Ever asked yourself “How much does Amazon take from sellers?” Since we make it our business to keep you informed, we’ve come up with another issue of our yearly series, “Amazon Seller Fees Explained”. Today we’re looking at Amazon seller fees in 2021; all of them.

A year on, Amazon has grown tremendously. But just how much does Amazon take from sellers?

Let’s look at Amazon seller fees in 2021. We have plenty of visuals and plenty of tips and explanations for anyone who sells on Amazon.

How Much Does Amazon charge seller fees?

Amazon operates 19 marketplaces (a.k.a. venues) across the world.

The fee schedule is very similar from one venue to the other, with fees based on roughly rounded currency exchange rates (e.g. 4$=3￡).

But let’s focus on Amazon.com fees for now.

Selling Plan. Amazon seller fees part 1.

There are two selling plans on Amazon with two separate sets of selling fees:PreviousNext

Because the Professional Plan pays for itself if you sell more than 40 items per month ($0.99 x 40 = $39.6), most committed sellers opt for this plan.

Depending on the venue, it may even be the default option when you set up your selling account.

Both types of selling plans grant you access to FB.

And you can toggle between selling plans if your sales volume changes.

But when you opt for the Professional plan, you also gain access to a variety of extra perks.

As a Pro merchant, you can add users to the account, sell in more than one category, list in bulk, advertise, and offer free shipping or other promos. You can also use API integration to exchange data with Amazon and streamline sales.

Also, if you have Pro accounts on several venues, you can merge them into a unified account.

Let’s say you set up an Amazon JP seller account and link it to your US seller account. You’ll then port your listings with BIL, and save on subscription fees too.

Referral Fees. Amazon seller fees part 2.

Aside from your subscription fees, Amazon will charge you a sort of finder’s fee for each sale you make. It’s called a referral fee (RF).

It’s charged at the point of sale and it’s based on the total sale price (item price + shipping cost + gift-wrapping charge).

Referral fees depend on the category and the venue you sell your item in.

Different venues feature different categories and pricing.

So, these seller fees don’t match across marketplaces, but they usually range from 6% to 46%.

Most categories on Amazon.com attract a fixed referral fee of 15%, but some categories come with tiered pricing.

For most, there’s also a minimum referral fee of $0.30 on Amazon US.

Books, media, video, and DVD (BMVD) items also carry a closing fee of $1.80.

Seller fees - seller fees on music CD

Fulfillment Fees, Amazon seller fees part 3.

Fulfilled by Seller (MFN) Fees

Sellers who fulfill their own orders don’t pay fulfillment fees, per se.

Amazon charges the buyer a standard shipping rate and then credits the seller’s account with this amount.

But it doesn’t always cover the seller’s shipping expenses, so it becomes an extra cost.

For instance, Amazon US charges a book buyer $3.99 for standard shipping to the USA. But using the cheapest service available, USPS Media Mail, it will cost an Individual seller more than that to ship any BMVD item above 3lbs.

Seller fees - 2021 shipping credits on Amazon US

Therefore, Pro merchants have several advantages.

For one thing, they usually spend less per shipment due to negotiated courier discounts.

Then there’s also the fact that they can set their own shipping rates (except for BMVD items).

That said, Amazon is a very competitive marketplace. Many professional sellers offer free shipping to one-up their competitors.

So, even as a Pro, it’s hard to compete. Especially without a clever repricing tool like Sellery that takes your shipping costs into account.

Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) Fees

You might rely on Amazon to fulfill your orders.

If so, you’re charged inventory storage and fulfillment fees.

Amazon calculates your storage fees based on the time of year and the daily average volume (in cubic feet) for the items you store in its fulfillment centers.

Seller fees - 2021 FBA storage fees

Amazon’s standard fulfillment fees are a commission.

It’s for picking, packing, shipping, processing returns, and offering customer support for your orders.

It’s based on the size and weight of your unpackaged item.

And it’s the same for every category, except apparel.

