Amazon usually takes 25–45% of a sale from sellers once referral, fulfillment, and other fees are added.
When people ask how much do amazon take from sellers, they want a clear number, a simple breakdown, and ways to keep more from each sale. This guide walks through the main fees and shows how they add up on a real order.
How Much Do Amazon Take From Sellers? Main Fee Buckets
At a high level, Amazon earn money from sellers through a mix of per-sale commissions, plan charges, and optional services. Once you know each bucket, it becomes much easier to guess the slice Amazon keep from any product.
| Fee Type | What It Covers | Typical Size |
|---|---|---|
| Referral fee | Commission for access to Amazon’s marketplace and customers | About 8–15% for many categories, but 5–45% range in total |
| Selling plan | Access to the Professional or Individual plan | $39.99 per month for Professional, or $0.99 per item on Individual |
| FBA fulfillment fee | Picking, packing, and shipping when you use Fulfillment by Amazon | Roughly $2.50–$6 per standard unit, by size and weight |
| Monthly storage fee | Space your items occupy in Amazon warehouses | Charged per cubic foot each month, higher in busy seasons |
| Long-term or aged storage | Extra charge when inventory sits too long | Periodic surcharges on slow movers on top of base storage |
| Account-level surcharges | Extra fees tied to specific programs or regions | Digital service fees, regulatory fees, and similar add-ons |
| Optional services | Ads, prep services, labeling, better placement | Flexible spend that can climb quickly if unmanaged |
When you stack referral, fulfillment, storage, and plan costs, Amazon’s share often lands between one quarter and nearly half of the sale price. The exact figure depends on category, product size and weight, region, and whether you use FBA or ship orders yourself.
Core Numbers Behind Amazon Referral Fees
The referral fee is the base commission Amazon charge on almost every sale. It is a percentage of the total price paid by the buyer, including shipping and gift wrap. Most common categories sit in the 8–15% range on each sale, with a minimum per-item fee in some cases.
Some categories land far outside that middle band. Amazon Device Accessories can reach around 45%, while groups such as personal computers or large appliances can sit closer to 6–8%. That spread is why two sellers with the same sales volume can see sharply different profit pictures.
Amazon publish the exact referral rate table for each marketplace in their Selling on Amazon fees guide. Before you source a new item, checking that table for the right country cuts down on pricing surprises.
Referral Fee Triggers That Catch New Sellers
Several details inside Amazon’s rules change the share Amazon keep from sellers through referral charges:
- Price bands: Some categories charge one rate below a price cut-off and a lower rate on the portion above it.
- Minimum referral fee: Small, low-priced items may still pay a floor amount even when a percentage would be lower.
- Category choice: Putting an item in the wrong category can raise the fee on each sale.
If you are unsure where a product belongs, compare the fee table across a few close categories and match the one Amazon use in similar listings.
Amazon Selling Plans And Per-Item Charges
Every account uses either the Individual or Professional selling plan. The Individual plan skips a monthly subscription but adds a $0.99 charge on every item sold, while the Professional plan charges $39.99 per month instead and tends to work best once you pass about 40 sales a month.
Both plans still pay referral fees and any FBA or storage charges. The plan only changes the extra per-item amount and which seller tools you gain access to. Amazon outline the details on the standard selling fees page, including current plan prices and any regional adjustments.
When The Professional Plan Pays Off
If you are just starting, the Individual plan keeps fixed costs low while you test products. Once monthly sales move past a few dozen units, the Professional plan often brings down your blended cut per sale, because you spread the flat subscription across many more orders.
To keep score, divide the $39.99 fee by your average monthly units sold, then add that figure to your average referral rate and any FBA fee. The result is your rough Amazon cost share per order before product and marketing costs.
Fulfillment By Amazon And Shipping Costs
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) lets you hand off storage, picking, packing, shipping, and frontline customer service. In return, you pay per-unit fulfillment fees plus storage charges. For many standard items, that per-unit fee sits somewhere between about $2.50 and $6, rising with weight and size.
