Amazon Long-Term Storage Fees: Aged Inventory Surcharge Rates and How to Avoid Them

Most sellers track the 365-day mark for long-term storage fees. That threshold hasn’t existed since 2022. Amazon renamed the fee to the Aged Inventory Surcharge, dropped the trigger to 271 days, switched from semi-annual to monthly billing, and - as of January 2026 - doubled the 12-15 month rate and added a steeper 15+ month tier. If you’re still managing inventory around the old calendar, you’re probably already paying surcharges you didn’t expect.

The real kicker: Amazon charges whichever is higher - per-unit or per-cubic-foot. For compact products under 0.1 ft³ per unit, the per-unit fee almost always wins, which means your surcharge is driven by unit count, not physical size. For bulky items, the cubic-foot fee dominates. Knowing which formula applies to your catalog changes how you prioritize removals.

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Table of Contents

1. 2026 Surcharge Rates
2. The Math: How Amazon Calculates Your Surcharge
3. Monthly Storage vs. Aged Inventory Surcharge
4. When to Remove vs. When to Ride It Out
5. How to Avoid the Surcharge
6. Removal Options and What They Cost
7. The September 2025 Default Change
8. FAQs

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2026 Surcharge Rates

Inventory Age	Per-Unit Fee	Per-Cubic-Foot Fee
271-365 days	Varies by category	Varies by category
12-15 months	$0.30/unit	$6.90/ft³
15+ months	$0.35/unit	$7.90/ft³

Amazon charges the greater of the two fees for each ASIN. That “greater of” clause matters more than most sellers realize. A product occupying 0.05 ft³ per unit? At 50 units in the 12-15 month tier, the per-unit math gives you $15.00 while the per-cubic-foot math gives you $17.25. You pay the $17.25. But scale that to 500 units of a larger product at 0.3 ft³ each, and per-cubic-foot hits $1,035 vs. $150 per-unit. The gap widens fast with volume and size.

What changed in January 2026: The 12-15 month rate doubled from $0.15 to $0.30 per unit. The 15+ month tier is entirely new - previously all inventory over 12 months paid the same rate. Amazon is squeezing harder on the oldest stock.

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The Math: How Amazon Calculates Your Surcharge

Amazon uses FIFO (first-in, first-out) accounting. The oldest units of each ASIN are assumed sold first, so your newest shipments don’t start the clock over. The surcharge is calculated per ASIN on each monthly assessment date at every fulfillment center where you have inventory.

Here’s what that looks like in practice. Say you have 100 units of a product at 0.05 ft³ each:

• 50 units at 13 months (12-15 month tier)
• 30 units at 16 months (15+ month tier)
• 20 units at 9 months (no surcharge)

Tier	Units	Per-Unit Total	Per-Ft³ Total	You Pay
12-15 months	50	$15.00	$17.25	$17.25
15+ months	30	$10.50	$11.85	$11.85

Monthly surcharge: $29.10. Over a year, that’s $349.20 on inventory that might be worth less than $500. Run the math on your own aged ASINs - if the annual surcharge exceeds 50% of the inventory’s liquidation value, you’re paying Amazon to store something you should have pulled months ago.

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Monthly Storage vs. Aged Inventory Surcharge

These are separate fees. Both apply simultaneously to aged inventory.

Regular monthly storage (all FBA inventory from day one): - January-September: $0.78/ft³ - October-December: $2.40/ft³

Aged inventory surcharge (additional, 271+ days only): $0.30-$0.35/unit or $6.90-$7.90/ft³.

For a standard-size product at 0.05 ft³, regular storage costs about $0.04/month. The aged surcharge adds $0.30+ per unit. That’s a 7-10x multiplier once inventory crosses the threshold. For slow movers, the surcharge becomes the dominant cost - not storage, not referral fees, not fulfillment. The surcharge.

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When to Remove vs. When to Ride It Out

This is the decision most sellers get wrong. They either panic-remove everything approaching 271 days or ignore the surcharges until they’ve bled hundreds in fees. The right answer comes down to one comparison: monthly surcharge versus removal cost plus lost opportunity.

Take a product selling at $25 with a removal cost of $1.50 per unit. At the 12-15 month surcharge of $0.30/unit, you can absorb 5 months of fees before removal becomes cheaper ($1.50 ÷ $0.30). But if the product has even a 10% chance of selling each month at full margin, keeping it in FBA still wins. The math tilts toward removal only when sell-through drops below 1.0 for 90+ days and no promotional lever is left to pull.

