Model Amazon profit, category referral fees, seller-plan costs, FBA expenses, advertising and merchant fulfillment — then compare FBA vs FBM.
Editable planning assumptions. Verify current fees against your account, product and platform terms.
U.S. defaults: Individual $0.99 per item; Professional $39.99/month. Both remain editable through your order-volume model.
Tiered categories should use the effective rate for your selling price.
Use current fee estimates from Seller Central or Amazon's Revenue Calculator.
Compare your own shipping/handling costs against the FBA model.
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The FBA model starts with selling price and subtracts landed product cost, category referral fee, selling-plan cost per unit, fulfillment, storage or prep, inbound placement, return reserve, advertising CPA, and other Amazon costs. The FBM comparison replaces FBA-specific fulfillment inputs with seller shipping and handling so the same product can be tested under two fulfillment routes.
The displayed FBA ROI uses profit divided by the calculator’s operating cost base: landed cost plus FBA fulfillment, storage/prep, and inbound cost. It is intentionally separate from margin. Verify product-specific FBA estimates before using the output for inventory or advertising decisions.
Assume a $30 selling price, $8 landed cost, a 15% referral fee, $4.50 FBA fulfillment, $0.60 storage/prep, $0.40 inbound cost, a 3% return reserve, $0.30 other Amazon cost, and $5 ad CPA. At 300 monthly units on the Professional plan, allocating $39.99 across units adds about $0.13 per sale. With no added logistics surcharge in this scenario, modeled total cost is about $24.33 and profit is about $5.67, or an 18.9% margin. The non-ad cost is about $19.33, creating a break-even CPA of about $10.67 and break-even ROAS near 2.81×.
| Official US example | Current fee |
|---|---|
| Individual selling plan | $0.99 per item sold |
| Professional selling plan | $39.99 per month |
| Computers referral fee | 8% |
| Automotive & Powersports | 12% |
| Baby Products over $10 | 15% |
A useful Amazon comparison keeps referral fees constant between FBA and FBM when the product category is the same, then changes only the costs that actually differ between fulfillment routes. This avoids crediting FBA or FBM for a marketplace fee both methods would pay. Re-run the scenario whenever size tier, inbound placement, storage profile, or advertising economics change.
Amazon selling-plan and referral-fee examples checked September 25, 2026. FBA fulfillment and storage costs are product-specific. Verify Amazon selling fees and current FBA estimates for your SKU.
No. Referral fees vary by category and some categories use tiered rates. Enter the effective rate that applies to the product instead of assuming one marketplace-wide percentage.
No. FBA fulfillment depends on product characteristics and the applicable fee schedule. Enter the current per-unit estimate from Seller Central or Amazon’s Revenue Calculator.
It is modeled product revenue divided by the maximum ad CPA the order can absorb before modeled profit becomes zero. It helps translate unit economics into an advertising threshold.
No. Compare the complete route: landed product cost, referral fee, selling plan allocation, fulfillment or shipping, storage and inbound costs, returns, advertising, labor, and other costs relevant to your operation.
A hypothetical $30 product leaves $4.10 per order through FBA and $1.60 through merchant fulfillment after the stated costs and $5 acquisition cost. Reducing the merchant shipping quote from $6.50 to $2.50 reverses the result: merchant fulfillment then leaves $5.60.
Include inbound delivery, preparation, handling labor, storage and monthly costs once. Use a product-specific estimate and the same revenue assumptions for both options.
Compare FBA and FBM step by step →
Original hypothetical worked example. Read the guide for all assumptions, formulas and exclusions.