Amazon FBA Fee History: Every Increase Since 2015

The short version

Amazon changed US FBA fees every single year from 2015 through 2024, froze them for the first time in 2025, and resumed increases in 2026. The reference fee below, a large standard-size one-pound unit, went from $2.67 in 2015 to $4.76 with the 2026 fuel surcharge: up 78.3%, about 5.4% a year.

• Fulfillment fee, 1 lb reference item: $2.67 (2015) to $4.60 base (2026), +72.3%.
• With the 3.5% fuel surcharge from April 17, 2026: $4.76, +78.3% in 11 years.
• Off-peak storage: $0.54 per cubic foot (2016) to $0.78 today, after peaking at $0.87 in 2023.
• Seven new fee types appeared since 2022; 2025 was the only freeze year on record.

The reference fee, year by year

One number tracks the trend better than any average: the FBA fulfillment fee for a large standard-size, one-pound, non-apparel unit. The table follows that exact item through every rate card from 2015 to 2026, with the percentage change each new card brought.

Cells marked ≈ are computed from Amazon’s officially announced averages rather than a preserved rate card. Every other cell traces to Amazon’s own pages or archive.org captures of them; the source list sits at the end.

Every new fee since 2022

Rate increases are only half the story. Since 2022, Amazon has introduced seven fee types that did not exist before, and the per-unit math on many products moved more through these than through the headline rate cards. Two of the seven have since been retired or absorbed.

Storage fees over time

Monthly storage tells a different story than fulfillment: off-peak rates climbed 61% from 2016 to their 2023 peak, then Amazon cut them in 2024, the only storage decrease on record. Q4 rates barely moved in a decade, from $2.25 to $2.40 per cubic foot, up just 6.7%.

Year by year: what changed and when

Twelve years of changes follow, with effective dates. The pattern to internalize: Amazon announces in Q4, fulfillment changes land mid-January to mid-February, and storage or program changes follow in spring. Since 2022, October 15 opens peak-fee season, and since 2024, structural fees have replaced headline increases.

2015

February 18 raised pick-and-pack and weight-handling fees and applied dimensional weight to more sizes, putting the reference unit at $2.67 across its three fee components. March raised standard-size storage. August extended long-term storage fees to 6-12 month inventory at $11.25 per cubic foot, and Small and Light launched mid-year.

2016

The fulfillment card jumped hardest in the decade: the reference unit rose 13.1% to $3.02. March storage climbed to $0.54 per cubic foot off-peak. October brought the first peak-season storage structure, tripling November-December storage to $2.25 while trimming fulfillment fees 5% in those months as a partial offset.

2017

February 22 merged order handling, pick-and-pack, and weight handling into one per-unit fulfillment fee, ending the three-component era. The reference unit landed at $2.99, a rare optical decrease, while media items moved onto the same schedule and the $300-plus zero-fee perk died. Storage rose again to $0.64 off-peak and $2.35 for Q4.

2018

February raised the reference unit 6.7% to $3.19 and dropped the seasonal fulfillment discount, making rates flat year-round. April added $0.05 to every storage tier, setting the $2.40 Q4 standard rate that still holds today. September switched long-term storage from semi-annual sweeps to monthly assessments on the 15th, with a $0.50 per-unit minimum.

2019

February brought roughly 3% increases concentrated in heavier tiers, putting the reference unit near $3.28, plus new 10-ounce banding for standard sizes. The 181-365-day long-term storage bracket was eliminated and the 365-plus minimum fell from $0.50 to $0.15 per unit. Referral fees dropped to 8% on beauty and health items under $10.

2020

February added about 3% again, moving the reference unit to $3.48, and replaced the flat $0.40 apparel surcharge with a separate apparel rate card. Off-peak storage reached $0.75 per cubic foot. COVID then forced temporary relief: storage fee waivers in March and a skipped long-term storage assessment in May.

2021

The pandemic pushed the annual change to June 1, and it was the decade’s single biggest step: the reference unit jumped 22.1% to $4.25. Packaging weight left the fee calculation, 6-ounce bands arrived, and storage held flat. Amazon framed it as its first increase in over a year; sellers absorbed the largest one on record.

2022

January 18 raised fulfillment about 5.2% on average, the reference unit reaching $4.52. April 28 added the first-ever fuel and inflation surcharge, 5% on every fulfillment fee. October 15 introduced the first holiday peak fulfillment fee, averaging $0.35 per unit, and May renamed long-term storage to the aged inventory surcharge while extending it to 271-day stock.

2023

January 17 folded the 5% surcharge into base rates, the reference unit settling at $4.75, and introduced quarter-pound weight bands. April brought two structural additions: the storage utilization surcharge for slow-turning catalogs and aged-inventory brackets starting at day 181. August retired Small and Light in favor of Low-Price FBA for items under $10.

2024

The biggest structural year since 2017 traded headline rates for new mechanics. April cut fulfillment fees about $0.20 per unit and storage $0.09, but March introduced the inbound placement fee averaging $0.27 per standard unit, April added the low-inventory-level fee, and June extended returns processing fees to every category above return-rate thresholds.

2025

For the first time on record, Amazon froze everything: no referral increases, no FBA increases, no new fee types, announced in that exact language. The only movements were decreases, including $0.58 off large-bulky inbound placement and waived placement fees for qualifying new selection. The freeze lasted exactly one cycle before 2026 resumed increases.

2026

January 15 raised fulfillment an average $0.08 per unit and introduced three price bands per size tier, with items under $10 keeping discounted Low-Price rates. The low-inventory fee moved to FNSKU-level measurement. April 17 brought the second fuel surcharge in FBA history, 3.5% on fulfillment fees, which Amazon again calls temporary.

What the pattern means for planning

Three planning rules fall out of eleven years of data. Budget roughly 5% average annual fee growth on fulfillment, expect the announcement between October and December with a mid-January effective date, and treat "temporary" surcharges as candidates for permanent base rates: the 5% fuel surcharge of 2022 never left, it just changed its name.

• Run new-product margins through the FBA calculator with the surcharge field set, then stress-test at +5%.
• Re-price January POs in October, when the next year’s card is usually public.
• Watch the fee families that grew fastest: storage-adjacent surcharges, not headline rates.

Method and sources

Every dated change above traces to Amazon’s own announcements, Amazon help pages, or archive.org captures of Amazon’s published rate cards, compiled and cross-checked in July 2026. Cells marked ≈ are derived from officially announced averages where no rate-card capture survives. Corrections are welcome through the contact page; primary sources follow.

• Amazon 2026 fee announcement (October 2025, average +$0.08 per unit).
• Amazon 2025 fee announcement (the freeze year).
• Amazon 2024 fee announcement (inbound placement, low-inventory, returns fees).
• Amazon 2023 fee update (surcharge folded into base rates).
• 2017 rate card (archive.org capture) (the structure merge, with before/after tables).
• 2015 fee page (archive.org capture) (the $2.67 baseline, from Amazon’s own worked example).
• Current US fee schedule (live referral and FBA rates).