Amazon MCF Fees in 2026: What Sellers Need to Know Before Using Off-Amazon Fulfillment

There is a comfortable assumption among sellers who hear that Amazon can ship their orders from stock already sitting in FBA. The inventory is paid for, the warehouse is there, and the truck is already coming. Surely the fulfillment part is practically free. It is not. Every order that Amazon Multi Channel Fulfillment ships has a price, and that price is set by size, weight, delivery speed, and how many units are in the order. It also changes during the year.

The fee matters to everyone in an off Amazon sale. FBA sellers need to know it before they choose a recovery amount, because a product that costs a lot to ship leaves less room in the sale. Shopify retailers need to know it before they list, because the delivered cost decides whether a product can be priced profitably. This guide explains Amazon MCF fees in 2026 in plain terms, with Amazon MCF pricing 2026 figures taken from Amazon’s own rate cards, and shows how the numbers feed into Onlihub’s recovery model.

What Are Amazon MCF Fees?

Amazon MCF fees are the charges Amazon makes to pick, pack, and ship an order that came from somewhere other than Amazon, such as a Shopify store, using inventory stored in its fulfillment network. Amazon’s MCF pricing page says fulfillment fees are based on product size, shipping weight, units per order, and delivery speed, and that the rates cover pick, pack, and ship.

Three points sit inside that definition and are worth stating plainly.

The fee covers the order, not the storage

MCF fulfillment fees pay for the work on an outbound order. The cost of keeping the inventory in the building is separate, and it continues until the unit ships. More on that below.

The fee depends on the order, not just the product

The same product costs different amounts to ship depending on whether the customer wants Standard delivery in 3 business days or Expedited delivery in 2 business days, and on how many units are in the same order. A fee schedule is therefore a grid, not a single number.

The fee is paid whether or not the sale is profitable

Amazon charges for the shipment. It does not check the retail price. Making the sale cover the fee is the job of whoever sets the price, which is why MCF economics belong in your thinking before you set a recovery floor or list a product.

How Much Do Amazon MCF Fees Cost in 2026?

Amazon Multi Channel Fulfillment pricing is a grid, and the cost per order ranges from a few dollars for a light, small item shipped in multiples to well over 10 dollars for a single heavier item. The table below shows Standard speed fees for the small and large standard size tiers, taken from Amazon’s MCF rate card for the period October 15, 2026 to January 14, 2027. Amazon publishes separate figures for each period, so check the rate card for the date your order ships.

Amazon MCF Standard speed fees per unit, October 15, 2026 to January 14, 2027

Fees are per unit, in US dollars, for Standard speed (3 business days). Heavier large standard items, bulky items, and extra large items have their own tiers and per pound charges on the rate card. The 3.5 percent surcharge described below applies to US MCF fulfillment fees.

Expedited delivery in 2 business days costs more, particularly for single unit orders. For a small standard item over 8 to 12 ounces, the same period’s rate card lists $11.66 for one unit, $7.12 for two, $5.65 for three, and $5.10 for four or more, against $8.38, $5.89, $4.93, and $4.44 at Standard speed.

What changed in the 2026 fee schedule?

Amazon’s pricing page states that MCF fulfillment fees rose by an average of $0.30 per unit in 2026, and that fees are unchanged for orders of three or more units in the small and large standard size categories. That means the increase landed on orders of one or two units in those tiers, which is where many Shopify orders sit.

Weight can mean dimensional weight

For large standard, bulky, and most extra large items, Amazon uses dimensional weight when it is higher than the actual weight. A light but bulky product can therefore be billed as a heavier one. Small standard items use actual unit weight.

Is There a 3.5% Surcharge on Amazon MCF Fees?

Yes. Amazon applies a 3.5 percent fuel and logistics related surcharge to MCF fulfillment fees in the US. It began for MCF on May 2, 2026, and Amazon’s pricing pages state that it is applied to MCF fulfillment fees in the US, with holiday peak increases adding to the same structure.

