Fees checked 23 October 2026. Fees vary by category, size, weight and programme, and change. Use the current fee pages for your products.
“Amazon takes 15%” is how many sellers describe marketplace costs. The real number per order is usually higher once everything is counted, and it varies a lot by product.
Every cost between price and margin
| Cost | What it is | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Referral / commission fee | % of the selling price (including shipping charged to the customer on Amazon), with a minimum per item | Amazon.ae: “most between 4.5% and 15%”, min AED 1. noon: varies by category and fulfilment model, min AED 1 |
| Fulfilment or shipping | FBA / Fulfilled by noon per-unit fees, or Easy Ship / your courier | Fee pages (Amazon FBA from AED 7.5 per unit; Easy Ship from AED 14 per shipment, varying by size) |
| Storage | Monthly fees for stock in marketplace warehouses, higher for slow movers | Fee pages |
| Returns | Lost sale, return shipping, handling, unsellable stock | Your own data |
| Sponsored ads | Ad spend per order from sponsored listings | Your ad reports |
| Discounts and deals | Promotions you fund | Your promotions |
| Product cost and inbound shipping | Cost to get stock to the warehouse | Your costs |
| VAT | Fees are typically subject to VAT; your sale price may include VAT | Your accountant |
| Cash-flow delay | Time until payout | Payout schedule |
A worked example
A product selling for AED 150 (fees calculated on this price, VAT treatment confirmed with your accountant):
| Item | AED |
|---|---|
| Selling price | 150.00 |
| Product cost | −60.00 |
| Referral fee 15% | −22.50 |
| Fulfilment fee (example) | −10.00 |
| Storage per unit (example) | −1.00 |
| Returns: 5% return rate × AED 40 cost per return | −2.00 |
| Sponsored ads: AED 300 spend ÷ 50 orders | −6.00 |
| Margin per order | 48.50 |
Fulfilment and storage here are illustrative; use your actual fees. The calculator works it out per product.
What the numbers usually show
- Low-price items suffer most from fixed and minimum fees.
- Bulky items carry high fulfilment and storage fees.
- Ad-dependent products can lose money if sponsored-listing spend per order isn’t tracked.
- High-return categories (fashion, sizes) need the returns line taken seriously.
Decisions it helps with
- Which products to list on marketplaces, which to keep for your own store. See marketplaces or your own store?.
- Minimum prices per channel
- Bundles that lift the order value above fee thresholds
- Whether to use marketplace fulfilment or ship yourself
Frequently asked questions
Is the referral fee charged on the price including VAT?
Fee bases differ by marketplace (Amazon describes the referral fee on the total sales price including shipping and gift wrap; noon on the selling price excluding VAT). Check each fee page and confirm VAT treatment with your accountant.
How often should we recalculate?
When fees change, when you change prices, and quarterly with updated return and ad data.
What about marketplace payment fees?
Marketplaces usually include payment processing in their fees. Check your fee statements for anything extra.
If you’d like your marketplace margins worked out product by product, that’s part of our aggregators service.
Free download · Excel calculator
Marketplace order cost calculator
Enter a product's price, cost and each fee from the marketplace's current fee page, plus your return rate and ad cost, to see true margin per order and per unit sold.
Download itNo sign-up. Opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers.
Rather have it done?
This is the kind of work our aggregators service covers. Tell us where you are today and we’ll reply with a plan and a fixed price.
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