Selling on Amazon.de means paying a selling plan fee, a referral fee on every item and, with Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA), fulfilment and storage fees. Removals, returns and advertising can add to that. This guide covers seller accounts based in Germany selling on Amazon.de. It groups the fees, shows selected rates with sources and works through one FBA and one merchant-fulfilled (FBM) order to contribution margin. Other Amazon marketplaces partly use different rates.
Sources and worked examples checked on 17 September 2026.
Fee overview: which Amazon.de costs apply?
Amazon splits costs into three groups: the selling plan for your account, the referral fee on each item sold, and fulfilment. If you ship yourself (FBM), you pay for shipping and packaging. With FBA, Amazon charges a fulfilment fee per unit and a monthly storage fee. Advertising and other programmes are optional.
Amazon quotes its fees excluding VAT, while prices on Amazon.de are shown including VAT. Keep both levels separate in your calculation.
Sources: Amazon.de: pricing overview (German)
| Cost | When it applies | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Selling plan | Per item sold (Individual) or monthly (Professional) | Account and period |
| Referral fee | Every item sold, depending on category | Unit or order |
| FBA fulfilment fee | Every unit shipped via FBA | Unit or order |
| FBA storage fees and surcharges | Monthly for stored inventory | Account and period |
| Removal, disposal, liquidation | On your request for FBA inventory | Account and period |
| Refund administration and returns processing fees | On refunds and, for some products, on returns | Order or later period |
| Advertising | Optional, per click | Campaign |
Selling plans: Individual or Professional
The Individual plan costs EUR 0.99 per item sold and the Professional plan EUR 39 per month, both excluding VAT and in addition to referral fees. On price alone, Individual costs more than the monthly plan from 40 items a month: 40 × EUR 0.99 is EUR 39.60.
Price is not the only difference. Amazon describes the Professional plan as the one for sellers who want to use advertising, APIs and reports. Only Professional sellers can sell in categories that require approval and set their own shipping rates for non-media products.
When registering you provide a credit card and a bank account. According to Amazon, fees are charged to the card and sales proceeds are paid into the bank account. Sellers listing more than 2 million SKUs in a month also pay a high-volume listing fee of EUR 0.0004 per active non-media SKU above that threshold.
Sources: Amazon.de: pricing and plan comparison (German)
| Plan | Cost | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Individual | EUR 0.99 per item sold | Amazon suggests it for fewer than 40 items a month |
| Professional | EUR 39 per month | Regardless of the number of units sold |
Referral fees by category and minimum fee
The referral fee is Amazon’s commission. It is a percentage of the total sales price, meaning the amount the buyer pays including shipping and gift wrap. If the percentage amount is lower than the minimum fee, the minimum applies; on Amazon.de it is EUR 0.30 in most categories. Amazon states that most referral fees fall between 8% and 15%.
Some categories are tiered. Sometimes the price decides the rate for the whole item, sometimes a lower rate applies only to the part of the price above a threshold. Books, music, video, DVD, video games and software also carry a closing fee per media item: EUR 1.01 for books and EUR 0.81 for the other media. The table below is a selection. The fee category assigned to your product is what counts.
To calculate the percentage referral fee, multiply the total price by the rate, subject to the minimum fee. Where the threshold applies to the whole item, the price decides the rate: a baby product at EUR 9.99 pays 8%, about EUR 0.80. Where it applies to a portion of the price, the fee is tiered: a furniture item at EUR 300 pays 15% on EUR 200 plus 10% on EUR 100, EUR 40.00 in total.
