Amazon FBA/FBM Profit Calculator
Calculate your Amazon seller profits including referral fees, fulfillment fees, storage fees, and advertising costs. Compare FBA vs FBM to maximize your profit margins.
Product Details
Used to calculate advertising cost per order and projections
Used for storage fee calculation
Adds $1.50/cu ft surcharge
Adds $1.80 closing fee per item
Total monthly advertising budget
Target percentage of revenue spent on ads
Profit Summary
Profitable Product
This product is projected to generate $0 in profit per order with a 0.0% profit margin.
ROI: 0.0% return on investment
Profit Status: EXCELLENT
Total Revenue
$0
Sale price + shipping × quantity
Net Profit Per Order
$0
Revenue - Fees - Cost of Goods
Profit Margin
0.0%
Profit as % of revenue
Return on Investment (ROI)
0.0%
Profit vs. total investment
Monthly Profit
$0
Based on monthly units sold
Annual Profit
$0
Monthly profit × 12
Advertising Performance
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
25.00x
Revenue per $1 ad spend
ACOS (Ad Cost of Sales)
0.0%
Ad spend as % of sales
Break-Even ROAS
2.49x
Target for profitability
Break-Even ACOS
0.0%
Maximum profitable ACOS
Your ROAS of 25.00x exceeds break-even (2.49x). Your advertising is profitable!
Fee Breakdown
Referral Fee
$0
Category-based commission
FBA Fulfillment Fee
$0
Pick, pack, and ship
Total Storage Fee
$0
$0/month
Advertising Cost (Per Order)
$0
Total monthly: $0
Professional Plan Fee (Prorated)
$0
$39.99/month divided by units
Total Fees
$0
All Amazon fees combined
Total Cost of Goods
$0
Product + manufacturing cost
Fee & Cost Breakdown
ROAS & ACOS Analysis
ROAS Comparison
Higher ROAS is better. Target: ROAS ≥ 2.49x for profitability.
ACOS Comparison
Lower ACOS is better. Target: ACOS ≤ 40.2% for profitability.
Advertising is Profitable
Your ROAS of 25.00x exceeds the break-even target of 2.49x. This means for every $1 spent on ads, you generate $25.00 in revenue, which is sufficient to cover costs and generate profit.
Amazon FBA vs FBM Profit Calculator: Your Complete Guide to Selling on Amazon
Understanding Amazon Seller Fees
Selling on Amazon offers tremendous market reach, but profitability hinges on understanding the complex fee structure. Amazon charges multiple fees that can significantly impact your bottom line, and these fees vary based on your product category, fulfillment method, seller plan, and product characteristics.
The primary fees include referral fees (Amazon's commission on each sale), fulfillment fees (picking, packing, and shipping if using FBA), storage fees (for inventory stored in Amazon's warehouses), and various optional fees like advertising costs. Understanding how these fees interact with your product costs and pricing strategy is essential for maintaining healthy profit margins.
Many new sellers are shocked to discover that what seemed like a profitable product on paper actually loses money once all fees are accounted for. This calculator helps you model all Amazon fees accurately before committing to a product, saving you from costly mistakes.
FBA vs FBM: Which Fulfillment Method is Right for You?
One of the most critical decisions Amazon sellers face is choosing between Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM). Each approach has distinct advantages, costs, and operational requirements that can dramatically affect your profitability and workload.
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)
With FBA, you send your inventory to Amazon's fulfillment centers, and Amazon handles storage, picking, packing, shipping, customer service, and returns. Your products become Prime-eligible, which significantly increases conversion rates and buy box eligibility.
Pros:
- •Prime badge increases sales conversion by 30-50% on average
- •Amazon handles all customer service, returns, and shipping logistics
- •Better buy box eligibility leads to more sales
- •Scalable - handle thousands of orders without additional labor
- •Access to Amazon's discounted shipping rates
Cons:
- •FBA fees can be 30-50% higher than self-fulfillment for small items
- •Monthly storage fees eat into margins, especially for slow-moving inventory
- •Long-term storage fees ($6.90/cubic foot) for inventory over 365 days
- •Less control over packaging and customer experience
- •Inventory can be lost, damaged, or misplaced in Amazon warehouses
Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM)
With FBM, you maintain complete control over your inventory and fulfillment process. You store products in your own warehouse or third-party facility and handle all packing, shipping, and customer service yourself. This approach offers more control but requires more operational overhead.