Seller fees - 2021 FBA fulfilment fees
Seller fees - 2021 FBA fulfilment fees(apparel)

There are three situations where you need to remove or dispose of your FBA inventory:

  • old, slow-moving inventory nearing its 365-day cleanup deadline.
  • unfulfillable inventory (e.g. damaged, mislabeled or misplaced).
  • stranded inventory (e.g. with incomplete, missing, or inactive listing).

If you don’t remove these units, you might end up paying not just monthly storage fees, but also LTSF (long term storage fees) and overage fees.

Here’s a breakdown of removal and disposal order fees:

Seller fees on Amazon - 2021 FBA removal fees

Other FBA Fulfillment Fees

Aside from storage, fulfillment, and removal, Amazon FBA charges for a variety of other services:

  • FBA Manual Processing Fee of $0.10 per unit for shipments received from Jan. to Oct. It’s $0.15 per unit during peak season.
  • Planned Prep Service Fee of $0.50 to $2.30 per item, depending on size.
  • Unplanned Prep Service of up to 7 times what planned services cost.
  • Repackaging Service of up to 3 times what planned prep costs.
  • MCF Branding of $0.70 per box.
  • Label Service fee of $0.30 per item.
  • FBA Return Fee of $3.90.
  • MCF and Pan-European Oversize Surcharge

Additional Amazon Seller Fees in 2021

Long-Term Storage Fees (LTSF)

Every year, Amazon has an inventory clean-up on Feb. 15 and Aug. 15.

That’s when it checks to see if any of your items have been stored in a fulfillment center for over 365 days.

If so, then you’d need to pay LTSF on the 15th of every month until you sell or remove them.

There’s usually notice some weeks prior. In it, you’ll find instructions to remove your old inventory.

This year’s LTSF rate is $6.90/CFT.

But if it amounts to less than $0.15/unit, then Amazon will charge you this rate instead.

Overage Fees

FBA inventory storage overage fees are charged on any inventory you may have that exceeds your storage limit.

This limit is determined by an evaluation of your IPI score.

The IPI threshold is currently 450.

Starting Feb. 1, 2021 sellers will pay $10 for every extra CFT if they did not reach this threshold in the week of Dec. 14-20, 2020.

Refund Administration Fee

When you issue a refund, Amazon takes back all the money from you, but credits you part of your fees.

You receive your referral fee minus the refund administration fee, which is the lesser of $5.00 and 20% of the referral fee.

So, you get either RF – $5 or 80% of RF.

Refund Credit 1024x576 1

As you can tell from this graph, when your total price grows, your refund credit becomes a smaller and smaller proportion of it.

So, it’s in your best interest to charge the buyer more.

You could try to maximize your selling price and shipping charge, or offer gift-wrapping.

High-Volume Listing Fees

Amazon doesn’t like an overcrowded catalog.

If your listings run into the hundreds of thousands and some had no sales in a year, Amazon may charge you $0.005 per unsold listing.

The fee doesn’t apply to books.

Also, 100,000 of your listings will be spared.

We’ll discuss this in greater detail in our next post. So, if you’re a high-volume seller, please follow our blog for an in-depth analysis of this fee and a list of Dos and Don’ts.Don’t miss the chance to get fresh Amazon News and Amazon expert insight articles right when we post them directly in your inbox.Get the latest Amazon News

Currency Converter Fees

If your bank account isn’t based in the same country as the venue you sell on, you can opt for the Amazon Currency Converter to have your disbursements discharged in your own currency.

These are calculated based on sales volume, at rates between 0.75% and 1.50%, except for the Chinese Yuan (CNY).

Miscellaneous Amazon Selling Fees

  • Rental book service fees of $5 per rental.
  • Advertising is a means of communication … More fees of $0.97/click for CPC campaigns, on average.
  • Inventory placement service fee from $0.30 (Standard Size) and $1.30 (Oversize) item.
  • Amazon-partnered carrier program fee, currently on promotion in the EU.
  • Premium account services.

So, how much does Amazon take from sellers?

A pretty penny. But don’t be intimidated by this large list of Amazon selling fees in 2021, only a fraction of these fees will apply to you.


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