Posts in category: Amazon Seller News & Policy

On August 24, 2026, Amazon quietly rewrote a section of its Business Solutions Agreement (BSA) that every third-party seller agrees to. The change is narrow on paper but has real consequences if you finance inventory purchases or have ever considered buying or selling an Amazon seller account.

What Changed

The updated BSA adds two explicit prohibitions that were previously either unstated or only implied:

1. Pledging Amazon payouts as collateral. Your right to receive Amazon disbursements is now explicitly defined as a right under the BSA – and pledging that right as collateral for outside financing (revenue-based financing, merchant cash advances, or similar structures secured against your Amazon payout stream) is now a stated violation.

2. Informal account transfers. The agreement now restricts “transferring rights or obligations” under the BSA more broadly than before, not just the contract itself. This closes a workaround where account ownership or economics moved to a new party (a sale, an aggregator roll-up) while the account stayed registered to the original entity on paper.

Why It Matters for Wholesale Buyers

If you buy inventory from a verified wholesale distributor and pay for it with your own funds, this change doesn’t touch you directly. But a meaningful share of sellers – especially heading into Q4 – fund larger purchase orders through revenue-based financing secured by their Amazon payouts. Multiple trade and legal sources tracking this update note that sellers in the roughly $100K-$1M/month range using these structures are the most exposed, since the financial damage from a suspension or payout freeze is worst during peak season, exactly when inventory needs peak too.

Separately, if you’re buying or selling an Amazon account, or operate under a multi-account/aggregator structure, an informal handover (credentials changed hands, contact info updated gradually) is now explicitly against the rules. Amazon wants ownership changes routed through its formal process instead – a Seller Central case with supporting business license and change-of-ownership documentation.

What To Do Before Your Next Wholesale Order

Reports on enforcement vary slightly by source, so treat the specifics as evolving rather than fixed, but the consistent practical guidance is:

• Review any financing agreement now for language that pledges your Amazon payout stream as collateral, ideally before Q4 ordering ramps up.
• Use Amazon’s documented ownership-change process if an account changed hands informally in the past, or you’re planning to buy/sell one, rather than an informal transfer.
• Keep wholesale inventory purchases separate from financing structures – paid for directly, with a supplier invoice, kept apart from any financing or ownership structure that touches your Amazon payout rights. That’s also the cleanest paper trail for ungating and account-health purposes generally.

Buying wholesale inventory outright, with a verified supplier invoice, keeps your Amazon account and your financing arrangements cleanly separate. Wholesale Distributors US ships authentic inventory with the invoice documentation resellers need for ungating – apply for a wholesale account to see current terms.

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Related reading: Amazon Q4 2026 Prep Checklist for Wholesale FBA Sellers | Wholesale Purchasing Payment Terms: What to Expect | Wholesale Distributor Agreements: Key Clauses to Look For | Amazon’s New AI Agent Rules: What They Mean for Your Wholesale Automation Tools

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If you’re buying wholesale to resell on Amazon and your business is growing, there’s a federal law worth understanding before it catches you off guard: the INFORM Consumers Act. Once you cross a fairly modest sales threshold, Amazon is legally required to collect and verify a set of your business details – and if you ignore the notification, your account can be deactivated.

What the INFORM Consumers Act actually requires

INFORM (Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces) is a federal law that took effect in 2023, and Amazon began enforcing it for sellers starting in 2024. It requires online marketplaces to collect, verify, and in some cases disclose certain information from what the law calls “high-volume third party sellers.” This isn’t an Amazon-specific policy – eBay, Walmart Marketplace, and other online marketplaces are bound by the same federal requirement.

Who counts as a “high-volume” seller

You’re covered by INFORM if, in any continuous 12-month period within the past 24 months, your account has both: 200 or more discrete sales or transactions of new or unused consumer products, and an aggregate total of $5,000 or more in gross revenue. Note that it’s both conditions together, not either one alone – a seller with 500 low-dollar transactions but under $5,000 in revenue, or a seller with one $10,000 transaction, doesn’t meet the definition. For a wholesale reseller moving real volume, though, both thresholds are easy to clear within a few months of steady sales.

What Amazon has to collect and verify

Once you’re flagged as high-volume, Amazon must collect and verify: bank account information (an account number or payee name Amazon can use for payouts), your identity (your full name if you sell as an individual, or a government-issued ID or tax document showing your business name and physical address if you sell as a business), a tax identification number, and a current working email address and phone number. Government-issued tax documents get verified automatically on submission; other information may take longer to confirm.

The annual certification cycle

This isn’t a one-time setup. Amazon requires high-volume sellers to review and re-certify their information annually, and by law you have 10 days from when Amazon notifies you to complete that certification or report any changes. Miss that window and the consequences escalate quickly: sellers who don’t act typically get a deactivation warning first, and then face actual account deactivation and held disbursements if the certification still isn’t completed.

