Amazon introduces fees for third-party developer API access in 2026

Amazon announced on November 3, 2025, that it will implement a fee structure for its Selling Partner API (SP-API), marking the end of free access that developers have enjoyed since the introduction of Marketplace Web Services in 2009. According to official documentation published by Amazon, third-party developers will face an annual subscription fee of $1,400 starting January 31, 2026, plus monthly usage fees based on GET API call volume beginning April 30, 2026.

The announcement signals a fundamental shift in how Amazon monetizes its developer ecosystem. Third-party software companies that build applications serving Amazon sellers will bear these costs initially, though industry experts anticipate sellers will ultimately absorb the expenses through higher software subscription prices. Jon Elder, founder of Black Label Advisor and a prominent Amazon marketplace consultant, stated on social media platform X that sellers should expect these costs to be passed through: "Every software company has to pay $1,400/year PLUS monthly fees."

The fee structure introduces four subscription tiers designed to accommodate developers at different scales. All third-party developers default into the Basic tier, which includes 2.5 million GET calls per month at no additional charge beyond the annual subscription. According to the documentation, the Pro tier costs $1,000 monthly and includes 25 million GET calls, while the Plus tier charges $10,000 monthly for 250 million GET calls. An Enterprise tier exists for developers exceeding Plus tier usage, with pricing available through direct contact with Amazon.

Developers who exceed their tier's included API calls will incur overage charges of $0.40 per thousand calls. The tiered structure means a developer in the Pro tier making 28 million GET calls in a given month would pay their base $1,000 monthly fee plus $1,200 in overages, totaling $2,200 for that month. PUT, PATCH, and POST requests remain unmetered and unlimited, subject to standard rate limits documented in Amazon's technical specifications.

The implementation timeline provides developers with several months to prepare. Amazon opened billing setup in the Solution Provider Portal on November 3, 2025. Developers must submit charge method information, billing addresses, and tax information by January 31, 2026, when annual subscription charges begin. Applications without valid payment methods will be removed from the Selling Partner Appstore on February 9, 2026, with new authorizations blocked. By February 16, 2026, applications lacking valid charge information will lose all SP-API access, and Amazon will contact sellers who authorized affected applications to notify them of service disruptions.

Monthly utilization fees commence on April 30, 2026, giving developers six months between the annual subscription implementation and usage-based charges. This gap provides time for optimization efforts. Amazon published call optimization guidance to help developers reduce unnecessary API requests and lower potential fees. The resource provides best practices for structuring requests, avoiding redundant calls, and implementing efficient data handling strategies.

The change eliminates a previous requirement for developers to maintain Professional selling plans in Seller Central. According to the announcement, third-party developers will no longer need to pay the associated monthly subscription fee for seller accounts. However, developers who choose to maintain Selling on Amazon accounts for Seller Central access will still incur standard selling fees.

Sellers and vendors using SP-API directly for only their own businesses will not face additional SP-API fees. The charges apply exclusively to third-party developers who build applications serving other selling partners. This distinction preserves free API access for sellers managing their own operations programmatically while monetizing the commercial software ecosystem.

The Solution Provider Portal serves as the management interface for developers to monitor usage, select tiers, and manage billing information. A usage dashboard provides real-time visibility into monthly GET API call volume against current tier limits, showing peak monthly calls over the past 12 months. This dashboard enables developers to identify usage trends, anticipate potential overages, and select tiers that align with their business needs and growth patterns.

Amazon emphasized ongoing investment in developer resources as justification for the new fees. According to the announcement, revenue from the fee structure will support "improved developer experiences, API capabilities, and partner enablement programs that accelerate the growth of your businesses serving our selling partners." Core resources including documentation, sample code, and sandbox testing environments will remain available to all developers at no cost regardless of subscription status.

The Basic tier includes API documentation, software development kits, developer support case management, and sandbox testing. The Pro tier adds access to beta APIs and opportunities to participate in Amazon-hosted developer events. The Plus tier includes account management teams with named account managers, while the Enterprise tier provides dedicated solution architects. These tiered benefits create a hierarchy where larger developers receive enhanced support and early access to new capabilities.

Industry reaction focused on cost implications for the seller software ecosystem. Kazim Aydin, a developer in the Amazon ecosystem, argued on X that certain endpoints should be excluded from metered pricing. "Some endpoints like getCatalogItem, searchCatalogItems, and listingRestrictions aren't nice-to-have they're fundamental to listing accuracy and integrity," Aydin stated. "At minimum, they should have separate, lower-cost pricing outside the metered pool."

