Amazon India seller fees explained

What actually reaches your bank account · Updated 15 July 2026

The most expensive mistake a new Amazon seller makes is pricing off the product cost and assuming the rest is profit. The price a customer pays and the money you receive are separated by four deductions, and the last of them is a tax on the other three.

This guide walks through each one and shows how to arrive at a real number.

Important: fee rates change, and they vary enormously by category. Every figure below is a reference point, not a quote. Before you set a price, run your actual product through Amazon's own fee calculator and check the official fees page linked at the bottom.

The four deductions

1. Referral fee. A percentage of the total selling price, set by category. This is Amazon's commission for the sale.

As of the March 2026 update, Amazon India applies zero referral fees to a large range of products priced under ₹1,000 — reported as covering over 12.5 crore products across 1,800+ categories. Above ₹1,000, published ranges run roughly 2% to 38% depending on category, with most everyday categories sitting well below the top of that range.

2. Closing fee. A flat amount per order, tied to the price slab rather than the category. Following the 2026 update, reported figures include roughly ₹20 for products under ₹300 and ₹26 for the ₹300-500 band. 3. Weight handling / shipping fee. This is the one that surprises people. It is based on weight — and specifically on the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight — combined with distance (local, regional, national).

Volumetric weight is why a large light product costs more to ship than its actual weight suggests. A pillow weighs almost nothing and is charged like a brick.

4. GST at 18% on all of the above. Not on your product — on Amazon's fees. Sellers routinely forget this one and it is roughly a fifth of your fee bill.

A worked example

Suppose you sell a product at ₹599. Roughly, and with made-up but plausible category rates:

Selling price: ₹599
Referral fee at, say, 12% → ₹72
Closing fee → roughly ₹26
Weight handling for a 500g regional shipment → call it ₹60
Subtotal of fees: ₹158
GST at 18% on fees: ₹28
Total deducted: ₹186
You receive: about ₹413

So roughly 31% of the selling price never reaches you — and that is before your product cost, your packaging, and returns. If your product cost is ₹300, you are making ₹113 before packaging, not ₹299.

Then subtract returns. If one in ten orders comes back, you lose the outbound shipping, the return shipping and the handling on that order, spread across the nine that stuck. A 10% return rate can easily eat a third of your remaining margin.

The fees people forget

Returns. Not a line item on the fee schedule, and usually the biggest number in the equation. Every return costs you outbound shipping, return shipping, handling time, and often the product if it comes back unsellable. Volumetric weight. Covered above, and the single most common shipping surprise. Measure your packed box, not your product. Storage fees, if you use FBA. They compound on slow-moving stock and are how FBA quietly turns unprofitable on products that do not sell. Advertising. Optional, but if you run ads then your ACOS is a real cost of sale and belongs in your margin calculation, not in a separate mental bucket. Packaging. Small per order, real at volume. Your own time. Not a fee, but if you are spending two hours a day on packing, that is the actual constraint on your business. Tools that cut it — like sorting labels by SKU so you pick once per product — are worth more than a percentage point of fee.

Easy Ship, Self Ship or FBA

Easy Ship — you pack, Amazon picks up and delivers. Weight handling fees apply. The default for most small Indian sellers, and a reasonable one. Self Ship — you arrange delivery yourself. No Amazon weight handling fee, but you pay your courier and you own the delivery performance. Can be cheaper if you have good local courier rates; can be a disaster if your metrics slip. FBA — Amazon stores, packs and ships. Higher fees, plus storage. In exchange you get Prime badging and better conversion, and you stop packing boxes.

There is no universally right answer. The honest guidance: FBA pays off on fast-moving products where the conversion lift outweighs the fees, and quietly bleeds you on slow movers accumulating storage charges. Most sellers should be on Easy Ship until a specific product proves it deserves FBA.

Working out your real number

Use Amazon's own fee calculator. It is in Seller Central and it knows your category's actual current rates. No blog does.
Weigh and measure the packed box, not the bare product. Volumetric weight is calculated on what ships.
Add your return rate. If you do not know it, find out — it is the number most likely to be quietly eating your business.
Add packaging and your ad spend if you run ads.
Then decide your price. Our seller calculators will give you a break-even figure in a few seconds once you have the inputs.

The discipline that matters: calculate before you list, not after you have sold three hundred units at a loss and wondered why the bank balance is not moving.

Frequently asked questions

What is the referral fee on Amazon India?

A percentage of the selling price that varies by category. Since the March 2026 update, a large range of products under Rs 1,000 attract zero referral fee; above that, published ranges run roughly 2% to 38% by category. Check Amazon's official fees page for your specific category's current rate.

What is volumetric weight and why does it matter?

It is weight calculated from the package's dimensions rather than what it weighs on a scale. Amazon charges on whichever is greater. A large, light product — a pillow, a lampshade — is charged as though it were much heavier.

Does Amazon charge GST on its fees?

Yes, 18% on the fees themselves — referral, closing and shipping. This is separate from GST on your product and sellers commonly forget to include it, understating their costs by roughly a fifth of the fee bill.

What percentage of the selling price do Amazon fees take?

It varies widely by category, price band and weight. Published estimates commonly cite 15-25% of the sale price for total selling costs, but a heavy or bulky low-priced item can be far worse. Use Amazon's fee calculator with your actual product rather than a rule of thumb.

Is FBA cheaper than Easy Ship?

Not usually in fee terms — FBA costs more and adds storage fees. It can be more profitable overall on fast-moving products because of the conversion lift from Prime badging. On slow movers, storage fees make it worse. It depends on the product, not on a general rule.

Sources and further reading

Marketplace fees and policies change. These are the official pages to check for the current numbers before you make a pricing decision:

Amazon.in — fees and pricing · Amazon Seller Central India — Help Hub