Why this matters more as you scale

Sellers who source wholesale specifically to grow volume – rather than staying at a hobbyist scale – are exactly the sellers most likely to cross the INFORM threshold, often faster than they expect. A single successful wholesale reorder cycle can push a seller past 200 transactions and $5,000 in revenue well within a 12-month window. Getting flagged isn’t a red flag on your account by itself – it’s simply the law working as intended – but missing the 10-day certification window because you didn’t notice the notification absolutely can put your account, and the wholesale inventory you’ve already paid for, at risk.

• Check your Account Health dashboard periodically once your sales start climbing, rather than waiting for a deactivation warning to tell you something’s pending.
• Keep your bank details, tax ID, and contact information current before Amazon asks – a certification notice with outdated information takes longer to resolve than one where everything already matches.
• Business sellers should have a government-issued ID or tax document ready that clearly shows your business name and physical address, since that’s what verifies automatically.
• Don’t assume this is optional or a phishing attempt. INFORM notifications are a real federal requirement, not a scam email – though it’s still worth confirming any request came through your actual Seller Central account rather than an external link.

Wholesale Distributors US ships authentic inventory with the invoice documentation resellers need for ungating – apply for a wholesale account to see current terms.

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Related reading: How Much Capital Do You Need to Start Amazon FBA Wholesale? | Sales Tax Nexus for Wholesale Resellers | Do You Need a Resale Certificate to Buy Wholesale? | eBay’s 2026 User Agreement Changes: What Sellers Need to Know

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If you sell wholesale toys, supplements, or e-mobility products on Amazon, there’s a quiet but consequential shift you may have already run into: Amazon no longer accepts compliance documents that sellers upload themselves. Under Amazon’s Direct Validation (DV) program, the lab that tests your product now has to send the results straight to Amazon – you never touch the file. It started with toys in late 2025 and has since widened to cover several more regulated categories.

What Direct Validation actually changes

Before this program, a seller could get a product tested by more or less any accredited lab, then upload the certificate or test report themselves in Seller Central. Amazon has closed that loophole for a growing list of categories: now the testing has to come from a lab on Amazon’s own approved provider list (names sellers will recognize include SGS, Intertek, QIMA, Eurofins, Bureau Veritas, and HQTS), and that lab submits the results directly into Amazon’s system – typically within one to two business days of testing. A seller-uploaded PDF, however legitimate, is no longer accepted as proof of compliance in these categories.

Which categories are affected

Direct Validation is furthest along for children’s toys, where it’s been in full effect since late 2025: testing now has to meet the current ASTM F963-23 standard, and reports against the older F963-17 standard are generally rejected outright, meaning products tested before the standard updated may need to be retested from scratch. Compliance has to be renewed annually – a Children’s Product Certificate from two years ago doesn’t carry forward indefinitely.

The requirement has since expanded to dietary supplements, where as of late 2025/early 2026 Amazon requires third-party cGMP verification for all supplements, not just the higher-risk categories (weight loss, sexual enhancement, bodybuilding) that were targeted first. Private audits, first-party audits, consulting-firm audits, and even FDA inspection results don’t satisfy this – it has to be accredited third-party certification from an approved provider such as NSF, UL, Eurofins, Intertek, SGS, or Merieux NutriSciences.

Beyond those two, sellers are reporting Direct Validation requirements reaching e-mobility devices (e-bikes, scooters, and related accessories) and a handful of other regulated goods including skin-lightening products and ophthalmic drugs. If you buy wholesale in any of these categories, assume your existing test reports and certificates need a second look even if they were accepted under the old process.

The compliance window and what happens if you miss it

Once Amazon flags a listing as needing Direct Validation, sellers generally get a defined window to get compliant – reported anywhere from 30 days (toys) up to roughly 90 days (the supplement rollout) depending on category and notice. Miss it and the pattern is consistent across categories: listing suppression first (the product becomes invisible to shoppers but isn’t deleted), then full removal if nothing changes, with repeated non-compliance risking a broader account review.

What it costs and how the process works

For toys, third-party testing through an approved TIC provider runs roughly $300-$500 for simple products and $1,500 or more for complex ones – a cost worth building into landed-cost math the same way freight and FNSKU labeling are. The process itself is the same shape across categories: you initiate the request in Seller Central, choose an Amazon-approved TIC provider, send the product or existing documentation to that lab, and the lab uploads the verified results directly to Amazon on your behalf. You’re no longer the one submitting the paperwork – you’re arranging for someone Amazon already trusts to do it.

