worked examples at three prices

Here are three common prices in three categories, through FBA. The FBA figures are estimates, so read them as "about". Clothing includes the extra FBA amount apparel pays.

The clothing rows show the price line at work. At $19.99 the referral fee is 10%; from $20.01 it is 17%. What's left is before the cost of the item, inbound shipping, ads, storage and returns.

Storage

FBA stock pays storage each month by the cubic foot. For standard-size items, third-party sources put it at about $0.87 a cubic foot from January to September (Nova; Sellerboard says $0.78, and we use the higher figure). From October to December it is about $2.40.

A unit packed in a 12 × 9 × 4 inch box takes a quarter of a cubic foot. That is about $0.60 a month from October to December and about $0.22 the rest of the year. A hundred of them sitting through November cost about $60.00 that month.

Refunds and returns

When you refund an order, Amazon keeps a refund administration fee: the lesser of $5.00 and 20% of the referral fee, according to Sellerboard's summary. On the $29.99 Home and Kitchen item, that is about $0.90 a refund.

FBA items can also pay a returns processing fee. It applies when an item's return rate is above its category's line (about 8.1% for Home and Kitchen) and the item ships at least 25 units a month. Clothing and footwear pay it on every return. For a large standard item of 1.75 to 2 pounds, it is about $4.63 per returned unit. These are third-party estimates, from Sellerboard's guide.

How to check your own fees

• Fee Preview in Seller Central shows the fees Amazon expects to charge on each of your items. Use it in place of any estimate here.
• Amazon's FBA Revenue Calculator compares FBA with shipping orders yourself before you list.
• Our Amazon fee calculator shows the referral fee, the FBA estimate and the price lines at your price, with no sign-in.

Fees are only part of the picture. Your landed cost, ads and slow-selling stock decide what you keep. The Amazon page explains what the check-up looks at for Amazon sellers, and the example report shows one worked through.