For planning, treat the surcharge as an addition to the card rate. A fee of $8.38 becomes about $8.67 once 3.5 percent is added, and a fee of $12.16 becomes about $12.59. Amazon’s published pages do not spell out in the tables whether the surcharge is already shown, so check one real order in Seller Central to see how it appears on your statement, and build your pricing from that figure.

What Are Amazon MCF Peak Fees and When Do They Apply in 2026?

Holiday peak fulfillment fees apply from October 15, 2026 to January 14, 2027. Amazon says the per unit increases match last year’s rates, with the 3.5 percent surcharge added on top, and publishes the full figures in its 2026 peak rate card. Standard rates return after January 14, 2027.

That window is open now, which makes Q4 planning a live decision and not a future one. Orders shipped between mid October and mid January cost more to fulfill than the same order in spring, and the retail price needs to carry the difference. Amazon’s own peak season guidance also notes that demand continues after Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with gift card, exchange, and self purchase orders arriving between December 26 and January 7, so the higher fees apply to a long season and not just one weekend.

What peak fees mean if you are clearing slow stock

Sellers using Onlihub to recover value from slow inventory do not need to send new stock to Amazon for the season, because the units are already in FBA. The peak question for them is price. A product that earned a comfortable margin in spring may need a higher retail price, a bundle, or a different shipping speed to stay profitable in the peak window. Amazon’s MCF peak season guidance covers the dates and the planning advice in more detail.

Do Multi Unit Orders Lower Amazon MCF Fulfillment Fees?

Yes. Amazon MCF charges less per unit as more units are in one order, and its pricing page describes volume based discounts of up to 50 percent off per unit fulfillment fees on multi unit orders. The effect is visible on the rate card, where the per unit fee drops sharply between one unit and four or more.

How the per unit fee falls as the order grows (small standard, over 8 to 12 oz, Standard speed)

Savings are calculated from the rate card figures above. Two single unit orders would cost $16.76 in fulfillment fees, while one two unit order costs $11.78.

The practical lesson is for retailers. Bundles, multipacks, and offers that nudge a customer from one unit to two lower the fulfillment cost per unit, and the saving can be larger than the discount you give the customer. For sellers, it is a reason to think about which products are likely to sell in sets.

What Is Amazon MCF Preferred Pricing and Who Qualifies?

MCF Preferred Pricing is an Amazon program that gives eligible sellers up to 15 percent off MCF fulfillment fees and up to a 1 dollar FBA credit per MCF unit shipped, for up to 12 months. The terms and eligibility are managed in Seller Central, and Amazon’s MCF pricing page links to them.

Independent coverage of the program reports two ways in, an automatic six month track for sellers who recently started using MCF and a twelve month track based on the number of MCF units shipped, with the discount rising as volume rises. See the PPC Land summary of Preferred Pricing for the reported details, and check your own status on the Incentives page in Seller Central, because eligibility depends on your account. Amazon also lists a new seller incentive of 25 percent off MCF fulfillment fees for the first 100 units.

None of these discounts should be built into a recovery amount or a retail price unless your account has confirmed it. Price on the standard rate, and treat any discount as a margin improvement.

Do You Still Pay FBA Storage Fees When You Use MCF?

Yes. Amazon states that the non fulfillment fees for MCF, including storage, labeling, and removal, match those for FBA. Units that are waiting for a customer continue to pay monthly storage fees, and units that have been in FBA for a long time continue to be subject to the aged inventory surcharge.

This is the point that links MCF to the problem Onlihub exists to solve. Storage fees do not stop because an order channel changed. They stop when the unit ships. The faster a slow unit finds a customer, the fewer months of storage and surcharge it accumulates. Fulfillment fees, on the other hand, are charged only when an order ships, so a unit that does not sell costs no MCF fee at all. The two cost layers behave differently, and recovery decisions should weigh both.

Which Other Amazon MCF Charges Should Sellers Know About?

Three extra items on Amazon’s rate card change the cost of particular orders.

