Amazon Fee Calculator
Amazon stacks a category commission, a plan fee and a fulfilment fee. This calculator shows all three separately, with the formula behind each line.
Short answer
Amazon charges a referral fee on the total the buyer pays — 15% in most categories, 8% for consumer electronics and computers, 17% for clothing above $20, and 20% on jewelry up to $250 — with a $0.30 minimum per item on most categories. On a $50 sale in a standard category that is $7.50. Add $0.99 if you are on the Individual selling plan, or part of the $39.99 monthly Professional fee, plus the FBA fulfilment fee and its 3.5% fuel surcharge if Amazon ships the order. Books, DVD, music, software and video games carry a further $1.80 closing fee per item that dwarfs the referral fee on anything cheap.
Your numbers
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Net payout
$41.51
- Total fees
- $8.49
- Effective fee rate
- 17.0%
- Net profit
- $41.51
- Buyer pays
- $50.00
Fee breakdown
- Referral fee · Most categories
15% × $50.00−$7.50 - Per-order fee · Individual plan · per item sold
$0.99−$0.99
The referral fee is a percentage of what the buyer pays
Amazon charges its referral fee on the total sales price — the item price plus any shipping the buyer is charged — not on the item price alone. Most categories sit at 15%; the spread across the full rate card runs from 5% to 45%.
Several categories tier by price instead of charging one flat rate, so the rate you quote is not the rate you pay. Clothing is the clearest case: 5% on the first $15, 10% from $15 to $20 and 17% above that. A $45 jacket therefore pays a blended 12.2% on the referral fee, not 17%.
Every item also carries a $0.30 minimum. It is irrelevant on a $50 sale and decisive on a $1 one: an 8% referral fee on a $1 item is 8 cents, so Amazon charges 30 cents instead. The exceptions are the categories where the official rate card prints "--" in the minimum column — grocery, media and video games — where the percentage stands on its own however small it gets.
Media carries a second, bigger fee
Books, DVD, music, software, video and video games are charged a flat $1.80 per item on top of the referral fee, whether Amazon ships the order or you do. It is the single most commonly missed line on these categories.
On a $10 paperback that is $1.50 of referral fee plus $1.80 of closing fee — $3.30, or 33% of the sale, not the 15% the category rate suggests. Book reselling only works above roughly the $12–$15 mark for exactly this reason.
Pick the Books category above and the closing fee appears as its own line, so you can see what it does to a low-price sale.
The plan fee is the cost sellers forget to divide
The Individual plan charges $0.99 per item and nothing monthly. The Professional plan charges $39.99 a month and no per-item fee, and it is required for advertising, bulk tools and the Buy Box.
The two cross over at roughly 40 sales a month. Below that the Individual plan is cheaper; above it, Professional is — but the Professional fee is a fixed monthly cost, so what it costs per sale depends entirely on how many sales you make. Enter your monthly order count and this calculator splits it for you.
FBA is where the margin actually goes
A referral fee of 15% sounds manageable until a $4.37 fulfilment fee lands on a $29.99 product — another 15 percentage points on top. Because the fulfilment fee is broadly flat per unit while the sale price is not, FBA is brutal on cheap items and comfortable on expensive, light ones.
Two 2026 changes are worth knowing: fulfilment fees rose by an average of $0.08 per unit on 15 January, and a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge was added on 17 April. Enter the fee from your own Seller Central fee preview and this calculator adds the surcharge on top.