The announcement arrives during a period of mounting financial pressure on Amazon sellers. Multiple sellers reported sales declines of 60-80% year-over-year across marketplace forums between May and August 2025, citing economic uncertainty, increased costs, and platform algorithm changes. Amazon's advertising revenue reached $15.7 billion in the second quarter of 2025, representing a 22% year-over-year increase, while individual sellers struggled with rising advertising costs that often exceeded profit margins.

Amazon introduced updated return fees for European sellers effective February 1, 2025, implementing category-specific return rate thresholds and fees. The company also removed partial shipment splits for standard-size FBA products starting February 20, 2025, requiring sellers to choose between Amazon-Optimized Shipment Splits without fees or Minimal Shipment Splits with associated placement fees. These policy changes demonstrate a pattern of fee structure adjustments across Amazon's seller ecosystem throughout 2025.

The API fee announcement particularly impacts inventory management, repricing, and analytics software that makes frequent API calls to maintain current product data. Software companies offering real-time inventory synchronization or dynamic repricing typically execute millions of API requests monthly to keep seller data current. The new fee structure creates financial pressure on tools that rely on high-frequency API access to deliver their core functionality.

Aaron Biner, commenting on the announcement, suggested strategic timing for software subscriptions: "It sounds like paying for annual subscriptions right now is a good move if you intend to stay with a particular software." His observation reflects the likelihood that software companies will adjust pricing structures to account for API fees, potentially making current subscription rates more favorable than future offerings.

The monetization of SP-API follows broader trends in platform economics. Amazon's margins in advertising significantly undercut competitors like The Trade Desk, with Amazon's ad sales fees around 1% compared to The Trade Desk's 12-15%, according to analysis from investment bank Needham & Co. Amazon's willingness to operate at lower margins in advertising contrasts with the new API fee structure, where the company introduces charges for previously free services.

The technical implementation maintains consistency between the Solution Provider Portal interface and programmatic API access. Developers can access tier selection, usage monitoring, and billing management through both the web interface and API endpoints. The architecture enables automated workflows for developers managing multiple applications or requiring programmatic billing integration with internal systems.

Third-party developers must evaluate which APIs they call most frequently and assess whether optimizations can reduce usage below critical tier thresholds. The distinction between metered GET requests and unmetered POST, PUT, and PATCH requests creates incentives to restructure applications where possible. However, core functionality often requires GET requests for data retrieval, limiting optimization potential for many use cases.

The policy change affects the entire Amazon seller software ecosystem, from established enterprise platforms to emerging startups. Large software providers with millions of users can distribute API costs across their customer base, potentially absorbing fees with minimal price increases. Smaller developers and startups face proportionally higher barriers, as the $1,400 annual subscription plus usage fees represent significant overhead before serving any customers.

Amazon removed its entire Google Shopping advertising presence across global markets between July 21 and July 23, 2025, demonstrating strategic decisions to reduce external platform costs when alternatives exist. The API fee implementation represents the inverse strategy, monetizing Amazon's own platform infrastructure that third parties depend upon without comparable alternatives for accessing Amazon marketplace data.

Amazon launched a Profit Analytics dashboard on September 18, 2025, enabling sellers to analyze fees, costs, and profitability at SKU and ASIN levels. The dashboard combined sales, returns, fees, and advertising data to deliver comprehensive profitability insights. However, sellers now face additional software costs through API fees passed through from their tool providers, further compressing already thin margins.

The announcement states that developers can begin submitting charge methods, billing addresses, and tax information immediately through the Solution Provider Portal. The verification process may take several days, requiring developers to initiate setup well before the January 31, 2026 deadline to ensure uninterrupted service. Amazon specified that third-party developers who fail to complete billing setup by February 16, 2026 will lose API access entirely, creating urgency around compliance.

For marketing professionals managing Amazon advertising campaigns, the API fees represent indirect cost increases through third-party tools. Campaign management platforms, analytics dashboards, and automation software that integrate with Amazon advertising APIs will likely adjust pricing to reflect the new cost structure. Advertisers using multiple tools may face compounding fee increases as each software provider passes through their portion of Amazon's API charges.

