Amazon Long-Term Storage Fees in 2026: What Brands Need to Know

Amazon starts charging aged inventory surcharges at 181 days, not 365. That's the first thing to get right. The old long-term storage fee (LTSF) model, the one with a flat rate assessed semi-annually on inventory stored a year or longer, doesn't exist anymore. Amazon replaced it years ago with a tiered system that kicks in earlier and gets steeper the longer inventory sits.

If you're still planning around a 365-day threshold, you're leaving money on the table or getting hit with fees you didn't expect. The current system, called the Aged Inventory Surcharge (AIS), uses four age bands starting at 181 days. Fees are assessed monthly on the 15th, and the rates escalate fast. By the time inventory crosses a year, you're paying $6.90 per cubic foot or $0.30 per unit, whichever is greater. Past 15 months, it jumps to $7.90 per cubic foot or $0.35 per unit.

This article covers the current fee structure, how to calculate your exposure, and seven specific strategies to reduce or avoid these charges. If you manage inventory for a brand with 50+ SKUs, the tactics here can save thousands of dollars per month.

What Are Amazon's Long-Term Storage Fees (and Why the Name Changed)

From LTSF to Aged Inventory Surcharge: A Quick History

Amazon used to call these "long-term storage fees" and assessed them twice a year on inventory stored 365 days or longer. The rate was $6.90 per cubic foot or $0.15 per unit, whichever was greater. In August 2018, Amazon switched to monthly assessment but kept the 365-day threshold.

Then Amazon scrapped the whole model. The current Aged Inventory Surcharge system replaced it with tiered age bands that start much earlier (181 days) and escalate in four stages. The rebrand happened gradually. Many sellers still search for "long-term storage fees" even though the fee line item in Seller Central now shows as "Aged Inventory Surcharge."

Why the change? Amazon wants inventory to move faster. A flat fee assessed once a year on inventory past 365 days didn't create enough pressure. The tiered model with an earlier start punishes slow movers harder and earlier.

How the Modern AIS System Works

Amazon snapshots your inventory age on the 15th of each month. Any unit sitting in an FBA fulfillment center for 181 days or longer gets hit with a surcharge based on which age band it falls into. Amazon uses FIFO accounting: when a sale happens, the oldest unit of that ASIN gets credited as sold, regardless of where it physically sits in the warehouse network.

The surcharge is separate from monthly storage fees. You pay both. Monthly storage fees are based on cubic footage and peak/off-peak season. The aged inventory surcharge is an additional penalty for letting inventory age past specific thresholds.

Current Aged Inventory Surcharge Rates (2025-2026)

Fee Tiers by Inventory Age Band

The rates in the 271-365 day band vary slightly by product size tier (small standard, large standard, etc.). The 366+ day bands use a per-unit minimum because even tiny products that take up minimal space still cost real money to store long-term.

Confirmed 2026 Rate Changes

Amazon adjusted the 12-15 month and 15+ month tiers in 2026. The per-unit minimums increased from $0.24/$0.26 (2025 rates) to $0.30/$0.35. The cubic foot rates stayed steady. Amazon also reduced removal and disposal fees for lightweight items by about $0.20, making proactive removal slightly cheaper.

Monthly Storage Fees vs. Aged Inventory Surcharge: What's the Difference?

Monthly storage fees apply to all inventory in FBA, regardless of age. They're charged per cubic foot and vary by season (peak season rates run October through December). These fees are relatively low: $0.87 per cubic foot during off-peak for standard-size items.

The aged inventory surcharge is an additional fee on top of monthly storage, applied only to inventory past the age thresholds. If you have a unit sitting at 400 days, you pay both the monthly storage fee (~$0.87/cubic foot) and the aged inventory surcharge ($6.90/cubic foot or $0.30/unit). That's roughly an 8x penalty for letting it age.

