A Breakdown of Amazon Fees

October 25, 2020
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Selling on Amazon is tough. Many sellers operate losing money and don’t even know it. The main reason for this on Amazon is:

  • Amazon is a price-driven marketplace that strongly encourages lower prices by sellers
  • Amazon charges a lot of fees and many sellers don’t have the awareness/sophistication to calculate their profit after these fees.

The Basic Fees

Other Transactional Fees

Some of these are credits, not fees

  • ePSO Fees – stands for Electronic Payment Systems Observatory and is relevant for sellers who accept Amazon Pay on their web sites. These are payment processing fees specific to EU customers.
    • EPSOCrossBorderFee – usually 1%
    • EPSOPaymentAuthFeeOnFinalize – usually $0.30
    • EPSOPaymentSettleFeeOnFinalize – usually 2.9%
  • Chargebacks – Amazon collects revenue from the customer for extra services such as shipping or giftwrap and has revenue transactions, as well as the chargeback transactions to zero them out on your books.
    • GiftwrapChargeback
    • ShippingChargeback
  • RefundCommission
  • SalesTaxCollectionFee
    • When you charge tax to a customer, Amazon typically charges a 2.9% fee on the tax amount.
    • As Amazon starts collecting fees on sellers behalf via Marketplace Facilitator, these fees are no longer being charged
  • ShippingHB
    • Shipping Holdback Fee
    • Commission on shipping payments received from customer
    • Usually calculated at the same commission % as the sale
  • FBATransportationFee (deprecated)
    • Multi-Channel Fulfillment Weight Handling

Other Fees

Some of these are credits, not fees

  • DebtRecoveryEvent
    • If you owe Amazon money, this is the payment to collect the funds owing
  • ProductAdsPaymentEvent
    • This covers charges for Amazon Advertising
  • RetrochargeEvent
    • This is a rare occurrence when Amazon either retroactively charges the seller or the customer after gaining new information about a case
  • SAFETReimbursementEvent
    • The Seller Assurance for e-Commerce Transactions (SAFE-T) process allows you to file a claim for reimbursement if you want to appeal Amazon’s decision to issue a refund to a customer. At Amazon’s sole discretion, you may be issued a reimbursement in cases where Amazon determines that you were not at fault
  • SellerReviewEnrollmentPaymentEvent

Service Fees

  • FBADisposalFee
    • Amazon has Disposal Fees for anytime you want to get rid of inventory
  • FBAInboundShipmentCartonLevelInfoFee
    • If the information you provide to Amazon about your cartons is incorrect, this is the fee for Amazon to correct it
  • FBAInboundTransportationFee
    • This is the actual carrier cost for inbound shipments to FBA if you use an Amazon Partnered Carrier
  • FBALongTermStorageFee
    • Long Term Storage Fees can add up to be pretty expensive. They typically apply to slow selling inventory.
  • FBARemovalFee
    • Amazon has Removal Fees if you want to have them transfer your inventory to your warehouse
  • FBAStorageFee
    • These are the regular Storage Fees that Amazon charges to hold your FBA inventory
  • LabelingFee
    • These are fees charged by Amazon to apply FNSKU labels to your items using the FBA Label Service
  • PolybaggingFee
    • These are fees charged by Amazon to prep your products with poly bags as needed.
  • Subscription
    • Your typical Seller Central monthly fee to have the privilege of selling on their platform.

