Keeping one White Mountain Puzzles box on an Amazon shelf for a whole year costs about $2.16 in storage at 2026's base rates, 10.8% of its $19.99 price. The same shelf space for a Spite House Games card deck costs 7 cents. Once a unit has been in stock longer than a year, the deck pays at least 30 cents a month, because Amazon's per-unit minimum takes over. This page works through every part of the FBA storage bill, the monthly fee, the Q4 peak, the utilisation surcharge, the aged inventory surcharge and the single age-based fee that replaces them on 1 February 2027, on the real box sizes of products we track.
For the whole FBA fee schedule, fulfilment and referral fees included, see Amazon FBA fees 2026. To put a storage figure on your own product, enter its box size into our FBA fee calculator, which works out the monthly storage fee for any number of months, in or out of peak.
How Amazon calculates the storage fee
Amazon's formula is short: fee = average daily units × cubic feet per unit × the rate for the month. Three details decide what you pay.
- Volume is the packaged unit. Amazon measures the unit as it is packed and ready to ship, longest side × median side × shortest side. In inches, divide by 1,728 to get cubic feet. Weight plays no part, except through the size tier.
- It is an average, not a month-end count. The fee is charged on the average number of units you held each day of the month, minus units pending removal.
- It is billed a month late. The charge for one month is taken between the 7th and 15th of the next.
The rate depends on whether the product is standard size or oversize, whether it is a dangerous good, and the time of year. Amazon's 2026 base rates, which apply until 31 January 2027:
| Per cubic foot, per month | January to September | October to December |
|---|---|---|
| Standard size | $0.78 | $2.40 |
| Oversize (every tier above large standard) | $0.56 | $1.40 |
| Dangerous goods, standard size | $0.99 | $3.63 |
| Dangerous goods, oversize | $0.78 | $2.43 |
Standard size costs more per cubic foot than oversize. Amazon's explanation is that small items need shelving, drawers and bins, which cost more to run than floor space.
What storage costs on real products
Each row takes a best-selling product's packaged size from our research and applies the 2026 base rate. "A year-round slot" is what it costs to keep one unit's worth of space filled for twelve months, nine at the off-peak rate and three at peak, with stock turning over so that nothing ages.
| Product | Box (inches) | Cubic feet | Jan to Sep, a month | Oct to Dec, a month | A year-round slot | Share of price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spite House Games card deck | 3.7 × 2.8 × 0.9 | 0.005 | $0.004 | $0.012 | $0.07 | 0.6% of $12.99 |
| Draft Top can opener | 6.5 × 3.5 × 1.1 | 0.014 | $0.011 | $0.033 | $0.20 | 0.8% of $25.99 |
| Songbird Specialties wine pourer | 7.5 × 4.6 × 2.3 | 0.046 | $0.036 | $0.110 | $0.65 | 2.2% of $29.99 |
| Doctor Jupiter science kit | 13.4 × 10.0 × 2.0 | 0.159 | $0.124 | $0.382 | $2.26 | 8.4% of $26.99 |
| White Mountain Puzzles jigsaw | 12.2 × 10.1 × 2.1 | 0.152 | $0.119 | $0.365 | $2.16 | 10.8% of $19.99 |
| Restoration Games Thunder Road | 15.0 × 11.5 × 6.3 | 0.629 | $0.490 | $1.509 | $8.94 | 14.9% of $59.95 |
| Virora Mahjong 160-tile set | 17.7 × 9.9 × 2.9 | 0.295 | $0.230 | $0.708 | $4.20 | 1.8% of $229 |
| Virora Mahjong rubber mat (oversize) | 34.5 × 3.5 × 3.5 | 0.245 | $0.137 | $0.343 | $2.26 | 5.1% of $44.70 |
Three things stand out.
Storage is a box-size fee, so it punishes cheap, bulky products. The board game and the puzzle hold 10% to 15% of their price in a year of shelf space; the card deck and the can opener hold under 1%. The mahjong set is twice the puzzle's volume but more than ten times its price, so storage barely registers.