Pros:
- •Lower fulfillment costs for lightweight or low-value items
- •No storage fees - store inventory as long as needed
- •Complete control over packaging, branding, and customer experience
- •Can bundle products or create custom packages
- •Better for fragile, oversized, or custom products
Cons:
- •Not Prime-eligible unless enrolled in Seller Fulfilled Prime (strict requirements)
- •Lower conversion rates without Prime badge
- •You handle all customer service, returns, and complaints
- •Scaling requires hiring staff or third-party logistics
- •Reduced buy box eligibility compared to FBA sellers
Amazon Referral Fees by Category
Amazon charges a referral fee on every sale, which is a percentage of the total sale price (including shipping price charged to the customer). This percentage varies significantly by product category, ranging from 8% to 45%. Understanding your category's referral fee is crucial for accurate profit calculations.
- •Low-Fee Categories (8%): Toys & Games, Baby Products, Beauty, Grocery, Health & Personal Care, Pet Supplies, Consumer Electronics, Computers, Camera & Photo
- •Mid-Fee Categories (12-15%): Automotive (12%), Industrial & Scientific (12%), Books (15%), Home & Garden (15%), Office Products (15%), Sports (15%), Tools (15%)
- •High-Fee Categories (16-20%): Watches (16%), Clothing & Accessories (17%), Jewelry (20%)
- •Premium-Fee Category (45%): Amazon Device Accessories - extremely high fees for third-party accessories
Some categories have tiered referral fees. For example, Personal Computers charge 8% for the portion of the sale price up to $1,000, then 6% above $1,000. Always verify the exact fee structure for your specific category in Amazon Seller Central.
FBA Fulfillment Fee Breakdown
FBA fulfillment fees are based on product size and weight, using a tiered system. Amazon measures your product's dimensions and weight (including packaging) and assigns it to a size tier. The 2025 fee structure includes:
FBA Fee Tiers (2025 Rates)
- •Small Standard-Size ($3.22): Up to 12 oz, 15" × 12" × 0.75" - Ideal for small items like phone cases, supplements, small toys
- •Large Standard-Size ($4.75+): Up to 20 lbs, 18" × 14" × 8" - Most common tier for books, clothing, medium electronics
- •Small Oversize ($9.73+): 20-70 lbs, up to 60" length + girth - Large appliances, furniture, bulk items
- •Large Oversize ($28.66+): 70-150 lbs or over 108" length + girth - Very large furniture, exercise equipment
Important Size Tier Considerations
- •Dimensional Weight: Amazon uses the greater of actual weight or dimensional weight (length × width × height ÷ 139)
- •Packaging Matters: Your product's packaging is included in size calculations - minimize packaging to reduce fees
- •Fee Increases: Moving from Small to Large Standard-Size can add $1.50+ per unit - optimize packaging carefully
Amazon PPC and ACoS Explained
Amazon Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is often essential for product visibility, but it adds another layer of complexity to profitability calculations. Understanding Advertising Cost of Sale (ACoS) is crucial for maintaining profitable campaigns while driving traffic to your listings.
Understanding ACoS
ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sale) is the ratio of ad spend to attributed sales, expressed as a percentage. For example, if you spend $25 on ads and generate $100 in sales, your ACoS is 25%.
- •Break-Even ACoS: The maximum ACoS you can sustain without losing money. Calculated as: (Revenue - COGS - Fees) ÷ Revenue
- •Target ACoS: Your desired ACoS based on profitability goals. Should be lower than break-even to ensure profit after ad costs
- •TACoS (Total ACoS): Ad spend as percentage of total sales (including organic). Lower TACoS indicates healthier organic growth
If your product has a break-even ACoS of 40% but you're running campaigns at 50% ACoS, you're losing money on every ad-driven sale. However, aggressive initial campaigns can build organic rank, allowing you to reduce ACoS over time.
PPC Strategy Considerations
- •Launch Phase: Higher ACoS (30-50%) acceptable to build reviews and organic rank
- •Mature Phase: Target lower ACoS (15-25%) as organic sales increase
- •Seasonal Products: Increase ad spend during peak season, reduce during off-season
- •High Margin Products: Can sustain higher ACoS while remaining profitable
How to Maximize Amazon Profits
Profitability on Amazon requires optimization across multiple dimensions: pricing, fees, costs, and operational efficiency. Here are proven strategies to improve your bottom line:
- 1.Optimize Product Size and Weight: Reducing packaging dimensions by just 1 inch can move you to a lower FBA fee tier, saving $1-2+ per unit. Test minimal packaging that still protects your product.
- 2.Negotiate with Suppliers: Bulk orders, long-term contracts, and multiple SKUs from the same supplier can reduce your COGS by 10-30%.
