Guide · April 2026 · 8 min read
Amazon India Profit Calculator Guide:
GST, TCS & FBA Fees Demystified
You think you made ₹40,000 this month. Settlement day says ₹8,000. The gap is fees. This guide walks through the exact profit formula on amazon.in — every fee Amazon charges, how GST passthrough works, why TCS is reclaimable, and the common mistakes Indian sellers make. With a worked example and a free calculator at the end.
TL;DR · The exact formula
Net profit = Selling price − Referral fee − FBA pick-pack − Weight handling − Closing fee − GST passthrough − TCS − COGS − Storage allocation − Ad spend allocated
Skip the math: paste any amazon.in URL into our free calculator →
Why Amazon India profit math is different
Most international Amazon profit tools treat GST as if it were a US sales tax (paid by the buyer, ignored by the seller) and TCS as if it didn't exist. Both assumptions break on amazon.in.
GST is a passthrough.When you list a product at ₹2,499, Amazon shows that GST-inclusive price to the customer. On settlement day, the GST portion (let's say ₹381 at 18%) goes to the government via your GSTR filing, and you receive the "principal" (₹2,118). Your real revenue is ₹2,118, not ₹2,499. Tools that calculate margin on the displayed price overstate your margin by 18%.
TCS is reclaimable. Amazon deducts 1% Tax Collected at Source (under Section 194-O of the Income Tax Act, 1961) on every sale. You see this deduction on your Form 26AS at year-end. When you file ITR, you claim it back the same way you'd claim TDS. So TCS is a cashflow lag (12-18 months until refund) but not a permanent cost. Most Indian seller tools either ignore TCS or treat it as a fee — both wrong.
Replacement COGS hits you twice if you don't track it. On amazon.in, when a customer wants a replacement (defective unit, wrong colour), Amazon ships a new unit from your FBA inventory at no extra charge to the customer. The customer pays once; you pay COGS twice. International tools usually miss this because amazon.com handles replacements by refunding + re-ordering, which shows up as two separate transactions. On amazon.in it's invisible unless your tool specifically tracks replacement events.
Every fee Amazon India charges (April 2026 schedule)
1. Referral fee (% of selling price) — TIERED
Big change effective March 16, 2026: Amazon India cut referral fees to 0% on most products priced under ₹1,000 across 1,800+ categories — the biggest fee reduction in their history, covering 12.5+ crore products. Above ₹1,000, tiered rates apply by subcategory. Selected representative rates:
| Category | Under ₹1,000 | Above ₹1,000 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Books | 0-9% | 12.5% | 4 tiers · 0/2/9/12.5 |
| Mobile phones | 5% | 5% | Flat · NOT in zero program |
| Computers / Laptops | 6% | 6% | Flat · NOT in zero program |
| Cameras / TVs / Large Appliances | 5-6% | 5-6% | Flat · NOT in zero program |
| Health products | 8.5% | 8.5% | Flat · NOT in zero program |
| Software · Video Games | 7-11.5% | 7-11.5% | Flat · NOT in zero program |
| Automotive Parts | 11% | 11% | Flat · NOT in zero program |
| Electronics (headphones, speakers) | 0% | 18% | — |
| Home & Kitchen | 0% | 12.5% | Cookware/glassware |
| Personal care | 0% | 8% | — |
| Beauty (makeup) | 0% | 7% | Cap removed Mar 2026 |
| Toys | 0% | 11% | — |
| Grocery | 0% | 9% | 5% GST |
| Pet supplies | 0% | 11% | — |
| Apparel | 0% | 15-19% | Varies by subcat |
| Shoes | 0% | 8-15% | Sports highest |
| Watches | 0% | 15% | — |
| Furniture | 0% | 14.5%/10% | 14.5% ₹1k-15k · 10% >₹15k |
| Jewellery (fashion) | 0% | 13-22.5% | Fine: flat 2.5-10% |
| Default fallback | 0% | 12.5% | If uncategorised |
Source: Amazon Seller Central India fee schedule · Last verified May 2026. Subcategory variations exist — verify your exact rate via the Seller Central fee preview before pricing decisions.
2. FBA pick-pack + weight handling fee
If you use Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA), Amazon charges a per-unit pick-pack fee plus a weight-based handling fee. Pick-pack is ₹17 for standard items up to 1kg, then +₹5 per additional kg up to 5kg, then +₹2 per additional 5kg. Weight handling varies by delivery zone — Local (within district) is cheapest, Regional (within state cluster) is middle, National (cross-state) is highest (often 1.5-2× the Local rate). The combined estimates below assume the Regional zone, which is the median case for most amazon.in sellers.
| Weight bucket | Standard | Small | Oversize |
|---|---|---|---|
| ≤ 250 g | ₹49 | ₹38 | ₹89 |
| 251–500 g | ₹58 | ₹47 | ₹99 |
| 501–1 kg | ₹73 | ₹60 | ₹119 |
| 1–2 kg | ₹96 | ₹80 | ₹152 |
| 2–5 kg | ₹138 | ₹120 | ₹195 |
| 5–12 kg | ₹210 | ₹180 | ₹260 |
| 12–30 kg | ₹310 | ₹280 | ₹380 |
| > 30 kg | ₹420+ | ₹380+ | ₹520+ |
Source: Amazon India Seller Fees & Pricing · Last verified May 2026. FBA pick-pack + weight handling were not changed in the March 16, 2026 fee update — those rates apply to Easy Ship only. The combined estimates above are middle-of-range Regional zone numbers; verify your exact fees in the Amazon SC FBA Fee Calculator before pricing decisions.