Next to the fulfilment fee, storage is usually small. The puzzle's FBA fee is $6.02 a unit; a month on the shelf in summer is 12 cents. Storage only matters when units sit for many months, or when the product is large for its price.
Oversize can be cheaper to store. The mahjong mat is 34.5 inches long, past the 18-inch limit for large standard, so it is small bulky and pays the oversize rate. Per cubic foot it costs $0.56 a month against $0.78 for the standard-size set, although its fulfilment fee is higher.
Q4 storage: three months that cost more than nine
From October to December the standard-size rate triples, from $0.78 to $2.40. Three months at $2.40 come to $7.20 per cubic foot; the other nine months at $0.78 come to $7.02. A standard-size seller who holds the same stock all year pays more than half its annual storage bill in the fourth quarter. For oversize the jump is smaller, from $0.56 to $1.40, and Q4 is about 45% of the year.
At scale the jump is real money. A thousand of White Mountain's puzzles occupy about 152 cubic feet, which costs $118.51 a month in September and $364.63 a month in October. Restoration Games' launch estimate in our data is built on a 500-copy minimum order of Thunder Road; 500 boxes take 314 cubic feet, $245 a month at the off-peak rate and $754 a month in Q4.
The practical rule is timing. Stock that arrives in late September for the Christmas season pays the peak rate for every day it waits. Sending it in tranches, so that each arrives shortly before it sells, cuts the bill without cutting what you can sell. The peak storage rate is separate from the holiday peak fulfilment fee, which runs on its own dates; both are in our 2026 fee guide.
The storage utilisation surcharge, until 31 January 2027
Some sellers pay a surcharge on top of the base rate. It applies only if all four of these are true:
- you have a Professional selling account;
- your first shipment to an Amazon fulfilment centre in the US was more than 365 days ago;
- you store, on average, at least 25 cubic feet a day in that size tier;
- your storage utilisation ratio for that tier is above 22 weeks.
The ratio is your average daily stored volume divided by your average daily shipped volume over the past 13 weeks, divided by 7. In plain terms it is how many weeks of stock you hold. Amazon reads it on the last day of each month and applies the surcharge to all units older than 30 days.
| Weeks of stock | Standard size, extra per cubic foot | Oversize, extra per cubic foot |
|---|---|---|
| Under 22 | None | None |
| 22 to 28 | $0.44 | $0.23 |
| 28 to 36 | $0.76 | $0.46 |
| 36 to 44 | $1.16 | $0.63 |
| 44 to 52 | $1.58 | $0.76 |
| 52 or more | $1.88 | $1.26 |
The surcharge is the same in peak and off-peak months. The 25-cubic-foot threshold sounds large but is not: it is about 165 of White Mountain's puzzles, 157 Doctor Jupiter kits or 40 Thunder Road boxes. Only a card deck needs volume, at about 4,840.
As a hypothetical, take a seller holding 500 Thunder Road boxes and selling 20 a week. That is 25 weeks of stock, in the 22-to-28 tier. If all 500 are older than 30 days, the surcharge adds 314 × $0.44 = $138 a month to a $245 base bill. Selling 30 a week instead would bring the ratio to about 17 weeks and remove the surcharge altogether. New sellers are exempt for their first year, and so are Individual sellers and anyone under 25 cubic feet. Products where at least 70% of FBA units in the past 13 weeks were auto-replenished from Amazon Warehousing and Distribution (AWD) can get a waiver.
