As of October 2026, selling on Amazon.com costs either $0.99 per item sold on the Individual plan or $39.99 a month on the Professional plan. On top of that, every sale carries a referral fee, which is a percentage of the total price set by product category and is usually 8% to 15%. Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is billed separately.
Which selling plan should you choose?
Amazon lists two selling plans on its pricing page. The Individual plan charges $0.99 for each item sold and has no monthly fee. The Professional plan charges $39.99 per month. After registration you can switch or cancel the plan at any time, according to the page.
The Professional plan is the one that unlocks FBA, bulk operations, Amazon Ads, brand-building tools (which require Brand Registry) and the selling APIs. The Individual plan lists one product at a time.
The break-even is simple arithmetic. Divide $39.99 by $0.99 and you get about 40.4. At 40 items a month, Individual costs $39.60 in per-item fees, which is slightly less than the Professional subscription. At 41 items it costs $40.59, so Professional is cheaper. In our assessment, if you expect to sell more than 40 units a month, or you want FBA, Professional is the sensible default. If you are testing one or two products, Individual keeps the risk low.
How much is the referral fee?
The referral fee is the percentage Amazon keeps from the total sale price. The same page shows it is charged as a percentage “or a minimum amount, whichever is greater”, and most categories have a $0.30 minimum. As of October 2026, here are some of the rates from the official table:
| Category | Referral fee |
|---|---|
| Home and Kitchen | 15% |
| Toys and Games | 15% |
| Sports and Outdoors | 15% |
| Beauty, Health and Personal Care | 8% at $10.00 or less, 15% above |
| Clothing and Accessories | 5% up to $15.00, 10% from $15.01 to $20.00, 17% above $20.00 |
| Jewelry | 20% up to $250.00, 5% above |
| Consumer Electronics | 8% |
| Electronics Accessories | 15% up to $100.00, 8% above |
| Media (books, DVD, music, software) | 15% plus a $1.80 closing fee per item |
| Everything Else | 15% |
Rates range from 3% (the portion of a watch price above $1,500) to 45% (Amazon device accessories). Some categories use tiers, so the percentage applies to each slice of the price, not to the whole amount.
What does a sale really cost? Three examples
Here are our own calculations using the table above. They cover only Amazon’s selling fees, not product cost, shipping, FBA, ads or taxes.
- A $40 kitchen item on the Individual plan. Referral fee: 15% of $40 is $6.00. Per-item fee: $0.99. Total: $6.99, or about 17.5% of the price.
- A $25 T-shirt on the Professional plan. Because the price is above $20.00, the 17% rate applies. That is $4.25 per sale, plus the $39.99 monthly subscription spread over your sales for the month.
- A $10 skin-care item on the Individual plan. At $10.00 or less, the rate is 8%, which is $0.80. Add $0.99 and the total is $1.79, about 18%. The same product at $10.01 would pay 15%, or $1.50 plus $0.99, a total of $2.49. Pricing just above a tier line can cost you.
The pattern is clear: cheap items lose a bigger share to fixed per-item fees, and category matters as much as plan.
What else can raise your costs?
The pricing page does not list FBA fee amounts. They are in the FBA costs section, and you can estimate a specific product with Amazon’s revenue calculator. Amazon Ads is optional and has its own costs, also not priced on that page. For comparison, see how other marketplaces charge in our guides to eBay selling fees and Walmart Marketplace fees.
Also note that, per the page, a brand that is new to Amazon may qualify for automatic referral-fee waivers in its first year. Check the eligibility rules in your account before you count on it.
Step by step: working out your margin before you list
- Pick the category your product actually belongs to and find its row in the fee table.
- Calculate the referral fee at your planned price, and check whether you sit near a tier boundary.
- Add the plan cost: $0.99 per item, or $39.99 divided by your expected monthly sales.
- Add fulfillment. For FBA, use the revenue calculator with your real weight and dimensions. For self-shipping, use the carrier quote.
- Subtract your product cost, and set aside money for returns and ads.
- If the leftover margin is thin, raise the price, bundle items, or choose another channel.
Common mistakes
- Comparing only the monthly fee and ignoring the referral percentage, which is the larger cost for most products.
- Pricing $0.01 above a tier boundary without recalculating.
- Forgetting the $1.80 closing fee on media items.
- Treating a first-year waiver as permanent.
- Using last year’s fee table. Amazon updates its fees, so confirm on the official page before each pricing decision.
Who should not sell on Amazon
Amazon is a poor fit if your product sells for a very low price with a margin under roughly 20%, if you cannot afford to hold inventory, or if you are not ready to compete on price with many sellers. In those cases, a smaller channel or your own store may be a safer test. Our Shopify cost guide shows what the own-store route costs.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free way to sell on Amazon?
No. The Individual plan has no monthly fee, but it charges $0.99 per item sold, and the referral fee still applies.
Can I change plans later?
Yes. The pricing page says that after seller registration you can switch or cancel your plan at any time.
Who pays the referral fee, me or the buyer?
You pay it. Amazon takes it from the sale as a percentage of the total price or the category minimum, whichever is greater.
Where do I find FBA fees?
In the FBA costs section on Amazon’s site and in the revenue calculator, where you can estimate fees for a specific product.