What this means if you buy wholesale in these categories

• Don’t assume an existing test report still qualifies. If it wasn’t issued by a lab on Amazon’s approved DV list, or it’s testing against an outdated standard (F963-17 for toys, for example), it likely won’t clear the new bar even if it satisfied Amazon a year ago.
• Ask your supplier which lab actually issued their documentation before you commit to a bulk order in toys, supplements, or e-mobility – a wholesale lot that arrives with compliance paperwork Amazon won’t accept is a lot you can’t list until it’s retested.
• Budget testing as a recurring cost, not a one-time one. Toy compliance in particular now requires annual renewal, so factor it into your margin on an ongoing basis rather than as a single upfront expense.
• Watch for Amazon’s compliance notification rather than waiting for a suppressed listing to tell you something’s wrong – the clock on your compliance window starts at notification, not when you first list the product.

Wholesale Distributors US ships authentic inventory with the invoice documentation resellers need for ungating – apply for a wholesale account to see current terms.

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Related reading: Wholesale Toys and Games: CPSIA Compliance Guide | FNSKU Labeling for Wholesale Resellers | Amazon Enhanced-Safety Insurance Rule | Wholesale Pet Supplies for Amazon: Which Products Need Approval | Amazon’s New Bulk TRF Tool for Wholesale Sellers (2026)

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Amazon’s product liability insurance requirement has always kicked in at $10,000 in monthly gross proceeds – until now. Starting November 2, 2026, Amazon is removing that sales threshold entirely for a specific list of “enhanced safety” product categories. If you buy wholesale in any of these categories, the $1 million coverage requirement now applies to you regardless of how much you’re actually selling.

What’s changing on November 2, 2026

Two changes take effect. First, sellers listing in Amazon’s enhanced-safety categories must carry a minimum of $1 million in liability coverage (per occurrence and in aggregate) no matter their sales volume – the usual $10,000/month trigger simply doesn’t apply to these categories anymore. Second, sellers whose business is based in Mainland China must obtain any new policy exclusively through Amazon’s own Insurance Accelerator (AIA) program; Amazon will reject new non-AIA policies from China-based sellers after this date, though existing policies obtained before November 2 remain valid until they expire.

Which categories lose the sales threshold

The enhanced-safety category list includes children’s products (car seats, toys, infant sleep products), cosmetic and ingestible products (supplements, over-the-counter medications, cosmetics), lithium battery products (e-bikes, scooters, power banks), small kitchen appliances, fire-safety products, mattresses and adult bed rails, tires, personal safety equipment, outdoor power equipment, home medical devices, and water/marine safety products. Amazon has described this list as non-exhaustive, so it’s worth checking your own categories directly in Seller Central rather than assuming a category is safe because it isn’t listed above.

Notice how much of this overlaps with categories wholesale buyers commonly stock: supplements and cosmetics brands, children’s toys, and small appliances are all squarely inside the enhanced-safety list – not niche edge cases.

The compliance window

Once Amazon identifies your account as needing enhanced coverage, you get 45 days from the notification email to submit proof of a compliant policy. Missing that window risks deactivation of your listings in the affected categories specifically – not necessarily your whole account, but enough to hurt if that’s where your inventory is concentrated.

What this means if you buy wholesale in these categories

• Don’t wait for the $10,000/month trigger if you’re in an enhanced-safety category. A small or test-run order in toys, supplements, cosmetics, or battery-powered products now needs the same $1 million coverage as a high-volume seller.
• Check whether your current policy already meets the $1M per-occurrence/aggregate minimum and names Amazon as an additional insured – the coverage requirement itself hasn’t changed, only which sellers must carry it regardless of volume.
• Watch for Amazon’s notification email rather than waiting to be surprised by a deactivation – the 45-day clock starts there, not when you first list a product.
• Factor insurance cost into new-category decisions. If you’re weighing whether to add a new wholesale product line in one of these categories, the insurance requirement is now a day-one cost rather than something you can defer until sales pick up.

Wholesale Distributors US ships authentic inventory with the invoice documentation resellers need for ungating – apply for a wholesale account to see current terms.

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Related reading: Do You Need Product Liability Insurance to Sell Wholesale on Amazon? | Wholesale Toys and Games: CPSIA Compliance Guide | Amazon FBA Fee Changes in 2026 | Amazon’s Direct Validation Program | Does Account Health Assurance Cover Inauthentic Claims?

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Consumable and ingestible products, including most supplements, are directly affected – see how this ties into sourcing in our wholesale vitamins and supplements guide.

Powder-format sports nutrition products fall under the same enhanced-safety insurance rules – see our wholesale sports nutrition and protein guide.

If you resell wholesale inventory through FBA, Amazon’s March 31, 2026 change to how it stores and ships inventory is one of the more consequential updates of the year – and it’s easy to miss if you haven’t checked your Manage FBA Inventory barcode column recently. Amazon ended stickerless commingled inventory, and FNSKU labeling is now mandatory for almost every reseller shipping to FBA.

