Amazon FBA Fee Calculator

What are Amazon FBA fees? Amazon FBA fees are the costs Amazon charges sellers for fulfillment and marketplace access — primarily a referral fee (typically 15% of sale price), an FBA fulfillment fee ($3 to $10+ per unit depending on size and weight), and monthly storage fees. The combined fee burden is usually 30 to 45% of revenue, which catches new sellers off guard. On a $45 product, Amazon fees alone can total $12 to $15 per unit — before COGS. Amazon FBA is the largest ecommerce marketplace in the world, but the fee structure is complex and often more punishing than sellers expect.

This calculator breaks down every Amazon FBA cost and compares the per-unit margin against selling the same product on your own DTC site. The DTC side accounts for shipping, payment processing (2.9% + $0.30), and your advertising cost per order. The side-by-side comparison shows exactly how much more or less you make on each channel.

For many brands, DTC margins are significantly higher per order, but Amazon provides volume and customer reach that is difficult to replicate with paid ads alone. The strategic question is not which channel is better — it is how to allocate inventory and effort across both channels to maximize total profit. Some brands use Amazon for volume and brand discovery while keeping their highest-margin products DTC-exclusive.

Key considerations beyond per-unit margin include Amazon PPC costs (not included here — add them to get true Amazon profitability), the value of owning customer data on DTC, Amazon review accumulation and organic ranking benefits, and the risk of Amazon competing with your own products. Run this calculation for each SKU to determine which products belong on Amazon and which are better kept DTC-only.