Amazon Storage Fees: 4 Ways to Avoid Big Charges
Originally published November 11th 2022
Last updated May 19th 2025
Amazon’s FBA storage fees can hit sellers who are caught unaware.
Having strong inventory management and knowledge of Amazon storage fees can save you thousands of dollars per month in unnecessary fulfillment fees that would have otherwise been deposited directly into your account.
In this post, we’re going to go over the most important things you need to know about monthly storage fees so you don’t get caught off guard by hefty charges that impact your profit margin and overall Amazon business.
Keep Inventory for 30–90 Days in Amazon’s Warehouses
If you want to make sure you’re never getting charged more than you should for storing your products in Amazon’s fulfillment centers, keep the time a product is spent there under 90 days.
You can aim for tighter windows like 60 days or even 30 days to minimize Amazon’s storage costs, but then you are risking the time for products to be put in stock from when they are sent from your 3PL warehouse to an FBA warehouse.
If you misjudge the time it takes to go from product prep to in-stock on Amazon FBA, you could risk your products going out of stock and losing sales, organic ranking, and inventory performance index (IPI) points for your products.
90 days creates a nice buffer that will help you keep FBA storage fees low but also keep the risk of having a stockout for any one particular SKU low as well.
Depending on how long it typically takes for your FBA inventory to leave the warehouse and get to Amazon’s warehouses can alter how much you send to Amazon. Keep tabs on shipping costs and sales volume trends.
Be aware of things like seasonality as that will greatly affect how long it takes from product pickup to delivery at an FBA warehouse, and how long it sits before it becomes slow-moving inventory subject to higher dimensional weight charges.
Be Careful with the Holiday Season
Amazon charges more for monthly storage fees.
A lot more.
If you look at Amazon’s fulfillment fee sheet, you can check their normal storage charge vs holiday season fee:
A jump from $0.83 per cubic foot up to a crazy $2.40 per cubic foot during the Holiday season.
What does that mean for you?
It means don’t keep a single cubic foot of product more than you need on Amazon, or else your profit margins will be eaten alive.
A tip that might be out of your control here is to try and sell products that don’t have strong seasonal demand in the last 3 months of the year.
That means if you’re still planning out an Amazon seller business, it might be best to stick to products that don’t really make for a great Christmas gift. This is especially important if you're trying to avoid long-term storage fees or overstocking penalties that hurt your IPI score.
Clear Out Unfulfillable, Stranded, and Returned Inventory
If you have any aged inventory at an Amazon fulfillment center that can’t be sold to customers, that means it is sitting in their warehouse, unfulfillable, and you’re being charged for it.
This is the type of inventory that can easily cross the 1-year mark and start receiving long-term storage fees, which are some of the most brutal FBA costs for FBA sellers.
Look over your seller central inventory now and then, see if any inventory is deemed unfulfillable, and either have it disposed of via removal order or sent to you.
There are a lot of reasons that products can be considered unfulfillable inventory, such as damaged returns, expired products, or mislabeling. So don’t think that even if you do a good job packing and shipping out your products to Amazon’s warehouses that it will never happen.
Keeping tabs on returned inventory, refunds, and stranded ASINs can help preserve cash flow and minimize additional fees on your FBA account.
Make Sure Amazon is Correctly Categorizing Your Products
Amazon occasionally checks the size tier, dimensions, and weight of your products to determine how much to charge you for fulfillment by Amazon.
However, a lot of the time they will get this wrong, and FBA sellers are often charged more than they should be to fulfill and store some of their ASINs.
You might think the sum wouldn’t be much, but for a popular SKU, this can result in thousands of dollars of lost profits due to incorrect dimensional weight and size classification.
Luckily, Seller Central has a nearly automated way to fix this problem.
Amazon allows sellers 20 re-measurements of a product during any given month.
That means they will take your product, measure the dimensions and weight, and see if it is different from what they have on file. This can drastically affect both storage charges and fulfillment costs.