Sources: Amazon.de: referral fees by category (German) · Amazon: European rate card from 1 July 2026 (German PDF)
| Category | Referral fee | Minimum fee |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon device accessories | 45% | EUR 0.30 |
| Automotive and powersports | 15% on the portion up to EUR 50, 9% on the portion above | EUR 0.30 |
| Baby products | 8% up to a total price of EUR 10, 15% above | EUR 0.30 |
| Beauty, health and personal care | 8% up to a total price of EUR 10, 15% above | EUR 0.30 |
| Beer, wine and spirits | 10% | EUR 0.30 |
| Computers | 7% | EUR 0.30 |
| Pet supplies | 15% | EUR 0.30 |
| Kitchen | 15% | EUR 0.30 |
| Tools and home improvement | 13% | EUR 0.30 |
| Furniture | 15% on the portion up to EUR 200, 10% on the portion above | EUR 0.30 |
| Consumer electronics | 7% | EUR 0.30 |
| Electronics accessories; computer accessories | 15% on the portion up to EUR 100, 8% on the portion above | EUR 0.30 |
| Household products | 8% up to an item price of EUR 20, 15% above | EUR 0.30 |
| Grocery and gourmet | 5% up to a total price of EUR 10, 15% above | None |
| Musical instruments and AV production | 12% | EUR 0.30 |
| Lawn and garden | 15% | EUR 0.30 |
| Jewellery | 20% on the portion up to EUR 250, 5% on the portion above | EUR 0.30 |
| Toys and games | 15% | EUR 0.30 |
| Sports and outdoors | 15% | EUR 0.30 |
| Watches | 15% on the portion up to EUR 250, 5% on the portion above | EUR 0.30 |
| Furniture accessories | 13% | EUR 0.30 |
| Clothing and accessories | 5% up to EUR 15, 10% above EUR 15 up to EUR 20, 15% above EUR 20; special rule for Prime offers above EUR 45 | EUR 0.30 |
| Books | 15% plus EUR 1.01 closing fee | None |
| Everything else | 15% | EUR 0.30 |
Related: Referral fee in the glossary
FBA fulfilment fees: size tier and shipping weight
With FBA you pay a fixed fulfilment fee per unit sold, based on size tier and shipping weight. The size tier depends on the dimensions of the unit packed ready to ship: envelopes, small parcel up to 35 × 25 × 12 cm, standard parcel up to 45 × 34 × 26 cm and 11.9 kg, then oversize tiers. For parcels and most oversize items, the higher of unit weight and dimensional weight applies. Dimensional weight in kilograms is length × width × height in centimetres divided by 5,000. Envelopes and some categories, such as clothing or shoes, follow different rules.
Three points change the amount in Germany. If your inventory is stored only in Germany and you do not take part in the Central Europe Programme (storage also in Poland and the Czech Republic), EUR 0.26 per unit is added. Since 17 April 2026, Amazon has charged a 1.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on FBA fulfilment fees. From 15 October 2026 to 14 January 2027, higher peak-season fees apply to many parcels, excluding clothing. Products up to EUR 20 (up to EUR 12 in some categories) can also qualify for lower low-price FBA rates.
Sources: Amazon: European rate card from 1 July 2026 (German PDF) · Amazon.de: fulfilment fees and surcharge (German)
- Products containing lithium batteries and dangerous goods carry an extra EUR 0.10 per unit.
- The dimensions and weights measured by Amazon determine the fee. Check them if an FBA fee is higher than expected.
- Optional FBA prep services cost extra per unit, for example labelling at EUR 0.38 for envelopes and EUR 0.78 for parcels. Without box content information, Amazon charges a manual processing fee of EUR 0.18 per unit.
- Amazon offers a revenue calculator in Seller Central. Amazon describes it as a preview tool comparing fees and revenue by fulfilment method. What you are actually charged is shown in your statement.
- Sales into other EU countries have their own rates. The section on Pan-EU and EFN shows the cost difference.
| Size tier and shipping weight | Central Europe Programme | Germany only | Germany only from 15 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light envelope up to 100 g | EUR 2.28 | EUR 2.54 | EUR 2.54 |
| Standard envelope up to 460 g | EUR 2.42 | EUR 2.68 | EUR 2.68 |
| Small parcel up to 400 g | EUR 3.13 | EUR 3.39 | EUR 3.60 |
| Small parcel up to 1.4 kg | EUR 3.15 | EUR 3.41 | EUR 3.63 |
| Standard parcel up to 900 g | EUR 3.18 | EUR 3.44 | EUR 3.66 |
| Standard parcel up to 2.9 kg | EUR 4.29 | EUR 4.55 | EUR 4.84 |
| Small oversize up to 760 g | EUR 4.30 | EUR 4.56 | EUR 4.56 |
FBA storage costs: base fee, October to December and aged inventory
Amazon charges storage monthly based on the average daily volume of your inventory in cubic metres. Rates are higher from October to December. A 30 × 20 × 10 cm unit occupies 0.006 m³. At EUR 27.54 per cubic metre it costs about EUR 0.17 a month, and about EUR 0.31 at EUR 52.20 from October to December.
