← Amazon FBA vs FBM calculator
Sellers search for “Amazon FBA return rate profit” because the number on a completed sale is not the number that hits the bank account. A slice of orders come back. Amazon typically refunds the buyer and the referral. The outbound pick fee, inbound, and storage do not come back. Cost of goods comes back only when the unit can be sold again.
On the $29.99 home listing — 15% referral, large-standard FBA at $4.15, $8.00 cost of goods, $1.20 inbound, one month of storage, and the professional plan spread over 80 units — a completed sale keeps $10.99. At a 15% return rate, $2.50 handling, and 20% of returns unsellable, expected profit is $7.75: $3.24 of drag. The return rate that wipes expected profit is about 50.9%. FBM on the same mix keeps $8.40 because there is no Amazon pick fee left spent on the returned unit.
| Return rate | Expected profit | Drag | Margin | Max buy |
|---|
Zero returns is always in the table so you can see the drag, not only the mixed number. Open the Amazon FBA calculator to change size, storage season, ads, or the seller plan. Aged leftover units are a different question — whether keeping them still beats a removal.
Rates change by category, size, and account. This page does not publish Amazon’s live return-processing schedule. It is arithmetic, not advice, and it does not claim a listing is safe to keep.
They can. On the calculator example — a $29.99 home listing, 15% referral, large-standard FBA at $4.15, $8 cost of goods, $2.50 return handling, and 20% of returns unsellable — a completed sale keeps $10.99. At a 15% return rate expected profit is $7.75, $3.24 of drag. The return rate that takes expected profit to zero is about 50.9%.
Amazon typically refunds the buyer and the referral fee. The outbound fulfillment fee, inbound, storage, prep, ads, and the allocated plan fee usually stay spent. A return-processing fee is often added. Cost of goods comes back only when the unit can be listed again.
The break-even return rate is the highest rate at which expected profit is still zero. It depends on the completed-sale leftover and how much cash one return still eats. Enter your fees and the return rate you actually see; this page is arithmetic, not a forecast of your category.