To do this, simply go to the Help Hub on Amazon, and in the box type in “Remeasure FBA product” and it will give you directions on how to submit the ASIN you wish to have remeasured.
If it turns out you were right and they incorrectly weighed and measured your product, Amazon will give you the money you should have made since the error was incurred directly into your seller account.
Conclusion
With these 4 tips, you can save potentially thousands of dollars that translate into real cash in your account—without needing to boost ads, increase your sale price, or move more units. Just smart, lean management of your Amazon FBA logistics and fee structure.
Making small changes to how you manage inventory levels, monitor your FBA storage fees, and respond to inventory age can lead to major savings. From understanding dimensional weight to optimizing for standard-size products and avoiding long-term storage fees, every detail adds up. Many FBA sellers, especially the new sellers, overlook how much they’re paying in monthly inventory storage fees across Amazon’s fulfillment centers, which hurts profit margins and reduces pricing flexibility.
Improving sell-through, keeping stock levels optimized, and avoiding excess inventory can help you avoid the storage utilization surcharge, aged inventory surcharge, and other FBA costs like returns processing or placement fees. Ensuring your SKU data, shipping weight, and product packaging are accurate also helps reduce fulfillment fees and surprise charges.
Remember, Amazon fulfillment centers reward fast-moving inventory. High sales velocity and efficient restock timing improve your Inventory Performance Index (IPI), lower your fulfillment costs, and streamline your Amazon business overall. Whether you sell dangerous goods, large bulky items, or standard-size ASINs, staying on top of metrics like inventory age, cubic foot usage, and storage fees based on product size tiers is essential.
At the end of the day, everything you optimize helps automate efficiency, improve cash flow, and protect your margins. So, make your next move count—track your Amazon charges, manage your FBA inventory wisely, and keep your operation as cost-effective as possible all year round, especially during Q4 when storage costs and fee rates spike with the time of year.
FAQ: Amazon Storage Fees and Inventory Management
What are Amazon FBA storage fees?
Amazon FBA storage fees are monthly charges applied to your inventory stored at Amazon’s fulfillment centers. These fees are based on the volume (measured in cubic feet) your products occupy and can vary depending on the time of year, with higher costs during the holiday season.
How can I lower my Amazon storage costs?
You can lower Amazon storage costs by maintaining healthy inventory levels, removing aged inventory, avoiding overstocking, and keeping products at Amazon’s warehouses for no more than 90 days. Monitoring your inventory performance index (IPI) is also crucial to avoid penalties.
What happens if I leave products in Amazon’s warehouse for too long?
Products stored for over 365 days may be subject to long-term storage fees, which are significantly higher than regular monthly storage fees. This can hurt your profit margin and cash flow, especially if the products are slow-moving inventory.
How do I remove stranded or unfulfillable inventory?
You can submit a removal order through Seller Central to have Amazon dispose of or return stranded or unfulfillable inventory. Regularly reviewing your FBA inventory and monitoring returned products and refunds helps you avoid unnecessary storage charges.
What is dimensional weight and how does it affect my fees?
Dimensional weight refers to how much space your product occupies in Amazon’s fulfillment centers. If Amazon miscalculates your product’s size tier or weight, it can increase your storage fees and fulfillment costs. You can request a remeasurement through Seller Central to correct this.
Is it better to sell through FBA or FBM to avoid storage fees?
It depends on your business model. Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) offers convenience and faster shipping but comes with storage fees and fulfillment fees. Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM) gives you more control over shipping and storage costs, but requires more logistics effort on your part.
Does Amazon charge more during Q4?
Yes. Amazon significantly increases storage fees during Q4 (October through December). These holiday storage fees can be as much as three times higher than normal, which is why effective inventory management during the holiday season is crucial.
What is the best inventory turnover window to avoid fees?
A 30–90 day turnover window is generally optimal. This helps you stay in stock, avoid stockouts, and minimize monthly storage fees. Fast turnover also improves your IPI and helps maintain a cost-effective FBA business.