FBA fees matter a lot when you ask how much Amazon keep from sellers, because FBA can almost double Amazon’s share of the sale on light, low-priced items if you do not price carefully.
Storage Fees And Aged Inventory
Monthly storage is charged on the space your items take up in the warehouse, with higher rates in peak months such as October through December. Items that sit too long build extra surcharges for aged inventory, so steady sell-through matters.
How Much Amazon Take From Seller Profits On A $30 Item
To make the math concrete, take a simple $30 product in a 15% referral fee category, sold on the Professional plan in the United States through FBA. The table below shows one common pattern for how much Amazon keep and what can remain for you.
| Cost Or Fee | Amount On $30 Sale | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sale price | $30.00 | Customer payment, before tax |
| Referral fee (15%) | $4.50 | Base marketplace commission |
| FBA fulfillment fee | $4.00 | Standard size, mid weight item |
| Monthly storage share | $0.30 | Allocated per unit based on inventory level |
| Plan fee share | $0.40 | $39.99 plan spread over 100 monthly units |
| Total Amazon fees | $9.20 | About 31% of sale price |
| Cost of goods | $10.00 | Product, packaging, inbound freight |
| Rough profit before ads | $10.80 | What remains before marketing spend and overhead |
In this example, Amazon keep a little over thirty percent of the sale through direct fees. Your cost of goods then takes another one third. What is left must cover any ads, tools, returns, chargebacks, samples, and your own pay.
Extra Costs That Change How Much Amazon Take
Beyond core selling fees, several line items can tilt the answer to how much Amazon keep from each seller for a given catalog.
Advertising And Promotions
Most brands rely on Sponsored Products, coupons, and other paid placements to win clicks. Many sellers treat ad spend like another slice of revenue going back to the platform, often in the 5% to 20% of sales band.
Refunds, Returns, And Chargebacks
When buyers return items, Amazon may keep part of the original referral fee as a refund administration charge. You might also pay return shipping or disposal fees on damaged stock. Over time these penalties reduce the effective margin across your catalog if return rates run high.
Practical Ways To Keep Amazon Fees Under Control
Direct control over Amazon’s posted rates is impossible, yet you still have many levers to shape the cut Amazon keep from sellers in your own business. Small changes in these levers can shift profit more than many new sellers expect.
Pick Categories And Products With Healthy Room
Before you commit to a product, pull the referral fee for that category and run a full cost breakdown. Sellers who start with lower referral bands, compact items, and flat seasonal demand often enjoy more flexible pricing and steadier margins.
Watch Size Tiers And Packaging
A small shift in dimensions can bump an item into a higher FBA size tier with a larger fee. Trim packaging, fold items, or adjust bundles so that more of your catalog sits in the lower tiers. The savings add up across thousands of units.
Manage Inventory Health
Send in only what you expect to sell in a reasonable window. Clear slow stock with coupons or outlet deals so aged storage fees do not chew up profit, then raise restock levels on proven items to avoid stockouts.
When Selling On Amazon Still Makes Sense
Amazon’s cut can look steep, yet the platform also delivers reach, buyer trust, and logistical scale that would be hard to match on your own site. For many brands that blended share replaces the cost of separate payment processing, warehousing, shipping, fraud handling, and first-line customer service.
Sellers who do well tend to treat Amazon as a paid distribution channel instead of free traffic. They work backward from a target margin, adjust product choice and packaging, watch fee changes closely, and move off weak products fast instead of forcing them to work.
Final Thoughts On Amazon Seller Fees
Answering the question how much do amazon take from sellers starts with the referral rate, then layers in plan costs, FBA and storage charges, and soft costs like ads and returns. For many catalogs Amazon end up with somewhere around a quarter to nearly half of the sale price in direct and indirect fees.
Once you map every fee for your own products, you can decide which items belong on Amazon, which work better on other channels, and where you need higher prices or tighter sourcing to protect profit. Clear math beats guesswork and helps you stay profitable through fee changes and market swings.