Amazon's marketplace commission on every consumer sale. Typically 15% of item price + shipping. Deducted at settlement level.
The Referral Fee is Amazon's commission for facilitating a marketplace sale. It's charged as a percentage of the item's total price (including shipping) and is deducted from the seller's proceeds at the settlement level. Rates vary by product category — typically 8% to 20%, with 15% being the most common category rate.
Amazon publishes a Referral Fee schedule per marketplace and per product category. Examples (US marketplace, indicative):
Minimum referral fee: most categories carry a minimum (typically $0.30 or equivalent), applied even for very low-priced items.
On your Amazon Settlement Report, referral fees appear as rows with item-related-fee-type = Commission, one per order. Note that VAT / GST on the commission (destination-country tax) appears as a separate row.
Referral Fee is one of the two biggest deductions eating into your gross sale (the other being FBA Fees). Combined, they typically consume 25-40% of the sale value before you see a rupee.
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