Starting Amazon FBA in Canada costs the selling-plan fee, the first inventory, inbound shipping, prep, and then referral, fulfilment, and storage fees on whatever sells. The largest number is usually the goods themselves, which you pay for before a customer orders. It suits someone who can leave that cash sitting in a warehouse. It is a poor fit if a few unsold cases would break the month.
How the model works is how to start Amazon FBA in Canada. A store you ship yourself is Shopify store startup costs. Secondhand goods with no warehouse are reselling startup costs.
| Fact | Detail for an Amazon FBA budget in Canada |
|---|---|
| Individual plan | $1.49 per item sold, plus selling fees. Amazon.ca pricing |
| Professional plan | CAD $29.99 a month, plus selling fees. Suggested on that page if you sell more than 30 units a month, want ads or advanced tools, or want restricted categories |
| Referral fees | A percentage of the total price, including shipping and gift wrap, or a per-item minimum, whichever is greater. Many categories are 15% with a CAD $0.40 minimum |
| Fulfilment | By size and weight. Envelope, first 100 g, is CAD $4.46. Standard, first 100 g, is CAD $5.92. Under CAD $14, rates are CAD $0.80 less than standard FBA rates |
| Storage | Standard-size: CAD $40 per cubic metre January–September, CAD $77 October–December. Oversize: CAD $28 and CAD $49 in those seasons. Extra fees after 180 days and for high storage utilization |
| Payout | Amazon says sale proceeds go to your bank account about every two weeks |
| Fee preview | Revenue calculator in Seller Central |
How much does Amazon FBA cost to start in Canada?
Amazon FBA in Canada has no single startup price. A test of a few units can be the plan fee plus a small buy. A first order of hundreds of units is working capital, and it is due before you know whether the listing will be approved.
| How you start | Cash before the first payout | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Tiny test | The goods, inbound postage, and $1.49 a sale on the Individual plan | A handful of units in a category you are allowed to sell |
| Ongoing small account | CAD $29.99 a month once you choose Professional, plus the same goods | The plan Amazon points to above about 30 sales a month, or for restricted categories |
| A case you cannot list | The whole purchase, the freight, and a disposal problem | Brand or category approval you checked after you paid |
Dividing the two published plan fees, $29.99 ÷ $1.49 is about 20 sales a month before the Professional plan costs more in plan fees alone. Amazon’s own page still describes Individual for fewer than 30 units a month. Restricted categories, bulk listing tools, and on-site advertising are Professional features on that page. Plan fees are not fulfilment, storage, or the cost of the goods.
What do Amazon.ca referral, fulfilment, and storage fees cost?
Amazon.ca selling fees are the plan, a referral fee, and, with FBA, fulfilment and storage. All of the figures below are from the public pricing page. They change. Re-read the page, then run the revenue calculator on the exact product.
Referral fees are a percentage of the total price, including item, shipping, and gift wrap, or a stated minimum, whichever is greater. On the public table, Home and Kitchen, Office Products, Pet Products, Sports and Outdoors, Toys and Games, and Toys and Games - Collectible Cards are 15%. Many of those rows show a CAD $0.40 minimum. Media, including books, is 15%. Sports Collectibles does not print a percentage; the row points to Category Requirements in Seller Central. Beauty, grocery, clothing, and jewellery use price bands. Do not borrow 15% for a category you have not opened.
Fulfilment is per unit and includes picking, packing, shipping, customer service, and returns processing, based on size and weight. Published examples:
- Envelope, first 100 g: CAD $4.46. From 100 g to 200 g: CAD $4.71.
- Standard, first 100 g: CAD $5.92. From 100 g to 200 g: CAD $6.12.
- Products priced under CAD $14 receive rates CAD $0.80 less than standard FBA rates.
A heavy or oversize unit jumps. The page lists a small-oversize first 500 g at CAD $15.43, medium oversize at CAD $37.78, and large oversize at CAD $82.20, plus a per-500 g amount after that. Shipping weight is the greater of actual weight and dimensional weight. Measure the packaged unit.
