Amazon FBA Storage Fees (2026)

How FBA Storage Fees Work

Amazon charges for the space your inventory physically occupies in its fulfillment centers, measured in cubic feet of packaged product. Each month, Amazon takes a daily average of your total stored volume and multiplies it by the applicable rate for the size tier and season. The charge posts to your account between the 7th and 15th of the following month.

Two details matter more than most sellers realize. First, the daily average means storage cost tracks sell-through: inventory that clears in the first week of the month costs a fraction of inventory that sits all 30 days. Second, the base rate is only the floor — the surcharges below are where storage costs quietly compound, and they apply in addition to the monthly fee, not instead of it.

Monthly Inventory Storage Fees (2026)

Rates vary by size tier and season. The October–December peak reflects Amazon's own capacity crunch during holiday volume — and it is the single largest storage line item for most sellers' year.

Standard-size covers items under 20 lb that fit within 18" x 14" x 8"; anything beyond falls into the oversize tiers, which are cheaper per cubic foot but consume far more cube per unit. Amazon may also apply a storage utilization surcharge to sellers whose stored volume is chronically high relative to weekly sales volume — another mechanism pushing the same message: keep inventory moving.

For context, FBA's off-peak standard rate is already 2–3x what bulk warehouse space costs — see our pallet storage cost benchmarks — because you are paying for pick-ready placement in a fulfillment network, not just square footage.

Aged-Inventory Surcharge: The 181-Day Cliff

The aged-inventory surcharge (formerly the "long-term storage fee") is the most misunderstood FBA charge because its trigger moved. It now begins at 181 days in a fulfillment center, and the per-cubic-foot rate escalates through each aging band:

The math past a year is brutal: a standard-size unit older than 365 days pays roughly $7.68 per cubic foot per month ($0.78 base + ~$6.90 surcharge) — nearly ten times the base rate. At that point, liquidation or removal is almost always cheaper than holding.

Amazon runs an inventory snapshot on the 15th of each month to assess age. Removal orders placed before the snapshot date avoid that month's surcharge, which is why experienced sellers run an aged-inventory review in the first week of every month.

The Low-Inventory-Level Fee: Penalized for Too Little Stock

Since 2024, Amazon has also charged in the other direction. If a standard-size product's inventory falls below roughly 28 days of historical supply relative to demand, a per-unit low-inventory-level fee applies to every outbound unit — and in 2026 Amazon raised the threshold to about 35 days of forecasted demand for high-velocity products. The rationale: chronically thin stock forces Amazon to fulfill from distant warehouses, raising its shipping costs.

Taken together, the aged-inventory surcharge and the low-inventory-level fee define a mandated supply window: hold more than ~6 months and you pay aging penalties; hold less than ~4–5 weeks and you pay velocity penalties. Most sellers now target 30–60 days of cover in FBA and stage the rest upstream.

That upstream staging is exactly what Amazon AWD (about $0.48–$0.57/cu ft with automatic FBA replenishment) and independent 3PL storage are for. Understanding your true inventory carrying cost across all locations is the foundation of that decision.

What FBA Storage Actually Costs: A Worked Example

Take a seller holding a daily average of 500 cubic feet of standard-size inventory (roughly 8–10 pallets' worth of packaged goods):

The spread between the best case ($125/month at a 3PL) and the worst case (~$3,840/month for year-old stock in FBA) is more than 30x for the identical volume of goods. Storage strategy — not rate shopping — is what moves the number.

How to Reduce FBA Storage Fees

• Keep FBA lean; stage buffer stock upstream. Hold 30–60 days of velocity in FBA and route the rest through AWD or a 3PL. This single change eliminates most aging-surcharge and peak-rate exposure.
• Run a monthly aged-inventory review before the 15th. Amazon's age snapshot lands mid-month; removal and liquidation orders placed in the first week avoid that month's surcharge on doomed stock.
• Time Q4 inbound carefully. Every cubic foot that lands in October pays $2.40 until it sells. Inventory that can arrive in late September still beats the peak window for the daily-average calculation.
• Liquidate rather than hold past 271 days. Once the steep aging bands hit, recovery via Amazon's liquidation program (typically 5–10% of retail) usually beats months of compounding surcharges on inventory that is not selling.
• Right-size packaging. Fees are billed on packaged cube. Reducing a box from 1.0 to 0.8 cubic feet cuts the storage line 20% on every unit, every month — and reduces fulfillment fees too.
• Watch both fee directions. Cutting inventory too aggressively triggers the low-inventory-level fee. Model your floor at ~35 days of forecasted demand for fast movers.

For the full inbound picture — placement fees, prep, and freight into Amazon's network — see our FBA vs 3PL cost comparison and best 3PLs for FBA prep.

FBA vs AWD vs 3PL Storage at a Glance

Note that Amazon also added a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge to FBA and MCF fulfillment fees effective April 17, 2026 — it does not apply to storage, but it shifts the all-in economics further when comparing full FBA against a 3PL. For benchmark 3PL pricing, see how much a 3PL costs.

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