Amazon FBA vs FBM Calculator
Compare modeled Amazon profit per order for the same product using FBA versus FBM, with current selling fees and your fulfillment-cost assumptions.
Last reviewed October 4, 2026
How to use this calculator
- Enter the shared Product Price, Referral Category, Selling Plan, Product/Landed Cost, and Advertising Cost once — these apply identically to both rows.
- Fill in the Amazon FBA section: shipping/gift-wrap charged to buyer, size tier, shipping weight, Fulfillment Period, and any FBA-specific allocated costs.
- Fill in the Amazon FBM section: shipping/gift-wrap charged to buyer, your actual shipping cost, packaging cost, and any other FBM cost.
- Press Calculate. FBA always appears first/left, FBM second/right — results are never reordered by profit.
- Check the highlighted "Higher modeled profit" badge and the summary callout, then expand each card's cost breakdown for the full detail.
What this comparison measures
This tool answers one narrow question: for the same Amazon product and the same entered scenario, which fulfillment method produces the higher modeled profit per order — FBA or FBM? It is not a fulfillment-cost-only comparison (see the Fulfillment Cost Comparison Calculator for that), not a monthly forecast, and not a demand or Prime-conversion estimate — see why higher modeled profit does not mean better fulfillment method below.
FBA vs FBM: what's the difference?
With Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), you send inventory to Amazon's fulfillment network and Amazon picks, packs, and ships each order, charging its own FBA fulfillment fee. With Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM), you ship each order yourself (or through your own logistics setup), paying your own real shipping and packaging costs instead. Both methods use the same Amazon referral-fee and selling-plan rules, while their fulfillment cost structures differ.
Fees both methods pay
Both rows use the same Amazon selling-fee rules: the category-dependent Referral Fee, the Individual plan's $0.99 per-item fee when selected, and the Media Closing Fee when applicable. Each row delegates to its own existing Amazon engine rather than this page calculating anything itself — so while the rules are identical, the resulting dollar amounts can differ if route-specific Shipping Charged to Buyer or Gift Wrap give the two rows different referral-fee bases.
Costs unique to FBA
FBA's own fulfillment fee (base fee plus the 3.5% fuel/logistics surcharge), plus five optional allocated costs: Allocated Storage, Allocated Inbound Placement Fee, Inbound Shipping Cost Allocated, Prep/Packaging Cost, and Other Allocated Amazon Fee. These are genuine FBA-route costs with no FBM equivalent — an FBM seller never ships inventory to Amazon or pays Amazon storage, so FBM has no corresponding field, not because the cost was overlooked.
Costs unique to FBM
Actual Shipping/Postage Cost and Packaging Cost — your own real cost of getting the order to the customer. Other FBM Seller Cost can represent packing labor, handling, merchant-side storage allocation, fulfillment software allocation, or any other unitemized merchant-fulfillment operating cost.
How referral fees work in this comparison
Both rows use the same Referral Category and delegate to the exact same shared Amazon referral-fee module — this page never calculates a referral fee itself. When FBA and FBM have identical Shipping Charged to Buyer and Gift Wrap Charged to Buyer, their referral-fee dollar amounts match exactly, because both rows then have the same revenue base. If you enter different route-specific shipping or gift-wrap amounts, the two referral fees will naturally differ too — that is not an error.
Individual vs Professional selling plan
Individual: both rows apply the same $0.99 per-item fee. Professional: both rows apply $0 per-item fee, and the $39.99 monthly subscription is not allocated to this single-order comparison on either row — the FBA engine's own allocation field is locked to $0 here, and the FBM engine has no equivalent field at all. Treating the subscription identically (excluded) on both sides keeps the comparison fair.
FBA Non-Peak vs Holiday Peak
Amazon charges a different FBA fulfillment fee table during Holiday Peak (October 15, 2026 – January 14, 2027) than during Non-Peak (January 15, 2026 – October 14, 2026) — the rate that applies depends on when the shipment actually leaves the fulfillment center, not your order date. This comparison requires you to select one explicitly; it never guesses based on today's date.
How FBA fulfillment costs affect profit
The FBA fulfillment fee (and any allocated storage/inbound/other costs you enter) is deducted from Seller Revenue alongside Amazon Selling Fees and your shared Seller Operating Costs to produce FBA's Net Profit — exactly the same formula the standalone Amazon FBA Profit & Fee Calculator uses, read directly from its own output rather than recalculated here.
How FBM shipping costs affect profit
Your Actual Shipping/Postage Cost and Packaging Cost are deducted from Seller Revenue alongside Amazon Selling Fees and your shared Seller Operating Costs to produce FBM's Net Profit — again read directly from the standalone Amazon FBM Profit & Fee Calculator's own output.
Storage and inbound-cost treatment
Allocated Storage is a user-entered allocation — CartEconomics does not automatically calculate FBA storage here. Allocated Inbound Placement Fee and Inbound Shipping Cost Allocated reflect the real cost of moving inventory into Amazon's fulfillment network. None of these three have an FBM equivalent field, and that asymmetry is intentional: an FBM seller genuinely does not incur these specific Amazon program costs, so adding an artificial FBM field "for symmetry" would misrepresent FBM's real economics rather than clarify them.
Why higher modeled profit does not mean better fulfillment method
The row with the higher modeled profit reflects only the inputs and costs modeled here. It does not measure Prime eligibility, conversion rate, delivery speed, customer experience, operational workload, inventory risk, return behavior, Buy Box performance, or strategic fit. A fulfillment method with a lower modeled profit could easily be the better business decision once those factors are considered. This calculator never labels a result "best method," "winner," or implies FBA or FBM is universally better — only "higher modeled profit," a purely numeric comparison of the entered scenario.