3. Closing fee (FBA)
FBA closing fees by selling price: ₹25 (≤₹250), ₹24 (₹251-500), ₹28 (₹501-1,000), ₹50 (₹1,001-5,000), ₹60(>₹5,000). Note: Amazon's actual structure uses category groups (A/B/C/D/#/##) — books and media see lower rates (₹12-14), most general categories see the rates above, and a few premium categories at the top end can hit ₹80. Easy Ship and Self Ship use lower closing fees but apply weight-handling on top.
4. GST passthrough
Embedded in your selling price. Reverse-strip with the formula gst = price × rate ÷ (1 + rate). For ₹2,499 at 18% GST: ₹2,499 × 0.18 ÷ 1.18 = ₹381 GST, ₹2,118 principal. Common rates: 5% (apparel under ₹1,000, food), 12% (apparel above ₹1,000, fashion accessories, health), 18% (most goods), 28% (luxury / automotive parts), 0% (books).
5. TCS (Tax Collected at Source)
Flat 1% of selling price on every sale, deducted by Amazon under Section 194-O. Visible on Form 26AS. Reclaimable when filing ITR. Track separately so reclaim is clean.
6. Storage fee (FBA only)
Charged monthly per cubic foot of FBA warehouse space your inventory occupies (~₹40-90 per cubic foot per month). For accurate per-order math, allocate proportionally by units sold that month — Seller Wolf does this automatically.
Worked example: Prestige 5L pressure cooker
Let's calculate net profit on a real bestseller — the Prestige 5L Stainless Steel Deluxe Alpha Svachh pressure cooker (ASIN B084KYJ1CV), Home & Kitchen category, ~2.5 kg shipping weight, sold via FBA Standard.
| Line | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Selling price | listed price | +₹2,499 |
| Referral fee | 12.5% × 2,499 (above ₹1k) | −₹312 |
| FBA pick-pack + weight | Standard, 2-5 kg | −₹138 |
| Closing fee | ₹1k-5k bracket (FBA) | −₹50 |
| GST passthrough | 18% reverse-stripped | −₹381 |
| TCS | 1% × 2,499 (reclaimable) | −₹25 |
| COGS | est. 35% of price | −₹875 |
| Storage allocation | ~₹15/unit/mo | −₹15 |
| Ad spend (allocated) | 12% ACoS estimate | −₹300 |
| Net profit | computed | ₹403 |
| Net margin | on principal | 19.0% |
That ₹403 is the rupees you actually keep. Margin on principal (revenue after stripping GST but before income tax) is ~19.0% — healthy for the home & kitchen category, where 12-22% is typical. Note how each fee compounds: the ₹2,499 list price drops to ₹2,118 principal, then to just under ₹500 after Amazon's six fee buckets, then to ₹403 after COGS, storage and ads. The March 16 2026 fee schedule cut the referral from 13% flat to 12.5% on items above ₹1,000 — a small ₹13 win for this ₹2,499 product. The much bigger win from the new schedule is for products priced under ₹1,000, which now pay 0% referral in most categories. A ₹500 home-kitchen item that previously paid ₹65 referral now pays ₹0.
Skip the math
Free Amazon India Profit Calculator
Paste any amazon.in product URL or ASIN. The Seller Wolf calculator runs the formula above with the latest fee schedule, lets you adjust COGS with a slider, and shows the breakdown line-by-line — in 5 seconds. Free, India-grade, no credit card.
Open the free calculatorFive common mistakes Indian sellers make
Calculating margin on the GST-inclusive price
Inflates your apparent margin by exactly the GST rate. A ₹500 product at 18% GST shows 32% gross margin on price but only 25% on principal. Always strip GST before the COGS comparison.
Treating TCS as a permanent fee
TCS is reclaimable when you file ITR. Some tools (and even some CAs) treat it as a cost, leading to under-claim of tax credit at year-end. Track TCS separately, never as part of FBA fees.
Ignoring replacement-order COGS
When Amazon ships a replacement from your FBA inventory, the customer pays once but you bear COGS twice. Most international tools miss this because the amazon.com process is different. On amazon.in, multi-unit COGS attribution per replacement is critical for accurate margin tracking.
Using a US/EU fee table for amazon.in
Most US-built profit calculators ship with amazon.com fees, and EU-built ones default to EU rates. Either can undercount your real amazon.in costs by 10-20%. Always verify the fee schedule is sourced from sellercentral.amazon.in.
Forgetting storage cost on slow-movers
A SKU that sits 6 months in FBA can accumulate ₹250-400+ in storage fees per cubic foot, sometimes wiping out the profit on the first 2-3 sales. Track inventory age + storage allocation per SKU; remove or fire-sale anything past 180 days unsold.
