The four storage charges
Most sellers budget for the first one and get surprised by the other three. They are assessed separately, and a single SKU can pay all four in the same month.
| Charge | Trigger | Charged on |
|---|---|---|
| Base monthly storage | Any FBA inventory | Cubic feet occupied |
| Aged-inventory surcharge | Units past 181 days in a fulfillment center | Cubic feet, on top of base |
| Storage utilization surcharge | More than 22 weeks of cover, and 25+ cu ft held | Cubic feet, on top of base |
| Q4 peak pricing | 1 October – 31 December | Replaces the base rate |
How storage is measured
By volume, not units, and on the average daily space your inventory occupies across the month rather than a snapshot on one date.
Use the packaged dimensions Amazon measures, not the product's own. Because the charge is an average, units removed part-way through a month still cost you for the days they were there — which is why a removal decision made in late September is worth considerably more than the same decision made in late October.
Base monthly rates
| Size tier | Jan – Sep | Oct – Dec | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard size | $0.78 / cu ft | $2.40 / cu ft | 3.1× |
| Oversize | $0.56 / cu ft | $1.40 / cu ft | 2.5× |
One comparison makes the peak scale obvious. Nine months at the off-peak standard rate costs $7.02 per cubic foot. Three months at the peak rate costs $7.20. October to December is more expensive than the rest of the year combined.
What happens at six months
At 181 days — roughly six months — the aged-inventory surcharge starts. It is charged per cubic foot per month on top of base storage, and it steps up as the stock gets older.
| Days in a fulfillment center | Surcharge per cu ft / month | Per-unit minimum |
|---|---|---|
| 0 – 180 | None | — |
| 181 – 210 | $0.50 | — |
| 211 – 240 | $1.00 | — |
| 241 – 270 | $1.50 | — |
| 271 – 300 | $5.45 | — |
| 301 – 330 | $5.70 | — |
| 331 – 365 | $5.90 | — |
| 366 – 455 | $6.90 | $0.30 / unit |
| 456+ | $7.90 | $0.35 / unit |
On the top two bands Amazon charges the greater of the per-cubic-foot rate or the per-unit minimum, so small dense items are not let off simply because they occupy little space.
The storage utilization surcharge
The least-known of the four, and the one that catches sellers who are not holding old stock, just too much stock. Where the aged surcharge asks how long a unit has been there, this one asks how your total volume compares with what you actually ship.
measured over the trailing 13 weeks, expressed as weeks of cover
Above 22 weeks of cover, the surcharge applies — on top of base storage, per cubic foot:
| Weeks of cover | Standard size, per cu ft |
|---|---|
| Below 22 weeks | No surcharge |
| 22 – 26 weeks | $0.44 |
| 26 – 36 weeks | $0.76 |
| 36 – 44 weeks | $1.16 |
| 44 – 52 weeks | $1.58 |
| 52+ weeks | $1.88 |
Oversize runs lower, roughly $0.23 to $1.26 across the same bands. Three exemptions keep it off smaller accounts:
- Under 25 cubic feet of average daily inventory in that size tier — no surcharge, whatever the ratio.
- First FBA shipment within the past 365 days — new sellers are excluded.
- Inventory younger than 30 days is not counted.
The practical consequence: a seller who over-orders once and sits on twelve months of cover pays this every month until the ratio recovers, even on stock that is only weeks old.
What it costs: one SKU, aged
500 small-standard units at 0.05 cubic feet each — 25 cubic feet — at the off-peak base rate. Note that the 181-day starting line is itself a 2026 change, down from 271 days on 16 January; the 2026 fee change timeline has the dates for every change that year:
| Age of the stock | Base storage | Aged surcharge | Total per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 180 days | $19.50 | — | $19.50 |
| 181 – 210 days | $19.50 | $12.50 | $32.00 |
| 241 – 270 days | $19.50 | $37.50 | $57.00 |
| 271 – 300 days | $19.50 | $136.25 | $155.75 |
| 366 – 455 days | $19.50 | $172.50 | $192.00 |
The same stock sitting at 280 days during Q4 pays peak base rates instead: $60.00 plus $136.25, so $196.25 a month. And if the account is also above 22 weeks of cover, the utilization surcharge adds $11.00 to $47.00 a month on top of any of these rows.
Why "hold less" is not the answer
Every charge on this page pushes in the same direction: hold less inventory. Amazon charges in the other direction too.
If both your 30-day and 90-day historical days of supply fall below 28 days, the low-inventory-level fee applies to every unit you ship, at up to $1.11 per unit. Stripping stock to dodge storage can cost more than the storage would have — and it does so in the quarter you ship the most units.
| Too little stock | Too much stock |
|---|---|
| Low-inventory-level fee below 28 days of supply | Aged surcharge from 181 days |
| Up to $1.11 per unit, charged on every unit shipped | Storage utilization surcharge above 22 weeks of cover |
| Plus lost sales and lost organic rank | Plus capital tied up in stock that is not moving |
So the target is a corridor, not a minimum: comfortably above 28 days of supply, comfortably below 22 weeks of cover, and cleared before 181 days. That window is narrower than most restock rules assume.
Seeing it per SKU
All four charges arrive as account-level line items on your settlement, which is why they rarely change anyone's behaviour. Nothing in the report tells you which products are aging into the next band or which ones are dragging your utilization ratio up.
SellerGuards charges storage, surcharges and FIFO cost of goods against each SKU, so you can see which products have stopped paying for the space they occupy before they hit day 271. See Inventory Intelligence → For every other Amazon charge, see the complete guide to Amazon seller fees.