Amazon FBA Fee Changes 2026: What Actually Changed

By Gulfam Haidar, Founder, GrowEventure. Last updated September 2026.

Amazon Fba Fees 2026: quick summary

In short, this guide covers amazon fba fees 2026 in plain terms. Below you will find the key points on amazon fba fees 2026, a breakdown you can act on today, and clear answers to the most common questions about amazon fba fees 2026.

In 2026, Amazon raised FBA fulfillment fees effective 15 January 2026, moved the low-inventory-level fee to a per-FNSKU basis, kept the inbound placement service fee at roughly $0.27 to $1.58 per unit, charged an aged-inventory surcharge on stock held over 180 days, and added a fuel and inflation surcharge of about 3.5% from 17 April 2026. These figures come from Amazon’s 2026 fee announcements. Verify your exact numbers in Seller Central before you price a product, because rates shift and vary by size tier.

This page is a dated, sourced change log. No spin, no scare tactics. Just what changed, when, how much, and what to do about it.

The 2026 fee changes in one table

Start here. The table below lists each change, its effective date, the rough amount from Amazon’s 2026 fee update, and who feels it most. Treat the amounts as approximate and confirm the live figure in your account.

Amazon FBA Fee Changes 2026 (verify current figures in Seller Central)

Fee	What changed	Effective date	Approx. amount	Who it hits
Fulfillment fee	Per-unit rates increased across size tiers	15 January 2026	Varies by size and weight tier	All FBA sellers
Low-inventory-level fee	Now charged per FNSKU	2026 update	Per-unit charge when days of supply run low	Multi-SKU sellers with thin stock
Inbound placement service fee	Held at prior range	Ongoing in 2026	About $0.27 to $1.58 per unit	Sellers sending to fewer locations
Aged-inventory surcharge	Applied to stock over 180 days	Ongoing in 2026	Rises with age of stock	Sellers with slow movers
Fuel and inflation surcharge	New percentage layered on fees	17 April 2026	About 3.5%	All FBA sellers

(Title: “Amazon’s 2026 FBA Fee Timeline.”)

Fulfillment fee increases (15 January 2026)

Amazon’s 2026 fee update raised per-unit fulfillment fees, effective 15 January 2026. The increase applies across size tiers, so both small standard items and larger units pay more per unit than in 2025.

The fee you pay still depends on the product’s size and weight band. A small, light item pays far less than a bulky one. That is why size and weight remain a core product-research filter. Even a modest per-unit increase adds up fast at volume. If you ship 5,000 units a month, a small bump per unit becomes real money over a quarter.

Check the current rate for your exact tier in Seller Central or in the Amazon FBA calculator, which pulls fees into a full profit estimate.

The reason the increase hits harder than the headline suggests is that FBA fulfillment is a flat per-unit fee, not a percentage. A percentage fee shrinks as your price rises. A flat fee does not. So a fulfillment increase falls hardest on lower-price products, where a fixed cost is a bigger share of the sale. If you sell a $12 item and a $40 item through the same size tier, the same dollar increase eats a much larger slice of the cheaper one. Sellers of low-price goods should recheck whether those SKUs still clear a healthy margin after the January change.

Low-inventory-level fee now per FNSKU

The low-inventory-level fee charges you when your available FBA stock for a product drops below a set number of days of supply. The counter-intuitive part is that this is a fee for holding too little, not too much.

The 2026 shift is that it applies per FNSKU. An FNSKU is the unique code Amazon assigns to each product you send to FBA. Charging per FNSKU means each low-stock product can trigger the fee on its own. For a seller with many SKUs, several products running thin at once can stack multiple charges.

The lesson is to keep healthy days of supply on every active SKU, not just your top sellers. We break down the trigger and how to sit in the safe range in our Amazon storage and low-inventory fees guide.

There is a planning trap here. Sellers reacting to the storage and aged-inventory costs sometimes cut their FBA stock too far to save money. That over-correction can push a SKU below the days-of-supply threshold and trigger the low-inventory fee instead. You end up paying to hold too little after trying to avoid paying to hold too much. The answer is not less stock, it is right-sized stock matched to each product’s real sales pace.

Inbound placement service fee

The inbound placement service fee runs about $0.27 to $1.58 per unit, per Amazon’s fee schedule. Amazon charges it based on how you split your inbound shipment across its network. Send everything to a single receiving location and Amazon has to spread it out, which costs more. Split your shipment across the locations Amazon suggests and the per-unit fee drops.

To reduce this fee, follow Amazon’s recommended placement when you create a shipment and ship in fuller, well-distributed loads rather than many tiny ones. The savings per unit look small but compound across every inbound box.

Aged-inventory surcharge (180+ days)

Amazon charges an aged-inventory surcharge on units that sit in fulfillment centers past 180 days. The longer stock ages, the higher the surcharge climbs. This is separate from the standard monthly storage fee and sits on top of it.

The trigger is simple: slow sell-through. If units are not selling, they age, and the surcharge grows. To avoid it, watch your sell-through rate, run price promotions on slow stock before it crosses the 180-day mark, and use removal or disposal orders on stock that will not move. A healthy Inventory Performance Index helps here too, since it reflects the same excess-stock problem. See our Amazon IPI score guide.