Two surcharges can be added. The storage utilisation surcharge applies when your storage utilisation ratio exceeds 22 weeks, meaning average inventory is high relative to shipments over the last 13 weeks; in Germany it starts at EUR 14.85 per cubic metre per month for standard size. New sellers in their first 52 weeks, Individual accounts and accounts below 25 cubic feet of daily volume are exempt. The aged inventory surcharge starts on day 241 at EUR 47.99 per cubic metre per month and rises in steps; between days 241 and 270, categories including clothing, shoes, bags, luggage, jewellery and watches are exempt.
Sources: Amazon.de: FBA storage fees (German) · Amazon: European rate card from 1 July 2026 (German PDF)
| Product group | January to September | October to December |
|---|---|---|
| Standard size: clothing and accessories, eyewear, shoes, backpacks and handbags | EUR 19.99 | EUR 29.23 |
| Standard size: all other categories | EUR 27.54 | EUR 52.20 |
| Oversize | EUR 21.78 | EUR 34.49 |
| Dangerous goods, standard size | EUR 30.00 | EUR 50.51 |
| Dangerous goods, oversize | EUR 27.50 | EUR 43.89 |
Pan-EU and EFN: what does fulfilment into other EU countries cost?
With the European Fulfilment Network (EFN), your inventory stays in one country, for example Germany only, and Amazon ships orders from other EU stores across the border. Higher EFN fulfilment fees apply. With Pan-European FBA (Pan-EU), Amazon distributes inventory at no extra charge to the countries where you allow storage, and you pay domestic FBA fees there instead of EFN fees.
The cost side has two parts. Pan-EU can trigger additional fees: an oversize surcharge when inventory is sent into a different country from where it sells (in Germany from EUR 1.64 for small oversize up to 760 g), and a low-inventory-level fee for standard-size products with less than 28 days of supply (EUR 0.21 to EUR 0.67 per unit for a standard parcel). According to Amazon, a VAT number is also required for every country where goods are stored; with EFN it is generally not required in the destination store. Registration, filings and advice are separate costs not quantified here. The referral fee follows the store where the item sells.
Sources: Amazon.de: Pan-European FBA (German) · Amazon: European rate card from 1 July 2026, EFN and Pan-EU (German PDF)
| Size tier and shipping weight | Sold on Amazon.de (local) | Sold on Amazon.fr, .it or .es via EFN |
|---|---|---|
| Standard envelope up to 460 g | EUR 2.68 | EUR 5.79 |
| Small parcel up to 400 g | EUR 3.39 | EUR 7.31 |
| Standard parcel up to 900 g | EUR 3.44 | EUR 9.45 |
Removal, disposal and liquidation: the cost of reducing inventory
Inventory that does not sell can be returned to you (removal), disposed of or liquidated. Amazon charges a per-unit fee by weight. Liquidations also carry a fee on the recovery value. If you reduce aged inventory early, compare these one-off costs with ongoing storage fees and surcharges.
If inventory is stored in a different country from where it is returned, cross-border return fees apply, for example EUR 0.60 up to 200 g in Zone 1, which includes Germany. Amazon charges returns within the Central Europe Programme as local returns. Fees are charged in the currency of the storage country. Oversize items have their own, higher rates.
Sources: Amazon: European rate card from 1 July 2026 (German PDF)
| Weight per unit | Local return to you | Disposal | Liquidation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 200 g | EUR 0.50 | EUR 0.74 | EUR 0.42 |
| 201 to 500 g | EUR 0.79 | EUR 1.19 | EUR 0.52 |
| 501 g to 1 kg | EUR 1.80 | EUR 2.73 | EUR 0.93 |
| Over 1 kg | EUR 2.32 + EUR 0.87 per kg | EUR 3.74 + EUR 1.41 per kg | EUR 1.02 + EUR 0.53 per kg |
FBA or FBM: what changes in the calculation?
The referral fee applies either way. With FBA, the fulfilment fee replaces your own picking, packing and delivery costs, but storage fees and the transport of goods to the fulfilment centre are added. With FBM, you pay for storage, packaging and shipping yourself.
On the Professional plan you set the buyer’s shipping charges for FBM yourself, except for books, music, video and DVD. Amazon credits the shipping amount to you. Because the referral fee is calculated on the total price including shipping, you also pay commission on the shipping portion. Individual sellers use Amazon’s fixed shipping rates, even if their own costs are higher.