How Do Amazon MCF Fees Affect the Recovery Amount FBA Sellers Set?

MCF fees do not come out of your recovery amount, but they do shape how much room the sale has. A recovery amount is the sum you receive for each unit sold. The retailer then pays that amount, plus the MCF fee, plus Onlihub’s commission. A heavy or oversized product has a larger fee, which raises the delivered cost and leaves a customer paying more for shipping. That can make the retailer’s job harder even when your recovery amount is reasonable.

Three habits help. First, look up the size tier and shipping weight of each product before you enroll it, so you know which row of the rate card applies. Second, expect lower recovery expectations for heavy, bulky, or oversized items, where fulfillment takes a large share of the price. Third, favor light products with a healthy retail price, where the fee is a small share of what the customer pays. Our article on choosing a recovery amount shows how to set the number once you know the fee layer.

How Do Amazon MCF Fees Affect Shopify Sellers’ Margins and Retail Prices?

For a retailer, the MCF fee is part of the delivered cost, and it is passed on to the end customer as a shipping charge. The question to ask before listing is whether the full picture works: the product price, the shipping charge, and the margin left after Onlihub’s commission. Fast delivery supports conversion, but the product still has to be priced profitably.

A simple delivered cost check

Suppose a product weighs between 8 and 12 ounces and falls in the small standard tier. At Standard speed for a single unit, the rate card lists $8.38, which is about $8.67 with the 3.5 percent surcharge added. On a $30 product, that is a shipping charge of nearly 29 percent of the product price. On a $60 product, it is about 14 percent. The same fee feels very different at different price points, which is why higher value, lighter products tend to suit this model better than cheap ones. The figures are an illustration based on Amazon’s published rates.

Questions retailers should ask before listing

What is the product’s size tier and weight? What will the shipping charge look like to a customer at the price I plan to sell for? Will customers buy a second unit if I offer a bundle, which would lower the fee per unit? And does the margin still work during the peak fee window? Answering these first prevents the common problem of a product that is fast to deliver and slow to sell because the total price looks too high.

How Does Onlihub Handle Amazon MCF Fees?

Onlihub’s help center describes the flow clearly. Amazon bills the MCF fee to the seller’s account when the order ships. The fee is included in the price the retailer pays, and the end customer covers shipping at the MCF cost. Onlihub then pays the seller the fee along with the recovery amount, so the fee does not come out of the seller’s pocket. The articles on who pays MCF fulfillment fees and Onlihub’s fees have the details.

Onlihub’s help center also gives a worked example. For a 40 dollar product with a 12 dollar recovery amount and an 8.61 dollar MCF fee, Onlihub’s 10 percent commission is 2.29 dollars, and the retailer is charged 22.90 dollars. Amazon bills the seller 8.61 dollars for the shipment, Onlihub sends the seller 20.61 dollars, and the seller keeps the full 12 dollar recovery amount. The example shows the structure of the price: recovery amount, plus MCF fee, plus commission on top.

The figures come from Onlihub’s help center and illustrate the structure. Real MCF fees depend on the product’s size, weight, delivery speed, and units per order.

Which Products Work Best With Amazon MCF Pricing?

Because the fee is tied to size, weight, and units per order, some products fit the model much better than others.

This is guidance based on how the fee structure works, not a guarantee for any product. Run the numbers for each SKU using the rate card before you commit.

Understand the Fee Layer Before You Set the Price

Amazon MCF is what makes fast, domestic, off Amazon fulfillment possible, and it is a service with a cost model like any other. Fees move with size, weight, speed, and order size. A surcharge applies. Peak fees are in effect through mid January. Discounts exist but depend on your account. Understanding all of that takes an afternoon and saves months of guesswork, because it tells you which products fit and what price makes them work.

Before setting recovery floors or listing products, understand the MCF fee layer that powers fast domestic fulfillment through Onlihub. FBA sellers can create a supplier account and choose slow SKUs with the fee in mind. Shopify sellers can read how to sell products without holding inventory to see how the retailer side works.