asinIQYou've built a shipping plan in Send to Amazon and the cheapest-looking choice sends everything to one warehouse. Then, 45 days after Amazon receives it, your Payments dashboard shows a service fee called the FBA inbound placement service fee. On a $2 arbitrage margin, for example, 30 cents a unit is 15% of your profit.
The short answer
Amazon.com charges the inbound placement fee per unit received when you ship FBA inventory to the fewest locations, generally one, and Amazon spreads it out. For plans created on or after January 15, 2026, it is $0.14 to $1.90 per standard-size unit. It is zero if you ship each item in five or more identical cartons to the five or more locations your shipping plan names. Amazon.ca's pricing page doesn't list it, so check your first Canadian plan.
- On Amazon.com, the minimal shipment splits option costs $0.14 to $1.90 per standard-size unit in 2026, charged 45 days after the shipment is received.
- The no-fee option needs every carton to match: 120 units packed as five cartons of 24 qualify, but cartons of 20 and 28 lose it.
- Every carton must hold the same items in the same numbers, so a mixed arbitrage box with a few units of many ASINs is very unlikely to qualify. Count the fee in your cost per unit.
- Each misrouted, deleted or abandoned unit costs a defect fee, $0.32 to $1.74 for standard sizes, and a domestic shipment that hasn't arrived 45 days after you created it counts as abandoned.
What is the Amazon inbound placement fee?
The FBA inbound placement service fee is a per-unit charge on Amazon.com for sending your inventory to the fewest locations, generally one, so that Amazon decides how to place it across its network. You choose it, or avoid it, when you pick a placement option while creating a shipping plan.
Amazon's inbound placement fee page lists three options. Which ones you see depends on the products and quantities in the plan, your existing stock, where customers are and how much room the warehouses have.
- Minimal shipment splits: send to as few locations as possible, generally one, and pay the fee.
- Amazon-optimized shipment splits: ship each item in at least five identical cartons to the locations your shipping plan lists (five or more, in Amazon's rate table), and pay no placement fee. Your plan names each destination; Amazon's page doesn't say how many cartons go to each.
- Partial shipment splits: two or three locations at a lower fee, for Bulky items only. For standard-size items, Amazon's page offers only minimal or Amazon-optimized splits.
The fee is charged 45 days after the shipment is received, on the quantity actually received. By then the product may already have sold. Look for it in the Payments dashboard, under Transaction view, with Service fees selected.
How much is the inbound placement fee in 2026?
For shipment plans created on or after January 15, 2026, Amazon.com's minimal split fee runs from $0.14 to $1.90 per standard-size unit. Where you land inside a band depends on the inbound location, and Amazon says locations in the West can cost more.
| Size tier and shipping weight | Minimal splits, per unit |
|---|---|
| Small standard, 8 oz or less | $0.14 to $0.32 |
| Small standard, 8+ to 16 oz | $0.16 to $0.32 |
| Large standard, 12 oz or less | $0.20 to $0.40 |
| Large standard, 12+ oz to 1.5 lb | $0.24 to $0.50 |
| Large standard, 1.5+ to 3 lb | $0.34 to $0.60 |
| Large standard, 3+ to 5 lb | $0.38 to $0.76 |
| Large standard, 5+ to 7 lb | $0.40 to $0.98 |
| Large standard, 7+ to 10 lb | $0.42 to $1.20 |
| Large standard, 10+ to 15 lb | $0.44 to $1.50 |
| Large standard, 15+ to 20 lb | $0.55 to $1.90 |
Small standard means up to 15 x 12 x 0.75 inches and large standard up to 18 x 14 x 8 inches. Small standard items are rated on unit weight. Large standard and Bulky items use the larger of the unit weight and the dimensional weight, so a light item in a big box can land in a higher band.
Amazon's own example is 100 large standard units of 12 oz or less sent to one location in the West at $0.36 each, a $36.00 fee. Bulky items cost more: on minimal splits, a Small Bulky item of 5 lb or less pays $1.10 to $1.60 a unit, and a Large Bulky item of 42 to 50 lb pays $5.50 to $6.50. Extra-Large products pay no inbound placement fee.
How do I get the Amazon-optimized option with no placement fee?
On Amazon.com, a shipment qualifies for the Amazon-optimized option only if every item in it ships in at least five identical cartons or pallets. Identical means each carton holds the same items in the same quantities.
Say you have 120 units of one item. Five cartons of 24 qualify. Pack one carton with 20 and another with 28, and the plan loses the free option. Amazon's own FAQ makes the same point with two items: if one carton is missing an item or holds a different quantity, the whole plan is ineligible.
When you build a plan, Amazon's page lists three ways to see more options:
- Make separate shipments for standard-size items, non-standard-size items, and for apparel, jewelry, shoes, watches and dangerous goods.
- Put the same item mix and the same quantities in every box.
- Use more boxes.
Add one Bulky item or a special category to a standard plan, and Amazon may send part of it to another location even on minimal splits. Each of those shipments is still charged the minimal split rate.
Is splitting the shipment cheaper than paying the fee?