Assumptions and Limitations
- This is an estimate, not a Seller Central settlement reconciliation, for either row.
- Models a US-established seller selling on Amazon.com, domestic US sales, in USD, one unit per calculation, for a completed, non-refunded sale.
- The Professional selling-plan monthly subscription is not allocated to this single-order comparison, on either row.
- Sales tax is not modeled by the current CartEconomics Amazon FBA or Amazon FBM engine.
- Refunds, returns, and refund-related Amazon fee adjustments are not modeled on either row.
- Dangerous Goods / Hazmat fulfillment fees are not modeled — the current CartEconomics Amazon FBA engine does not model Amazon's Dangerous Goods fee schedule.
- Low-inventory and aged-inventory fees are not automatically calculated. Other Allocated Amazon Fee is a user-entered generic allocation and is not validated as any specific Amazon fee.
- FBA's size tier and shipping weight are entered directly, not derived from package dimensions — use the Dimensional Weight Calculator if you need help.
- Prime eligibility, conversion rate, Buy Box performance, delivery speed, and demand/sales-volume effects are not modeled on either row.
- Monthly order volume, annual forecasts, and break-even shipping-cost calculations are not modeled in this version.
- This calculator is for general informational purposes only and is not tax, financial, legal, or investment advice.
See our methodology for how we build, document, and review every calculator's formulas.
Frequently asked questions
Is Amazon FBA more profitable than FBM?
It depends entirely on your product's weight/size, your real FBM shipping cost, and the fees you enter — compare your own scenario's two cards rather than assuming either is universally more profitable.
Is FBA cheaper than FBM?
It depends on your inputs. FBA bundles pick-pack-ship into one published fee; FBM's cost is whatever you actually pay for shipping and packaging. Enter your real numbers and compare Total Costs on both cards.
What is the difference between FBA and FBM?
FBA has Amazon pick, pack, and ship your inventory from its own fulfillment network, charging its own fulfillment fee. FBM has you ship each order yourself, paying your own real shipping and packaging costs — see FBA vs FBM: what's the difference? above.
What fees are the same for FBA and FBM?
The Amazon Referral Fee, the Individual plan's $0.99 per-item fee (if selected), and the Media Closing Fee (if applicable) — see Fees both methods pay above.
What fees are different?
FBA's own fulfillment fee and its optional storage/inbound/other allocated costs are FBA-only. FBM's actual shipping and packaging costs are FBM-only. Neither has a forced equivalent on the other row.
Does FBM still pay Amazon referral fees?
Yes. The referral fee applies regardless of fulfillment method — only the fulfillment-side costs differ between FBA and FBM.
Does FBM pay the $0.99 Individual selling fee?
Yes, if you select the Individual plan — the same fee, the same shared constant, applied identically to both the FBA and FBM rows.
Does FBA pay referral fees?
Yes. FBA pays the same category-dependent referral fee as FBM — fulfillment method does not change whether the referral fee applies.
How do FBA fulfillment fees affect profit?
The FBA fulfillment fee (base fee plus the 3.5% fuel/logistics surcharge) is deducted from Seller Revenue alongside Amazon Selling Fees and your shared Seller Operating Costs — see How FBA fulfillment costs affect profit above.
How does FBM shipping cost affect profit?
Your Actual Shipping/Postage Cost and Packaging Cost are deducted from Seller Revenue the same way — see How FBM shipping costs affect profit above.
Does this include FBA storage?
Only as your own optional manual allocation — CartEconomics does not automatically calculate FBA storage fees. See Storage and inbound-cost treatment above.
Does this include inbound placement fees?
Only as your own optional manual allocation (Allocated Inbound Placement Fee and Inbound Shipping Cost Allocated) — not automatically calculated.
Does this include FBM labor?
Only if you enter it — use Other FBM Seller Cost, which can represent packing labor, handling, or any other unitemized merchant-fulfillment cost. No separate labor formula is calculated for you.
Does this include sales tax?
No. Sales tax is not modeled by the current CartEconomics Amazon FBA or Amazon FBM engine.
How does Amazon Holiday Peak affect FBA?
Amazon charges a different FBA fulfillment fee table from October 15, 2026 through January 14, 2027 than during the rest of the year — see FBA Non-Peak vs Holiday Peak above. You must select the period explicitly.
Does FBA always make more money than FBM?
No — it depends entirely on your entered shipping, weight, and cost assumptions. There is no universal answer; compare your own scenario's two cards.
Does Prime make FBA more profitable?
Prime eligibility, conversion rate, and Buy Box performance are not modeled by this calculator at all — see why higher modeled profit does not mean better fulfillment method above. This is a cost/fee model, not a demand forecast.
What FBM shipping cost makes FBA break even?
This calculator does not compute a break-even shipping cost in this version — that output is deferred to a future enhancement. Compare your entered FBM shipping cost's effect on Net Profit directly instead.
How accurate is this comparison?
The FBA and FBM numbers come directly from their own already-sourced CartEconomics engines — see Sources below for each one's own citations and last-reviewed date. This comparison adds no new fee rates of its own.
Sources / engine methodology
This page maintains no independent copy of Amazon's fee schedules. Every result is calculated by delegating to the corresponding CartEconomics engine — visit each calculator's own page for its official source citations and last-reviewed date:
Last reviewed: 2026-10-04.
Want outbound fulfillment cost only, across more models? See the Fulfillment Cost Comparison Calculator. Comparing seller fees across six channels? See the Marketplace Fee Comparison Calculator. See how one sale affects your overall numbers with the E-commerce Profit Calculator, or find a price that hits your target margin with the Product Pricing Calculator.
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