Update to Amazon US referral and FBA fees, starting January 18, 2022

Following suit with the rest of the economy, Amazon announced they will be increasing some of their fees in 2022. This comes as no surprise with supply chain bottlenecks and challenging labor markets plaguing virtually all industries. Furthermore, Amazon's third-party sales have thrived during the pandemic causing them to invest heavily in their fulfillment operations. In 2021 there were 200,000 new third-party sellers which is up 45% compared to the previous year. To keep up with demand, Amazon doubled their US fulfillment capacity, hired 628,000 employees, opened 350 new fulfillment centers, and invested $15 billion dollars in keeping their employees safe. Knowing that you'd think sellers wouldn't have faced so many issues with storage and restock limits in 2021. However, Amazon's 2022 increases are reasonable and justified. They even claim that their fees are less expensive than other logistics service providers and remain 30% less expensive than if sellers were to use their own fulfillment. This blog is short and to the point. I'll explain the high level 2022 fee changes and how it will affect your business.

2022 FBA Fee Changes

Generally speaking, Amazon's FBA fee increases were not significantly higher than they have been in years past. Most size tiers saw a base rate increase of 2-8%. The highest base rate increase was for the medium oversize tier which rose 12% ($11.37 to $12.73). Keep in mind this increase is not a percentage of sales price but rather the fee itself. 2021 standard size base rates range from $2.70 to $6.13. With that being said, you can expect to pay $0.22 to $0.45 more for standard size orders in 2022.

Important dimensional weight change

On the surface the 2-8% increase to FBA fees seems straight forward. However, there is a small change being made to how the weight is determined for large standard size items that weigh 0.75 pounds or less. This could have significant impact on your FBA fees for items that are large and weigh less than 0.75 pounds.

In the past, Amazon used unit weight for all standard size items weighing 0.75 pounds or less. Starting January 18th, Amazon will be using the greater of unit weight or dimensional weight for all large standard size items. This means that large items without much weight will see a significant increase in FBA fees. Below is an example of a four count of empty plastic containers weighing 0.64 pounds. The dimensional weight of this item is 6.8 pounds. This item is a large standard size item.

Old FBA Fee

Large standard size item 6 to 12 oz = $3.64

New FBA Fee

Large standard size item 3 to 20 lb (based on dimensional weight of 6.8 lbs being greater than unit weight of 0.64 lbs) = $7.33

What this means

As you can see in the example above large standard size items with little weight (0.75 lbs or less) are going to see serious FBA fee increases starting January 18, 2022. The four pack of container's FBA fee doubled, increasing by $3.69. Although impacting an isolated size of products, this is the most notable and least clear change Amazon is making in 2022.

2022 Amazon Storage Fee Changes

Storage fees for January through September are also increasing by 10.5% in 2022. Fourth quarter storage fees will remain the same for both standard and oversize categories. The increase is $0.08/cubic foot for standard size and $0.05 for oversize. This changes goes into effect February 1, 2022.

January - September storage fee changes

Changes to long term storage fees

Amazon is also implementing a new surcharge of $1.50/cubic foot for inventory that has aged between 271 and 365 days. Previously, there was no long term storage fee until inventory had aged 365 days.

2022 Amazon Referral Fee Changes

There is not much to report on referral fee changes unless you sell lawn mowers or snow throwers. The referral fees on those items that sell for $500 or more are being reduced from 15% to 8%

Other Notable Increases

Removal and disposal order fees doubling for most size tiers

Prep & Labeling Fees Going up Considerably

The changes to prep and labeling are probably the second most notable increase as many of our clients use Amazon's labeling service. On January 18th, the charge for Amazon to apply a bar code is raising by $0.25 per unit ($0.30 to $0.55). Amazon's various prep services are also seeing substantial increases. See the table below for full details.

Standard size prep service and label fee changes

Oversize prep service and label fee changes

Anything I missed

Although not inclusive, the changes above are what will be most important to a majority of businesses. If you have any questions about Amazon's 2022 fee structure or selling on Amazon in general, please contact us. Helping businesses leverage the Amazon marketplace is what we do.