Amazon referral fees: rates by category and the minimum fee trap
By the TrueSellerPrice.com team · Published
Amazon charges a referral fee on every sale: a percentage of the total price — item, shipping and gift wrap — with a minimum per item in most categories. On Amazon.com the minimum is $0.30; on Amazon.ca it is CA$0.40. The rates below come from Amazon’s own pricing pages, checked on 25 October 2026.
Common single-rate categories
| Category | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca |
|---|---|---|
| Home and Kitchen | 15% | 15% |
| Toys and Games | 15% | 15% |
| Sports and Outdoors | 15% | 15% |
| Footwear | 15% | 15% |
| Automotive and Powersports | 12% | 12% |
| Computers | 8% | 8% |
| Consumer Electronics | 8% | 8% |
| Everything Else | 15% | 15% |
Categories such as clothing, beauty and jewelry use tiered rates that depend on the price; the full lists are on Amazon’s pages and on the Amazon fee calculator page.
On top of the referral fee, a selling plan applies: on Amazon.com the Professional plan is $39.99 a month, or $0.99 per item sold on the Individual plan; on Amazon.ca it is CA$29.99 a month, or CA$1.49 per item. FBA fulfilment fees are separate.
The minimum fee trap
The minimum matters more than it looks. In Home and Kitchen on Amazon.com:
| Price | 15% would be | Fee charged | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10.00 | $1.50 | $1.50 | 15% |
| $1.99 | $0.30 | $0.30 | 15.1% |
| $1.49 | $0.22 | $0.30 | 20.1% |
| $0.99 | $0.15 | $0.30 | 30.3% |
Below $2, the minimum takes over and the fee stops being 15%. On Amazon.ca the minimum of CA$0.40 takes over below about CA$2.67. Add a fixed per-item plan fee or FBA fee and low-priced items rarely pay their way alone.
Worked example
A $10 kitchen item that costs $3, sold on the Professional plan and shipped by the seller at no extra cost to the buyer, pays a $1.50 referral fee and leaves $5.50 before shipping and the monthly plan. Its break-even price, ignoring shipping, is $3.53. A $1.99 item with a $0.50 cost still leaves $1.19 — but only because nothing else is charged; add $4 of shipping and it loses money at any price under about $5.30.
Enter your own shipping and fulfilment costs in the Amazon fee calculator — choose your category and the fee fills in, including the minimum.
Try it with your own numbers: Profit