Amazon announced its 2027 US fee changes on 5 November 2026. FBA fulfillment fees rise by an average of $0.19 per unit, about 0.8% of the average item’s selling price, with most changes taking effect on 15 January 2027. The bigger structural change lands on 1 February: the storage utilization surcharge goes, and the aged inventory surcharge is folded into a single age-based monthly storage rate. If you sell through FBA in the US, fast-turning stock gets cheaper or stays flat, and slow stock gets more expensive.
What changed
Everything below is from Amazon’s public announcement, signed by Sunny Jain, Vice President, Worldwide Fulfillment by Amazon, which reproduces the email Amazon is sending to sellers.
- Fulfillment fees. Up $0.19 per unit sold on average, approximately 0.8% of the average item’s selling price. Amazon says the impact varies by product, size and price, and that fees for some products will go up while others go down, so each fee “more closely matches our cost of fulfilling that product”.
- Effective date. Most changes take effect on 15 January 2027.
- Fuel and logistics surcharge. Unchanged. Amazon introduced it in April 2026 and says it will keep reviewing it as conditions change.
- Storage utilization surcharge. Eliminated from 1 February 2027.
- Aged inventory surcharge. Removed from 1 February 2027 and combined with monthly storage fees into a single, age-based rate. Amazon says this means flat or lower fees for inventory that turns in under six months, and higher fees for aged inventory.
- Low-inventory-level fee. From 1 February, it applies only when inventory falls below 28 days of supply, measured on actual shipments in both the four weeks before and the four weeks after the assessment date. Today it is assessed on trailing 30- and 90-day sales.
- Other changes. Amazon says its full summary covers further updates for small and large standard-size items, items priced above $50, “Buy X, Get Y” promotions, Multi-Channel Fulfillment and Amazon Warehousing and Distribution. That summary sits behind the Seller Central login, so we have not reported its contents here.
- Your own numbers. Amazon has added a Fee Change Comparison dashboard in Profit Analytics that shows the impact at account and product level, and points sellers to the Revenue Calculator to model scenarios.
The headline figures were reported the same day by PYMNTS, which cites the same announcement.
What it means for a private-label seller
The $0.19 average tells you almost nothing about your own catalogue. Amazon says plainly that some fees fall and others rise. An average across every FBA unit in the US can hide a much bigger increase on one size tier and a cut on another. The only number that matters is the one in your Fee Change Comparison dashboard, multiplied by your unit volume.
Storage now rewards turn speed directly. Until now, the utilization surcharge charged you for how much stock you held relative to what you sold, and the aged surcharge hit units that sat too long. From February, both collapse into one rate that rises with age. For a brand with a tight catalogue and steady velocity, that is probably good news. For a brand carrying slow variations, end-of-line colors or a launch that stalled, the cost of doing nothing goes up every month a unit sits.
Stocking up gets cheaper, but only for stock that sells. Amazon’s own reason for dropping the utilization surcharge is that it “will make it easier to stock up ahead of high-demand events”. That’s true as far as it goes. The trade-off is that deeper inventory is only cheaper if it turns inside six months. Over-order for Prime Day and miss, and the age-based rate charges you for it instead of the utilization surcharge.
The low-inventory fee should hit fewer seasonal and end-of-life SKUs. Under the trailing-sales method, a demand spike could make a healthy SKU look under-stocked, and a product you were deliberately running down could be charged for running low. Looking at the four weeks after the assessment date lets Amazon see whether demand actually continued. One consequence: whether a SKU is charged now depends partly on what sells after the assessment date, so a dashboard reading on the day won’t tell you the full answer.
The timing is deliberate, and it’s in your favor if you use it. Amazon notes it is announcing during your busiest season so you have more than two months before 15 January. That is enough time to reprice, rework a pack size or plan a removal order. It is not enough time if you wait until January to look.
What this doesn’t tell you
The public announcement gives no rate tables. We don’t know the per-tier fulfillment fees, the new age-based storage rates, where the age bands fall, or what changes for items above $50, MCF or AWD. Those are in Amazon’s Seller Central summary, which we can’t read from outside an account. The announcement’s title also mentions referral fees, but the letter itself describes no referral fee change. Check the summary before assuming either way.
What to do about it
- Open the Fee Change Comparison dashboard in Profit Analytics this week. Sort by the largest per-unit increase, then weight by your unit volume. The SKUs at the top are where your 2027 margin moves.
- Read the full summary in Seller Central if you sell anything priced above $50 or in small or large standard size. Amazon flags both as having separate changes.
- Pull your inventory age report and find the units that won’t sell within six months. Decide before 1 February whether to promote, bundle, remove or liquidate them. The trade-off is margin now versus storage cost later, and you can only weigh it once you see the new rate in Seller Central.
- Plan Q1 and Q2 replenishment on the new storage model, not the old one. Without the utilization surcharge, a larger order may now be cheaper to hold, provided your sell-through supports it inside six months.
- Update margin sheets and repricer floors before 15 January, then check one real order shipped after that date in Payments to confirm the fee you’re actually charged.
- If you use MCF or AWD, check those sections of the summary separately. The public letter doesn’t give the details.