Amazon takes roughly 15% of each sale as a referral fee for most product categories, but that’s only the starting point. Once you factor in fulfillment, storage, advertising, and account fees, the total cut typically lands between 30% and 50% of your revenue. Some sellers report paying even more. Here’s how each layer of fees works and what they add up to.
The Referral Fee: Amazon’s Base Commission
Every item sold on Amazon incurs a referral fee, which is a percentage of the total sale price (including shipping and gift wrap charges). For the majority of categories, this rate is 15%. Amazon also enforces a minimum referral fee of $0.30 per unit, so if the percentage-based calculation comes out lower, you pay $0.30 instead.
Several categories deviate from that 15% baseline. Here are some of the most common:
- Consumer Electronics and Computers: 8%
- Automotive and Powersports: 12%
- Clothing and Accessories: 5% on items up to $15, 10% from $15 to $20, 17% above $20
- Furniture: 15% on the first $200, then 10%
- Jewelry: 20% on the first $250, then 5%
- Grocery and Gourmet: 8% up to $15, then 15%
- Home and Kitchen, Toys and Games, Sports and Outdoors: 15%
- Amazon Device Accessories: 45%
Media products like books, DVDs, music, software, and video games carry a 15% referral fee plus an additional $1.80 per item. That fixed surcharge is unique to media and can eat heavily into margins on low-priced items. The “Everything Else” catch-all category also sits at 15%.
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) Fees
If you use FBA, where Amazon stores, picks, packs, and ships your products, you pay a per-unit fulfillment fee on top of the referral fee. These fees vary by item size, weight, and price. For a small, lightweight product under 2 ounces priced below $10, the fulfillment fee is $2.43 per unit. A mid-range large standard item weighing 1 to 1.5 pounds and priced between $10 and $50 costs $5.42 per unit. Bulky items climb much higher, starting at $8.58 for large bulky goods and exceeding $25 for extra-large products.
Starting April 17, 2026, Amazon is applying a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on top of all FBA fulfillment fees, which pushes these costs slightly higher across the board.
If you fulfill orders yourself (Fulfilled by Merchant), you avoid FBA fees entirely but take on shipping, packaging, and customer service costs. Most sellers using FBA report fulfillment fees consuming 20% to 35% of their revenue when storage and related charges are included.
Storage and Inventory-Related Fees
FBA sellers also pay monthly storage fees based on the cubic footage their inventory occupies in Amazon’s warehouses. Rates are higher during the fourth quarter (October through December) to reflect peak holiday demand. Long-term storage surcharges kick in for inventory sitting in warehouses beyond a certain period.
Amazon also charges a low-inventory-level fee when your stock falls short relative to historical demand. If you carry fewer than 28 days of supply for standard-sized products, you’ll pay an extra $0.32 to $1.11 per shipped unit depending on how low your inventory drops. Keeping fewer than 14 days of stock triggers the highest tier, costing up to $0.89 for small standard items and $1.11 for larger ones. Maintaining at least 28 days of supply avoids this fee entirely.
An inbound placement service fee applies when you send products into Amazon’s fulfillment network. For standard-sized items, this averages about $0.27 per unit. Larger items average $1.58 per unit. The exact amount depends on which facility receives your shipment.
Your Seller Account Fee
Amazon offers two selling plans. The Professional plan costs $39.99 per month regardless of how many items you sell. The Individual plan has no monthly subscription but charges $0.99 per item sold. If you sell more than 40 items a month, the Professional plan is cheaper. Most serious sellers use the Professional plan because it also unlocks advertising tools, bulk listing features, and eligibility for the Buy Box.
Advertising Costs
Technically optional, Amazon advertising has become nearly essential for visibility. Most sellers run Sponsored Products or Sponsored Brands campaigns, paying per click. The percentage of revenue spent on advertising varies widely by category and competition level, but the data from seller profit-and-loss statements shows many sellers spending up to 15% of revenue on Amazon ads and promotions. Some categories with intense competition push even higher.
Amazon measures advertising efficiency through a metric called ACoS (advertising cost of sales), which is your ad spend divided by the revenue those ads generate. There’s no universal benchmark for a “good” ACoS because it depends on your margins, product category, and goals. A seller with 50% gross margins can tolerate a higher ACoS than one working with 20% margins.
What Amazon Takes in Total
When you stack referral fees, FBA fulfillment and storage, account fees, and advertising together, the total share of revenue going to Amazon is substantial. According to analysis by Marketplace Pulse based on seller profit-and-loss data, Amazon now takes more than 50% of the average seller’s revenue, up from around 40% five years ago. A typical breakdown looks something like this:
- Referral fee: 15% (varies by category)
- FBA fulfillment and storage: 20% to 35%
- Advertising and promotions: up to 15%
Some sellers reported paying 60% or even 70% of their revenue to Amazon in combined fees. The wide range depends on product size, price point, category, and how aggressively you advertise. A small, lightweight, high-margin product in a low-competition niche will give up a smaller share than a bulky, low-margin item competing against dozens of similar listings.
Sellers who fulfill orders themselves and spend minimally on ads can keep Amazon’s total take closer to the 15% referral fee alone. But the trade-off is slower shipping times, no Prime badge, and lower visibility in search results, all of which typically reduce sales volume. For most sellers using FBA and running ads, planning for Amazon to take 30% to 50% of gross revenue is a realistic starting point when building your pricing and margins.