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.

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.

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 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.

Your numbers

Item sale price

Shipping the buyer pays

What your label costs

What you paid for the item

FBA fulfilment fee (0 if you ship it yourself)

Fee breakdown

Referral fee · Most categories15% × $50.00−$7.50
Per-order fee · Individual plan · per item sold$0.99−$0.99

Total fees$8.49

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 8% 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 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	$0.30
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

Source: the marketplace's own fee page
Rates last verified: 2026-09-20

Formula

fees = (referral rate × total the buyer pays, min $0.30) + plan fee + FBA fulfilment fee × 1.035

What 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
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.
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 categories15% × $50.00−$7.50
Per-order fee · Individual plan · per item sold$0.99−$0.99

Total fees$8.49

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 & kitchen15% × $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 surcharge3.50% × $4.37−$0.15

Total fees$10.01

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 & accessories5% × $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

Total fees$5.70

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

Total fees$1.29

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.

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.

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.
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) — 8%–45% referral fee by category. Rates last verified: 2026-09-20. the marketplace's own fee page.