- 3.Manage Inventory Velocity: Fast-moving products minimize storage fees. Aim to sell inventory within 60-90 days to avoid long-term storage charges.
- 4.Price Strategically: Test price points to find the sweet spot between conversion rate and profit margin. Sometimes raising prices increases profit despite lower volume.
- 5.Bundle Products: Multi-packs or bundles increase average order value and can improve your referral fee percentage on the total sale.
- 6.Optimize PPC Campaigns: Continuously refine keywords, negative keywords, and bids. Pause underperforming campaigns and scale winners.
- 7.Upgrade to Professional Plan: If selling 40+ units/month, the Professional plan ($39.99/mo) saves money versus Individual ($0.99/item).
- 8.Monitor Fee Changes: Amazon updates fees annually. Review your product profitability after fee changes and adjust pricing accordingly.
Who Benefits Most from Using This Calculator?
This Amazon profit calculator is essential for anyone selling or considering selling on Amazon. You'll benefit most if you're:
- •Researching product ideas and need to validate profitability before sourcing inventory
- •Comparing FBA vs FBM fulfillment options for your specific products and margins
- •Optimizing pricing to maximize profit without sacrificing competitiveness
- •Planning PPC advertising budgets and calculating sustainable ACoS thresholds
- •Deciding between Individual and Professional seller plans based on your sales volume
- •Evaluating how packaging optimization could reduce FBA fees and improve margins
- •Running "what-if" scenarios to understand how cost changes affect profitability
Whether you're a new seller evaluating your first product or an experienced seller launching new SKUs, accurate profit calculations prevent costly mistakes and help you focus on products that will actually make money.
Final Thoughts
Amazon's marketplace offers incredible opportunities, but profitability is never guaranteed. The difference between successful sellers and those who fail often comes down to understanding the true cost of doing business on the platform. Every decision - from product selection to packaging to advertising - impacts your bottom line.
This calculator gives you the tools to model your Amazon business accurately before committing capital. Test different scenarios: What if you negotiate a 15% better cost from your supplier? What if you switch from FBM to FBA? What if you reduce your product dimensions to hit a lower fee tier? Small optimizations compound over thousands of units.
Use this calculator during product research, before launching new SKUs, when evaluating price changes, and whenever Amazon updates their fee structure. Accurate profit projections are your competitive advantage in a marketplace where margins are often razor-thin.
Additional Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between FBA and FBM?
FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) means Amazon stores, picks, packs, and ships your products from their warehouses. You pay FBA fees but get Prime eligibility and Amazon handles customer service. FBM (Fulfillment by Merchant) means you handle all storage, packing, and shipping yourself. FBM has lower fees but typically lower conversion rates without Prime badge. FBA works best for most sellers due to Prime benefits, while FBM suits oversized, fragile, or very lightweight items where FBA fees are prohibitively expensive.
How are Amazon referral fees calculated?
Amazon charges a referral fee as a percentage of the total sale price (including the shipping price you charge customers). The percentage varies by category from 8% to 45%. For example, Toys & Games charge 8%, Clothing charges 17%, and Jewelry charges 20%. Some categories have tiered rates - Personal Computers charge 8% up to $1,000 and 6% above that. Always verify your specific category's rate in Amazon Seller Central as rates change periodically.
What are FBA fulfillment fees based on?
FBA fulfillment fees are determined by your product's size tier and weight. Amazon measures your product including packaging and assigns it to Small Standard-Size ($3.22), Large Standard-Size ($4.75+), Small Oversize ($9.73+), or Large Oversize ($28.66+). The fee also factors in dimensional weight (length × width × height ÷ 139) and uses whichever is greater - actual weight or dimensional weight. Reducing package dimensions by even 1 inch can drop you to a lower tier and save $1-2+ per unit.
Should I choose Individual or Professional seller plan?
Individual plan costs $0.99 per item sold with no monthly fee - best if selling under 40 items/month. Professional plan costs $39.99/month with no per-item fee - better if selling 40+ items monthly. Professional also unlocks bulk listing tools, advertising options, advanced reports, and eligibility for restricted categories. Calculate your break-even: If selling exactly 40 units monthly, both plans cost the same ($39.60). Above 40 units, Professional is cheaper. Most serious sellers need Professional for the additional features.
How do I calculate my break-even ACoS?
Break-even ACoS is the maximum you can spend on advertising while staying profitable. Formula: (Revenue - COGS - Amazon Fees except ad costs) ÷ Revenue. For example, if you sell a product for $50, cost of goods is $15, and Amazon fees are $20, your break-even ACoS is ($50 - $15 - $20) ÷ $50 = 30%. If you run ads at 35% ACoS, you lose money. Target ACoS should be 5-10% below break-even to maintain profitability after advertising costs.