Adjustments

Some of these are credits, not fees

  • BuyerRecharge
    • This is a credit for a buyer recharge.
    • Could be due to a buyer requesting a recharge after a refund from an item not received complaint that was eventually received.
    • Could be due to a return refund for a customer that is not sent in within 45 days of the refund request.
  • ChargeBackRecovery
    • This is a reimbursement from Amazon for when a customer performs a chargeback that is found to be unwarranted and Amazon covers it on your behalf.
  • CLI_PLANNED_FEE_REIMBURSEMENT
    • This is a reimbursement of a Carton Level Info Fee
  • COMPENSATED_CLAWBACK
    • A reversal of an Amazon reimbursement
    • Usually occurs if Amazon finds missing inventory that they’ve already reimbursed you for
  • CRETURN_WRONG_ITEM
    • This is a reimbursement from Amazon when the customer returns the wrong item
  • CS_ERROR_ITEMS
    • Sometimes Amazon will send an additional refund to the customer as “goodwill”. This is Amazon’s reimbursement for the additional refund send.
  • CS_ERROR_NON_ITEMIZED
    • Reimbursements related to mistakes made by Amazon customer service not related to the product.
    • Example: Seller charged shipping costs that should have been charged to the customer
  • DebtCreation
    • If you owe Amazon money, this is the payment to collect the funds owing
  • FBAReimbursement
    • Credits for FBA from Amazon
  • FREE_REPLACEMENT_REFUND_ITEMS
    • If buyer does not return the original product after a replacement, Amazon will reimburse you for the product never received
  • INBOUND_CARRIER_DAMAGE
    • Reimbursement for damage to products suffered in transit to Amazon’s warehouse when using an Amazon Partnered Carrier
  • INCORRECT_FEES_ITEMS
    • Reimbursement from Amazon when product is highly classified into a higher tier, specific product
  • INCORRECT_FEES_NON_ITEMIZED
    • Reimbursement from Amazon when product is highly classified into a higher tier, not related to a specific product
  • MerchantBadDebt
    • The meaning of this rare charge is unclear, but we believe it could be when a buyer purchases your products but does not pay. This is a rare occurrence since Amazon shoppers typically need a credit card on file.
  • MISSING_FROM_INBOUND
    • These reimbursements occur when Amazon loses your inbound FBA shipments (either during receiving or warehouse transfer).
  • MISSING_FROM_INBOUND_CLAWBACK
    • When Amazon finds inventory that was previously reimbursed due to MISSING_FROM_INBOUND, they clawback the reimbursement with this fee
  • MULTICHANNEL_ORDER_DAMAGED
    • Reimbursement from Amazon when a Multi-Channel Fulfillment order gets damaged
  • MULTICHANNEL_ORDER_LATE
    • Reimbursement of shipping costs from Amazon when a Multi-Channel Fulfillment order is late
  • MULTICHANNEL_ORDER_LOST
    • Reimbursement from Amazon when a Multi-Channel Fulfillment order gets lost
  • NonSubscriptionFeeAdj
    • This is a general non-descriptive fee/credit that is case-specific and requires contacting Amazon Seller Support
  • Other
    • This is a general non-descriptive fee/credit that is case-specific and requires contacting Amazon Seller Support
  • PREPFEE_REFUND
    • Reimbursement for charges related to inbound fba preparation
  • RE_EVALUATION
    • This is a general non-descriptive fee/credit that is case-specific and requires contacting Amazon Seller Support
  • REMOVAL_ORDER_DAMAGED
    • A reimbursement from Amazon when your items are damaged when you request a removal order
  • REMOVAL_ORDER_LOST
    • A reimbursement from Amazon when your items are lost when you request a removal order
  • ReserveCredit
    • Allows Amazon to release a “reserve” hold on funds
  • ReserveDebit
    • Allows Amazon to place a “reserve” hold on funds
  • ReturnPostageBilling – miscellaneous charges to compensate the buyer for shipping items back when seller was at fault
    • ReturnPostageBilling_FuelSurcharge
    • ReturnPostageBilling_OversizeSurcharge
    • ReturnPostageBilling_postage
    • ReturnPostageBilling_postage_commission
    • ReturnPostageBilling_Tracking
  • REVERSAL_REIMBURSEMENT
    • The name is somewhat confusing since this is a credit (reimbursement).
    • General and non-descriptive that requires contacting Amazon Seller Support for more details
  • ReversalReimbursement
    • The name is somewhat confusing since this is a credit (reimbursement).
    • General and non-descriptive that requires contacting Amazon Seller Support for more details
  • SubscriptionFeeCorrection
    • Credit for a Subscription Fee charge
  • WAREHOUSE_DAMAGE
    • Reimbursement for FBA goods damaged by warehouse
  • WAREHOUSE_DAMAGE_EXCEPTION
    • Reimbursement for FBA goods damaged by warehouse
  • WAREHOUSE_LOST
    • Reimbursement for FBA goods lost by warehouse
  • WAREHOUSE_LOST_MANUAL
    • Reimbursement for FBA goods lost by warehouse

This is not a complete list as Amazon often adds new fee categories. Also, these fees are not published by Amazon so they are difficult to find. We’ve listed the fees as the “code” that appears when downloading a settlement report using the ListFinancialEvents endpoint from Amazon’s Finances API.

See a fee that hasn’t been listed here? Please comment below so that we can research the fee and add it to the list.

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