The aged inventory surcharge
Amazon used to call this the long-term storage fee. It is charged on top of the monthly fee for units in stock 181 days or more, from a snapshot taken on the 15th of each month. Age is counted first-in, first-out across the whole network: every unit sold or removed is taken off your oldest stock, whichever unit was physically picked.
| Age on the 15th | Surcharge since 16 January 2026 |
|---|---|
| 181 to 210 days | $0.50 per cubic foot* |
| 211 to 240 days | $1.00 per cubic foot* |
| 241 to 270 days | $1.50 per cubic foot* |
| 271 to 300 days | $5.45 per cubic foot |
| 301 to 330 days | $5.70 per cubic foot |
| 331 to 365 days | $5.90 per cubic foot |
| 366 to 455 days | $6.90 per cubic foot or $0.30 a unit, whichever is greater |
| 456 days or more | $7.90 per cubic foot or $0.35 a unit, whichever is greater |
*Clothing, shoes, bags, jewellery and watches are exempt from the first three steps.
The step at 271 days is the one that hurts. A White Mountain puzzle 270 days old pays $0.23 a month in surcharge; at 271 days it pays $0.83, on top of the 12-cent base fee.
The per-unit minimum changes the maths for small products. By volume, a year-old Spite House deck would pay 6.90 × 0.005 = 3.6 cents. The $0.30 minimum applies instead, more than eight times as much, and about 75 times the deck's 0.4-cent base fee. A cheap, light product that stops selling is far more expensive to keep than its size suggests.
The way out is a removal or disposal order. Amazon charges removal by shipping weight: for standard size, $0.84 a unit up to 0.5 lb, $1.53 to 1 lb, $2.27 to 2 lb, and $2.89 plus $1.06 per lb above that. The deck, at 0.22 lb, costs $0.84 to remove, under three months of its year-old surcharge. The puzzle is billed at about 1.9 lb, so $2.27, which is under three months of what it pays after 271 days. A removal order placed by 11:59 pm Pacific on the 14th avoids that month's surcharge even if the units have not left yet. Amazon says removals usually take 14 business days, and 30 or more in the holiday season.
From 1 February 2027: one age-based fee
On 1 February 2027 Amazon drops the utilisation surcharge and folds the aged inventory surcharge into the monthly fee. The result is a single rate per cubic foot that rises with each unit's age. It is assessed per FNSKU at month end and billed between the 7th and 15th of the next month.
| Age | Standard size from Feb 2027 | Standard size in 2026 (base + aged surcharge) | Bulky and oversize from Feb 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to 180 days | $0.78 | $0.78 | $0.56 |
| 181 to 210 days | $2.78 | $1.28 | $2.56 |
| 211 to 240 days | $2.78 | $1.78 | $2.56 |
| 241 to 270 days | $2.78 | $2.28 | $2.56 |
| 271 to 300 days | $6.68 | $6.23 | $6.46 |
| 301 to 330 days | $6.68 | $6.48 | $6.46 |
| 331 to 365 days | $6.68 | $6.68 | $6.46 |
| 366 to 455 days | $7.68, or $0.78 plus $0.30 a unit | $7.68, or $0.78 plus $0.30 a unit | $7.46, or $0.56 plus $0.30 a unit |
| 456 days or more | $8.68, or $0.78 plus $0.35 a unit | $8.68, or $0.78 plus $0.35 a unit | $8.46, or $0.56 plus $0.35 a unit |
Off-peak rates per cubic foot a month; the 2026 column ignores the utilisation surcharge. From October to December 2027, Amazon adds $1.62 per cubic foot to every standard-size age tier and $0.84 to bulky and oversize, so young stock still pays $2.40 and $1.40 in Q4. Clothing, shoes, bags, jewellery and watches pay a lower $1.78 (standard) from 181 to 270 days, but no longer escape that window entirely. Dangerous goods add $0.21 per cubic foot off-peak and $1.23 at peak for standard size, which leaves young dangerous-goods stock on the same $0.99 and $3.63 as today.