FAQs about Amazon India profit calculation
Why is Amazon India profit math different from Amazon US or Europe?▾
Three big reasons. First, GST is a passthrough — sellers display GST-inclusive prices but don't keep the GST amount; it's collected and remitted to the government. The 'principal' (GST-excluded amount) is what hits your settlement. Second, TCS is deducted at 1% on every sale, but it's reclaimable when you file ITR — most international tools treat it as a permanent cost. Third, replacement orders work differently in India: Amazon ships a new unit from your FBA inventory at no charge to the customer, and you bear the COGS — but the original sale's revenue is already in your books, so margin math gets weird if the tool treats the replacement as a separate sale.
What fees does Amazon India charge on every sale?▾
Six categories: (1) Referral fee — % of selling price, TIERED by price as of March 16, 2026: 0% on most products under ₹1,000 across 1,800+ categories, then 5-23% above ₹1,000 depending on subcategory. (2) FBA pick-pack + weight handling — combined fee ₹38-420+ per unit depending on weight bucket and size class (Standard/Small/Oversize). Pick & pack is ₹17 for standard items up to 1kg, then +₹5 per additional kg up to 5kg, then +₹2 per additional 5kg. Weight handling varies by zone (Local cheaper, Regional middle, National highest). (3) Closing fee (FBA) — ₹25 (≤₹250), ₹24 (₹251-500), ₹28 (₹501-1000), ₹50 (₹1k-5k), ₹60 (>₹5k) for most categories. Specific category groups (books/media) see ₹12-14, premium categories at the top end can hit ₹80. (4) GST passthrough — 5%, 12%, 18%, or 28% by category, embedded in your selling price. (5) TCS — 1% of selling price, deducted at source (reclaimable in ITR). (6) Storage fee — monthly per cubic foot (₹45 non-peak, ₹170 peak Oct-Dec), only if you use FBA.
Why is the referral fee 0% on products under ₹1,000?▾
Effective March 16, 2026, Amazon India dropped referral fees to 0% on most products priced under ₹1,000 across 1,800+ categories. This was the biggest fee cut in Amazon India's history — Amazon stated it covers 12.5+ crore products. The intent: help small Indian sellers list low-ticket SKUs profitably and grow the marketplace. Categories affected include Home & Kitchen, Apparel, Beauty, Toys, Pet Supplies, Automotive, Office Products, Health, and many more. Above ₹1,000, the standard tiered rates kick in (5-23% by subcategory). Verify your specific subcategory rate at sellercentral.amazon.in.
How do I calculate net profit on a single Amazon India order?▾
Use this formula (every cost is negative): Net profit = Selling price + Referral fee + FBA fee + Closing fee + Weight handling + GST passthrough + TCS + Storage allocation + COGS + Inbound shipping + Ad spend allocated. The result is the rupees you actually keep after Amazon settlement. The Seller Wolf free calculator at sellerwolf.com/scan does this automatically when you paste any amazon.in product URL.
Should I include GST in my profit calculation?▾
No — GST is a pure passthrough, not a cost or revenue. The cleanest way to think about it: your 'real revenue' is the GST-excluded principal. Your real margin is calculated on principal, not on the displayed selling price. Most Indian sellers who confuse this think their margins are 18% higher than they actually are. The Seller Wolf calculator strips GST automatically using the reverse formula: gst_amount = price × gst_rate / (1 + gst_rate).
Is TCS a cost or recoverable?▾
It's recoverable but you pay upfront. Amazon deducts 1% TCS at the time of every sale (under Section 194-O of the Income Tax Act). At year-end, you reconcile this against your 26AS form and claim it back as you would TDS. So TCS is a cashflow drag (you wait 12-18 months for the refund) but not a permanent cost. We recommend tracking it as a separate negative line in your profit calc, not lumping it with fees, so your year-end reclaim is clean.
What's a 'good' net margin on Amazon India?▾
It varies wildly by category and price point. Rough benchmarks from beta-seller data on amazon.in (after all fees + GST + COGS at 35-45% of selling price): Beauty/personal care = 18-28%, Home & kitchen = 12-22%, Electronics = 6-15%, Books = 4-10%, Apparel = 8-18%. If your category is delivering net margin under 8%, you're either over-discounting, paying too much COGS, or your PPC ACoS is eating margin. Seller Wolf's per-ASIN profit dashboard surfaces the breakdown row-by-row.
Do I need to recalculate profit when Amazon India changes fees?▾
Yes — and Amazon does change fees. The April 2024 fee schedule update raised FBA pick-pack by 8-15% in some weight buckets and added new rural-delivery surcharges. The Seller Wolf calculator stays current with the published schedule (last verified April 2026). For long-term tracking, the full app reads the actual fees Amazon applied to each of your orders via the SP-API Finances endpoint — so you never have to manually update a fee table.
Ready to know your real profit?
The free calculator handles single-product math. Seller Wolf — launching in ~50 days — automates this for every order, every ASIN, every period of your business. Real fees from Amazon's Finances API, not estimates. India-grade GST/TCS tracking, FBA reimbursement recovery (MoneyBack), PPC automation, and more.