Amazon's inbound placement fee, and where your prep center sits.
When you build an FBA shipping plan, Amazon offers up to three inbound placement options: minimal shipment splits, which send your inventory to generally a single location for a fee; Amazon-optimized shipment splits, which send it to five or more locations you ship to yourself, for no fee; and partial shipment splits, a reduced-fee middle option Amazon states is not available for standard-size shipping plans. The fee is per unit, priced by product size tier, shipping weight, the number of splits, and the inbound location, a region you choose and a site Amazon picks inside it, and Amazon charges it 45 days after your shipment is received, on the quantities actually received. The rates below are the schedule that took effect January 15, 2026; the same Seller Central page still prints the schedule it replaced, which ran from February 20, 2025.
Who pays, and what they get for it.
Amazon decides which of these your shipping plan qualifies for, based on the product types and quantities in the plan, your existing inventory across the network, where customer demand is, and capacity at the fulfillment centers. You choose from what you are offered.
Minimal shipment splits
You pay, per unit
Amazon's wording: send your inventory to the minimal number of inbound locations, generally to a single location, for a fee, and Amazon decides on your behalf how to place the inventory across the network. Amazon states there are no carton or pallet packing requirements on this option, and that the fee may vary by inbound location, with higher fees possible for shipments sent to the West.
Amazon-optimized shipment splits
No fee
Amazon's wording: send your inventory to multiple inbound locations yourself for no fee. To qualify, shipments must include at least five identical cartons or pallets per item, and each carton or pallet must contain the same quantity per item and the same item mix. You arrange the transportation to those locations yourself.
Partial shipment splits
You pay a reduced fee
Bulky-sized inventory only. Amazon states in bold on its own page that this option is not available for shipping plans for standard-sized products. If you sell standard size, your real choice is two options, not three.
What Amazon prints today.
Both tables are the schedules Amazon labels "starting January 15, 2026", copied as printed on September 19, 2026. Amazon states the fee may be adjusted periodically within these ranges and varies by inbound location, with higher fees possible for shipments sent to the West. So a single per-unit number anywhere else is a point inside a band, not the price.
Standard size
Partial shipment splits do not exist here. Amazon states in bold that the partial option is not available for shipping plans for standard-sized products, which is why there is no column for it.
| Size tier | Shipping weight | Minimal splitssend to a single location | Amazon-optimizedsend to five or more locations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small standard | 8 oz or less | $0.14 to $0.32 | No fee |
| Small standard | 8+ oz to 16 oz | $0.16 to $0.32 | No fee |
| Large standard | 12 oz or less | $0.20 to $0.40 | No fee |
| Large standard | 12+ oz to 1.5 lb | $0.24 to $0.50 | No fee |
| Large standard | 1.5+ lb to 3 lb | $0.34 to $0.60 | No fee |
| Large standard | 3+ lb to 5 lb | $0.38 to $0.76 | No fee |
| Large standard | 5+ lb to 7 lb | $0.40 to $0.98 | No fee |
| Large standard | 7+ lb to 10 lb | $0.42 to $1.20 | No fee |
| Large standard | 10+ lb to 15 lb | $0.44 to $1.50 | No fee |
| Large standard | 15+ lb to 20 lb | $0.55 to $1.90 | No fee |
Bulky size
Amazon split the old single Large Bulky tier into Small Bulky and Large Bulky on January 15, 2026, and raised minimal-split fees for the new Large Bulky tier by an average of $0.27 per unit. Weight here is the larger of dimensional weight or unit weight.
