← Amazon FBA vs FBM calculator
Sellers search for “Amazon inbound placement fee” because the listing calculator’s inbound field hides the real trade. That number is usually freight plus placement blended into one unit cost. The decision Amazon actually offers on a create-shipment flow is three splits:
Send to one warehouse — cheapest freight, highest per-unit inbound placement fee. Partial split — more destinations, a mid placement fee. Amazon-optimized split — the destinations Amazon asks for, usually $0 placement, more freight and more labels.
On a 200-unit large-standard example — $85 to one warehouse, $140 for a partial split, $210 to follow Amazon’s split, and illustrative placement of $0.43 / $0.27 / $0 — one warehouse totals $171.00, the partial split $194.00, and the optimized split $210.00. Paying placement is $23.00 cheaper than the next option. The extra freight the optimized split can absorb before one warehouse wins is $86.00. Flip the freight quotes to $90 / $105 / $120 and a $0.55 minimal placement fee, and the optimized split wins by $80.00.
| Split | Freight | Placement | Total inbound | Per unit | vs cheapest |
|---|
Rates change by size tier, weight, and account. This page does not publish Amazon’s live inbound-placement schedule. Paste the per-unit fees from your inbound preview and the freight quotes you actually have. The same table lives on the Amazon FBA calculator.
The calculator is arithmetic, not advice. It does not recommend a split, and it does not claim a shipment is cheaper after Amazon reprices freight or placement.
It is a per-unit fee Amazon charges when a shipment is sent to fewer fulfillment centers than the Amazon-optimized split. Sending to one warehouse usually costs the highest placement fee. Following Amazon's split usually costs $0 placement and more freight.
Compare three totals at the same unit count: freight to one warehouse plus the minimal placement fee; freight for a partial split plus the partial placement fee; and freight for the Amazon-optimized split plus its placement fee (often $0). The cheaper total inbound is the one to send. On the 200-unit large-standard example — $85 to one warehouse, $140 for a partial split, $210 to follow Amazon's split, and illustrative placement of $0.43 / $0.27 / $0 — one warehouse totals $171.00, the partial split $194.00, and the optimized split $210.00. Paying placement is $23.00 cheaper than the next option. The optimized split can absorb $86.00 more freight before one warehouse wins. Flip the freight quotes to $90 / $105 / $120 and a $0.55 minimal placement fee, and the optimized split wins by $80.00. Paste the fees from your inbound preview — this page does not publish Amazon's live schedule.