What are Amazon storage fees and when are they charged?
FBA storage fees are charged monthly based on cubic feet of space your inventory occupies. Standard-size items cost $0.87/cubic foot from January-September and $2.40/cubic foot from October-December (peak season). Oversize items cost more. Additionally, inventory stored over 365 days incurs long-term storage fees of $6.90/cubic foot. To minimize fees, maintain lean inventory, forecast demand accurately, and remove slow-moving products before they hit 365 days.
What is a good profit margin for Amazon products?
Experienced sellers target 25-40% profit margins (net profit after all fees and costs as percentage of revenue). Products under 15% margin are generally too risky - any price competition or cost increase eliminates profit. 40%+ margins provide cushion for advertising, price testing, and unexpected costs. New sellers often underestimate total costs and launch products with 10-15% margins thinking they're profitable, only to lose money after advertising. Always calculate worst-case scenarios including PPC costs.
How can I reduce my Amazon fees?
Optimize packaging to reduce dimensional weight and hit lower FBA fee tiers. Negotiate better COGS with suppliers through bulk orders or long-term contracts. Choose products in lower-fee categories (8-12% vs 17-20%). Upgrade to Professional plan if selling 40+ units monthly. Improve organic rank to reduce PPC dependency and lower ACoS. Bundle products to increase average order value and dilute per-unit fees. Monitor inventory velocity to avoid long-term storage fees. Small optimizations compound to significant savings at scale.
Do I need to use Amazon PPC advertising?
For new products, PPC is almost always necessary to gain initial visibility and sales velocity. New listings have no reviews or organic rank, so they won't appear in customer searches without ads. As you build reviews and organic rank, you can reduce PPC spend. Mature products in competitive niches may still need 10-20% of sales from PPC to maintain page 1 visibility. Some products in low-competition niches achieve 80%+ organic sales after launch phase. Budget for aggressive PPC initially (30-50% ACoS) then optimize down as organic sales increase.
What closing fees does Amazon charge?
Amazon charges a $1.80 closing fee per item only for media categories: Books, DVD, Music, Software & Computer Games, Video Game Consoles, and Video Games. This fee is in addition to referral fees and fulfillment fees. If you're selling in media categories, factor this into your profitability calculations. Non-media categories do not have closing fees. The fee applies whether you use FBA or FBM fulfillment.
How do I validate product profitability before ordering inventory?
Use this calculator to model all costs: COGS (product + shipping from supplier), Amazon referral fees (category-specific), FBA fulfillment fees (size tier), storage fees (inventory turnover estimate), and advertising (assume 25-35% ACoS for launch). Calculate profit margin and ROI. Aim for 30%+ margin minimum. Research competitor pricing to ensure your target price is competitive. Account for seasonality and test with small initial orders (100-300 units) before committing to larger inventory investments. Never launch without calculating worst-case scenarios.
Can I switch between FBA and FBM after launching?
Yes, you can switch fulfillment methods anytime by creating a removal order from FBA or sending new inventory to Amazon. However, switching from FBA to FBM loses your Prime badge and typically reduces sales 30-50%. Switching from FBM to FBA requires prepping inventory according to Amazon's strict packaging and labeling requirements. Some sellers split inventory - using FBA for fast-movers and FBM for slow-movers or oversize items where FBA fees are too high. Switching costs include removal fees ($0.30-0.60/unit) and shipping to your location.
What product weight should I enter in the calculator?
Enter the unit weight including all packaging (box, bubble wrap, padding) that ships to the customer. Amazon calculates fees based on packaged weight, not just the product itself. If you're still in product research, add 20-30% to product weight to estimate packaging. Once you have samples, weigh the complete packaged unit on a scale accurate to 0.1 lbs. For FBA, also check dimensional weight (L × W × H ÷ 139) - Amazon uses whichever is greater. Overestimating weight slightly is safer than underestimating when projecting fees.
How accurate is this calculator compared to actual Amazon fees?
This calculator uses Amazon's current 2025 fee structure and provides accurate estimates for referral fees, FBA fulfillment fees, and per-item fees. Storage fees are simplified estimates - actual fees depend on exact cubic feet and time in warehouse. The calculator does NOT include: inventory placement fees, removal fees, return processing fees, or refund administration fees. Always verify final profitability with Amazon's Revenue Calculator in Seller Central before launching. This calculator is best for initial product research and comparing scenarios.