Amazon cuts fees in Europe for 2026! Who will gain in real terms and who will only feel the change on paper?

Until a few years ago, most sellers treated Amazon as a simple set-up: you upload a listing, plug in the logistics, fire up the advertising and the scale comes by itself. Today, this only works if the numbers spin. And the numbers on Amazon spin, either thanks to an operational advantage or a very conscious pricing and offer policy. This is why the announced fee reductions for Amazon's European shops for 2026 are important. Not because Amazon is cheaper, but because space is opening up for movement for parts of the range: in price, in promotions, in FBA/FBM model selection and in strategy for the low-priced product segment.

What is Amazon changing and from when?

The changes come in two waves - and this is key, as many companies confuse the dates and try to recalculate everything „from January”. The first wave applies from 15 December 2025. It mainly concerns reductions in FBA processing fees (on average approx. €0.32 per consignment in selected major shops) and commission changes in clothing and accessories, among others.

Second wave takes off 1 February 2026. Then they enter, among other things, large commission reductions in selected high-volume categories (e.g. home products up to €20 from 15% to 8%) and the extension of the programme rules Low-Price FBA (In most categories up to a €20 threshold, which reduces the FBA for newly eligible products by an average of approx. €0,45).

Amazon's communication also scrolls through with an „average saving” of about €0.17 per unit sold in Europe - it is worth considering this as a benchmark and not a guarantee for each SKU.

Who benefits most (and why not everyone)?

These changes make the most sense for ranges that live in the low to mid-price range and sell by volume. There, even a dozen or so cents per item makes a difference, because it allows you to make moves that were previously too expensive: drop the price, add a coupon or invest in advertising without eating into your margins. In practice, the „winners” are the retailers who have:

• products in price brackets under which commission rebates are applied (e.g. clothing and accessories, household products, pet products)
• the possibility of reworking the pricing and promotion policy (rather than just keeping the same price for months)
• stable availability and turnover (because some of the savings can be eaten up by storage and return costs if the operation is run down)

And now here's the important thing: Amazon itself explicitly indicates that parallel appearances of selective increases in areas such as warehousing, returns to the retailer, removal of goods and changes to some of the shops (for FBA, among others) - so on average cheaper does not mean that every retailer everywhere will pay less.

How do you calculate the impact on margins without doing a PhD?

Here is the simplest model, which in practice is enough to decide „what we do about price and logistics”. Take for each product:

1. gross price
2. product cost + packaging
3. cost of logistics 
4. FBA commission and fees

And count two scenarios: before the changes i as amended - but separate them by date (15.12.2025 and 01.02.2026) as other elements change. The most common mistake is to throw „average €0.17” into Excel and consider that this is the new margin. Meanwhile, the real effect often looks like this: on some SKUs you will gain noticeably, on some you will gain symbolically, and on some you will not gain at all (or even lose if the cost of warehousing or handling returns in your layout increases).

What's worth doing operationally in January 2026 so you don't sleep through the opportunity?

In many companies, the problem is not that there is no chance to improve profitability. The problem is that no one is turning Amazon's message into concrete action on offers. If we were to simplify this to a few steps that realistically make a difference: First, choose a group of SKUs that fall within the price thresholds and categories subject to the biggest changes. Then recalculate two options: you keep the price and collect margin, or you go down in price and try to recover volume (and buy box share). In a third step, you check whether a Low-Price FBA opens up for your products sensibly - because there the unit effect can be more noticeable than the commission reduction alone. Only at the end do you add advertising. If the product still has a tight margin after conversion, advertising will not solve the problem - it will only accelerate its exposure.

Trap 2026: „cheaper on art” doesn't fix a poor offer!

Entries about fee cuts are tempted to make this a simple story: Amazon cuts fees, so everyone will make more money. The reality is less romantic. If the listing is poor (parameters, images, variants, no answers to customer questions), even a better unit margin won't help, because sales won't grow. And if sales grow by force through promotions and advertising, the savings from fees often disappear in returns and handling costs. In 2026, the winners will be those who have control of the offer and the process, not those who subsidise the traffic with budget. It sounds trite, but on Amazon it is unforgiving.

What next?

If approached coldly, the 2026 fee reductions are good news - but only for those who can turn it into SKU-level decisions: price, fulfilment model, low-price thresholds, promotion plan and assortment selection. The rest will simply note the change in the fee report and continue on the same track. If you want to be sure which group you belong to, get in touch with us - we'll help you sort out the changes on Amazon in no time.

Author of the blog: Kacper Pawlak
Publication date: xx.01.2026.