Monthly storage is the daily average volume in cubic metres. Standard-size, which includes envelope on that table, is CAD $40 per cubic metre from January through September and CAD $77 from October through December. Oversize is CAD $28 and CAD $49 in those same seasons. Additional fees apply for aged inventory over 180 days and for high storage utilization. The public page does not print those extra amounts. Open Seller Central’s storage help before you send a slow product.
Other lines on the same page: a refund administration fee of the lesser of CAD $5.00 or 20% of the referral fee, and a CAD $0.11 per-unit surcharge on lithium batteries and dangerous goods on top of fulfilment. High-volume listing fees apply only above 1.5 million active SKUs. Ignore that line until you are nowhere near it.
Where does the working capital go in an Amazon FBA start?
Working capital for Amazon FBA in Canada is the inventory, the freight to you, the freight into Amazon, and the weeks you wait to be paid. Amazon says proceeds are dispersed to your bank account every two weeks. A sale on day one is not cash on day one.
Brand and category approval is the other trap. The pricing page says the Professional plan is how you apply to sell in additional categories and how you sell in restricted categories. Some brands also limit which sellers may list their goods. Check whether you can create the listing, in your own Seller Central account, before you buy a case. A tool’s “ungated” flag is not approval. If the listing is blocked, the goods are still yours.
Prep is smaller and still real. Seller Central lists labelling and prep by product type. Read it before the carton ships. A pack of clear poly bags covers the bags some products need. Buy the size of the unit you are sending, not a carton of the wrong ones. A home printer can make the first labels. A thermal printer can wait.
Keep the inventory money in its own account. KOHO is one Canadian option. Any separate account works.
How do you sketch Amazon FBA break-even in Canada?
Sketch break-even with the published fee for that size tier, the referral percentage for that category, and a landed cost you can document. Then ask what happens if a chunk of the units never sell.
Step 1: Confirm you may sell it
Open the listing flow. If the brand or category asks for approval you do not have, stop.
Step 2: Run the revenue calculator
Use packaged dimensions and weight. Read referral, fulfilment, and storage. Note the under-CAD-$14 fulfilment discount if your price is under that line.
Step 3: Add inbound freight and prep to the unit cost
The referral fee does not include the truck to the fulfilment centre.
Step 4: Decide a test quantity you can lose
The test is the most you can leave unsold without borrowing.
Illustrative example
A teaching sketch, not a quote, a forecast, or a typical product.
Suppose a product sells for $25 in a category listed at 15% with a CAD $0.40 minimum. Referral fee: 0.15 × $25 = $3.75, which is above the $0.40 minimum. Suppose the packaged unit falls in the standard 100–200 g band, published at CAD $6.12. The price is over CAD $14, so this sketch does not take the $0.80 reduction. Landed cost, an assumption covering the goods and inbound freight, is $7. Individual plan: $1.49.
$25.00 − $3.75 − $6.12 − $7.00 − $1.49 = $6.64 before storage, returns, ads, and tax.
Suppose you buy 40 units at that $7 landed cost. Cash out before the first payout: 40 × $7 = $280, plus the prep bags. Suppose each packaged unit is 0.002 cubic metres, an assumption. Forty units are 0.08 cubic metres. At the published standard-size rate, January to September storage is 0.08 × $40 = $3.20 a month. October to December is 0.08 × $77 = $6.16 a month. Storage is small in this sketch. The $280 is not. If 10 units never sell, $70 of goods stay in the warehouse and, after 180 days, aged-inventory fees apply on top of the monthly rate. The public page does not state that aged fee in dollars. Look it up before you send a slow product.
On the Professional plan the $1.49 comes off and $29.99 a month goes on. At 20 sales in this sketch, 20 × $1.49 = $29.80, close to the monthly plan, which matches $29.99 ÷ $1.49. Amazon’s page still talks about 30 units, ads, and restricted categories when it points you to Professional. Do not copy $25 or $7.
| Small test | Large first order | |
|---|---|---|
| Cash tied up | A few units and a postage label | A case, freight, and weeks until payout |
| If the brand blocks you | You return or keep a handful | You own a case you cannot list |
| Storage | Pennies at the published per-metre rates | The same rates on a pile that sits into the October–December season |
| When it makes sense | You have confirmed you can list the product | The test batch sold through |
Where can an Amazon FBA startup budget stay smaller in Canada?
