If keeping the right amount of FBA inventory on hand feels harder in 2026 than it used to, that’s not just a feeling. Amazon’s low-inventory-level fee and its aged-inventory surcharge have moved closer together this year, narrowing the safe window between “too little stock” and “too much stock” for sellers running wholesale-purchased inventory through FBA.
Two Fees, Closing In From Both Sides
Amazon charges a low-inventory-level fee when your days of supply for a SKU drops below roughly 28 days. On the other end, the aged-inventory surcharge kicks in once units have sat in a fulfillment center too long. The problem in 2026 is that the aged-inventory side of that window has moved earlier — seller-news coverage places the new surcharge trigger at around 180 days, well before the roughly 271-day mark many sellers had grown used to (see our aged inventory surcharge guide for the full breakdown of how sources describe that threshold, since reporting isn’t fully consistent on the exact day count). With the low end unchanged and the high end arriving sooner, the safe middle stretch where inventory sits without triggering either fee is simply narrower than it was in 2025.
What’s Confirmed for 2026 Storage Rates
Two independent seller-analytics trackers (SellerMagnet and Nova Analytics) now corroborate the same exact figures for 2026: an October–December standard storage rate of $2.40 per cubic foot ($1.40 oversize), up roughly threefold from the January–September base rate of $0.78 per cubic foot standard ($0.56 oversize) – both sources note these rates are unchanged from 2025. Reporting is still less consistent on the precise dollar amount charged at each aged-inventory surcharge tier — different seller-news outlets cite different figures for those specific numbers. For aged-inventory surcharge specifics, the reliable move is to pull your own current rates from Seller Central’s Fee Preview, since Amazon updates these figures and third-party tables can lag or vary.
| Period | Standard-Size Rate | Oversize Rate |
|---|---|---|
| January–September | $0.78 / cubic foot / month | $0.56 / cubic foot / month |
| October–December (peak) | $2.40 / cubic foot / month | $1.40 / cubic foot / month |
Why This Hits Wholesale-Purchased Inventory Harder
Buying wholesale usually means committing to a case pack or pallet quantity up front rather than reordering one unit at a time, which naturally pushes days-of-cover higher right after a restock. That’s exactly the pattern that now has less room to breathe: a restock sized for 60-90 days of cover, which used to comfortably clear the fee-free stretch, can now bump up against the earlier aged-inventory trigger before it sells through — especially on slower-moving SKUs.
What to Do: Shrinking Your Days-of-Cover Target
The practical response several sellers and seller-tools sources are recommending is compressing target days-of-cover from the old 60-90 day range down to roughly 30-45 days on stable, predictable SKUs — ordering more often in smaller wholesale quantities rather than one large restock meant to last a full quarter. This trades a bit of ordering convenience for meaningfully lower exposure to both fees. It also makes real demand forecasting (rather than a flat safety-stock buffer) more valuable than it used to be, since the margin for error on either side has shrunk.
None of this means treating wholesale purchasing as riskier than it was. It just means sizing restocks to the new corridor instead of the old one, and checking your own account health dashboard rather than assuming last year’s safe window still applies.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the “corridor” between Amazon’s inventory fees?
It’s the informal name for the safe window of days-of-cover where a SKU is neither low enough to trigger the low-inventory-level fee (roughly under 28 days of supply) nor old enough to trigger the aged-inventory surcharge. In 2026, that window narrowed because the aged-inventory trigger moved earlier.
Exactly how many days until the aged-inventory surcharge applies in 2026?
Reporting isn’t fully consistent – most sources describe the new trigger as being around 180 days, replacing the roughly 271-day mark many sellers were used to. Because sources vary on the exact figure, check your own Seller Central account health dashboard for the number that applies to your inventory.
Should I stop buying wholesale in bulk because of this?
Not necessarily – it just means sizing restocks closer to 30-45 days of cover on stable SKUs instead of 60-90, and ordering more frequently in smaller wholesale quantities rather than one large quarterly restock.
Related reading: Amazon’s Aged Inventory Surcharge in 2026 | Amazon 2026 Holiday Peak FBA Fees | Amazon’s 2026 Black Friday & Cyber Monday Inventory Deadlines | Amazon’s Buy Again & Save: What It Costs FBA Sellers | Amazon FBA Removal & Disposal Fees Now Bill Per Unit (2026) | Amazon’s Q4 2026 Fee Windows
Add a Comment