Seasonal inventory is the big exception. If you’re sitting on 300 units of a product that historically triples its sales velocity in Q4, eating $0.30/unit through September costs $270 - a rounding error if your Q4 margin is $8/unit on 300 sales. Remove that same inventory in August and you’ve thrown away $2,400 in potential margin to save $270 in surcharges. Context matters more than blanket rules here.

The worst move is doing nothing and letting Amazon choose for you - which, since September 2025, means liquidation at 5-10% of retail.

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How to Avoid the Surcharge

Price aging inventory aggressively early. Don’t wait for 271 days. At 180 days with sell-through below 1.5, drop your price to break-even minus the projected surcharge. A sale at thin margin beats months of escalating fees.

Right-size reorders. The cheapest surcharge is the one you never incur. If a product’s average sell-through is 2.0, don’t ship 6 months of supply. Ship 8-10 weeks and reorder more frequently. Yes, inbound shipping costs go up slightly - but they’re a fraction of aged inventory surcharges.

Run promotions by day 240. A 15% coupon on a $25 product costs you $3.75 per unit. If you need to clear 50 units, that’s $187 in coupon discounts. Compare that to six months of surcharges at $0.30/unit on those same 50 units - $90 - plus the fact that you still own dead stock at the end. The coupon costs more upfront but actually moves the problem. Amazon Outlet is another lever: it surfaces aging inventory to deal-seeking buyers and can spike velocity enough to avoid the threshold entirely.

Set automated removal rules. In Seller Central (Settings > Fulfillment by Amazon), configure automated removal for inventory approaching the threshold. Choose return-to-seller or liquidation - don’t leave the default, which is now liquidation.

Push Sponsored Products on ASINs approaching 200 days. At $1.00 CPC and a 10% conversion rate, clearing 50 units costs roughly $500 in ad spend - steep if your margin is under $8/unit, but worthwhile if pre-ad margin sits above $12. The alternative is paying $0.30/unit/month in surcharges while the inventory ages further and your options narrow.

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Removal Options and What They Cost

Option	Fee Range	What You Get Back
Return to seller	$0.84-$2.89 (standard), $3.12-$14.32 (oversize) + $1.06/lb over weight threshold	Full inventory, resell elsewhere
Liquidation	Liquidation fee + 15% referral	5-10% of regular price
Donation	Standard disposal fees	Tax deduction certificate
Disposal	Same as return fees	Nothing (may be recycled/donated by Amazon)

Return-to-seller makes sense when your product has resale value through other channels - your own site, eBay, wholesale. Liquidation is the pragmatic choice when removal fees would exceed what you’d recover reselling. Donation gives you a tax write-off that may be worth more than liquidation proceeds on low-value items.

Removal orders take 1-3 months to process - longer during Q4. If you’re removing to avoid surcharges, start the order at least 60 days before the threshold.

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The September 2025 Default Change

If you haven’t touched your automated removal settings, Amazon will liquidate your aged inventory by default. This changed on September 30, 2025. Amazon also made donations mandatory for items it deems eligible - you can’t opt out.

What this means in practice: go to Settings > Fulfillment by Amazon in Seller Central and set your automated removal preference to Return or Liquidate - whichever matches your resale capability. Then pull the Inventory Health Report and build a 30/60/90-day action plan for every ASIN over 200 days. Waiting is no longer neutral - Amazon will decide for you, and the decision won’t favor your margins.

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FAQs

What are Amazon long-term storage fees called now?

Amazon renamed them to the Aged Inventory Surcharge in 2022. Same concept, lower threshold (271 days vs. the old 365), monthly billing instead of semi-annual.

How much does the aged inventory surcharge cost?

For 2026: $0.30/unit or $6.90/ft³ for inventory aged 12-15 months, and $0.35/unit or $7.90/ft³ for 15+ months. Amazon charges whichever is higher. The 271-365 day tier varies by category.

How do I check which products are approaching the surcharge?

Pull the Inventory Health Report (Reports > Fulfillment > Inventory Health) and filter for items over 200 days. The Recommended Removal Report flags items nearing the 271-day threshold specifically.

Does Amazon still waive the surcharge for one unit per ASIN?

No. That courtesy waiver has been phased out. All units aged beyond 271 days are subject to the surcharge.

Is it cheaper to pay the surcharge or remove inventory?

Depends on the product. At $0.30/unit per month (12-15 month tier) and a removal fee of ~$1.50, you break even after 5 months. If the product has any realistic chance of selling, keeping it may be smarter. If sell-through is near zero, remove immediately.

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