What commingling was, and why Amazon ended it

Commingled inventory meant that when multiple sellers stocked the same product using its manufacturer barcode (UPC), Amazon treated those units as interchangeable – a customer order could be fulfilled from whichever unit was physically closest, regardless of which seller actually sent it in. That efficiency came with a real risk: a single bad actor injecting counterfeit units into a shared pool could contaminate every legitimate seller’s inventory of that product, and buyers had no way to tell whose unit they’d actually received. Ending commingling by requiring seller-specific FNSKU labels closes that loophole – every unit is now traceable to the account that sent it.

Who this actually applies to

This is the part that catches wholesale resellers off guard: it applies to nearly everyone who isn’t the original brand owner. Non-Brand-Registry resellers and distributors, private-label sellers without Brand Registry enrollment, and even Brand Registry members reselling third-party products all now need FNSKU labels on every unit. The only real exception is Brand Registry-enrolled brand owners selling their own products under “Brand Representative” status – and per Amazon’s own clarification, holding a “Reseller” role inside Brand Registry (an authorized reseller who isn’t the brand owner) does not qualify for that exception either.

If your current workflow is “buy wholesale inventory, ship it to FBA using the product’s existing manufacturer barcode,” that workflow stopped being compliant on March 31, 2026, unless it already included FNSKU labeling.

What happens if a shipment shows up without FNSKU labels

Amazon flags non-compliant units at intake. Depending on severity, that can mean the shipment gets rejected at the receiving dock, inventory gets held pending relabeling at your expense, fulfillment gets delayed while that’s sorted out, or – if enough of your stock is affected – your Buy Box eligibility takes a hit from an availability drop. None of that is worth risking on inventory you already paid for in bulk.

What it costs to comply

Amazon’s own FBA prep and labeling service was discontinued in the US as of January 1, 2026, so self-labeling or a third-party prep center are the remaining options. Third-party prep centers generally charge in the range of $0.20 to $0.50 per unit for FNSKU labeling – a cost worth building into your landed-cost math on any new wholesale order rather than discovering it after a rejected shipment.

What to do before your next wholesale order ships to FBA

• Check the Barcode column in Manage FBA Inventory now. Any ASIN you don’t own the brand for showing “Manufacturer barcode” instead of FNSKU needs attention before your next shipment.
• Build FNSKU labeling into your receiving workflow, not as an afterthought – whether that’s in-house or through a prep center, treat it as a standard step for every wholesale shipment headed to FBA now, not an occasional one.
• Budget the per-unit labeling cost into your wholesale purchasing math. A bulk order that looked profitable on paper needs this cost factored in alongside freight and any other prep.
• Don’t assume older SOPs still apply. If your prep process was written before March 31, 2026, it was likely written for a world where FNSKU was optional for resale inventory – it isn’t anymore.

Wholesale Distributors US ships authentic inventory with the invoice documentation resellers need for ungating – pairing that with correct FNSKU prep on your end keeps a wholesale order moving smoothly into FBA. Apply for a wholesale account to see current terms.

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Related reading: UPC vs GTIN Exemption for Wholesale Resellers | Amazon Low-Inventory-Level Fee | Amazon FBA Fee Changes in 2026 | Amazon’s Direct Validation Program | Walmart Marketplace’s 2026 New-Seller Savings: Up to $75K for Wholesale Sellers | Amazon Ended FBA Prep & Labeling Services: What Wholesale Buyers Need to Do | Amazon’s New AI Agent Rules: What They Mean for Your Wholesale Automation Tools

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Starting September 30, 2026, Amazon is rolling out a new performance metric aimed specifically at B2B orders: the Business Hour Delivery Rate. It only applies to merchant-fulfilled (seller-fulfilled) orders placed through Amazon Business – which matters directly for wholesale buyers who resell through Amazon Business rather than (or alongside) standard retail listings.

What the Business Hour Delivery Rate actually requires

Professional sellers fulfilling their own orders (not FBA) to Amazon Business customers must maintain a Business Hour Delivery Rate of 90% or higher – meaning at least 90% of those shipments need to arrive while the receiving business is actually open, not overnight, before hours, or on a day it’s closed. The requirement is specific to seller-fulfilled Amazon Business orders; standard FBA shipments and regular retail marketplace orders are not affected.

The compliance timeline

The metric takes effect September 30, 2026, with sellers given until October 30, 2026 to bring their rate up to the 90% threshold. Sellers who remain below 90% after that grace period risk having their seller-fulfilled offers deactivated specifically for Amazon Business customers – not a full account suspension, but a real loss of access to B2B buyers on whichever listings fall short.

Why this is harder to control than it sounds

The catch sellers are already raising: delivery timing on a seller-fulfilled order is largely in the hands of the carrier (UPS, FedEx, USPS, etc.), not the seller. A package can leave on time and still arrive at midnight, before a business opens, or over a weekend when the receiving company is closed – all outside the seller’s direct control, yet still counted against this new rate.