Sources: Amazon.de: merchant fulfilment and shipping credits (German)
Related: FBA and FBM in the glossary
Example 1: an FBA order for EUR 29.75
Assume a kitchen item sold on Amazon.de for EUR 29.75 including 19% VAT and fulfilled by FBA. Net revenue is EUR 25.00. The Kitchen referral fee is 15%. The packed unit measures 30 × 20 × 10 cm and weighs 350 g. Its dimensional weight of 1.2 kg exceeds the unit weight, so the small parcel tier up to 1.4 kg applies. Inventory is stored in Germany only and the sale takes place between January and September.
Product cost, inbound transport, storage period and advertising are illustrative assumptions, not customer data. Amazon fees are shown net; recoverable input VAT is excluded. No selling plan, return, utilisation or aged inventory surcharge. Amounts rounded to cents.
Sources: Amazon: European rate card from 1 July 2026 (German PDF)
| Item | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Net revenue | EUR 29.75 ÷ 1.19 | EUR 25.00 |
| Referral fee | EUR 29.75 × 15%, rounded | −EUR 4.46 |
| FBA fulfilment fee | Small parcel up to 1.4 kg, Germany only | −EUR 3.41 |
| Fuel and logistics surcharge | EUR 3.41 × 1.5%, rounded | −EUR 0.05 |
| Storage fee | Assumed: 0.006 m³ × EUR 27.54 × 2 months | −EUR 0.33 |
| Cost of goods | Assumed | −EUR 9.00 |
| Inbound transport | Assumed | −EUR 0.40 |
| Allocated advertising | Assumed | −EUR 2.00 |
| Contribution before fixed costs | 25.00 − 4.46 − 3.41 − 0.05 − 0.33 − 9.00 − 0.40 − 2.00 | EUR 5.35 |
Example 2: an FBM order with your own shipping
Assume a tools and home improvement item on the Professional plan. The buyer pays EUR 23.80 for the item and EUR 4.76 for shipping, EUR 28.56 in total including 19% VAT. Net revenue is EUR 24.00. The 13% referral fee applies to the total price including shipping.
Shipping, packaging, product cost and advertising are assumed net costs. Recoverable input VAT is excluded. No return and no selling plan in the order-level calculation.
Sources: Amazon.de: referral fees by category (German)
| Item | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Net revenue | EUR 28.56 ÷ 1.19 | EUR 24.00 |
| Referral fee | EUR 28.56 × 13%, rounded | −EUR 3.71 |
| Shipping to the customer | Assumed | −EUR 4.20 |
| Packaging | Assumed | −EUR 0.30 |
| Cost of goods | Assumed | −EUR 8.50 |
| Allocated advertising | Assumed | −EUR 1.50 |
| Contribution before fixed costs | 24.00 − 3.71 − 4.20 − 0.30 − 8.50 − 1.50 | EUR 5.79 |
Contribution margin is not business profit
The FBA order contributes EUR 5.35 or 21.4% of net revenue, the FBM order EUR 5.79 or 24.1%. These amounts still have to cover the selling plan, staff, software, your own warehouse and other fixed costs. Spreading a EUR 39 monthly plan over an assumed 300 orders, for example, adds EUR 0.13 per order. Business profit only emerges after all costs and taxes.
Season and storage time shift the result. If the FBA item sells in November after being stored in October and November, the fulfilment fee is EUR 3.63 and storage about EUR 0.63. With all other assumptions unchanged, contribution falls to EUR 4.83. If the item stays in stock much longer, storage is added again each month. The two examples are therefore not a general FBA versus FBM comparison: which option leaves more depends on your shipping costs, dimensions, sell-through and returns.
People often ask about margin. Deducting only product cost from net revenue leaves EUR 16.00 or 64% in the FBA example and EUR 15.50 or 64.6% in the FBM example. Only after Amazon fees, fulfilment and advertising does the contribution margin ratio of 21.4% and 24.1% show what each order leaves for fixed costs. Always use the same base: measured against the gross price of EUR 29.75, the FBA example would be only 18.0%.
Returns and refunds: which Amazon fees remain?
When you refund an order you have already been paid for, Amazon credits the referral fee minus a refund administration fee, often called the refund fee. That fee is 20% of the referral fee, capped at EUR 5.00. For the FBM order in example 2, EUR 0.74 of the EUR 3.71 referral fee remains a cost; for the FBA order, about EUR 0.89 of EUR 4.46. Amazon lists the referral fee as the credit; the rate card does not list the FBA fulfilment fee there. Depending on the item, returns processing fees can also apply.
