Every sale on Amazon comes with fees. Knowing what Amazon charges, and when, helps you price products correctly, protect your margins and avoid unexpected costs. This guide explains the main Amazon seller fees so you can estimate your costs before listing products.
Key Takeaways
- Amazon seller fees cover selling plan fees, referral fees, fulfilment costs, storage fees, advertising, shipping and currency conversion.
- Malaysian SMEs can sell through a standard Amazon Seller Central account.
- Referral fees apply to every sale and vary by category. Amazon charges the higher of the percentage fee or the minimum fee.
- With Fulfilment by Merchant (FBM), you ship orders yourself. You get more control, but you also handle shipping, returns, refunds and customer service.
- Malaysian SMEs should consider cross-border costs, such as shipping, returns, currency conversion, and duties and taxes, before setting prices.
What Are Amazon Seller Fees?
Amazon seller fees are what Amazon charges you to list, sell and deliver products in its stores. They include selling plan fees, referral fees, fulfilment costs, optional advertising and other charges. How much you pay depends on what you sell, which Amazon store you sell in and how you deliver orders.
Amazon Seller Accounts for Malaysian SMEs
There’s no Malaysia-specific Amazon seller account, and you don’t need one. Instead, you register for an Amazon Seller Central account (Amazon’s online dashboard for sellers) and choose a selling plan. An account created from sell.amazon.com covers the US, Canada, Mexico and Brazil, and sellers can also register to sell in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East and North Africa.
What Is an Amazon Selling Plan?
A selling plan is the subscription that sets what you pay Amazon to sell and which tools you can use. There are two: the Individual plan for occasional sellers and the Professional plan for businesses that sell regularly or want more selling tools.
Professional Selling Plan
The Professional selling plan costs US$39.99 per month, regardless of how many items you sell. It suits sellers with higher sales volumes and gives you advanced tools, such as bulk listing (uploading many products at once), brand management, detailed sales reports and advertising.
Individual Selling Plan
With the Individual selling plan, Amazon charges US$0.99 per item sold. It suits new sellers with lower volumes who want a low-cost way to start. You list products one at a time, either by adding your offer to an existing Amazon product page or by creating a new one.
Amazon Referral Fees
A referral fee is Amazon’s commission on each sale. It’s a percentage of the total sale price, which includes the item price, delivery charges and gift wrapping, but not taxes calculated through Amazon’s tax calculation services.
The percentage depends on your product category. Some categories, such as Collectable Coins, Jewellery, Made in Italy, Music & DVD, and Postage stamps require Amazon’s approval before you can list products in them.
Most categories also have a minimum referral fee. Amazon works out both amounts for each sale and charges whichever is higher.
For example, if you sell an item for US$1 in a category with a 15% referral fee, the percentage fee is US$0.15. If that category’s minimum fee is US$0.30, Amazon deducts US$0.30 instead.
Here’s a quick breakdown of referral fees for the Amazon.com (US) store, in US dollars. Fees in other Amazon stores differ:
| Fee categories | Referral fee percentage | Applicable minimum referral fee
(applied on a per-unit basis unless otherwise noted) |
| Amazon Device Accessories | 45% | $0.30 |
| Automotive and Powersports | 12% | $0.30 |
| Baby Products |
|
$0.30 |
| Backpacks, Handbags, and Luggage | 15% | $0.30 |
| Base Equipment Power Tools | 12% | $0.30 |
| Beauty, Health, and Personal Care |
|
$0.30 |
| Business, Industrial, and Scientific Supplies | 12% | $0.30 |
| Clothing and Accessories |
|
$0.30 |
| Compact Appliances |
|
$0.30 |
| Computers | 8% | $0.30 |
| Consumer Electronics | 8% | $0.30 |
| Electronics Accessories |
|
$0.30 |
| Everything else | 15% | $0.30 |
| Eyewear | 15% | $0.30 |
| Fine Art |
|
— |
| Footwear | 15% | $0.30 |
| Full-Size Appliances | 8% | $0.30 |
| Furniture |
|
$0.30 |
| Gift Cards | 20% | — |
| Grocery and Gourment |
|
— |
| Home and kitchen | 15% | $0.30 |
| Jewelry |
|
$0.30 |
| Lawn and Garden | 15% | $0.30 |
| Lawn Mowers and Snow Throwers |
|
$0.30 |
| Mattresses | 15% | $0.30 |
| Media, Books, DVD, Music, Software, and Video | 15% | — |
| Merchant Fulfilled Services (services sold through Amazon Local Selling only) | 20% | $0.30 |
| Musical Instruments and AV Production | 15% | $0.30 |
| Office Products | 15% | $0.30 |
| Pet Products | 15%, except 22% for veterinary diets. | $0.30 |
| Sports and Outdoors | 15% | $0.30 |
| Tires | 10% | $0.30 |
| Tools and Home Improvement | 15% | $0.30 |
| Toys and Games | 15% | $0.30 |
| Video Games Consoles | 8% | — |
| Video Games and Gaming Accessories | 15% | — |
| Watches |
|
$0.30 |
Note: Correct as of 02-10-2026
Understanding Amazon Fulfilment Fees
Fulfilment is everything that happens after a customer orders: picking, packing, shipping, returns and customer support. What you pay depends on whether Amazon does this for you (FBA) or you do it yourself (FBM). With FBA, you also pay to store stock in Amazon’s warehouses.
Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA)
With FBA, Amazon stores, packs and ships your orders for you, and your products can qualify for Prime. That means customers with an Amazon Prime membership get free, two-day shipping on your Prime-eligible products.
You send stock to Amazon’s fulfilment centres (its warehouses), and Amazon handles orders, customer service and returns from there.
The main FBA fees are:
- Fulfilment costs: Cover picking, packing, shipping, customer service and returns. Fees depend on the product’s price, weight, and dimensions.
- Storage costs: A monthly fee based on how much warehouse space your stock takes up.
- Aged inventory: An extra monthly charge for stock that has been in Amazon’s fulfilment centres for more than 181 days (about six months).
- Returns processing: Charged when Amazon provides free return shipping to the customer.
- Removal, disposal, and liquidation orders: A per-item fee when you ask Amazon to send stock back to you, dispose of it, or sell it off through liquidation.
- FBA inbound placement service: A fee for Amazon to distribute your stock across fulfilment centres closer to customers.
Fulfilment by Merchant (FBM)
With FBM, you store, pack and ship orders yourself. You set your own shipping rates, capacity limits (how many orders you can handle), handling times and transit times.
Amazon tools can help, such as Buy Shipping, which lets you buy carrier labels at pre-negotiated rates.
The trade-off is that you take on work and costs that FBA would usually cover. On top of your selling plan and referral fees, you’ll need to manage:
- Shipping settings: Set shipping rates, capacity limits, handling times and transit times.
- Shipping labels: Buy and print labels through Amazon Buy Shipping.
- Inventory management: Update inventory and sync stock across locations.
- Order fulfilment: Review orders, confirm shipping and provide tracking.
- Returns and refunds: Handle cancellations, returns, refunds and customer service.
- Shipping performance: Track late shipments, cancellations and valid tracking.
Seller Fulfilled Prime
Seller Fulfilled Prime lets you show the Prime badge on products you ship yourself. Sellers need a Professional selling account and a domestic US address as their default shipping address, must prequalify, complete a 30-day trial and maintain Amazon’s performance requirements.
In real terms, you need to ship from within the US, deliver on time, keep late shipments and cancellations low, and provide valid tracking. For most Malaysian sellers, that means working with a US-based warehouse or fulfilment partner.
Learn more: How to Sell Online in Malaysia
Additional Service Fees
Beyond the core fees, you may pay for optional tools and services that help you promote products, manage inventory or ship orders.
| Additional service fees | What it means |
| Promotional costs | Optional costs for deals or promotions that can increase product visibility. Sellers should review the cost in Seller Central before launching a promotion. |
| Global selling costs | Costs to budget for when selling across borders, including shipping, returns, currency conversion, duties and taxes. |
| Advertising fees | Optional fees for Amazon Ads. Sponsored ads are usually charged per click, so you pay only when a shopper clicks your ad. |
| Amazon Buy Shipping fees | Fees sellers pay to buy and print shipping labels through Amazon Buy Shipping. Rates depend on the carrier, package details and delivery speed. |
| Closing fee for media items | A US$1.80 per-item fee Amazon charges on media products such as books, DVDs, music, software and video. |
Learn more: Online FX international payments: a guide for SMEs
Tips to Reduce Amazon Selling Costs
Your Amazon selling costs can add up quickly, from selling plan fees and referral fees to fulfilment, storage, advertising and cross-border payments. Use these tips to manage your costs and keep more of what you earn from each sale.
Choose the Right Selling Plan
The wrong plan means paying more than you need to, or missing tools you’ll want as you grow. Start by estimating how many items you expect to sell each month.
The break-even point is about 40 items a month. At 40 sales, the Individual plan costs US$39.60 (40 × US$0.99), almost the same as the Professional plan’s US$39.99. Below that, Individual is usually cheaper. Above it, or if you need tools such as bulk listing, advertising and reports, Professional makes more sense.