What this means if you buy wholesale to resell as a merchant-fulfilled seller

If you’re sourcing wholesale inventory and shipping it yourself to Amazon Business customers rather than routing everything through FBA, this is a metric worth watching closely starting now, not after the October 30 deadline hits. A few practical angles:

• Check whether your Amazon Business orders are currently landing inside business hours. Seller Central should start surfacing this rate in your account health metrics – review it before the deadline rather than after a warning.
• Consider carrier selection and shipping windows more carefully for B2B orders specifically. A carrier or service level with more predictable delivery timing may matter more for Amazon Business shipments than for standard retail ones.
• Weigh moving more B2B-bound inventory to FBA if your seller-fulfilled delivery timing is inconsistent – FBA shipments are explicitly excluded from this requirement. This is also where reliable, consistent wholesale supply matters: inconsistent inbound stock makes it harder to plan an FBA-vs-merchant-fulfilled split with confidence.
• Don’t wait for the October 30 cutoff to check your number. Account-health metrics used for eligibility gates are usually calculated on a trailing window, so a rate that looks fine in early September can still be below 90% by the time the deadline lands if nothing changes.

This is a genuinely new requirement – not a rebrand of an existing metric – so if you haven’t seen it mentioned in Seller Central yet, it’s worth checking your account health dashboard directly rather than assuming it doesn’t apply to you.

Wholesale Distributors US ships authentic inventory with the documentation and consistent supply wholesale resellers need to plan fulfillment confidently – apply for a wholesale account to see current terms.

Update (September 2026): Not a US-Only Change

Seller-news coverage since this policy was announced confirms Amazon is tightening Fulfilled by Merchant delivery-performance requirements across other major marketplaces around the same time, including parts of Europe. If you sell wholesale-sourced inventory outside the US as well, it is worth checking your account health dashboard in each marketplace rather than assuming this is limited to the US Business Hour Delivery Rate covered above.

FAQ

Related reading: Amazon FBA Fee Changes in 2026 | Wholesale Purchasing Payment Terms | How to Avoid Dead Stock in Wholesale Buying | Amazon FBM Handling Time Rules 2026

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If low-inventory fees punish running FBA stock too thin, Amazon’s aged inventory surcharge punishes the opposite mistake – letting stock sit too long. For wholesale and bulk buyers, who often order in case packs or full pallets to hit pricing breaks, this is the fee most likely to quietly eat into margin on slower-moving SKUs.

What the aged inventory surcharge is

This fee replaced Amazon’s older “long-term storage fee” model and applies to units that have sat in FBA fulfillment centers past a certain age, on top of (not instead of) the regular monthly storage fee every unit already pays. Coverage of exactly where the 2026 threshold starts varies by source – some describe it beginning as early as 181 days, others describe the more familiar 271-day mark as where rates step up noticeably – but sources agree the structure gets meaningfully more expensive at 12 months and again past 15 months. Given that inconsistency, the safest move is to treat 271 days as the point to have a plan in place, and confirm your account’s exact current thresholds in Seller Central rather than relying on any third-party number, including this one.

2026 rate structure

Two independent sources corroborate the same figures for the higher age tiers: inventory aged 12-15 months is charged $0.30 per unit or $6.90 per cubic foot (whichever is greater), and inventory aged 15+ months jumps to $0.35 per unit or $7.90 per cubic foot. Rates for the earlier age bands (roughly 181-365 days, depending on which threshold framework applies to your account) vary by product category and size tier and aren’t consistently published – check your own Seller Central fee schedule for those figures. The surcharge is assessed monthly rather than as a periodic sweep, so it compounds every month a unit remains unsold past the threshold.

How this differs from regular monthly storage fees

Every unit in FBA already pays a monthly storage fee based on cubic footage, regardless of age. The aged inventory surcharge is a separate, additional charge layered on top once a unit crosses the age threshold – it doesn’t replace anything you’re already paying. For small, dense items especially, sources describe the combined effect as multiplying total storage cost several times over once a unit ages into the higher tiers.

Why this matters more for wholesale and bulk buyers

Retail arbitrage sellers restocking small quantities rarely accumulate enough aged inventory to trigger this at scale. Wholesale buyers work differently: case-pack minimums and pallet pricing breaks often mean ordering more units than will sell in the first few months, especially for a new SKU you’re still gauging demand for. A unit that looked like a good bulk-pricing decision on the purchase order can turn into a monthly-compounding cost if it’s still sitting in a fulfillment center nine or twelve months later. This is the same underlying risk covered in our guide to avoiding dead stock – the aged inventory surcharge is simply Amazon’s mechanism for pricing that risk directly onto your account.