An Amazon FBA budget in Canada stays smaller when the first shipment is a few units of something you are already approved to sell, when the product is light enough for the envelope or standard tier, and when you use the Individual plan until volume or a restricted category forces the monthly fee. Merchant-fulfilled shipping, which the pricing page also describes, keeps the goods at home. You then do the packing. That trade is the point of reselling if you do not want a warehouse at all.
Which spending should an Amazon FBA budget not cut?
Do not skip the listing-approval check to “save” a week. Do not skip the revenue calculator. Do not send a lithium or hazmat product without reading the CAD $0.11 surcharge and the dangerous-goods rules. Do not treat October storage (CAD $77 per cubic metre for standard-size) as the January rate.
Which tax rules apply to an Amazon FBA budget in Canada?
Amazon FBA profit in Canada is generally business income on Form T2125. Inventory is handled through cost of goods sold, so keep purchase and freight records. Self-employed people pay both portions of the Canada Pension Plan contribution on net self-employment income. A label printer that lasts for years may be capital cost allowance on the business-use portion rather than a one-year deduction.
This is not tax, legal, or insurance advice.
GST/HST follows the $30,000 small-supplier threshold, not the taxi and ride-sharing first-dollar rule. Under the CRA’s digital-economy rules for qualifying goods, a platform generally collects GST/HST for vendors who are not registered, and registered vendors charge it themselves, including on platform sales. If you are registered, tax on business purchases can often be an input tax credit. The side hustle tax FAQ and T2125 versus T776 keep this on the business form. Money left after fees is discussed in what to do with side hustle profits.
Which budgets sit next to Amazon FBA in Canada?
The walkthrough is how to start Amazon FBA in Canada. Your own checkout is Shopify store startup costs. A supplier who never sends you the goods is dropshipping. A mixed load of returns is a different gamble: liquidation pallets in Canada.
What are the common questions?
How much does it cost to start Amazon FBA in Canada?
Amazon.ca lists an Individual plan at $1.49 per item sold and a Professional plan at CAD $29.99 a month, plus referral, fulfilment, and storage fees. The larger cost is the inventory you pay for before Amazon pays you, about every two weeks. Confirm the live pricing page.
What are Amazon.ca FBA storage fees?
The public pricing page lists standard-size storage at CAD $40 per cubic metre from January through September and CAD $77 from October through December. Oversize is CAD $28 and CAD $49 in those seasons. Aged inventory over 180 days and high storage utilization cost extra. The page does not print those extra amounts.
Which Amazon selling plan is cheaper for a small start?
Dividing the two published fees, the CAD $29.99 plan costs more in plan fees alone than $1.49 a sale until about 20 sales a month. Amazon's page still points sellers under 30 units a month to Individual, and points restricted categories and advertising to Professional.
What is brand gating on Amazon.ca?
Some categories require approval, and some brands limit who may list their products. The pricing page ties additional categories and restricted categories to the Professional plan. Confirm you can create the listing before you buy the inventory.
Is Amazon FBA income taxable in Canada?
Yes. Profit is generally business income on Form T2125, with inventory in cost of goods sold and both portions of CPP on net self-employment income. GST/HST registration follows the $30,000 small-supplier threshold. This is not tax advice.
Which sources support this guide?
The rules, rates, and platform requirements in this guide are checked against these primary sources. Retail price ranges are labelled as ranges to verify locally, and they are not quotes.
- How pricing works on Amazon.ca — Amazon
- Estimate fees and costs — Amazon
- When to register for and start charging the GST/HST — Canada Revenue Agency
- Form T2125, Statement of Business or Professional Activities — Canada Revenue Agency
- Contributions to the Canada Pension Plan — Government of Canada
- Supply of qualifying goods in Canada: GST/HST for digital-economy businesses — Canada Revenue Agency
- Input tax credits — Canada Revenue Agency
- Claiming capital cost allowance (CCA) — Canada Revenue Agency
- GST/HST for taxi and ride-sharing drivers — Canada Revenue Agency