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Amazon FBA Fee Breakdown (2026) + Hidden Costs Checklist I Use Before Buying

January 15, 2026By Profit Scanner
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I see the same pattern over and over. A product looks fine on the surface. Then the payout hits. And the margin is thinner than expected.

It’s not one big fee. It’s the stack. Fulfillment. Storage. Inbound placement. Returns. Prep. And the aged inventory stuff that people swear “won’t happen to them.”

Here’s how I break it down in 2026. This is the checklist I run before I buy depth.

1) Fulfillment fees: the obvious one, but the tiers bite

FBA fulfillment fees went up again in January 2026. The increase is modest on average. It’s about $0.08 per unit. But it’s not evenly spread.

Most size tiers moved about 3–5%. Small Standard went from $3.22 to $3.32. Large Standard went from $5.67 to $5.95.

The problem is classification. A tiny change in size tier or chargeable weight can move you into a worse band. That shift can erase your “safe” margin fast.

I also watch the seasonal schedule. Amazon still runs peak and non-peak fee periods. For Small standard (2 oz or less), non-peak moved from $2.29 to $2.43 starting Jan 15, 2026. Peak for 2025 Q4 was $2.48. Those small jumps add up at volume.

My practical take

If your product sits near a tier boundary, treat it as risky. I assume the worse band until I confirm measurements. I’ve seen too many “surprises” from packaging changes.

2) Storage fees: less painful in Q4 now, but still a margin killer

Storage is where sellers get sloppy. They focus on the per-unit fulfillment fee. Then they park inventory for months.

Q4 storage fees dropped 15% in 2026. They went from $2.40 per cubic foot to $2.04 per cubic foot. That helps. But it doesn’t make storage “cheap.”

Storage still punishes slow movers. And storage stacks with aged inventory fees. That combo is brutal.

Optimization trick I use

I buy in smaller waves for anything with uncertain velocity. I’d rather reorder twice than pay to store guesses.

3) Aged inventory fees: preventable, yet people pay them monthly

Aged inventory fees are the most avoidable fees Amazon has. And still, about 30–40% of sellers pay them every month.

That’s not because they’re dumb. It’s because they overbuy. Or they ignore dead variations. Or they keep hoping price will recover.

Amazon charges aged inventory fees based on volume. One example charge is $0.50 per cubic foot. That’s only a partial figure. The point is the pattern. It keeps charging you for time.

What causes it

  • You bought depth on a listing with unstable pricing.
  • You ignored a variation that stopped selling.
  • You kept inventory “just in case” for Q4.

What I do instead

I set a calendar reminder to review inventory age. I don’t wait for a fee to teach me. If something stalls, I cut price or exit.

4) Inbound placement and split shipments: the quiet tax in 2026

Inbound is getting more granular in 2026. Amazon wants shipments split a certain way. If you fight it, you can pay for it.

In 2026, inbound placement service fees apply to Small and Large Bulky products. Low-inventory-level fees also apply to Small and Large Bulky products.

Large Bulky is the one I watch closely. With minimal splits, the average increase is $0.27 per unit. Amazon-optimized shipment splits still have no fee.

Cause to effect

If you force minimal splits, Amazon does more internal movement. You pay for that convenience. If you accept Amazon’s split plan, you avoid that specific fee. You might still pay in operational hassle.

5) Returns: processing, relabeling, disposal, and the “oops” costs

Returns don’t just hit your revenue. They create extra work and extra fees. And they can turn good inventory into unsellable inventory.

The common return cost buckets I plan for:

  • Processing costs tied to returns handling.
  • Relabeling when packaging gets wrecked.
  • Disposal when it’s not worth sending back.

I can’t give you a universal number here. It varies too much by category and condition. But the effect is consistent. Returns compress margin and slow inventory turns.

6) Prep and landed cost: the stuff your calculator forgets

Most sellers undercount landed cost. They stop at supplier price. That’s a mistake.

I roll these into landed cost every time:

  • Freight.
  • Duties and taxes.
  • Prep, labeling, and pallets.

These costs don’t show up in the FBA fee table. But they change your real ROI more than the 2026 fulfillment bump ever will.

The hidden costs checklist (the one I run before I buy)

  • Size tier risk: Is the item near a tier boundary?
  • Fee period: Am I modeling peak or non-peak?
  • Storage exposure: How long can this sit without hurting?
  • Aged inventory plan: What’s my exit price if it stalls?
  • Inbound plan: Am I accepting Amazon-optimized splits?
  • Bulky flags: Could this trigger placement or low-inventory fees?
  • Returns reality: Is this category return-heavy for me?
  • Landed cost: Did I include freight, duties, prep, labels, pallets?

Where Profit Scanner fits (and where it doesn’t)

I use Profit Scanner to surface signals fast. It helps me spot margin compression from fees. It also reduces blind spots when I’m scanning big supplier lists.

But I still do the human work. I sanity-check size tier risk. I think about inbound splits. And I plan an exit before I buy depth.

If you want one takeaway, it’s this. The 2026 fee changes aren’t the scary part. The scary part is ignoring the stacked costs you can control.