| Size tier | Shipping weight | Minimal splitssend to a single location | Partial splitssend to two or three locations | Amazon-optimizedsend to five or more locations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small Bulky | 5 lb or less | $1.10 to $1.60 | $0.55 to $1.10 | No fee |
| Small Bulky | 5+ lb to 12 lb | $1.75 to $2.40 | $0.65 to $1.75 | No fee |
| Small Bulky | 12+ lb to 28 lb | $2.74 to $3.50 | $0.81 to $2.19 | No fee |
| Small Bulky | 28+ lb to 42 lb | $3.95 to $4.95 | $1.05 to $2.83 | No fee |
| Small Bulky | 42+ lb to 50 lb | $4.80 to $5.95 | $1.23 to $3.32 | No fee |
| Large Bulky | 5 lb or less | $1.30 to $1.80 | $0.55 to $1.25 | No fee |
| Large Bulky | 5+ lb to 12 lb | $2.10 to $2.90 | $0.65 to $1.80 | No fee |
| Large Bulky | 12+ lb to 28 lb | $3.40 to $4.10 | $0.81 to $2.30 | No fee |
| Large Bulky | 28+ lb to 42 lb | $4.70 to $5.60 | $1.05 to $2.95 | No fee |
| Large Bulky | 42+ lb to 50 lb | $5.50 to $6.50 | $1.23 to $3.50 | No fee |
What the fee does not touch
Amazon states the placement fee does not apply to Extra-Large products. Amazon Warehousing and Distribution pricing covers inbound placement, so no separate placement fee is charged on that path. New sellers who create and send a first shipment within 90 days of listing their offer qualify for $400 in credits against the fee.
What moves you inside the band
Four inputs, in Amazon's own list: item size tier; weight, using the larger of dimensional or unit weight for everything above Small standard; the number of shipment splits; and the inbound location. Amazon names three regions in the Revenue Calculator, West, East and Central. Your own address is not on that list.
A prep center cannot make this fee disappear.
Read Amazon's four fee inputs again: size tier, weight, number of splits, inbound location. Your prep center's address is not among them. A center in Delaware and a center in Nevada shipping the identical unit under the identical placement option are charged the identical per-unit placement fee. Any page telling you a particular warehouse location cuts your placement fee is selling you the warehouse.
There is exactly one way a prep center takes the fee to zero, and it is not geography. It is Amazon-optimized eligibility: at least five identical cartons or pallets per item, each carton holding the same quantity per item and the same item mix. That is a packing capability, and plenty of centers do not have it as a standing practice. Ask.
What location does change is the freight underneath, and that is where the real money moves. Amazon-optimized splits require you to arrange transportation to fulfillment center locations throughout the US yourself. One outbound leg becomes five or more, across three regions, and none of that cost appears on Amazon's table. This is why the useful question about a prep center is which region it can reach cheaply, not how many miles it is from you. We wrote the near-me page around exactly that correction, and the fulfillment center map plus the IXD list show where those destinations actually are.
- Minimal splits
- Pay $0.14 to $1.90 per unit at standard size. Ship to one location. No carton packing requirements, in Amazon's own words. One freight leg from your prep center.
- Amazon-optimized splits
- Pay Amazon nothing. Build five or more identical cartons per item. Ship to five or more destinations yourself. More cartons, more outbound shipments, more freight lanes from your prep center.
Four questions to ask before you sign.
Do you ship to multiple fulfillment centers from one inbound at no extra handling charge?
This is the question that decides whether Amazon-optimized splits are free to you or just free from Amazon. Some centers fold multi-destination outbound into the per-unit prep rate. Others bill per shipment. Get the answer before you pick a placement option, not after.
What is your per-box or per-shipment fee for split shipments?
Ask for the number, not the policy. Four extra destinations at a per-shipment charge is the entire cost of avoiding the placement fee, and it is the line that turns a $0 fee into a worse deal.
Can you pack at least five identical cartons or pallets per item, same quantity and same item mix in each?
That is Amazon's stated eligibility rule for the Amazon-optimized option, word for word. A center that cannot build identical cartons cannot get you the no-fee option at all, whatever its address is.
Do you quote freight per destination, or one blended rate?
Freight to five destinations is not on Amazon's fee table and it is usually the larger number. A blended rate that was priced on single-destination shipments will not survive the switch.