For products whose return rate exceeds their category threshold, Amazon charges an FBA returns processing fee on returned units above that threshold, in Germany for example EUR 3.44 per unit for a small parcel up to 400 g. The rate covers units shipped in a month that are returned in that month or the following two months, so the fee does not appear with the order itself. For clothing, accessories and shoes, the returns processing fee is 50% of the fulfilment fee.
Your own costs come on top: for FBM outbound shipping, packaging and possibly a return label, plus advertising and any loss in value. If the goods come back in sellable condition, their purchase cost is not a complete loss. Record refunds, fee credits and goods returned to stock as separate entries.
Sources: Amazon.de: refund administration fee (German) · Amazon: European rate card from 1 July 2026, returns (German PDF)
Related: How to calculate the return rate
Amazon advertising costs: CPC, ACoS, TACoS and ROAS
Amazon ads are priced per click in an auction. You set the maximum you are willing to pay for a click. A budget is not spend; your cost calculation needs the advertising cost actually charged.
Amazon Ads defines ACoS as advertising spend divided by attributed ad revenue, multiplied by 100, and ROAS as its inverse. TACoS relates advertising spend to total revenue, including sales without an ad click. An example with assumed figures: EUR 300 ad spend, EUR 1,500 attributed revenue and EUR 5,000 total revenue give an ACoS of 20%, a ROAS of 5 and a TACoS of 6%.
None of these metrics shows whether an order still contributes after advertising. An ACoS of 20% can be sustainable when contribution before advertising is higher, and too high when it is lower. Deduct advertising as a separate line, as in the examples. Also check where your advertising is billed so that it is neither missing nor counted twice.
Sources: Amazon.de: advertising in the cost model (German) · Amazon Ads: calculating ACOS and ROAS (German)
Related: How to calculate ACOS · How to calculate TACOS
Amazon fees and VAT: calculate net, sell gross
Amazon quotes the selling plan and fees excluding VAT. The referral fee, however, is calculated on the total sales price the buyer pays. If you calculate with net prices only, commission comes out too low. In the examples, net revenue and net fees sit side by side, while the fee itself is derived from the gross price.
How VAT on Amazon’s fees is treated in your accounts and whether you can recover it as input VAT is a question for your tax adviser; this guide is not tax advice. If Amazon also stores your inventory in other countries, for example through the Central Europe Programme or Pan-European FBA, Amazon notes that additional VAT and reporting obligations can arise there.
When booking Amazon fee invoices themselves, check on each invoice who issues it, whether VAT is shown and whether it carries a note on who is liable for the tax. Amazon quotes its fees excluding VAT and notes, for example for the manual processing fee, that VAT is added where applicable. Which treatment applies to your business is for your tax adviser to confirm.
Sources: Amazon.de: pricing overview (German) · Amazon: European rate card from 1 July 2026, FAQ (German PDF) · Amazon.de: VAT knowledge centre (German)
Reconcile your own Amazon statement in five steps
Start with one shipped order, then expand to a month. Use the payout as a reconciliation check, not as your revenue starting point: it already reflects fees, refunds and account charges. Your Amazon statement remains the reference for your accounts.
- Record the order ID, SKU, fulfilment channel (FBA or FBM), category and gross price including shipping.
- Match the booked referral fee and, for FBA, the fulfilment fee in your seller account transactions against the rates; check dimensions and weight if they differ.
- Assign account charges such as the selling plan, storage fees, surcharges, removal and disposal to the month they relate to, and do not deduct them again per order.
- Record refunds, credited referral fees, administration fees and later returns processing charges separately.
- Add purchase cost, your own shipping and packaging costs and advertising, and check that no item appears twice.
Related: Reconcile your Amazon payout
From a worked example to ongoing analysis
The profitkonsole Amazon connection imports orders, fee and refund transactions and returns from your seller account and shows FBA and FBM orders separately. Account charges such as the seller subscription or FBA storage fees appear as their own lines. You add purchase prices, your own FBM shipping costs and other expenses. Advertising costs that Amazon deducts from your payout also appear automatically as their own line. If you pay for Amazon Ads by credit card or invoice, you record them as an indirect expense.
Explore Amazon profit analytics
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