Splitting saves money when the placement fee on the whole shipment is larger than the extra freight of sending cartons to several warehouses. Send to Amazon shows a fee estimate and an estimated total inbound cost (the fee plus Amazon's estimate of shipping at its partner carrier rates) for each option, so compare those before you pick.
Splitting also means packing to an exact pattern and labelling each carton for its destination, and every carton has to arrive on time.
What if I ship a mixed box of arbitrage finds?
In practice, with a dozen or more ASINs at a few units each, you're very unlikely to get five identical cartons. Each carton would need the same items in the same numbers, so every ASIN's count would have to split evenly into the same five or more cartons. On Amazon.com, expect minimal splits and treat the fee as part of your cost per unit, the same as prep and shipping to Amazon. Until the estimate in Send to Amazon or your statements show the rate you're charged, budget the top of your band.
A product that looked fine at a $1.50 margin may not be worth the cash once placement, prep and inbound freight are counted. In asinIQ you set your prep, shipping and other costs once, and every check uses them. Add a per-unit placement allowance to your other costs, and every product you check counts it in the profit, ROI and the most you can pay a supplier.
What happens if a shipment goes wrong?
On shipments created on or after January 15, 2026, Amazon.com charges an inbound defect fee on every unit that is misrouted, deleted or abandoned. For a 10 oz large standard item that is $0.38 a unit.
| Size tier and shipping weight | Defect fee, per unit |
|---|---|
| Small standard, 16 oz or less | $0.32 |
| Large standard, 12 oz or less | $0.38 |
| Large standard, 12+ oz to 1.5 lb | $0.46 |
| Large standard, 1.5+ to 3 lb | $0.59 |
| Large standard, 15+ to 20 lb | $1.74 |
According to Amazon's inbound defect fees page, defects include sending a shipment to a different warehouse than the plan names and deleting a shipment after you approve the plan. Amazon's list also says a domestic shipment must arrive within 45 days of being created. By our reading the list doesn't limit that to split plans, so a box that sits in your garage can turn into a defect on a one-location plan too. On a plan with several destinations, every later shipment must also arrive within 30 days of the first shipment arriving.
In the 120 unit wholesale example in the split or pay section, abandoning one carton of 24 would cost 24 x $0.38 = $9.12, about 43% of the $21.00 saved. You also can't delete just one shipment from an approved multi-destination plan. To change it you must delete every shipment in the plan before any of it ships.
Does Amazon.ca charge an inbound placement fee?
Amazon.ca's pricing page lists no inbound placement fee among its FBA fees, and we found no Amazon.ca version of the placement fee help page.
If you sell on both, add the placement fee to your Amazon.com costs. For Amazon.ca, look at the fee lines in your first Canadian shipping plan, and add a placement fee only if one shows.
Are there other ways to lower the fee?
Amazon sets the fee from four things: the item's size tier, its weight, the number of splits and the inbound location. Amazon weighs a large standard item by the larger of its unit weight and its dimensional weight. Dimensional weight comes from the box, so by our reading a smaller box can lower the band. Check the estimate in Send to Amazon.
The Revenue Calculator also estimates the fee for West, East or Central inbound locations, so you can see how far the region moves it for your item.
New sellers on Amazon.com's Professional selling plan whose first FBA shipment reaches a fulfillment center within 90 days of listing can qualify for $400 in placement fee credits, which expire after a year if unused.
The placement fee is charged on the way in. For the fees charged after the item sells, see how much Amazon takes from a sale.
Common questions
When is the Amazon inbound placement fee charged?
Amazon.com charges the inbound placement fee 45 days after the shipment is received, based on the quantity received. Send to Amazon shows an estimate for each option when you create the plan, and the actual charge appears in the Payments dashboard under Transaction view, with Service fees selected.
How many boxes do I need to avoid the inbound placement fee?
On Amazon.com, at least five identical cartons or pallets for each item in the shipment, sent to the locations your shipping plan lists. Every carton must hold the same items in the same quantities. If one carton differs, the plan no longer qualifies for the Amazon-optimized option, which is the one with no placement fee.
Do Extra-Large items pay the inbound placement fee?
No. Amazon.com's inbound placement fee page says the fee does not apply to Extra-Large products. Small Bulky and Large Bulky items do pay it, from $1.10 to $6.50 a unit on minimal splits depending on size and weight, and they also have a partial split option at a lower rate.
Is there an inbound placement fee on Amazon.ca?
Amazon.ca's pricing page, checked October 30, 2026, lists no inbound placement fee, and Amazon's placement fee help page covers only the United States, so we can't confirm a Canadian rate. Add nothing for it to your Canadian costs, then look at the fee lines in your first Canadian shipping plan and add a placement fee only if one shows.
Can I see the inbound placement fee before I buy inventory?
Yes, as an estimate. Amazon's Revenue Calculator includes inbound placement fees by placement option and by West, East or Central inbound location. The rate in your actual shipping plan can vary within Amazon's published range for that size and weight band.
Sources
Checked October 30, 2026. Amazon changes fees and rules often, so check the page for your own marketplace before you buy.
- FBA inbound placement service feeAmazon Seller Central (US)
- Inbound defect feesAmazon Seller Central (US)
- New Seller IncentivesAmazon Seller Central (US)
- How pricing works on Amazon.caAmazon.ca