Standard-size inventory is billed about 0.87 dollars per cubic foot per month off-peak (January through September) and 2.40 dollars in the Q4 peak (October through December). Oversize is about 0.56 off-peak and 1.40 in peak. You are charged on the average daily volume your inventory occupies during the month.
When do FBA storage fees go up for Q4?
The elevated peak rate runs October 1 through December 31. Standard-size storage jumps from about 0.87 to 2.40 dollars per cubic foot, nearly tripling. On January 1 it reverts to the standard off-peak rate, so the cost of holding overstock is highest in exactly the quarter you tend to build inventory.
Andrew Erickson is the founder of Inventory Hero. He has spent years working with Amazon FBA sellers on demand forecasting, restock planning, and the cash flow side of running a private-label brand. Inventory Hero exists because every spreadsheet-based inventory system he tried eventually broke — usually right before Q4.
It is a monthly surcharge on units that have been in fulfillment centers too long, charged on top of regular storage and escalating the longer the stock sits. It is Amazon's penalty for slow-moving inventory, and it is the main reason to clear or remove aging stock before it crosses the surcharge thresholds.
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FBA storage fees in 2026 are billed per cubic foot per month, about 0.87 dollars for standard-size inventory off-peak and 2.40 dollars in the Q4 peak, with oversize lower at 0.56 and 1.40. The short version: storage is small per unit but constant, the Q4 rate nearly triples, and aged stock picks up extra surcharges, so it is overstock and slow movers that make storage hurt. Below are the 2026 rates, how the charge is calculated, the surcharges that stack on top, and how to keep it down.
Storage is charged per cubic foot of average daily volume, and it is seasonal:1
Size
Off-peak (Jan to Sep)
Q4 peak (Oct to Dec)
Standard-size
$0.87 / cu ft / mo
$2.40 / cu ft / mo
Oversize
$0.56 / cu ft / mo
$1.40 / cu ft / mo
The peak rate runs October 1 through December 31 and reverts to standard on January 1. Because most sellers build inventory for Q4, the most expensive storage rate lands in the exact quarter you are holding the most stock, which is why timing the build and the drawdown matters so much. See how to forecast Q4 inventory.
You are billed on the average daily volume your inventory occupied during the month, not a single snapshot. The rough formula per SKU is:
Monthly storage = average units on hand x unit volume (cu ft) x the per-cubic-foot rate
So a SKU that occupies 0.05 cubic feet per unit, with 400 units on hand on average in an off-peak month, costs about 400 x 0.05 x 0.87 = 17.40 dollars that month. Move into Q4 at the 2.40 rate and the same inventory costs about 48 dollars. Estimate it per SKU in the FBA storage fee calculator.
Regular monthly storage is only the base. Two surcharges target inventory that sits:
Aged-inventory surcharge. A monthly charge, on top of regular storage, that Amazon applies once units have sat in fulfillment centers past 181 days, escalating the longer they age.1 It is the main penalty for slow movers, and the reason to clear or remove stock before it crosses that threshold. The full age-band schedule is in the aged-inventory surcharge.
Storage utilization surcharge. A charge tied to your inventory-to-sales ratio, roughly the weeks of cover you hold across the catalog, aimed at sellers carrying far more than they sell. Keep your inventory in line with your sell-through and it does not apply. See the storage utilization surcharge.
Both surcharges, plus the low-inventory-level fee at the other extreme, are Amazon nudging you toward holding the right amount: enough to stay in stock, not so much that it sits.
Right-size inventory to sell-through. The single biggest lever. Overstock is what turns trivial per-unit storage into a real bill. See restock planning.
Time the Q4 build and drawdown. Avoid holding a mountain through the peak rate, and exit the season near zero so nothing ages into surcharges in the new year.
Clear aging stock early. A promotion, bundle, or removal before the aging threshold is cheaper than paying the surcharge and then removing it anyway.
Reduce unit volume. Smaller packaging lowers both the fulfillment fee and the storage charge, since both scale with cubic feet.
See where it is coming from. In Seller Central, the FBA inventory age report and the Manage Excess Inventory dashboard show your aging buckets and the SKUs driving storage cost and surcharges, so you can act on the worst offenders first instead of guessing.
Storage is also the most visible piece of a bigger cost: the cash tied up in unsold stock. A slow mover is not just paying storage, it is holding capital you could put into a SKU that turns, which is why the real fix is almost always selling or removing it, not shaving the rate. For the full fee picture, see Amazon FBA fees 2026; for the per-unit fulfillment side, see fulfillment fees by size tier.
FBA storage fees in 2026 are 0.87 dollars per cubic foot off-peak and 2.40 in the Q4 peak for standard-size inventory, charged on average daily volume, with aged-inventory and utilization surcharges stacking on stock that sits. Storage is cheap per unit and expensive per mistake, so the way to control it is to hold the right amount and keep it moving, not to optimize the rate you cannot change.