How to avoid getting caught by it

• Forecast sell-through before you order, not after. Case-pack and pallet economics look good on paper until you model how many months of supply you’re actually buying relative to realistic sell-through velocity.
• Watch the calendar on slower SKUs specifically. A fast-moving item rarely reaches the aged tiers; it’s the slow 20% of your catalog that quietly accumulates the surcharge.
• Consider a removal or liquidation before the 12-month step-up if a SKU clearly isn’t going to sell through – the surcharge jump at 12-15 months is steep enough that removing slow stock earlier is often cheaper than continuing to pay it monthly.
• Weigh this against the opposite risk. Ordering too conservatively to avoid aged stock can push you into low-inventory-level fee territory instead – the two fees pull reorder timing in opposite directions, and the right balance is specific to each SKU’s actual sell-through rate.

This surcharge was one of several 2026 FBA fee changes we outlined in our broader overview of Amazon FBA fee changes for wholesale buyers – this post goes deeper on the aged inventory piece specifically, since it’s the one most tied to bulk-order sizing decisions.

Wholesale Distributors US ships authentic inventory with documentation to support consistent, right-sized restocking – apply for a wholesale account to see current terms.

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Related reading: Amazon FBA Fee Changes in 2026 | How to Avoid Dead Stock in Wholesale Buying | Amazon Low-Inventory-Level Fee for Wholesale Buyers | Amazon’s 2026 FBA Storage Squeeze: Why Days-of-Cover Shrank | Amazon FBA Removal & Disposal Fees Now Bill Per Unit (2026) | Inbound Placement Fee vs. Split Shipment

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If you buy wholesale in case packs or full pallets, you plan for freight costs and storage fees – but a newer Amazon charge catches a lot of bulk buyers off guard: the low-inventory-level fee. It’s easy to confuse with IPI score or restock limits, but it’s a separate charge with its own trigger, and it penalizes running FBA stock too thin rather than too heavy.

What the low-inventory-level fee actually is

Amazon charges this fee per seller-FNSKU (so each individual product variation is evaluated on its own, not averaged across a parent listing) when your inventory falls below a specific threshold relative to how fast it’s selling. The metric behind it is “days of supply,” calculated as average daily on-hand units divided by average daily units shipped. Amazon checks this two ways – a 30-day window and a 90-day window – and the fee only applies when both windows show fewer than 28 days of supply. If either period stays at or above 28 days, you avoid the charge entirely.

How much it costs

Rates scale with both product size and how far below the threshold you are – the closer to zero days of supply, the higher the per-unit charge. Reported 2025-2026 rates run roughly from $0.32 per unit (small standard items closer to the 21-28 day band) up to $1.11 or more per unit for larger standard items with very little supply left, with bulky/oversized items carrying their own higher tier that Amazon extended this fee to starting January 15, 2026. Exact rates are set by Amazon and can change, so treat these as a general range rather than a locked-in number – always check your own Seller Central fee schedule for current figures.

How this is different from IPI score and restock limits

It’s easy to lump every FBA inventory penalty together, but the low-inventory-level fee is mechanically distinct from your Inventory Performance Index (IPI) score and the restock limits tied to it. IPI is an account-wide health score that affects your overall storage capacity, and it’s influenced by excess inventory, stranded inventory, and sell-through rate in aggregate. The low-inventory-level fee, by contrast, is evaluated per FNSKU and triggers specifically when a single product variation runs low – a strong IPI score doesn’t protect you from paying this fee on individual SKUs you’ve let run thin.

Why this matters more for wholesale and bulk buyers

Retail arbitrage sellers restocking a few units at a time rarely run into this fee, because they’re reordering constantly in small batches. Wholesale buyers work differently – you’re often placing larger, less frequent orders because of case-pack minimums, pallet pricing breaks, or supplier lead times, which means your days-of-supply number naturally swings lower as you approach a reorder point. If your reorder timing is built around your supplier’s lead time rather than Amazon’s 28-day threshold, it’s easy to dip below the line for a week or two right before new stock arrives.

How to avoid it without over-ordering

• Build your reorder point around a buffer above 28 days, not right at it. If your supplier’s lead time plus processing time is two weeks, don’t wait until you’re down to two weeks of stock to place the order – that guarantees a stretch below threshold.
• Check both the 30-day and 90-day windows, not just current stock. A recent sales spike can drag your 30-day average down even if your on-hand quantity looks fine.
• Weigh the fee against the cost of holding more inventory. For low-margin, slow-moving SKUs, occasionally paying the fee can be cheaper than tying up cash in extra stock – this is the same math involved in avoiding dead stock from the opposite direction.
• Treat this as one more input into your reorder-point calculation alongside supplier lead times, not a separate problem to solve in isolation.

If you’re not sure your current reorder cadence accounts for this, our guide on setting reorder points around supplier lead times walks through the calculation in more detail – the low-inventory-level fee is simply one more reason to get that number right.

