FBA long-term storage fees

Inventory that has been in a fulfilment centre for more than 365 days will be charged a monthly long-term storage fee of CAD 208 per cubic metre. Media items will be charged a monthly long-term storage fee of CAD 208 per cubic metre or $0.15 per unit, whichever is greater. Long-term storage fees are assessed on the 15th of each month

We charge long-term storage fees because we incur additional costs for storing inventory for long periods of time in fulfilment centres, and that cost is not built into Amazon’s monthly storage cost structure. However, we will not charge long-term storage fees in these cases:

• Inventory that sells before it has been in a fulfilment centre for 365 days
• Inventory that sells after it has been in a fulfilment centre for more than 365 days, but before the next inventory cleanup date
• Inventory for which you create a removal order before the next inventory cleanup date

The examples below illustrate the long-term storage fee.

1. Multiply length x width x height in centimetres to get the volume.
   
2. Divide the volume by 1,000,000 to convert from cubic centimetres to cubic metres.
   

Use the Inventory Age and Inventory Health reports to identify which ASINs in your inventory are subject to long-term storage fees. For each ASIN, you can see your inventory listed by the amount of time it has been in a fulfilment centre:

• 0 to 90 days
• 91 to 180 days
• 181 to 270 days
• 271 to 365 days
• More than 365 days

This information can help you estimate the number of items that will have been in a fulfilment centre for more than 365 days by the next inventory cleanup date.

The Recommended Removals report can also help you identify items subject to long-term storage fees. This report automatically calculates, on an ASIN-by-ASIN basis, the number of items you would have to remove to avoid long-term storage fees—assuming no further sales. The report identifies only those items that are subject to long-term storage fees within the 30 days before each cleanup date.

To find the Inventory Age page, go to the Inventory tab in your seller account, then Inventory planning. For the Inventory Health and Recommended Removal reports, go to the Reports tab, then Fulfilment.

The long-term storage fee is in addition to the monthly inventory storage fee. Assessment is based on the date an item is received in the fulfilment centre.

Only items that have been in a fulfilment centre for more than 365 days will be assessed to a long-term storage fee.

FBA calculates inventory age on a First In, First Out (FIFO) basis across the entire fulfilment network. Items sold or removed are deducted from the inventory that has been in the fulfilment network the longest, regardless of which unit was actually shipped or removed.

Active management of older inventory can help you to avoid long-term storage fees. To remove older inventory before the next inventory cleanup date, you can:

• Submit a removal order
• Set up automated removals for inventory subject to long-term storage fees

Inventory in sellable condition will be available for sale until the removal is complete. You will not be charged a removal order fee until the inventory has been returned to you or disposed of.

Items that sell after having incurred a long-term storage fee are not eligible for a refund of that fee.

Set up automated removals: If you set up automated removals by the 15th of each month for inventory that is subject to long-term storage fees, that inventory won’t be charged long-term storage fees. To set up automated removals, go to the Settings menu in Seller Central and click Fulfilment by Amazon.

For more information, see Remove inventory automatically.

If you remove units of an ASIN that would be subject to long-term storage fees at the next inventory cleanup date, you won’t be able to send us more units of that ASIN for three months after that date, except if your inventory of that ASIN falls below our projection of its sales for the next eight weeks.

Three months after the inventory cleanup date: Restrictions based on removals are lifted at this point. For example, if you remove inventory before the February 15 inventory cleanup (between January 16 and 11:59 p.m. PT on February 14), then you’ll be able to send more units of that ASIN to fulfilment centres starting on May 15 (unless your ability to send units of that ASIN has been restricted for another reason).

Inventory level falls below sales projection: We base our projection of your sales of an ASIN for the next eight weeks on your average sales rate for that ASIN during the preceding 90 days. At any point that your inventory level for that ASIN falls below eight weeks of cover, the removal-based restriction is lifted and you can send more units to fulfilment centres.

Your inventory utilization for that ASIN may not exceed the preceding 90 days of sales, or about 13 weeks of cover. Inventory utilization is your in-stock inventory plus any inventory on its way to a fulfilment centre, from creation of a shipment order to receiving at the fulfilment centre.