Amazon Adds 19 Cents Per Fulfilled Item

SEATTLE—Amazon told U.S. selling partners that Fulfillment by Amazon fees will rise by an average of $0.19 per unit sold in 2027, about 0.8% of the average item's selling price, with most changes effective Jan. 15.

The more closely read paragraph concerns what sits still. Effective Feb. 1, Amazon will eliminate the storage utilization surcharge and the aged inventory surcharge, folding them into a single age-based monthly storage rate. Inventory that turns in under six months will see flat or lower fees. Inventory that does not will pay more, on purpose.

"You've told us that storage fees are hard to predict, and we want to change that," the company wrote in its letter to sellers. A seller I trust, posting at 2:11 a.m., translated the sentence as: predictability is not the same as mercy. (seller forum, 2:11 a.m.)

You've told us that storage fees are hard to predict, and we want to change that…

Appeal No. 44 is still marked Seen. No reply. I read the fee schedule twice, which is how I relax.

Amazon also said the low-inventory-level fee will apply only when supply falls below 28 days, measured with actual shipments in the four weeks before and after an assessment, a change meant to spare seasonal spikes from looking like neglect.

At press time a fictional tote of phone cases had been in a fulfillment center for 187 days and had begun practicing stillness as a lifestyle.

Independent sellers account for more than 60% of sales in Amazon's U.S. store, the company said, which is another way of saying the fee letter was addressed to the backbone. A new Fee Change Comparison dashboard in Profit Analytics is supposed to show the impact at the account and product level. Sellers who model the change and then stare at a slow-moving SKU will learn what age means in a warehouse that never sleeps.

Dashiell Okafor covers marketplaces, and his seller-account appeal is entering its seventh year. More from Dashiell Okafor ›

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Terms in this story: Fulfillment Center · SKU