Glossary · Finance

Amazon Finance glossary.

11 fees & finance terms defined for private-label brand operators. Cross-linked to related concepts.

Referral Fee— Amazon Referral Fee

The commission Amazon charges on each sale, calculated as a category-dependent percentage of the total sales price. It applies to every order regardless of fulfillment method and is usually the largest fee line after fulfillment. Rates live in the published fee schedule.

FBA Fulfillment Fee— FBA Per-Unit Fulfillment Fee

The per-unit fee for FBA orders, set by size tier and outbound weight. Rate cards are revised periodically, so margin models must reference the current published schedule. A product priced against last year's card loses margin without anyone noticing.

Monthly Storage Fee— FBA Monthly Storage Fee

The per-cubic-foot fee for FBA inventory in fulfillment centers, higher during Q4. It is charged on cubic volume, so oversized slow movers come to dominate the line even at low unit counts. The storage fee reports break it down per ASIN.

Related: aged-inventory-surcharge, ipi, fba

Aged Inventory Surcharge— Aged Inventory Surcharge (formerly Long-Term Storage Fee)

The escalating extra storage fee on FBA units stored beyond age thresholds, assessed on inventory-age snapshots. Avoided by selling through or filing removal orders before units cross a threshold: after the snapshot, the fee is already owed.

Settlement— Settlement Report & Disbursement

The recurring statement in which Amazon nets sales, fees, refunds, and reserves, then disburses the balance. For accounting, the settlement report is the ground truth: it reflects what was actually paid out and why. The sales dashboard only reflects orders.

Account-Level Reserve— Account-Level Reserve (Unavailable Balance)

Funds Amazon temporarily withholds from disbursement to cover potential refunds and claims, released as orders clear their delivery and return window. The usual explanation for "sales are up but the payout is flat" in growing or newly flagged accounts.

Related: settlement, order-defect-rate

COGS— Cost of Goods Sold

The direct cost of acquiring sellable units: manufacturing plus packaging, usually quoted before freight. No Amazon report includes it, so every profit view inside Seller Central overstates margin until COGS and inbound freight are layered in externally.

Contribution Margin— Per-Unit Contribution Margin

Revenue per unit minus all variable costs: COGS, inbound freight, Amazon fees, and ad spend. Derive ACoS targets from it, because advertising is paid for out of contribution margin. A target set from revenue alone overstates what ads can afford.

Related: cogs, acos, referral-fee

Inbound Placement Fee— FBA Inbound Placement Service Fee

A fee tied to how inbound FBA shipments are distributed across Amazon's network. Sending stock to one receive point costs more per unit than splitting shipments across regions. Introduced in 2024, with options and rates that keep evolving.

Related: fba, fba-fulfillment-fee

Low-Inventory-Level Fee— FBA Low-Inventory-Level Fee

A per-unit surcharge on FBA orders when an ASIN's stock runs persistently below Amazon's target days of supply. It penalizes chronic understocking, so the fix is replenishment planning. Exemptions exist for new and low-volume products.

Related: fba-fulfillment-fee, ipi, awd

Refund Administration Fee

The fee Amazon keeps from the referral fee it returns to the seller when an order is refunded. Refunds are never fee-neutral, which matters when modeling net margin in return-heavy categories.

Related: referral-fee, settlement

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