Wholesale Distributors US ships authentic inventory with the documentation to support consistent restocking – apply for a wholesale account to see current terms.

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Related reading: Amazon IPI Score and FBA Capacity Limits | Wholesale Supplier Lead Times and Reorder Points | How to Avoid Dead Stock in Wholesale Buying | Amazon’s Aged Inventory Surcharge in 2026 | Amazon Ends Commingled Inventory: FNSKU Labeling Now Required for Wholesale Resellers

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Amazon updated its FBA fee structure again in 2026, and several of the changes land directly on anyone buying wholesale inventory in bulk for FBA resale. If you’re sizing a purchase order or deciding how much safety stock to carry, these changes are worth building into the math before you place the order, not after the first storage bill arrives.

What changed in 2026, in brief

Standard-size monthly storage stayed at roughly $0.78 per cubic foot from January through September, jumping to about $2.40 per cubic foot for the October-December peak window – the same 3x seasonal multiplier Amazon has used in recent years, so this isn’t new, but it’s still the single biggest storage cost driver for most sellers and worth re-confirming every year rather than assuming last year’s numbers still apply.

What is new for 2026 is a restructured aged-inventory surcharge. Inventory sitting in Amazon fulfillment centers for 181-270 days now carries a meaningfully higher per-cubic-foot penalty than before, stepping up again at 271-365 days, and again past 365 days where the surcharge gets steep enough that liquidating aged stock is typically cheaper than continuing to pay for its storage. Exact per-tier figures vary slightly by source, so treat any specific number you see as a current estimate to verify in your own Seller Central account rather than a fixed rate.

Amazon also introduced a low-inventory-level fee aimed at the opposite problem – understocking. The reported threshold is around 28 days of historical supply for standard products, raised to roughly 35 days of forecasted demand for high-velocity SKUs. The intent is to discourage sellers from running FBA inventory too thin, which increases Amazon’s own replenishment overhead.

A 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on FBA fulfillment fees took effect April 17, 2026 for US and Canada FBA (and Remote Fulfillment with FBA into Canada, Mexico, and Brazil), with Buy with Prime and Multi-Channel Fulfillment following on May 2, 2026. It applies only to fulfillment fees, not referral fees, storage fees, or your sale price, and averages roughly $0.17 per unit for US FBA orders, varying with item size. Amazon has described it as temporary and says it will keep evaluating the surcharge as conditions change, and it now shows up automatically in the Revenue Calculator, Profit Analytics, and Fee and Economics Preview reports. Separately, a new packaging fee for non-SIPP (ships-in-product-packaging) bulky items reportedly started in January 2026, though we’ve only seen that detail from a single source – verify current rates directly in your Seller Central fee schedule before building them into firm cost projections.

What This Means for Wholesale Order Sizing

None of this changes the fundamentals of wholesale buying, but it does shift where the break-even point sits between ordering too little and ordering too much:

• Bigger bulk discounts have to clear a higher bar. A supplier’s price break at a larger case pack or pallet quantity needs to be weighed against a steeper aged-inventory surcharge if that inventory doesn’t sell through in the first 6-9 months.
• Q4 inbound timing matters more than ever. Landing inventory in FBA right before the October-December window means paying the 3x storage multiplier on top of whatever you already paid to acquire and ship it – a strong argument for inbounding earlier in the year when the math allows it.
• Don’t overcorrect into understocking. The new low-inventory-level fee means chronically thin FBA stock now has its own cost, not just the risk of losing the Buy Box. The goal is matching order size to your actual sell-through rate, not swinging to the opposite extreme.
• Rework your landed-cost math with current rates. Because several of these fees are new or restructured for 2026, a landed-cost calculation built on last year’s fee schedule will underestimate true cost per unit on slower-moving SKUs.

Before placing a large FBA-bound order, it’s worth confirming your supplier is a verified, authorized distributor for the brand you’re buying – not just for product authenticity, but because invoice-backed purchases are also what support any Amazon ungating request tied to that category. Apply for a wholesale account to get started.

FAQ

Related reading: Amazon IPI Score & FBA Capacity Limits | Amazon 2026 Holiday Peak FBA Fees | How to Avoid Dead Stock When Buying Wholesale in Bulk | Amazon’s Aged Inventory Surcharge in 2026 | Amazon’s New Business Hour Delivery Rate: What Wholesale Resellers Need to Know | Amazon Ends Commingled Inventory: FNSKU Labeling Now Required for Wholesale Resellers | Amazon’s Enhanced-Safety Insurance Rule: No More $10K Threshold for These Categories | Inbound Placement Fee vs. Split Shipment

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Tariff policy on Chinese-origin goods has been one of the more disruptive forces for Amazon FBA sellers in 2026. For anyone whose sourcing model depends on importing new inventory directly from overseas, the combination of elevated Section 301 tariffs and the end of the low-value “de minimis” exemption has turned what used to be a predictable per-unit cost into a moving target. Sellers who buy from an established US-based wholesale distributor are largely insulated from this volatility — here’s why, and what’s actually changed.

