Amazon's holiday hike: a per-unit surcharge on every item from Oct 15
US peak FBA fees run Oct 15–Jan 14. An average $0.32 per unit comes straight out of the seller's margin.
Amazon is reinstating its US peak fulfillment fees for the period from 15 October 2026 to 14 January 2027. Standard-size items carry an average surcharge of about $0.32 per unit via FBA, stacking on top of the roughly 3.5% fuel-and-logistics surcharge that became permanent in April 2026. In other words, sellers face their highest logistics cost per unit during the very weeks they sell the most.
The logic is simple: as revenue climbs, the share left in your pocket shrinks. Take a $20 item — once the peak fee and surcharge combine, high-volume, thin-margin products can see their profit wiped out entirely. Anyone entering this window without nudging prices up a few cents, clearing slow-moving stock from the warehouse, and trimming package size can post record November–December revenue and still close the year at a loss. Holiday profit is measured not by top-line sales but by net-per-unit math.