Choose the Right Fulfilment Method
How you fulfil orders affects your shipping costs, delivery speed, storage fees, customer experience and, ultimately, your margin.
FBA helps sellers offer faster delivery and qualify products for Prime, but the fulfilment and storage fees can quickly add up. FBM can help sellers avoid FBA fulfilment and storage fees, but sellers must manage shipping, returns and customer service themselves.
Compare costs product by product, looking at size, weight, how fast it sells and where it ships. As a rule of thumb, FBA suits fast-moving products, while FBM can work better for items you can store and ship more cheaply yourself.
Minimise the Costs of Unsold Inventory
Unsold stock ties up cash and keeps adding storage fees, including aged inventory charges after 181 days. Start with smaller stock quantities, especially for seasonal or untested products. Track your sell-through rate (the share of your stock you sell in a given period) to see what’s moving and what isn’t.
Review your inventory regularly so you can restock fast-selling products and clear slower-moving items before storage fees increase.
Account for Cross-Border Expenses
Selling overseas brings extra costs: international shipping, returns, duties and taxes, and currency conversion when you bring your earnings home. Build these into your prices before you list, so your margin isn’t smaller than you think.
Exchange rates move, so check them and your conversion costs regularly. Even a small shift can eat into a thin margin.
Further reading: Best USD accounts in Malaysia
How WorldFirst Helps Amazon Sellers Manage Cross-Border Costs
Selling on overseas Amazon stores often means earning in one currency, such as USD, and paying suppliers in another. Managing both in one place makes it easier to see what you actually keep.
WorldFirst’s World Account brings your international collections, currency balances and supplier payments together. Depending on your business’s eligibility and the supported payment route, you can:
- Avoid unnecessary conversions: Receive and hold multiple currencies, so you can pay in the currency you earn instead of converting back and forth, depending on eligibility and product availability.
- Manage marketplace income: Collect payments from 100+ supported marketplaces in one account, including Amazon.
- Pay international suppliers: Send funds to eligible overseas business bank accounts or supported payment routes.
- Pay Chinese suppliers: Send funds to eligible business bank or Alipay accounts, or pay directly on 1688.com.
- Simplify supplier payments: Schedule payments, pay invoices in batches and track transfers.
Explore WorldFirst to manage your international business payments with no setup or monthly account fees.
Learn more: How to receive international payments in Malaysia.
FAQs about Amazon Seller Fees
1. Do Malaysian SMEs Need a Malaysia-Specific Amazon Seller Account?
No. Amazon does not offer a separate Malaysian seller account. Malaysian SMEs can register for a standard Amazon Seller Central account, provide their business or individual details, choose a selling plan and select the marketplace they want to sell on.
2. Do You Pay Amazon Seller Fees if Your Item Does Not Sell?
Some fees, yes. Referral fees apply only when an item sells. But if you’re on the Professional plan or use FBA, you’ll pay the plan fee and storage fees whether your item sells or not, plus any advertising or promotion costs you choose.
3. Does Every Amazon Seller Pay Referral Fees?
Yes. Amazon charges a referral fee for every item sold. The amount depends on the product category, and Amazon may deduct either the percentage-based referral fee or the minimum referral fee, whichever is higher.
4. Does FBA Remove All Fulfilment Work for Sellers?
No. FBA lets sellers outsource storage, picking, packing, shipping, customer service and returns to Amazon, but sellers still need to manage inventory planning, product preparation, inbound shipping and related FBA costs.
Sources
- https://sell.amazon.com/sell/registration-guide
- https://sell.amazon.com/pricing
- https://sell.amazon.com/pricing#referral-fees
- https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/G200333160
- https://sell.amazon.com/fulfillment-by-amazon
- https://sell.amazon.com/programs/fulfilled-by-merchant
- https://sell.amazon.com/programs/seller-fulfilled-prime
- https://sell.amazon.com/advertising
- https://sell.amazon.com/global-selling
- https://sell.amazon.com/learn/faq
- https://www.worldfirst.com/my/
- https://www.worldfirst.com/my/product/collect/get-paid-by-marketplaces/
- https://www.worldfirst.com/my/product/pay/pay-business-partners/
- https://www.worldfirst.com/my/blog/international-transactions/receive-international-payments-malaysia/
- https://www.worldfirst.com/my/blog/e-commerce-online-sellers/how-to-sell-online-malaysia/
- https://www.worldfirst.com/my/blog/business-bank-insights/best-usd-accounts-malaysia/
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- https://www.worldfirst.com/my/blog/global-business-tips/online-fx-international-payments/