Rate table
| Most categories | 15% |
|---|---|
| Home & kitchen | 15% |
| Consumer electronics & computers | 8% |
| Electronics accessories | 15% up to $100.00, then 8% |
| Clothing & accessories | 5% up to $15.00, 10% to $20.00, then 17% |
| Beauty, health & personal care | 8% up to $10.00, then 15% |
| Baby products | 8% up to $10.00, then 15% |
| Grocery & gourmet food | 8% up to $15.00, then 15% |
| Toys & games | 15% |
| Sports & outdoors | 15% |
| Pet supplies | 15% |
| Books | 15% |
| Jewelry | 20% up to $250.00, then 5% |
| Compact appliances | 15% up to $300.00, then 8% |
| Full-size appliances | 8% |
| Automotive & powersports | 12% |
| Amazon device accessories | 45% |
| Minimum referral feeper item — charged whenever the category percentage rounds below it. Grocery, media and video games print "--" instead: they carry no minimum | $0.30 |
| Media closing feebooks, DVD, music, software, video and video games only — charged on top of the referral fee, whether Amazon or you ship the order | $1.80 per item |
| Individual selling planno monthly fee; no Buy Box or advertising access | $0.99 per item sold |
| Professional selling planbecomes the cheaper plan at roughly 40 sales a month | $39.99 per month |
| FBA fulfilmentthe fee you actually pay is the one in your Seller Central fee preview | by size tier and weight |
| FBA fuel & logistics surchargein effect since 17 April 2026 | 3.5% of the fulfilment fee |
| FBA storageroughly $0.87 per cubic foot in Jan–Sep, $2.40 in Oct–Dec | monthly, by volume |
| AdvertisingSponsored Products is a budget you set; many sellers spend 10–15% of revenue on it | not a published fee |
- Rates last verified
Formula
fees = (referral rate × total the buyer pays, min $0.30 where one applies) + media closing fee + plan fee + FBA fulfilment fee × 1.035What each term means
referral rate- 15% in most categories, 8% for electronics and computers, 17% for clothing above $20, 20% for jewelry up to $250
total the buyer pays- item price plus any shipping charged to the buyer
minimum referral fee- $0.30 per item, charged whenever the percentage falls below it. Grocery, media, video games and gift cards print "--" on the official rate card and carry no minimum
media closing fee- $1.80 per item on books, DVD, music, software, video and video games, on top of the referral fee
plan fee- $0.99 per item on the Individual plan, or $39.99 a month on Professional split across your monthly orders
FBA fulfilment fee- set by size tier and weight; the exact figure is the one in your Seller Central fee preview
fuel & logistics surcharge- 3.5% of the fulfilment fee, applied since 17 April 2026
Assumptions
- US marketplace, USD, a third-party seller fulfilling the order.
- Referral fees are modelled as a percentage of the total the buyer pays, which is how Amazon defines the base.
- The $0.30 minimum is applied per category: grocery, media, video games, gift cards and fine art print "--" on the official rate card and carry no floor.
- The $1.80 closing fee is applied to the Books category, which stands for media (books, DVD, music, software, video).
- FBA storage, inbound placement, removals, returns processing and aged-inventory surcharges are not included.
- Advertising is not a published fee. Sponsored Products is a budget you set, and it is not modelled here.
- Individual professional-seller tax and the monthly plan fee are shown per sale only when you supply an order count.
Worked examples
A $50 item in a standard category, Individual plan, you ship it
- Buyer pays
- $50.00
- Total fees
- $8.49
- Effective rate
- 17.0%
- Net profit
- $41.51
Fee breakdown
- Referral fee · Most categories
15% × $50.00−$7.50 - Per-order fee · Individual plan · per item sold
$0.99−$0.99
The floor: 15% referral fee plus the per-item plan charge. Every other cost on this page stacks on top of this number.
A $29.99 home & kitchen product, fulfilled by Amazon
- Buyer pays
- $29.99
- Total fees
- $10.01
- Effective rate
- 33.4%
- Net profit
- $10.98
Fee breakdown
- Referral fee · Home & kitchen
15% × $29.99−$4.50 - Per-order fee · Individual plan · per item sold
$0.99−$0.99 - Fulfilment fee · Fulfilment by Amazon
$4.37−$4.37 - Fuel & logistics surcharge
3.50% × $4.37−$0.15
The referral fee is $4.50 and the fulfilment fee is $4.37 — FBA costs about as much as Amazon's commission on a product this size. Shipped by you instead, the same sale carries $5.49 in fees, an 18.3% rate rather than 33.4%.
A $45 jacket on the Professional plan, 200 orders a month
- Buyer pays
- $45.00
- Total fees
- $5.70
- Effective rate
- 12.7%
- Net profit
- $27.30
Fee breakdown
- Referral fee · Clothing & accessories
5% × $15.00 + 10% × $5.00 + 17% × $25.00−$5.50 - Selling plan fee · Professional plan · $39.99 ÷ 200 orders a month
$0.20−$0.20
Clothing is tiered rather than flat: $15 of this sale is charged at 5%, the next $5 at 10%, and only the portion above $20 at 17%. That blends to $5.50, not the $7.65 a flat 17% would take.
