Long-Term Storage Fee (LTSF)
Amazon's old 365-day storage fee, now replaced by the aged inventory surcharge.
Definition
The long-term storage fee (LTSF) was the FBA fee Amazon charged on units that sat in a fulfillment center for more than 365 days, assessed in addition to monthly storage. In 2024 Amazon replaced it with the aged inventory surcharge, which starts charging at 181 days, so LTSF no longer exists as a separate line item.
What the long-term storage fee was
For years the LTSF was Amazon's penalty for inventory that would not move. It applied to units stored longer than 365 days and was charged on top of the regular monthly storage fee, so a slow SKU that crossed the one-year mark started costing meaningfully more to hold.
The weakness of the old design was the cliff. Inventory could sit for eleven months with no extra penalty, then get hit all at once at 365 days. That structure let a lot of slow-moving stock coast right up to the edge before the fee ever showed up, which is the opposite of an early warning.
What replaced it: the aged inventory surcharge
In 2024 Amazon retired the 365-day LTSF and rolled long-term storage into the aged inventory surcharge, which begins at 181 days and escalates through a series of brackets the longer units age. The effect is that the penalty now starts at six months instead of twelve, and it ramps gradually instead of landing in one annual hit.
For planning purposes the practical takeaway is that aging inventory gets expensive twice as fast as it used to. If you are still operating on the old one-year mental model, you are budgeting for a deadline that no longer exists. See the aged inventory surcharge for the current 2026 bracket schedule and worked examples.
How it connects to your restock decisions
Whether it was called LTSF or the aged inventory surcharge, the root cause is the same: ordering more units than sell-through can clear before the storage clock runs out. The defense lives at the buy, in sizing order quantity to real velocity rather than to a supplier MOQ or an optimistic forecast.
For units already aging, the move is to act before the next bracket: promote, bundle, lower price, or create a removal order while the math still favors it. Watching projected age against the surcharge brackets turns a surprise fee into a deliberate decision.
Related terms
Stop paying rent on dead stock
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