What changed
Amazon's referral plus FBA cut held at about 40% of price; supplier costs drove margin losses
When
Report published October 19, 2026, covering July 2025 to August 2026
Who it affects
US Amazon sellers using FBA, measured on wholesale sellers' products
What to do
Use category fee shares, not a flat 40%, and renegotiate supplier costs

Key takeaways

  • Amazon's referral plus FBA cut held at about 40% of price before and after the 2026 increases, per Seller Assistant's Q3 2026 data.
  • Category shares range from 27.6% (Video Games) to 46.1% (Arts, Crafts and Sewing), so a flat 40% misprices products.
  • Supplier costs, not Amazon fees, drove most 2026 margin losses.

Amazon referral plus FBA fee as % of price, after April 17, 2026

  • Arts and Crafts46.1%
  • Pet Supplies45.6%
  • Grocery45.3%
  • Health40.1%
  • Beauty39.1%
  • Electronics30.4%
  • Video Games27.6%
Source: Seller Assistant, State of Amazon Wholesale Q3 2026

What the 2026 fee data shows

Amazon raised US FBA fulfillment fees on January 15, 2026 by an average of $0.08 per unit, which it said was under 0.5% of an average item's selling price, and it promised no new FBA fee types for 2026 after no increase in 2025. On April 17, 2026 it added a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on FBA fulfillment fees, about $0.17 per unit on average. Together that is roughly $0.25 a unit before storage.

Seller Assistant, a sourcing tool, compared the same products before and after both changes: about 335,000 product pairs across 20 categories on Amazon.com, from 782 verified wholesale sellers. Amazon's cut, the median referral plus FBA fee as a share of the Buy Box price, stayed at about 40% throughout and moved 0.3 points or less in 18 of 20 categories. Only Books (up 1.20 points) and Video Games (up 0.76 points) rose noticeably. Buy Box prices on repeat products rose about 2.4%, which absorbed the per unit increase.

Amazon's 2026 fee calendar

  1. Amazon announces 2026 US fees

  2. FBA fees up $0.08 a unit on average

  3. 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge

  4. Holiday peak fees start

  5. Peak fees end

Amazon fees by category: from 27.6% to 46.1%

The bigger story is the spread. After April 17, Amazon's cut ranged from 27.6% of price in Video Games to 46.1% in Arts, Crafts and Sewing, a gap of about 18.5 points. Pet Supplies (45.6%), Baby (45.4%) and Grocery and Gourmet Food (45.3%) sit near the top, because the fixed FBA fee takes a larger share of cheaper or bulkier items. Electronics (30.4%), Sports and Outdoors (30.6%) and Musical Instruments (29.1%) sit at the bottom. Our Amazon FBA fees guide explains how size tier and price drive the fixed fee.

Where the margin actually went

Margins did slip, but not because of Amazon. The median product margin moved by only 0.08 points and the average by 0.7 points, yet 45% of products lost more than a point. The report attributes those losses mainly to supplier prices. In Home and Kitchen, the median supplier cost rose 5.2% and margin fell 6.1 points, while Amazon's cut there moved just 0.05 points.

A second dataset agrees at the account level. Nova, an analytics firm, measured Seller Central accounts with at least $20,000 in sales from April 17 to September 30, 2026: Amazon fees net of reimbursements were a median 31.3% of sales, the middle half between 24.2% and 38.6%. FBA fulfillment was 49% of the median fee bill and referral 44%; reimbursements offset only about 1%. About one in four accounts paid the low inventory level fee at least once. Nova divides total fees by account sales, while Seller Assistant takes the per product median, so the figures differ.

What this means for sellers and brands

The so what: model every product at a flat 40% and you misprice both ends. In Pet Supplies the real share is 45.6%, so 40% overstates what is left by more than 5 points; in Electronics it understates it by nearly 10, which can kill profitable products. Meanwhile supplier price, the cost you negotiate yourself, moved more than Amazon's fees. See the Amazon fee changes for 2026 for the rate card, and note holiday peak fulfillment fees run October 15, 2026 to January 14, 2027, so Q4 shares run higher.

Worked example: one pet product, two assumptions

Illustrative numbers. Take a $25 Pet Supplies product selling 2,000 units a month. Modelled at a flat 40%, Amazon fees are $10.00 a unit. At the category's measured 45.6%, they are $11.40, so the plan overstates profit by $1.40 a unit, or $2,800 a month. Now the supplier side: if landed cost is $7.00 and rises 5.2% (the Home and Kitchen median), cost goes up $0.36 a unit, more than the roughly $0.25 average fee increase for the whole year. A target ACoS set from the wrong margin will overspend on ads by the same gap.

What sellers should do

Do this before the 2027 fee season: Amazon usually announces next year's US fees in mid October with at least 90 days of notice.

  • Finance lead: replace flat fee assumptions with each category's share and your Seller Central Fee Preview report. Metric: modelled versus actual fees per unit within 1 point.
  • Brand owner or buyer: ask your top five suppliers for 2027 price commitments and compare each change with the $0.25 Amazon added this year. Metric: landed cost per unit flat or down.
  • PPC manager: recalculate break even ACoS per ASIN from the corrected margin and reset targets in the ad console. Metric: profit per unit holds while TACoS is stable.
  • Ops lead: clear low inventory level fee hits and file claims using our FBA reimbursement guide. Metric: low inventory fee charges near zero.
  • Pricing owner: in 45% categories, test a price step or larger pack so the fixed FBA fee is spread over more revenue; see our Amazon pricing strategy. Metric: fee share of price down, conversion steady.

Margin check before 2027 fees

  • Use category fee share, not 40%
  • Pull Fee Preview per ASIN
  • Ask suppliers for 2027 prices
  • Reset break even ACoS
  • Clear low inventory fees
  • File FBA reimbursements

When this advice does not apply

The Seller Assistant sample covers wholesale sellers, so private label brands with factory pricing may differ. It counts only referral and FBA fees; storage, returns and ads are extra. Very low price items were excluded. Seller fulfilled (FBM) sellers pay no FBA fee.

Where PPC Spider helps

PPC Spider is an Amazon and marketplace agency. Our SpiderOS platform monitors bids, budgets, search terms and stock, and sets target ACoS from product margin after fees, so fee and supplier changes flow straight into ad targets. Our Amazon account management team handles pricing and inventory work. Request a free Amazon audit to see your real fee share per ASIN, and follow seller data on the Amazon FBA news channel.

Sources

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