$0.99
per item sold on the Individual plan, with no monthly fee
$39.99
per month on the Professional plan, break even at 40 items
$0.30
minimum referral fee per item in the US store
Key takeaways
- The Individual selling plan has no monthly subscription and charges $0.99 per item sold.
- The Professional plan is $39.99 per month, which only pays off above 40 items sold per month.
- The referral fee applies on every plan: a percentage of the total sales price, with a $0.30 US minimum per item.
- Fulfilling orders yourself removes FBA fulfilment and storage fees, so your only upfront cost is the unit and postage.
- 2026 US fee changes take effect January 15, 2026, averaging $0.08 more per unit on FBA, with no new fee types.
If you are searching how to start selling on Amazon with no money, here is the honest version: you cannot start at zero, but you can start with almost no fixed cost. The money Amazon takes from a beginner is mostly variable. It comes out of sales that already happened. What you still have to fund yourself is the first unit and the postage.
What Amazon charges before you sell anything
Nothing, if you pick the right plan.
The Selling on Amazon fee schedule sets two selling plans. The Individual plan has no monthly subscription fee and charges $0.99 per item sold. The Professional plan charges $39.99 per month and no per item fee. The break even sits at 40 items a month: below that, the Individual plan is cheaper, and it is the plan that lets you start with a zero balance.
That is the whole trick behind starting with no money. You are not avoiding fees. You are moving them behind the sale.
The fee that is not optional
The referral fee applies to every sale on every plan. It is a percentage of the total sales price, which is the total amount the buyer paid including item price and any shipping or gift wrap charges, excluding taxes collected through Amazon tax calculation services. Amazon deducts the greater of the percentage or the per item minimum. In the US store the minimum referral fee is $0.30 per item.
Percentages vary by category. Office Products, for example, is 15% of the total sales price with a $0.30 minimum. Check your own category before you price anything, because 8% and 17% are different businesses.
Fulfil it yourself and the FBA fees disappear
FBA charges fulfilment and storage. If you ship the order yourself, neither applies. That is the difference between a start that needs inventory sitting in a warehouse and a start that needs one box in a hallway. The trade off is real, and it is laid out in the FBA vs FBM cost comparison: FBM costs you time and Prime eligibility, FBA costs you money before the sale.
For the mechanics of the FBA side once you outgrow this, start from what Amazon FBA is and what it costs.
One sale, end to end
Say you sell a $24.99 item in a 15% referral fee category, on the Individual plan, and you ship it yourself.
- Total sales price: $24.99
- Referral fee at 15%: $3.75
- Individual per item fee: $0.99
- Amazon takes: $4.74
- You receive: $20.25
Now your own costs, which Amazon has nothing to do with. Suppose the unit cost you $8.00 and postage plus packing costs $5.30. Those two numbers are yours to find out, not ours to assume.
- Gross profit: $20.25 minus $8.00 minus $5.30 = $6.95
- Margin on the sale price: 27.8%
The starting capital in that example is $8.00, not a warehouse. That is what "no money" realistically means on Amazon: the cost of one unit and one shipping label, with Amazon's cut deducted after the buyer paid.
What actually costs you money at the start
- Buying inventory before you have a listing that sells. The most common way to turn a cheap start into a dead one.
- Subscribing to Professional before you hit 40 items a month. $39.99 monthly against an $0.99 per item alternative is a bet on volume you do not have yet.
- Category surprises. A referral percentage you did not check turns a planned 30% margin into 18%.
- FBA too early. Fulfilment and storage fees start running whether or not anything sells. Every fee and its effective date is in the Amazon FBA fees guide.
Dates to keep in view
The 2026 US referral and FBA fee update takes effect on January 15, 2026. FBA fulfilment rises by an average of $0.08 per unit sold, and Amazon states there are no new FBA fee types in 2026. If you are fulfilling your own orders, this does not touch you yet. It will the day you switch.
The realistic first month
- Open on the Individual plan. No subscription, $0.99 charged per item sold.
- Confirm the referral percentage for your exact category, and the $0.30 US minimum per item.
- List something you already own or can buy one unit of.
- Fulfil it yourself. Track your real postage and packing cost per order, because that number decides everything.
- Move to Professional when you pass 40 items a month, not before.
None of this makes you a business in a week. It does mean the only money at risk is the money in the units you bought.
Sources
- Amazon Seller Central: Selling on Amazon fee schedule sellercentral.amazon.com
- Amazon Seller Central: Referral fees sellercentral.amazon.com
- Amazon Selling Partners: 2026 Amazon Referral and FBA Fee Updates sellingpartners.aboutamazon.com
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