How to Calculate Your Aged Inventory Exposure

Finding Your Inventory Age in Seller Central

Go to Inventory → Inventory Planning → Inventory Age. This report shows every ASIN you have in FBA, how many units fall into each age band, and the estimated surcharge for the upcoming assessment. Amazon also sends a Recommended Removals report about six weeks before each assessment date flagging high-risk inventory.

The Inventory Age report breaks down units by age bracket: 0-90 days, 91-180 days, 181-270 days, 271-365 days, 365+ days. Anything past 181 days is costing you surcharges.

Running the Numbers: A Worked Example

Say you have 2,000 units of a beauty serum sitting at 400 days (12-15 month band). Each unit is a small bottle: 0.02 cubic feet, 4 ounces.

Cubic foot calculation: 2,000 units × 0.02 cubic feet = 40 cubic feet
40 cubic feet × $6.90 = $276

Per-unit calculation: 2,000 units × $0.30 = $600

Amazon charges whichever is greater: $600 per month until those units sell or get removed.

If the product has a $3 net margin per unit, the surcharge eats 10% of your margin every month it sits. Let it sit three more months and you've given Amazon nearly a third of your profit.

Now compare that to a larger product: a 12-pack of paper towels at 1.2 cubic feet per unit, also sitting at 400 days.

Cubic foot calculation: 500 units × 1.2 cubic feet = 600 cubic feet
600 cubic feet × $6.90 = $4,140

Per-unit calculation: 500 units × $0.30 = $150

Amazon charges $4,140 per month because the cubic foot rate is higher.

The per-unit minimum exists to catch small items that would otherwise pay almost nothing. The cubic foot rate still dominates for anything larger than about 0.5 cubic feet.

7 Ways to Reduce or Avoid Aged Inventory Surcharges

1. Right-Size Your FBA Shipments

Send smaller, more frequent shipments instead of large bulk shipments. If you send 5,000 units at once and sales velocity is 200 units per month, 4,000 of those units will sit for 20+ months. The last units to sell will rack up hundreds or thousands in surcharges.

Break it into five shipments of 1,000 units spaced over five months. The units arrive closer to when they'll sell, and fewer cross the 181-day threshold.

This requires tighter coordination with your supplier or 3PL, but the math is simple: pay slightly more in per-shipment prep fees, or pay much more in aged inventory surcharges later.

2. Use the Recommended Removals Report

Amazon sends this report six weeks before the surcharge assessment. It flags inventory likely to accumulate high fees based on age and sell-through rate. Pull the report, filter by estimated fee, and decide which ASINs to remove or liquidate before the 15th.

Removal costs $0.50-$1.00 per unit depending on size. Disposal is slightly cheaper but destroys the inventory. If the surcharge will exceed removal cost and the product has no resale value, dispose. If the surcharge exceeds removal cost and you can sell the product elsewhere (your own site, another channel, liquidation marketplace), remove and redirect it.

3. Run Promotions Before the 181-Day Mark

Set a calendar reminder at 150 days for slow-moving inventory. Run a lightning deal, a coupon, or a percentage-off promotion to clear units before they cross into the first surcharge band. A 15% discount that moves 500 units costs less than six months of $1.50/cubic foot surcharges on those same units.

Check your Inventory Age report monthly and flag anything in the 91-180 day bracket with low projected sell-through. That's your early-warning list.

4. Create Removal Orders or Liquidate Strategically

If inventory crosses 270 days and velocity is still weak, remove it. Waiting for it to cross 365 days costs you the higher-tier surcharges every month.

Amazon Outlet provides a liquidation path where you can list aged inventory at steep discounts with dedicated storefront visibility. It won't get you full price, but it gets units moving and stops the surcharge bleed.

Another option: removal order to a 3PL, then relist on your DTC site, eBay, or another marketplace. You pay the removal fee once instead of surcharges every month.

5. Bundle Slow Movers with Fast Sellers

If you have a hero product that sells 1,000 units per month and a weak SKU that sells 50, create a bundle. List it as a new ASIN: "Hero Product + Bonus Accessory." This moves the slow SKU without discounting it and adds perceived value to the fast seller.

