Amazon India Fee Revision September 2025: Complete Guide to Referral, Closing, Shipping & Profitability fee changes
TL;DR
Amazon India charges Referral Fee, Fixed Closing Fee, and Shipping/Easy Ship Fee on every sale.
Optional fees may include FBA storage, pick & pack, advertising, refund handling, and high-return category charges.
Fees vary by category, price, weight, fulfilment method, and location.
Key September 2025 updates: Referral fees on sub-₹300 items removed, notable category fee changes, revised pick & pack charges, and updated weight handling fees.
Accurate profit calculation requires accounting for all fees and your product cost per SKU.
Rekonsile automates fee tracking and profitability analysis, saving time and ensuring clear visibility into your true profits.
What are commissions, and how does Amazon use them?
So here’s the thing: a commission is essentially the money you pay someone for helping to make a sale. Usually, it’s a percentage of the sale price. The more you sell, the more the commission goes up. Amazon works similarly. Whenever you sell a product on their platform, Amazon charges a percentage of the sale as a referral fee. The exact rate depends on what you’re selling — clothes may have a higher fee than electronics, for instance. This is how Amazon earns while giving sellers access to a massive audience ready to buy.
Fees Charged By Amazon India
But Amazon is not just an online platform — it actually helps in selling and delivering physical products for you. So apart from referral fees, there are a few other charges. The main Amazon seller fees to be aware of are:
Referral Fee
Closing Fee
Shipping Fee (Weight Handling Fee)
Now, if you decide to store your products with Amazon for quicker deliveries and fewer back-and-forth shipments, that’s Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA). Here, Amazon handles warehousing, packing, and delivery directly to the customer. Naturally, this comes with some extra fees:
Pick and Pack Fee
Storage Fee
FBA Shipping Fee
One thing to remember: these fees aren’t fixed. They vary depending on product category, selling price, fulfilment mode, delivery location, product weight/size, storage duration, payment type, and returns
Referral fee for Amazon India Seller
Let’s start with the most common fee: the Referral Fee. This is Amazon’s commission for helping sell your product. Every sale you make, Amazon takes a cut from the final price.
Fee-revision highlights (effective Sept 1, 2025):
Amazon’s annual revision lowers some mid-tier referral slabs and nudges a few categories down noticeably. The absolute lowest referral now is 0% for certain items — as before, all SKUs priced ≤₹300 remain zero-fee, and Email Gift Cards have been reduced from 1.0% → 0.0% (a 1 percentage-point drop, effectively a 100% reduction).
At the top end, where some categories previously peaked (e.g., sweatshirts/jackets had rates up to 24% and certain service-type listings historically exceeded 30%), the revised top slab for many apparel/lifestyle categories now sits around 19% — roughly 5 percentage points lower than that 24% peak. Notable mid-slab reductions worth checking in your catalog include: Beauty (Make-up) (e.g., 4.5% → 2.0% for the ₹300–₹500 band and 7.5% → 3.5% for ₹500–₹1,000), Shoes (10.5% → 6.0% for ₹300–₹500; 14.5% → 10.0% for ₹500–₹1,000), and Flip-flops (9.0% → 4.0% for ₹300–₹500).
In short: a couple of small categories were dropped to 0% (notably email gift cards), several mid-price slabs were softened, and the previous extreme top slabs have been trimmed — so update your SKU margins now and refer to the image/table you’ll attach for full slab details.
Where referral fees were increased:
Most of the 1 September changes trim mid-range slabs, but a few higher-price slabs saw small bumps. Notably, some kitchen and lighting SKUs priced above ₹1,000 now attract a slightly higher slab (about +1 percentage point versus the previous >₹500 slab), and a few specialised lighting lines (wall/ceiling/lamp bases) show a similar ~+1pp move in the top slab. In short: increases are limited and modest — concentrated in select high-ticket ranges — while the broader theme of the revision was mid-slab softening. As always, check your own SKUs against the attached table to see if any of your higher-price items sit in those adjusted top slabs.
Fixed Closing Fee for Amazon India
Next up is the Fixed Closing Fee. Unlike the referral fee, this is a flat charge per order, not a percentage. Think of it as Amazon’s basic handling cost for connecting you to a buyer.
Closing fees — see a uniform uptick of ₹1 per slab across Standard Fulfilment, Easy Ship, and Seller Flex.
The most striking contrast remains in the lowest brackets: Books still enjoy special treatment, now at just ₹6 under Seller Flex or Easy Ship (for items ≤₹300), while general products in the same slab incur ₹26 at Fulfilment Centres. That’s a dramatic ~77% gap Amazon has preserved to keep Books competitive.
On the other end, the highest fees remain unchanged — Self-Ship above ₹1,000 still costs ₹100 per order, clearly discouraging sellers from bypassing Amazon logistics. But perhaps the most important shift is structural: there are now no true 0% slabs left. Even the ultra-low-price categories that previously carried token or subsidised fees now start at a minimum of ₹6, effectively erasing the old “zero-fee refuge.”
In short, Amazon nudged every structured fee up slightly, retained Books as a protected low-fee category, and reinforced self-ship as the costliest path.
