Removal and disposal cost the same
Destroying stock is not cheaper than getting it back. Amazon publishes the same per-unit rate card for both, down to the cent. The decision is about what the stock is worth to you, not about the fee.
What does differ is time. Amazon says removal orders are usually processed within 14 business days, and that in peak season or when removal volume is high it can take 30 business days or more — then the carrier may take another two weeks to deliver. Disposal runs on the same 14-business-day target with the same peak-season caveat, and ends there.
The rate card
Standard size
Bulky, oversize and special handling
Amazon notes that what it used to call "oversize" is now bulky large and extra-large, and that special handling can cover clothing, shoes, watches, jewellery and hazmat.
Source: Amazon Seller Central — FBA removal order fees and FBA disposal order fees, US marketplace, read 7 October 2026. Both pages carry the same rate table. Amazon states the fee is charged per item at the time the item is removed or disposed, from March 1, 2026.
How Amazon rounds the weight
Under 1 lb and standard size, the shipping weight is taken to the next 0.1 lb. Everything else goes to the next whole pound. Amazon's own examples round 0.56 lb up to 0.6 lb and 10.1 lb up to 11 lb, so this rounds up rather than to nearest.
Amazon's worked examples
Two standard-size units at 0.56 lb each round to 0.6 lb, charge $1.53 each, and total $3.06.
Three oversize units at 10.1 lb each round to 11 lb, charge $14.32 + $1.06 = $15.38 each, and total $46.14.
A 22 lb oversize dumbbell is $14.32 + $1.06 × 12 = $27.04 per unit.
Remove it now, or keep paying the aged inventory surcharge?
Stock you leave in place keeps costing money every month. Amazon charges an aged inventory surcharge on units that have been in its fulfillment network for 181 days or longer, on top of the monthly storage fee. It takes a snapshot on the 15th of each month and counts age first-in, first-out across the whole network, so a sale always retires your oldest unit first. A removal or disposal fee, by contrast, is charged once per unit.
Aged inventory surcharge from January 16, 2026
*The three lowest bands exclude clothing, shoes, bags, jewelry and watches.
Amazon's own example is a toy in an 11 × 8 × 2 inch box, which is 0.102 cubic feet. At 300 days it is billed $0.56 for that month. Past 365 days the bill is the greater of $6.90 × 0.102 = $0.70 or $0.30, so $0.70 a month, and past 455 days it is $0.81. If that toy ships at 0.6 lb, removing it costs $1.53 once. From day 271 on, a little under three months of surcharge pays for the removal, before counting the monthly storage fee. If you expect the unit to sell within that time, keeping it can still be the cheaper choice. If you don't, the removal fee is the smaller cost.
One timing detail helps: once you create a removal order, Amazon stops charging storage fees on those units while the order is being processed.
What a removal order can and cannot do
- Amazon ships removals only to you, your warehouse, your supplier or your distributor. It will not ship to a PO, APO, FPO or DPO box, or to another Amazon fulfillment center.
- Removed stock cannot be used to send customer orders, gifts or promotional items.
- Inventory classed as non-transportable dangerous goods can only be disposed of, not returned.
- Case-packed inventory comes back as individual items. Small removals ship in the smallest box, envelope or poly bag that fits; large removals from one fulfillment center are palletized and go by freight.
- Freight deliveries need a dock or similar facility and a signature, and the carrier bills you directly for anything beyond basic delivery, such as bringing pallets inside.
- Stock held in several fulfillment centers can arrive in several shipments from different carriers.
Before you submit
- Close the listing if you no longer want the units sold. Fulfillable stock stays available to customers until Amazon actually removes it.
- Check the address carefully. Once a removal order is created, its address cannot be changed.
- Watch for cancellations. Amazon may cancel a removal order if the units are not available, for example because they belong to a pending customer order. Cancelled units stay in your inventory and start incurring storage fees again.
- Recalled products follow their own rule. If you don't create a removal order within 30 days of the recall notification, Amazon disposes of the units.
Amazon's overview gives a processing time of 10 to 14 business days, and 30 days or more during the holiday season.
Source: Amazon Seller Central — Aged inventory surcharge and Remove inventory overview, US marketplace, read 10 October 2026.