AMZ123 has learned that the 2026 holiday peak season fulfillment surcharge for Amazon US will officially take effect from October 15, 2026 to January 14, 2027. The fee applies across the board to domestic FBA orders in the United States and will directly increase sellers' peak season operating costs.

This peak season fulfillment fee covers a very wide range, including mainstream services such as Amazon FBA fulfillment, FBA remote fulfillment, Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF), and Buy with Prime.

Sellers should pay special attention to the fact that the fee calculation is based on the actual warehouse ship-out time, not the buyer's order time. This means that even if an order is placed before October 15, as long as it ships from an Amazon fulfillment center on or after October 15, the peak season fulfillment fee will be charged at the peak season rate. The official rules also clearly state that after an order is returned, the previously deducted peak season fulfillment fee will not be refunded, and sellers cannot recover this portion of the cost loss.

To make matters worse, FBA fulfillment costs on Amazon US have already entered a price-increase cycle. Starting April 17, 2026, Amazon is charging an additional 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on US FBA and FBA remote fulfillment orders. For Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) and Buy with Prime, the surcharge took effect on May 2. This surcharge can be stacked with the peak season fulfillment fee.

The specific billing logic is to first calculate the cost according to the base peak season fulfillment rate, and then add an additional 3.5% on top of that. For large and heavy products, this extra expense will increase significantly. For small and medium-sized sellers with low average order value and thin margins, profits will be severely squeezed, and operating pressure will rise sharply.

In addition to higher fulfillment fees, inventory storage costs are also subject to new rules, further squeezing sellers' profit margins. Amazon's aged inventory surcharge (formerly the long-term storage fee) is now charged starting at 181 days of inventory age, and the rate increases progressively with storage duration. It is charged in addition to the regular monthly storage fee.

The platform takes an inventory snapshot on the 15th of each month to calculate fees. The longer the inventory age, the higher the surcharge rate: 181-270 days is the base fee tier, and rates rise sharply for inventory over 271 days. Once inventory has been stored for more than 365 days (especially more than 456 days), fees climb to high levels, up to several times the regular monthly storage fee. The specific amount is calculated based on product volume and unit rates.

This also means that the risk of blind large-volume stocking and overstocking has increased sharply. At year-end, sellers are highly likely to face excessive storage costs and continuously eroded profits.

Faced with the dual pressure of rising fulfillment and storage costs, sellers need to plan cost control and inventory management in advance. Through the Revenue Calculator, Profit Analysis Dashboard, and Fee and Economics Preview report in Seller Central, sellers can check per-product fee increases and cost changes, optimize shipping pace ahead of time, accelerate inventory turnover, avoid high fees caused by slow-moving overstock, and protect peak season profits as much as possible.

Author: TEN/AMZ123

Source: Amazon News
Original link: https://www.amz123.com/t/PpG3ugHR