Amazon's own summary is that stock which turns in under six months pays the same or less, and stock aged 181 to 330 days pays more. The table shows where: at 181 to 210 days the rate more than doubles, from $1.28 to $2.78. On our products, the 2027 off-peak rate per unit a month looks like this:
| Product | 0 to 180 days | 181 to 270 | 271 to 365 | 366 to 455 | 456 or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spite House deck | $0.004 | $0.01 | $0.03 | $0.30 | $0.35 |
| Draft Top can opener | $0.01 | $0.04 | $0.09 | $0.31 | $0.36 |
| White Mountain jigsaw | $0.12 | $0.42 | $1.01 | $1.17 | $1.32 |
| Virora 160-tile set | $0.23 | $0.82 | $1.97 | $2.27 | $2.56 |
| Restoration Games Thunder Road | $0.49 | $1.75 | $4.20 | $4.83 | $5.46 |
Two exemptions carry over. Units enrolled in FBA New Selection get free monthly storage for a limited time, and any FNSKU that is at least 70% auto-replenished from AWD pays the 0-to-180-day rate whatever its age.
How much stock to send in
Under both the 2026 and the 2027 rules, stock that sells within six months never pays more than the base rate. Amazon's own guidance for the 2027 fee is to plan so that a first shipment sells through within 150 days, leaving a month of margin before the 181-day step.
For a new product that is easy to meet, because the first order should be small. The launch estimates in our data are built on validation tests: 50 units for most products, of which 30 go to Amazon Vine for reviews and 20 are sold through ads, with more only where the factory's minimum order forces it. We explain those tests, and what each business's would cost, in how much Amazon FBA costs to start. The risk is the minimum order. Restoration Games' Thunder Road test needs 500 copies, so 450 of them wait on the shelf while the test runs. If it passes, they sell; if it fails, they are 314 cubic feet of stock heading for the 181-day line.
The opposite mistake has a fee too. Run too low and Amazon's low-inventory-level fee adds up to $0.97 a unit shipped for large-standard items under 3 lb. New sellers are exempt from it for their first year; the rates are in Amazon FBA fees 2026.
Five ways to cut the storage bill
- Shrink the box. Volume is the only product input. Spite House's deck is 0.87 inches thick; at 0.75 it would also drop to small standard for fulfilment.
- Do not store Q4 stock early. Every cubic foot that arrives in October pays three times September's rate.
- Act before day 181, and again before day 271. Use the FBA Inventory page's age view, which flags units that will be charged within 60 days, and run a promotion or a removal before the step.
- Remove what will not sell. On the deck and the puzzle, removal costs less than three months of the aged rate.
- Watch your weeks of stock until February. Holding under 22 weeks avoids the utilisation surcharge while it still exists.
FAQ
How much are Amazon FBA storage fees per month?
For standard-size products, $0.78 per cubic foot a month from January to September and $2.40 from October to December. Oversize is $0.56 and $1.40. A typical shoebox-sized item of about 0.15 cubic feet costs 12 cents a month off-peak and 36 cents in Q4.
Are storage fees charged per unit?
No, per cubic foot of the average daily stock you hold. The only per-unit element is the minimum on stock older than 365 days: $0.30 a unit to 455 days and $0.35 after.
When are Amazon storage fees charged?
Monthly, usually between the 7th and 15th of the month after the storage. The aged inventory surcharge is assessed on the 15th and, until February 2027, charged between the 18th and 22nd.
Do new sellers pay storage fees?
They pay the base rate, but not the utilisation surcharge for their first 365 days. Amazon's new-seller incentives also include free storage for eligible new products sent in through the FBA New Selection programme.
Is the long-term storage fee still charged?
Under the name aged inventory surcharge, until 31 January 2027. From 1 February 2027 it is part of the unified, age-based monthly fee.
Where these figures come from
All rates are from Amazon's US Seller Central help pages, read 10 November 2026: monthly inventory storage fees (base rates, utilisation surcharge, worked examples), aged inventory surcharge, unified monthly storage fee (the February 2027 rates), product size tiers and removal order fees; the new-seller exemptions are from Amazon's New Seller Incentives page. Box sizes are the packaged dimensions in each business's profile in our data, taken from Keepa's product records; prices are each product's usual buy-box price. Storage fees per unit are our arithmetic on those inputs, and the same arithmetic our FBA calculator runs.