A $1 item in an 8% category
- Buyer pays
- $1.00
- Total fees
- $1.29
- Effective rate
- 129.0%
- Net profit
- -$0.49
Fee breakdown
- Referral fee · Consumer electronics & computers · minimum fee
$0.30−$0.30 - Per-order fee · Individual plan · per item sold
$0.99−$0.99
8% of $1 is 8 cents, so the $0.30 minimum applies instead — almost four times the percentage. On top of the $0.99 per-item fee, fees exceed the sale price.
A $10 paperback, Individual plan, you ship it
- Buyer pays
- $10.00
- Total fees
- $4.29
- Effective rate
- 42.9%
- Net profit
- $5.71
Fee breakdown
- Referral fee · Books
15% × $10.00−$1.50 - Closing fee · Books · per item sold
$1.80−$1.80 - Per-order fee · Individual plan · per item sold
$0.99−$0.99
The closing fee is the whole story: 15% referral is $1.50, but media adds $1.80 per item, and the Individual plan adds $0.99 more. $4.29 on a $10 sale — 42.9%, not the 15% the category rate advertises.
Every figure above is computed from the rate schedule on this page for Amazon (US), using the same engine as the calculator — not typed in by hand.
Common mistakes
Pricing from the headline category rate
The referral fee is only the first line. Add the plan fee, and on FBA the fulfilment fee and its surcharge, and a product priced from 15% alone can lose money on every unit sold.
Assuming the Professional plan is always cheaper
It crosses over at roughly 40 sales a month. Below that, $39.99 a month costs more than $0.99 a sale — and if you are not chasing the Buy Box or running ads, you may not need it at all.
Forgetting the $0.30 minimum on cheap items
It does not show up in any headline rate. On low-priced items in the 8% categories it is the fee that decides whether the product is viable at all.
Pricing media on the category rate alone
Books, DVD, music, software and video games carry a flat $1.80 closing fee per item on top of the percentage. On anything under about $15 that fee is larger than the referral fee itself, and a book priced on the 15% rate alone loses money on every sale.
Treating the FBA fee as fixed across your catalogue
It is set by size tier and weight, and it jumps between tiers. Shaving a centimetre off packaging can move a product into a cheaper tier and save a dollar or more per unit.
Leaving storage out of the maths
FBA storage runs on volume and rises sharply in October to December. A product that looks profitable at 30 days of stock can lose money at 120.
Questions
- What is Amazon's referral fee in 2026?
- Most categories are 15%. Consumer electronics and computers are 8%, clothing runs 5% up to $15, 10% from $15 to $20 and 17% above $20, jewelry is 20% up to $250 and 5% above, and Amazon device accessories are 45%. There is a $0.30 minimum per item. Amazon froze referral percentages across 2024, 2025 and 2026.
- Is the referral fee charged on shipping?
- Yes. Amazon charges the referral fee on the total sales price, which includes any shipping the buyer pays, not on the item price alone.
- What is Amazon's closing fee?
- A flat $1.80 per item on media categories — books, DVD, music, software, video, video games and consoles. It sits on top of the referral fee and applies whether Amazon or you ship the order. A $10 book costs $1.50 in referral fee plus $1.80 in closing fee, so 33% of the sale rather than 15%.
- Does every Amazon category have a $0.30 minimum?
- No. Most categories do, but grocery, media, video games, gift cards and fine art print "--" in the minimum column on the official rate card, meaning no per-item floor applies and the percentage stands alone.
- How much does it cost to sell on Amazon per month?
- The Professional selling plan is $39.99 a month with no per-item fee. The Individual plan has no monthly fee and charges $0.99 per item sold. The two cross over at roughly 40 sales a month.
- What are Amazon FBA fees in 2026?
- Fulfilment fees are set by size tier and weight, and rose by an average of $0.08 per unit on 15 January 2026. Since 17 April 2026 a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge also applies to each fulfilment fee. Storage is charged separately by volume.
- How much of a $50 Amazon sale goes to fees?
- On a $50 sale in a standard category it is $7.50 in referral fees plus $0.99 on the Individual plan — $8.49, or about 17%. Add an FBA fulfilment fee and the figure typically climbs past 25%.
- What is a good profit margin for Amazon sellers?
- Most sellers aim for 20-35% net after every cost, including the referral fee, fulfilment, storage and advertising. Below 15% there is little room for returns, price cuts or a rise in ad costs.
Related calculators
These calculators apply published marketplace fee schedules. They are general information tools, not tax, legal, accounting or financial advice — check your own payout statement and speak to a qualified professional where it matters.
Amazon (US) — 5%–45% referral fee by category. Rates last verified: . the marketplace's own fee page.