You'll need to prep the bundles (poly-bag or box them together), but it's cheaper than surcharges and preserves margin better than steep discounts.

6. Diversify Storage with AWD or a 3PL

Amazon Warehousing & Distribution (AWD) is an upstream bulk storage service. You send pallets to AWD, and Amazon's auto-replenishment system moves units into FBA fulfillment centers as needed based on demand forecasts.

The critical detail: the aged inventory clock does not start until inventory moves from AWD into FBA. You can hold 10,000 units in AWD for six months, and when Amazon pulls 1,000 units into FBA, those units start at day zero.

AWD costs about $0.48 per cubic foot per month (cheaper than FBA monthly storage and far cheaper than aged inventory surcharges). It makes sense for products with lumpy demand, long replenishment lead times, or high unit counts where you want a buffer without FBA exposure.

Alternatively, work with a 3PL that can hold bulk inventory and send smaller batches into FBA on a schedule. Same principle: keep the bulk stock outside FBA's age-tracking system and send only what you'll sell in the next 60-90 days.

7. Monitor Your IPI Score

Your Inventory Performance Index (IPI) score controls your storage capacity limits. If your IPI drops below the threshold (currently around 400), Amazon restricts how much inventory you can send in. Low IPI also correlates with excess inventory, which means higher aged inventory exposure.

The IPI measures four things: excess inventory percentage, sell-through rate, stranded inventory, and in-stock rate on popular products. Aged inventory directly hurts your excess inventory percentage and sell-through rate.

Check your IPI score weekly in Seller Central (Inventory → Inventory Planning → Inventory Performance). If it's trending down, prioritize removing aged units and restocking fast movers. A low IPI creates a feedback loop: you can't restock winners because Amazon limits your capacity, which tanks your sell-through rate further, which drops your IPI more.

How Amazon's IPI Score Affects Your Storage Costs

What the IPI Measures

The Inventory Performance Index is a 0-1,000 score Amazon calculates weekly based on:

• Sell-through rate: Units sold and shipped in the last 90 days divided by average units available
• Excess inventory percentage: How much inventory you have beyond 90 days of supply
• Stranded inventory: Units in FBA that don't have an active listing (can't be sold)
• In-stock rate: Whether your best-selling products stay in stock

A high IPI (above 400) means Amazon sees you as managing inventory well. A low IPI signals poor planning, excess stock, or stale inventory.

Storage Capacity Limits and Restock Restrictions

When your IPI drops below the threshold, Amazon caps your FBA storage capacity and flags restock limits for individual ASINs. You can't send in more inventory even if you have the cash and the demand forecast says you should.

This creates a trap: aged inventory drags down your IPI, which restricts your capacity, which prevents you from restocking fast sellers, which kills your sell-through rate, which drops your IPI further.

Breaking the cycle requires aggressive action: remove aged units, liquidate slow movers, and get your IPI back above the threshold so you can restock winners. Some sellers have to remove profitable inventory that's aging just to free up capacity for higher-velocity products.

When an Agency Manages Your Inventory (and Your Fees)

If you're managing a brand catalog with 50-500 SKUs, aged inventory surcharges, IPI monitoring, AWD coordination, removal orders, and restock planning add up to a full-time operations job.

SupplyKick manages Amazon inventory for brands as part of a full-service partnership. That includes monitoring inventory age across your entire catalog, setting up AWD auto-replenishment, coordinating removal orders before surcharge thresholds hit, and maintaining IPI scores above capacity restriction levels.

When an agency absorbs storage risk, the brand doesn't pay surcharges directly. The agency builds margin models that account for realistic sell-through rates and plans inventory flow to minimize aged stock exposure. It's a different incentive structure than a brand managing its own FBA account, where aged inventory fees often come as a surprise months after the inventory was sent in.

If storage fees are eating 5-10% of your margin every month and you're spending hours each week managing removal orders and IPI scores, it's time to hand it off. Connect with our team to learn more about SupplyKick's supply chain management services.

FAQ: Amazon Long-Term Storage Fees