I've been selling on Amazon since 2023. Every year, Amazon changes fees. This year, they made some significant updates that caught a lot of sellers off guard. Let me break down what actually changed based on my real products.

The Big Changes (January 2026)

Amazon sent out the fee update email on December 15th, 2025. Most sellers skimmed it and moved on. I actually read it and calculated the impact. Here's what I found:

1. FBA Fulfillment Fees: Up 3-5%

The fulfillment fees increased across most size tiers. Here's a real example from my product:

For Large Standard products, the increase was bigger. My 2-lb product went from $5.06 to $5.28. That's $0.22 more per unit. Over 500 units/month, that's $110/month or $1,320/year.

2. Storage Fees: Peak Season Extended

This one hurt. Amazon extended "peak season" storage fees. Previously, peak rates applied October-December. Now it's September-January. That's 5 months of higher storage fees instead of 3.

If you have 100 products in storage, that's $194 more. And that's just for one storage cycle.

3. Referral Fees: Mostly Unchanged (Good News)

The referral fees stayed the same for most categories. Electronics is still 8%, Home & Kitchen is still 15%, etc. No changes there, which is good.

However, Amazon did adjust the minimum referral fee from $0.30 to $0.32. If you sell low-priced items (under $2), this affects you. Most sellers won't notice this.

Real Impact on My Products

I calculated the actual impact on my 3 best-selling products:

That's $6,384 more in fees per year, just from these 3 products. And that doesn't include the storage fee increases.

What This Means for Your Profit

If you were making 20% profit margin before, you're now making about 18-19%. That might not sound like much, but it adds up.

Example: Product selling for $25, with $5 profit margin (20%). After fee increases, profit drops to $4.50 (18%). Over 1,000 units, that's $500 less profit. Over a year, that's $6,000.

How to Offset the Increases

Here's what I'm doing to maintain my profit margins:

1. Raise prices slightly. I increased my prices by $0.50-$1.00 on most products. Customers haven't noticed, and it covers the fee increases.
2. Optimize product size. I'm redesigning packaging to get into smaller size tiers where possible. Saved $0.15/unit on one product.
3. Faster inventory turnover. I'm ordering smaller quantities more frequently to reduce storage time. Less time in storage = lower storage fees.
4. Negotiate better supplier prices. I went back to my suppliers and negotiated 3-5% lower costs. This offsets some of the fee increases.
5. Use Small and Light program where possible. If your product qualifies, the fees are much lower. I moved 2 products into this program.

The Hidden Fee: Long-Term Storage

Amazon also increased long-term storage fees (products stored 271+ days). This went from $6.90 to $7.20 per cubic foot. If you have slow-moving inventory, this hurts.

I had 50 units of a product that wasn't selling. They'd been in storage for 300 days. The long-term storage fee went from $345 to $360. That's an extra $15, but it adds up if you have multiple slow products.

What Sellers Are Saying

I'm in several Amazon seller groups. The consensus is:

• Most sellers didn't realize fees increased until they saw their January statements
• Smaller sellers (under 100 units/month) aren't as affected
• High-volume sellers are feeling the pinch - one seller said it's costing him $15,000/year more
• Everyone's raising prices slightly to compensate

Bottom Line

Amazon fees increased 3-5% on fulfillment, and storage fees are higher for longer periods. For most sellers, this means $500-$5,000 more in fees per year, depending on volume.

The good news? You can offset it by raising prices slightly, optimizing product size, and improving inventory turnover. The key is knowing your exact costs so you can adjust accordingly.