Every rate card in the full prep center list carries a last-verified date, and the fee benchmarks cover the per-unit and fixed charges that sit alongside the answers to those four questions.
500 units, minimal against optimized.
This is the shape of the decision, not a verdict on it. The placement fee line is Amazon's printed band for Large standard, 12 oz or less. The handling line is an assumption we have labeled as one, because we do not measure what prep centers charge per additional shipment. Substitute the number your own center quotes you and the answer changes.
| Line | Minimal splits, 1 destination | Amazon-optimized, 5 destinations |
|---|---|---|
| Placement fee, 500 units | $100 to $200 | $0 |
| Prep center handling | $0 | $100 to $200 |
| Freight | One lane | 5 lanes, across up to three regions |
Going optimized saves $100 to $200 of Amazon fee and buys 4 extra outbound shipments. Divide one by the other and the whole decision collapses to a single number: optimized stops paying once your prep center charges more than $25 to $50 per additional shipment, and that is before any freight difference. Freight is not in the table and it is usually the larger number, so treat this as the ceiling on handling, not the answer.
Two things move it. Heavier units raise the fee you avoid: at 500 units of Large standard in the 15 to 20 lb band, the same arithmetic runs on $0.55 to $1.90 per unit instead, so the break-even per extra shipment climbs to roughly $69 to $238. And a mixed shipping plan can defeat the premise entirely: Amazon states that a plan combining standard-size, non-standard-size or special handling items may be directed to more than one inbound location even on minimal splits, with the minimal rate still applying to each shipment.
Put your volume in front of centers in the right region.
Tell us where your inventory ships from and we will shortlist centers in the region that keeps your inbound legs short. Two or three verified centers with their current rate cards, and the four questions above to put to each one. Free, no account required.
This is not the inbound defect fee.
The two get treated as one thing constantly, including by people selling prep services. They are separate charges with separate triggers.
- Inbound placement service fee. Charged on a shipment that went exactly where it was meant to go. It is the price of the placement option you chose, $0.14 to $1.90 per unit at standard size under the current schedule.
- Inbound defect fee. Charged when units are misrouted, deleted or abandoned. For shipments created on or after January 15, 2026, Amazon prints it as a single per-unit charge running $0.32 to $5.72 per unit by size tier, from Small standard at 16 oz or less up to Large Bulky at 42 to 50 lb. Amazon's own triggers include a shipment sent to a fulfillment center other than the one in your plan, a shipment deleted after approval, and a domestic shipment that does not arrive within 45 days of creation.
Amazon changed how these interact on January 15, 2026: before then, misrouted or abandoned units could draw both fees, and now Amazon states you are charged only the new inbound defect fee on those units. Budget for them separately, and treat any single point estimate of the defect fee as a number somebody made up, because Amazon publishes a table, not a price.
Common inbound placement fee questions.
What is the Amazon inbound placement fee?
How do I avoid the Amazon inbound placement fee?
Is the inbound placement fee the same as the inbound defect fee?
Does a prep center's location change my inbound placement fee?
Does Amazon charge the placement fee on every shipment?
Related references.
FBA prep centers near you
The corollary of this page: the useful variable is which region a center reaches cheaply, not how far it is from your desk.
Find centers by region →
Amazon fulfillment center locations
Where the inventory actually lands once Amazon assigns your inbound location.
Open the FC list →
Amazon IXD locations
The inbound cross-dock sites that sit between your prep center and the fulfillment centers.
Open the IXD list →
What FBA prep centers charge
Per-unit benchmarks and the fixed fees that sit alongside Amazon's placement fee on the same shipment.
Open the fee benchmarks →
Every verified prep center
Filterable, typed, and every rate card carries a last-verified date.
Browse the directory →
Amazon FBA prep requirements
The prep rules a shipment has to clear before placement fees are the thing you are worrying about.
Open the requirements →