What it costs to send inventory to Amazon FBA
Getting stock into Amazon's warehouses costs more than the freight. In 2026 there are four charges to plan for: the carrier, Amazon's inbound placement fee, the prep Amazon no longer does for you, and inbound defect fees when a shipment goes wrong. Here is how each one works, from Amazon's own pages, and a calculator for one shipment.
to get each unit into Amazon, $249.60 to $312.00 for the shipment.
Billable weight: 50 lb a box (the larger of its weight and 27.6 lb dimensional), 300 lb in all. Over 150 lb in all: a partnered pallet (LTL) carrier may cost less. If the shipment is misrouted, deleted, abandoned or late, add $0.46 a unit in inbound defect fees.
The four costs of getting stock into Amazon
- Freight to Amazon. Amazon's partnered carrier (small parcels by UPS, pallets by truck) or a carrier you book yourself. Amazon says its partnered rates are up to 25% lower than the alternatives, and quotes each shipment in Send to Amazon.
- The inbound placement fee. A per-unit fee when you send everything to one or a few locations and let Amazon spread it out. Splitting the shipment the way Amazon suggests costs nothing. Rates and options: Amazon FBA inbound placement fee.
- Prep and labels. Since January 1, 2026 Amazon no longer preps or labels items in the US: you, your supplier or a prep center does it before the stock ships.
- Inbound defect fees. Only when something goes wrong: a shipment sent to the wrong place, deleted, abandoned, incomplete or late. In 2026 these went up sharply.
Freight and prep are yours to price; Amazon's two fees come from its published tables, below. Add them all to the landed cost of each unit, with what you paid the supplier, the freight from the factory and duty.
How Amazon's partnered carrier prices a shipment
- Billable weight. Each box is charged on the larger of its actual weight and its dimensional weight, which is length x width x height in inches divided by 139, rounded up. A 20 x 16 x 12 in box has a dimensional weight of 27.6 lb, so a 20 lb box of light products is billed as 28 lb.
- Small-parcel limits. A box can weigh up to 150 lb and measure up to 108 in long and 165 in in length plus girth. Under 1 lb, a minimum charge applies.
- Pallets. Over 150 lb in all, Amazon suggests its partnered less-than-truckload or full-truckload carriers. They need 40 x 48 in wooden pallets, a forklift and a dock that takes a 53-foot trailer (or a liftgate or box truck by request), and the freight class of the pallets.
- Billing. When you accept the estimate, the charge goes to your seller account and shows up in your payments as a service fee. Cancel a small-parcel shipment within 24 hours of accepting (a pallet shipment within one hour) and you aren't billed; after that, getting the money back for an unused shipment takes a case with Selling Partner Support.
- Accuracy matters. The quote is built from the box weights and sizes you enter. Wrong numbers bring fee adjustments later and can get future shipments blocked.
Inbound defect fees in 2026
For shipments created on or after January 15, 2026, Amazon charges one per-unit fee for every misrouted, deleted or abandoned unit, and no placement fee on those units:
| Size tier | Shipping weight | Fee per unit |
|---|---|---|
| Small standard | 16 oz or less | $0.32 |
| Large standard | 12 oz or less | $0.38 |
| 12+ oz to 1.5 lb | $0.46 | |
| 1.5+ lb to 3 lb | $0.59 | |
| 3+ lb to 5 lb | $0.74 | |
| 5+ lb to 7 lb | $0.94 | |
| 7+ lb to 10 lb | $1.14 | |
| 10+ lb to 15 lb | $1.44 | |
| 15+ lb to 20 lb | $1.74 | |
| Small bulky | 5 lb or less | $1.38 |
| 5+ lb to 12 lb | $2.06 | |
| 12+ lb to 28 lb | $3.16 | |
| 28+ lb to 42 lb | $4.48 | |
| 42+ lb to 50 lb | $5.25 | |
| Large bulky | 5 lb or less | $1.43 |
| 5+ lb to 12 lb | $2.23 | |
| 12+ lb to 28 lb | $3.54 | |
| 28+ lb to 42 lb | $4.94 | |
| 42+ lb to 50 lb | $5.72 |
What triggers it:
- Misrouted: the shipment was delivered to a different location than the shipping plan said.
- Deleted or abandoned: a shipment deleted or cancelled after you approved the plan, or one never completed, or quantities far off the plan.
- Late: a domestic shipment that hasn't arrived 45 days after you created it (international: 75 days), or, in a plan with several destinations, the other shipments more than 30 days after the first one arrived.
Before January 15 the fee was 2 to 7 cents a unit, with the placement fee still charged on the units. Now a 2 lb item costs $0.59 a unit. If you think a fee is wrong, you can ask Amazon to investigate within 90 days of the shipment problem notice.
Prep and labeling after January 1, 2026
Amazon used to bag, bubble-wrap and label items for a fee per unit ($0.55 to label one). For shipments created since January 1, 2026 it does none of this in the US, including stock that comes through AWD or Amazon Global Logistics. Every item must arrive prepped, with a scannable barcode. Units that arrive without the prep they need and get damaged or lost are not reimbursed. Your options: do it yourself, have the factory do it, or use a prep center (Amazon lists vetted providers). Products in Amazon's Ships in Product Packaging program need less prep.
Where these charges show up
In your settlement report, inbound costs arrive as separate lines (see Amazon settlement report explained):
- FBA Inbound Placement Service Fee, about 45 days after the shipment is received
- Inbound Transportation Fee, the partnered-carrier freight (and Inbound Transportation Fee - Adjustment when the box weights were off)
- Inbound Defect Fee - Shipments delivered to the wrong location and Inbound Defect Fee - Deleted or abandoned shipments
- AWD Transportation Fee, if you move stock from Amazon Warehousing and Distribution
If Amazon received fewer units than you shipped, that isn't a fee: it's money you can claim back within nine months of delivery. See FBA inbound shipment reconciliation.
Put it in your landed cost
A unit that cost $3 at the factory can cost $4 once it's in Amazon's warehouse. MyProfit adds the freight and duty bills to your supplier invoices and works out each unit's landed cost, counts every inbound fee in each payout's profit, and checks every shipment for units Amazon didn't receive. Look around a sample store to see it with made-up numbers.
Sources: Amazon's Seller Central pages "Amazon Partnered Carrier program", "FBA inbound placement service fee", "Inbound defect fees", "FBA Prep Service" and "FBA Label Service", and Amazon's Partner Carrier program page, read October 9, 2026. Amazon can change its fees at any time; Send to Amazon shows your shipment's actual charges.
See what each unit really costs, from the factory to the customer
MyProfit pulls your orders, fees, settlements, returns and ad spend from Amazon every night and shows your real profit by product, day and payout. 30 days of everything free, then $19.99 a month, or keep the free plan: it finds the money Amazon still owes you and checks your FBA fees, for good.