Amazon changes that will hit your P&L this month

April brought a set of policy changes from Amazon that are worth taking seriously if profitability on Amazon is on your mind.

New fuel surcharge for FBA and MCF

Effective April 2, 2026, Amazon introduced a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on FBA fulfilled items in the US and Canada. Starting May 2, the same surcharge applies to MCF (multi-channel fulfillment).

The 3.5% is calculated on the fulfillment fee, not your product price. On average, this translates to approximately $0.17 per unit. That number sounds small. Across volume, of course it adds up.

This surcharge arrives alongside broader tariff-driven cost pressures already squeezing CPG margins. Amazon has framed it as temporary. Based on how these things have historically gone, I would not plan your unit economics around it being removed.

If you have not already revisited your FBA and MCF costs with this adjustment factored in, that is the immediate action item. In last week's edition on fixing your Amazon profitability in 30 days, I wrote about pricing as one of the fastest levers for margin improvement. This surcharge only reinforces that point.

Credit card payment option removed from Amazon ads

This change was communicated directly to Seller Central accounts, so you may have already seen it in your email. If not, here is what it means in practice.

Until now, sellers could pay for Amazon advertising by credit card, or as a deduction from Amazon sales proceeds. Most chose to pay via a credit card for three reasons:

• Cleaner accounting and separation of ad costs from sales proceeds

• Accumulation of credit card rewards on ongoing ad spend

• A cash flow float of 30 or more days before the payment is due

Under the new policy, effective mid-April 2026, credit cards are no longer accepted as a primary payment method for Amazon ads. Ad spend will now be deducted directly from your seller disbursements before funds are deposited into your bank account. Your credit card remains on file only as a backup if your seller balance is insufficient to cover ad costs.

The impact lands in couple places.

First, the rewards benefit disappears entirely. If you spend $100K annually on ads, that is $2,000 to $4,000 (on average) in lost cash back or travel, business supplies, rewards per year.

Second, and more significant for cash flow planning: many sellers were effectively operating with a 60-day liquidity window, using the gap between Amazon's 14 to 30 day disbursement cycle and their credit card payment terms. That buffer is now gone. Ad costs will be pulled from funds Amazon is already holding before you get proceeds from the sale these ads got you.

I believe Amazon did this to save in credit card processing fees. When you process $69 bln a year in ads, even 1.5% of the processing fee, that’s a chunk of savings. For brands it’s a pressure on working capital and Amazon cash flow cycle.

Stricter enforcement on List Price and strikethrough pricing

Effective April 23, 2026, Amazon is tightening how it validates the List Price displayed on your product listings.

The List Price - the figure often shown as a strikethrough next to your selling price - is a reference price typically representing MSRP. When set correctly, it anchors perceived value and signals to the customer that they are getting a deal. It is a legitimate and effective conversion tool, and many brands rely on it.

This current change works in two ways:

• Amazon will now verify that your List Price reflects an actual purchase price on Amazon or another retailer, not simply a number you entered as a reference point when you set up your product page.

• If more than half of the days in your product's 90-day price history fall below the non-promotional median price, Amazon will replace your List Price with a calculated "Typical Price" based on your recent discounting activity

I am already seeing Typical Price showing on product pages. Which means it’s becoming the baseline for all promotional calculations.

That, in its turn, means that heavy or habitual discounting erodes not just your margins but your ability to show meaningful savings to shoppers. It also affects eligibility for certain badges and promotional display formats.

The practical implication: if you have been running frequent coupons, Lightning Deals, or persistent price reductions, your promotional math will play into the Anchor Price (my term) which in essence List or Typical Price will be.

This is part of a broader pattern that Amazon has been building in the area of pricing discipline and historical pricing transparency. .

None of this changes the fundamental opportunity Amazon represents. What it does is raise the floor for what it takes to operate profitably on the platform.

If your margins were already under pressure before this month, these changes will make that more visible. A single focused profitability session can be enough to identify what is pulling your margins down and map a clear direction back up. If that is where you are, you can book a session here

Saludos,

Irina