What Changed for Direct-Import Sellers

The de minimis exemption, which let low-value parcels enter the US duty-free, was eliminated for Chinese-origin goods in 2025 and has stayed eliminated through 2026 — there’s no splitting orders into small parcels to dodge duties anymore. On top of that, Section 301 tariffs on Chinese-origin consumer goods have remained elevated, with combined effective rates commonly cited in the 20-30% range depending on product category. Trade policy in this area has shifted more than once and includes provisions (like a reciprocal-tariff suspension window) set to be revisited later in 2026, so treat any specific figure as “current as of 2026” rather than permanent.

Why Wholesale From a US Distributor Sidesteps This

When you buy from a wholesale distributor whose inventory is already landed, duty-paid, and sitting in a US warehouse, there’s no per-shipment customs event tied to your order — no de minimis math, no surprise broker fees, and no waiting on a shipment stuck in customs. The cost structure is already baked into the wholesale price you’re quoted. For a fuller breakdown of what actually makes up a landed-cost figure when goods do cross a border, see our landed cost guide, and for a side-by-side on when buying from a distributor beats going straight to a manufacturer, see our distributor vs. manufacturer-direct comparison.

This Also Applies to the Brands We Carry

Brands like Cetaphil, CeraVe, Aveeno, Nature Made, Ziploc, Brita, Fairy, RYSE, and Hero Cosmetics are established, already-in-market US brands sold through normal domestic distribution channels — not private-label goods manufactured overseas and shipped in per order. Buyers sourcing these lines wholesale aren’t exposed to the same per-shipment tariff swings hitting sellers who import directly. That said, this reflects how these goods are currently distributed, not a guarantee about future trade policy or brand sourcing decisions.

What to Ask Any Wholesale Supplier About This

Before assuming a supplier is tariff-insulated, confirm a few things directly: that the goods are already US-based and in stock rather than drop-shipped from overseas per order, how their pricing is set (does it float with tariff news, or is it stable because it’s already landed), and get that in writing on the invoice or quote rather than taking it on faith. Our distributor verification checklist covers the broader version of this vetting process. For sellers weighing whether to keep importing directly at all given these costs, our private label vs. wholesale purchasing comparison lays out the fuller tradeoff.

Wholesale Distributors US sells already-landed, duty-paid inventory from established US brands — apply for a wholesale account to source without per-shipment tariff exposure.

2026 Update: New Customs Enforcement Rules Raise the Stakes for Importers (Not for Wholesale Buyers)

Executive Order 14411, “Strengthening Customs Enforcement,” adds real teeth to the points above. As of September 1, 2026, CBP penalties for customs violations now carry a 50% minimum penalty floor, with no discretion to reduce it for repeat offenders, plus enhanced seizure procedures. A second phase lands in early December 2026: an overhaul of the Importer-of-Record framework, with new “good standing” and vetting criteria, a requirement that foreign importers of record prove sufficient US assets, an end to informal entries for foreign IORs, and higher minimum bond coverage across the board.

These rules apply to importers of record – the party legally responsible for customs entry – along with customs brokers, freight forwarders, and bonded warehouse operators. They do not apply to domestic wholesale buyers or resellers who never take on IOR status themselves. That’s exactly the point made above: buying from a documented US wholesale distributor whose inventory is already landed and duty-paid means you’re never the importer of record, so this entire enforcement overhaul simply doesn’t touch you. Sellers who personally import goods, or who use private-label or dropship arrangements where they (or their supplier) act as IOR, are the ones who need to pay close attention to both the September penalty floor and the December framework changes.

September 18, 2026 update: CBP also began voiding Importer of Record numbers tied to incomplete or inaccurate CBP Form 5106 filings – the form that registers an importer’s identity, mailing address, physical address, phone, and email with customs. A voided IOR number can’t be used to bring in new shipments until the importer requests reinstatement, and CBP is specifically rejecting filings where the listed address or contact details belong to a customs broker, freight forwarder, or registered agent rather than the importer itself. As with the points above, this only touches sellers or brands who import product under their own name – if your inventory comes from an established US wholesale distributor, the distributor’s own IOR paperwork is what’s on file with CBP, not yours.

FAQ

Related reading: How to Calculate Landed Cost for Wholesale Purchasing | Authentic Distributor vs. Manufacturer Direct | Private Label vs. Wholesale Purchasing for Amazon FBA | How to Verify an Authentic Wholesale Distributor | Canada’s New Tariffs on US Goods (Sept 2026) | Amazon Q4 2026 Inventory Deadlines

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