There are several types of fees Amazon charges. This all depends on what type of seller you are, what you are selling and if Amazon is fulfilling the order. So let’s break it down so you know what your costs are for selling on Amazon.
Subscription
There are 2 plans Amazon offers sellers. Professional Sellers (those who sell more than 40 products a month) and Individual Sellers (those who sell less than 40 products a month). Professional sellers pay a flat $39.99 a month fee and Individual Sellers have no subscription fee, however, pay a per item fee of $0.99, whereas Professional Sellers do not have a per item fee.
BMVD Shipping
There are shipping rates that Amazon collects from the buyer (including the price and any shipping, gift wrap, or other charges) for BMVD (Books, Music, Video, and DVD products). Note: Gift wrapping is available for only Professional Sellers. See table below for rates.
However, Professional Sellers can use the new shipping settings and are now able to set their own shipping rates for BMVD products.
Also, note that all sellers also pay a closing fee of $1.80 per media item that is sold. Media categories are Books, DVD, Music, Software & Computer/Video Games, Video, Video Game Consoles, and Video Game Accessories. In addition to all that, if you are selling textbooks, for each textbook rental that is sold, sellers pay a rental book service fee of USD $5.00.
Referral Fee
All products have a Referral fee. This fee varies depending on the product category and size. It’s a percentage of the sale price (however a minimum is implemented). On average the fee is 15% but can go as high as 45% on Amazon device accessories (i.e. an accessory for Kindle, etc.). See the chart below.
High-Volume Listing Fee
Another fee that you should be aware of is a High-Volume Listing Fee. However, this won’t affect most sellers as you would have to have more than 100,000 ASINs. The fee is $0.005 per eligible ASIN to cover system costs associated with cataloging and maintaining large numbers of ASINs on Amazon.com. To be eligible for the High-Volume Listing Fee in a given month, an ASIN must meet the following criteria:
- The ASIN is listed in a non-Media category. Media categories include Books, DVDs, Music, Software, Computer/Video games, Video Game Consoles, and Video Game Accessories, among others.
- You have had an active offer on the ASIN at some point during the month.
- The ASIN was created at least 12 months ago. ASINs created less than 12 months prior are not eligible for the fee.
- The ASIN has not sold in the previous 12 months.
Amazon waives the High-Volume Listing for the first 100,000 ASINs that meet the above criteria. They apply the fee to your highest number of eligible ASINs above 100,000 during that month.
For example, if during a month, you had active offers on 200,000 eligible ASINs, they would charge you a fee of $500, calculated as $0.005 on the 100,000 ASINs that are above your free allowance of 100,000 eligible ASINs.
To see the number of eligible ASINs you have, go to the Inventory tab in Seller Central, select Inventory Reports, and then select High Volume Listings Report from the drop-down menu.
Refund Administration Fee
As far as refunds go, if you refund a customer for an order for which you have already received payment, Amazon will refund you the amount of the referral fee you paid for the item(s), minus the applicable Refund Administration Fee, which is the lesser of $5.00 or 20% of the applicable referral fee.
For example, if you refund a customer the $10.00 total sales price of an item in a category with a 15% referral fee:
The Referral Fee you paid of $1.50 ($10.00 x 15%)
Your Refund Administration Fee = $0.30 ($1.50 x 20%)
So you will receive $1.20 back from Amazon ($1.50 -$0.30)
Fulfillment Fee
A fulfillment fee is a fee Amazon charges sellers for picking and packing their orders, shipping and handling, customer service, and product returns. If you choose to have Amazon fulfill your order (for non-BMVD products), you are charged a fee which varies on product size and weight. There is also a monthly inventory fee (you didn’t think Amazon would warehouse you for free, did you?). The chart below breaks down the fulfillment fees.
If you want to provide free shipping for your customers and are selling a small item that’s less than 1 pound, for example, a small Bluetooth earpiece that costs $120, the fulfillment fee of $2.41 won’t make much of a dent into your profits.
However, if you are selling a bulky heavier item that does not have a high sales price, for example, a $25 baby cot that weighs 9 lbs, the fulfillment fee would be $10.79 and that can really dig into your profits (added along with all the other Amazon fees).
Conclusion
Keep in mind all these fees when selling on Amazon. They should help you decide what type of products you want to sell, at what price to sell them at and if you want to offer free shipping. Competition is high out there so offering free shipping can help put you out in front.
Glossary Terms / Definitions
BMVD – An acronym that stands for “Books, Music, Video, and DVD”. Some Amazon fees are treated differently for these products that all others.
ASIN – An acronym that stands for Amazon Standard Identification Number. It’s a 10-character alphanumeric unique identifier that’s assigned by Amazon and its partners. It’s used for product-identification within Amazon.com organization.
High-Volume Listing Fee – a $0.005 per ASIN fee for sellers with more than 100,000 ASINs
Refund Administration Fee – A fee Amazon chargers the seller if they have already collected payment from a buyer. The fee is lesser of $5.00 or 20% of the applicable referral fee.
Amazon Referral Fee – A percentage based fee of the selling price that Amazon charges the seller.
Amazon Fulfillment Fee – A fee Amazon charges sellers for picking and packing their orders, shipping and handling, customer service, and product returns
