Amazon's storage fees are the silent profit killer. Most sellers don't notice them until the Q4 monthly statement triples and they realize they've been carrying dead inventory all year. Here's how the three storage-related charges work and how to forecast them.
The three storage charges
1. Monthly inventory storage fee
Charged every month for every cubic foot of space your inventory occupies. The rate doubles roughly in October–December because Q4 demand strains warehouse space.
| Tier | Jan–Sep | Oct–Dec |
|---|---|---|
| Standard size | ~$0.87 / cu ft | ~$2.40 / cu ft |
| Oversize | ~$0.56 / cu ft | ~$1.40 / cu ft |
Rates are approximate and change yearly. Check Seller Central → FBA storage fees for the current schedule.
2. Aged inventory surcharge (previously "long-term storage fee")
Amazon now charges escalating surcharges based on how long units have been sitting in their warehouses:
- 0–180 days: $0
- 181–270 days: ~$0.50/cu ft surcharge on top of monthly
- 271–365 days: ~$4/cu ft
- 366+ days: ~$6.90/cu ft
This is where a $1.50 product can end up costing more in storage than it sells for.
3. Storage utilization surcharge
If you store more than ~26 weeks of inventory relative to your sell-through rate, Amazon adds a per-cu-ft surcharge regardless of age. Forecasting sell-through accurately is the only defense.
How to forecast next month's storage bill
The math:
For each SKU:
units_in_warehouse × unit_volume_cu_ft × monthly_rate × age_multiplier
Sum across all SKUs.The hard part is knowing each SKU's age distribution. Amazon's Inventory Age report shows it as a snapshot — but if you upload your UTR plus that report into The Seller Reports, you can see the projected storage cost trend month over month.
Five tactics that actually reduce storage fees
- Run a removal order on SKUs older than 240 days. The removal fee is almost always less than another six months of aged-inventory surcharges.
- Set up auto-removal rules in Seller Central → FBA settings.
- Bundle slow-movers into multi-packs to clear shelves faster.
- Cut prices on slow movers in early Q4 before the storage rate jumps.
- Send less, more often. Smaller shipments at higher frequency keep you under the utilization surcharge threshold.
See how storage fees flow into your real P&L in the live demo →