Amazon India Shipping Fee (Easy Ship Weight Handling Fee)
Then there’s the Shipping Fee, also called the Easy Ship Weight Handling Fee. This is the cost Amazon charges to get your product from you to the customer’s doorstep. Since they’re handling logistics, this fee covers everything.
The shipping fee depends on:
Delivery distance — local, regional, or national
Product weight and dimensions — heavier or bulkier items cost more
Fulfilment mode — Easy Ship or FBA
Amazon’s latest fee revisions move away from flat charges toward a more granular structure, especially for heavier and bulkier SKUs.
For standard-size Pick & Pack, the base slab stays steady at ₹17 for the first kilo and ₹5 per kilo thereafter, but a new lower-cost tier has been introduced for shipments beyond 5 kg (₹2 per 5 kg). This creates a meaningful saving for sellers handling very heavy units, compared to the earlier uniform model. On the bulky side, Pick & Pack fees that were previously flat at ₹26 now scale after 12 kg — keeping lighter bulky items unchanged, but adding incremental surcharges for heavier bulky shipments.
The bigger shake-up is in Weight Handling Fees. At Fulfilment Centers, the base 12 kg charge has been trimmed across all STEP levels (now around ₹108–₹114 locally, down from higher earlier rates). However, Amazon has layered in a two-step model: the 12–25 kg range now attracts higher per-kilo charges than before, while shipments above 25 kg become cheaper — effectively incentivizing ultra-heavy consignments. A similar pattern applies under Seller Flex: lower base 12 kg costs, sharper surcharges in the mid-weight 12–25 kg band, and then easing again for >25 kg.
The net effect is clear: lighter SKUs and ultra-heavy products are now cheaper to ship, while mid-heavy units (12–25 kg) will cost more. Sellers of standard items crossing 5 kg benefit from the new ₹2 slab, whereas bulky goods in the 12–25 kg range — particularly under Seller Flex — face the steepest incremental burden. In short, Amazon has squeezed the “middle weight” band while rewarding sellers at both ends of the spectrum.
Other Fees by Amazon India
Beyond Referral, Closing, and Shipping, there are additional fees — conditional ones depending on how you sell and what services you use. Basic Easy Ship sellers may only see the main three, but advanced features like FBA or advertising add extra costs.
Common extra fees in 2025 include:
Advertising Fee (Amazon Ads) — optional but useful for visibility; charged per click or impression
Refund Administration Fee — Amazon refunds your referral fee on returns, but deducts a handling charge
FBA Storage Fee — monthly billing for warehouse space, with long-term fees for stock unsold 365+ days
FBA Removal/Disposal Fee — charge per unit if you want Amazon to return or dispose of unsold items
High-Return Fee Categories — certain categories, like apparel or shoes may carry extra fees due to higher return rates
Subscription Fee (Professional Seller Account) — monthly fee for advanced tools, brand analytics, and ad access
What Sellers Should Do Now
Recheck margins: Update your pricing models for SKUs in categories with reduced referral fees, but also watch for small +1% bumps in kitchen and lighting.
Books & niche categories: If you sell Books, you remain insulated with the lowest closing fees, but margins on low-value items in other categories may need adjustment since the zero-fee safety net is gone.
Weight-based strategy: If you’re shipping heavier SKUs, explore whether repackaging or splitting shipments avoids the costly 12–25 kg band. Ultra-heavy consignments may now be cheaper if consolidated.
Stay SKU-specific: Don’t rely on averages — check your own catalogue against the attached tables, because even a 1–2% change at scale can wipe out margins.
How to Calculate Profitability on Amazon (Step-by-Step)
Calculating real profit can be overwhelming. Referral fees, closing fees, shipping, and extras all add up — missing even one detail can affect your earnings. Here’s a full breakdown:
Referral Fees — Check category percentages, price slabs, and zero-fee thresholds (<₹300).
Closing Fee — Confirm applicable slab based on product value and fulfilment mode.
Shipping Fees — Include courier charges for self-ship; weight, distance, and handling for Easy Ship or FBA.
Total All Fees — Combine referral, closing, shipping, plus optional fees like advertising, FBA storage, pick & pack, or refund handling.
Subtract COGS — From your selling price, subtract product cost and total fees to get the actual profit per unit.
Double-Check — Verify category mappings, slabs, shipping zones, optional charges, and promotions. Small mistakes matter.
Repeat for all SKUs — Every product has unique fees; this ensures accuracy across your catalogue.
Yes, it’s detailed. Experienced sellers know this takes time and attention. That’s why tools like Rekonsile exist: they save hours, reduce mistakes, and give a clear picture of true profitability, no guesswork involved.
The Bottomline
Selling on Amazon India is rewarding, but understanding every fee is essential for informed decisions. Amazon India’s 2025 fee changes reward low-ticket, fast-moving SKUs, but increase costs for bulky and mid-range products. Referral fee removals are a relief, but pick & pack and shipping hikes can silently drain profits. Sellers who don’t adapt pricing, strategy, and tracking risk losing margin with every sale.
With Rekonsile, you skip the manual headaches. Every referral fee, closing fee, shipping cost, and hidden leakage is tracked automatically, and you get actionables from our AI Profitobot— across every SKU, every marketplace, every day. Instead of firefighting spreadsheets, you see your true profits instantly, so you can scale with clarity and confidence.