Set a calendar reminder tied to each shipment’s arrival date. When a batch approaches 150 days in the warehouse, that is your cue to act, not when it hits 180. Discounting a slow mover a month early usually costs less than paying an aging surcharge that keeps climbing. Removing stock also frees storage space and can help your IPI, so the early move often pays back in more than one way.

Fuel and inflation / logistics surcharge (about 3.5%, 17 April 2026)

Amazon added a fuel and inflation surcharge of about 3.5%, effective 17 April 2026 per its announcement. This surcharge layers on top of your existing FBA fees rather than replacing them. So a 3.5% add-on applies to fulfillment costs you already pay.

Because it stacks, the real bite is larger than 3.5% of your sale price sounds. It compounds with the January fulfillment increase and any other surcharges. When you rebuild your unit economics for 2026, apply this on top of the updated fulfillment fee, not instead of it.

What this does to your unit economics

Here is a simplified before-and-after on a small standard item to show the direction. Numbers are illustrative; use your real figures.

Say a product sold for $24.99. In 2025, after referral fee, FBA fulfillment fee, and product cost, it netted a comfortable margin. In 2026, the higher fulfillment fee plus the roughly 3.5% surcharge trims a slice off that margin. If storage runs long, the aged surcharge trims more. A product that cleared 22% net in 2025 might land closer to 18% to 19% in 2026 without any change on your side.

That gap is the point. The fees moved. If your price and cost did not, your margin fell. Rerun every active product through the Amazon FBA calculator with 2026 figures so you know where you actually stand. For target numbers, see our good profit margin on Amazon FBA benchmarks.

The danger is that the changes are individually small and easy to shrug off. A few cents on fulfillment, a 3.5% surcharge, a placement fee here and there. On their own, none feels urgent. Stacked together across thousands of units a month, they quietly move a profitable catalog toward breakeven. Sellers who do not rebuild their numbers often notice only when a quarterly payout comes in lighter than expected. By then, months of thinner margin are already banked. The fix is to audit unit economics right after each fee change, not at year end.

Consider a seller moving 3,000 units a month on a product that netted $4.00 per unit in 2025. If the 2026 changes trim just $0.60 off each unit, that is $1,800 a month, or more than $21,000 a year, gone from one SKU. Multiply across a catalog and the reason to act becomes clear.

Five moves to protect margin

1. Right-size inventory. Keep enough days of supply to dodge the low-inventory fee, but not so much that stock ages past 180 days.
2. Consolidate shipments. Follow Amazon’s placement recommendations to trim the inbound placement fee, and ship fuller loads.
3. Cut aged stock early. Discount or remove slow movers before they cross 180 days and trigger the surcharge.
4. Revisit pricing. If fees rose and your price held, your margin fell. Adjust price where the market allows.
5. Review product mix. Prune thin-margin SKUs that no longer clear a healthy net after 2026 fees. Focus cash on winners.

A sixth move is worth its own note: track your fees at the SKU level, not just the account level. Amazon’s fee reports let you see the exact fulfillment fee, referral fee, and storage cost charged on each product. Sellers who only watch the total payout miss which specific SKUs the 2026 changes hurt most. When you break it down by product, the fix is usually obvious. One or two SKUs often carry most of the damage, either because they sit in a costly size tier or because they move slowly and age. Reprice or prune those and the account-level margin recovers without touching your healthy products. This is the difference between reacting to a smaller deposit and knowing precisely why it shrank.

If tracking all of this across a catalog is more than you want to manage, our Amazon account management team monitors fees and margins for brands daily. Start with a free audit. You can also review the broader fee picture in our Amazon seller fees guide.

Frequently asked questions

Did Amazon raise FBA fees in 2026?

Yes. Amazon raised per-unit FBA fulfillment fees effective 15 January 2026 and added a fuel and inflation surcharge of about 3.5% from 17 April 2026, per its 2026 fee announcements. Verify the exact figures in Seller Central.

When did the 2026 FBA fee changes take effect?

The fulfillment fee increase took effect 15 January 2026, and the fuel and inflation surcharge started 17 April 2026. Other changes, such as the per-FNSKU low-inventory fee, applied through the 2026 update cycle.

What is the inbound placement fee?

It is a charge of roughly $0.27 to $1.58 per unit based on how your inbound shipment is spread across Amazon’s network. Following Amazon’s recommended placement lowers it.

How is the low-inventory fee calculated now?

In 2026 it is charged per FNSKU when a product’s available FBA stock falls below a set number of days of supply. Each low-stock SKU can trigger its own charge.

What is the aged-inventory surcharge?

It is a fee on units held in FBA past 180 days, on top of monthly storage fees, that rises as stock ages further.

How can I reduce my FBA fees in 2026?

Right-size inventory, follow Amazon’s inbound placement suggestions, clear aged stock before 180 days, revisit pricing to protect margin, and drop thin-margin SKUs.

Sources: Amazon Seller Central 2026 fee change announcements; Amazon FBA fee schedule and rate card; Marketplace Pulse fee tracking for cross-reference.

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