What is the Amazon break-even price?
The break-even price is the lowest price where you neither make nor lose money after Amazon’s fees and your costs. Price below it and every sale loses money. This Amazon break-even calculator finds that price exactly — including the referral fee that changes with price and FBA price bands — and shows the prices you need for healthy margins.
What it calculates
- Break-even price per unit with all fees
- Prices for 20% and 30% margin and for 100% ROI
- Units and months to recover launch costs such as photos, samples, PPC launch budget and inspections
- Maximum supplier cost you can pay for 30%, 50% or 100% ROI at your target price
How to use it
- Enter product cost, shipping to Amazon and product size.
- Add expected ad spend and return rate.
- Enter one-time launch costs and expected monthly sales.
- Read the break-even price, target prices and payback time.
Use it before you order stock
Check the price competitors sell at. If your break-even price is close to it, there is no room for ads, discounts or price wars — negotiate a lower supplier cost (use the max supplier cost) or choose another product. A safety cushion of at least 20% above break-even is a good rule.
General business? Use the break-even calculator for units and sales. See the full fee breakdown in the Amazon FBA fee calculator.
What the break-even price tells you
The break-even price is the lowest price where one sale stops losing money. Below it, every sale costs you. Above it, the gap is your profit — the calculator shows it as a “safety cushion”.
Because the referral fee, ads and returns grow with the price, the formula divides instead of adding:
Break-even price = fixed costs per unit ÷ (1 − referral % − ads % − returns %)
With the default numbers — product and inbound $4.30, FBA $5.53, storage $0.21, and 15% + 8% + 2% that grow with price — the break-even price is ($4.30 + $5.53 + $0.21) ÷ 0.75 = $13.39. Selling at $19.99 leaves a 33% cushion.
When to use it
- Price wars: know exactly how low you can go before matching a competitor stops making sense.
- Coupons and deals: a 20% coupon on $19.99 takes you to $15.99 — still above $13.39, but with much less profit.
- Product research: if the market price is close to your break-even, look for a cheaper supplier or a different product.
- Ad spend: your ACoS can’t go higher than your margin before break-even, so the calculator helps set a bid limit.
Ways to lower your break-even price
- Reduce packaging size to drop a size tier or dimensional weight.
- Negotiate product cost or ship in bigger batches to cut inbound cost per unit.
- Lower ad cost per sale by improving the listing and reviews.
- Reduce returns with clearer photos and size information.
Then check the full numbers with the profit calculator.