The Software Development Kit availability remains unchanged, with Amazon providing SDKs for multiple programming languages at no cost. However, SDK usage requires API credentials and falls under the same fee structure once applications make production API calls. The sandbox testing environment continues offering free access for development and testing purposes, enabling developers to build and validate applications before incurring production charges.

Amazon's announcement acknowledged the role of applications built with SP-API in serving "millions of our selling partners" and creating "thriving businesses" within the developer community. The company positioned the fee structure as necessary to "support continued investment in improved developer experiences, API capabilities, and partner enablement programs." This framing presents the fees as reinvestment in the platform rather than pure revenue generation.

The international scope of the fees remains unclear from the announcement, which specified dollar amounts but did not detail currency conversion or regional pricing variations. Amazon operates marketplaces across North America, Europe, Asia, and other regions, each with distinct developer communities and economic conditions. Whether the $1,400 annual fee applies uniformly across all regions or adjusts for local market conditions will affect competitive dynamics in international seller software markets.

The transition from free to paid API access represents one of the most significant changes to Amazon's developer ecosystem since the introduction of SP-API itself. Marketplace Web Services, the predecessor to SP-API, launched in 2009 and provided free access for over a decade before Amazon introduced SP-API as its successor. The shift to paid access reverses this long-standing policy and establishes Amazon's API infrastructure as a profit center rather than a cost center supporting marketplace growth.

Amazon introduced reserve share of voice for branded search in October 2025, enabling advertisers to secure top-of-search Sponsored Brands placements for branded keywords at fixed upfront prices through API access. The feature's API-only implementation suggested initial targeting toward advertisers with technical resources or agency partnerships capable of programmatic integration, demonstrating Amazon's broader strategy of monetizing API-dependent features.

Andrew Kornuta, who created and ran Amazon's Ads API from inception through 2024, noted on X that the Ads API remains free. This distinction preserves free access for advertising-related API endpoints while monetizing seller operations APIs. The differential pricing suggests Amazon views advertising APIs as tools that drive advertising revenue, justifying their free availability, while seller APIs represent infrastructure that should bear direct costs.

The documentation specified that annual subscription renewals occur exactly 12 months from billing dates rather than on calendar-year schedules. A developer whose subscription begins on January 31, 2026, will see their next renewal on January 31, 2027. This individual billing cycle approach prevents developers from gaming the system by timing subscriptions to calendar boundaries and ensures Amazon receives full annual fees regardless of sign-up timing.

The ecosystem impact extends beyond immediate API users to sellers who depend on third-party software. Sellers using repricing tools, inventory management systems, order management platforms, or analytics dashboards will see these costs flow through in subscription price increases or new usage-based fees from their software providers. The distributed nature of these cost increases may obscure the total impact on individual sellers who use multiple tools.

Amazon extended its holiday return window through January 31, 2026, for purchases made between November 1 and December 31, 2025. The policy, announced October 14, 2025, created additional operational complexity for sellers during the critical fourth-quarter period. Combined with API fee announcements affecting seller software, the cumulative effect of platform changes creates compounding pressure on marketplace participants.

The Solution Provider Portal serves as the central management interface where developers monitor usage, select tiers, manage billing information, and access support resources. Amazon's requirement that developers provide tax registration information alongside payment methods reflects complex international tax obligations for software services. The verification process for both payment methods and tax information may introduce delays, emphasizing the importance of early submission before the January 31, 2026 deadline.

The call optimization guidance page published by Amazon includes best practices for reducing API call volume while maintaining application functionality. Strategies include implementing local caching to store frequently accessed data, batching multiple requests when possible, and using webhooks for event-driven updates instead of polling endpoints repeatedly. However, fundamental application architectures may limit optimization potential, particularly for real-time inventory and pricing synchronization systems.

For developers evaluating whether to continue supporting SP-API integration, the decision involves weighing API fees against the value of Amazon marketplace access for their customer base. Developers with significant non-Amazon revenue streams might consider ending Amazon integration, while those dependent on Amazon sellers have limited alternatives. The lack of competing APIs for Amazon marketplace data creates a captive market where developers must absorb fees or exit the ecosystem entirely.

The timing of the announcement, early November 2025, provides approximately three months before the first payment deadline. This relatively short notice contrasts with other major platform changes Amazon has announced with longer lead times. The compressed timeline creates urgency for software companies to evaluate business model impacts, adjust pricing structures, and communicate changes to customers before fees take effect.

Timeline

• 2009 - Amazon launches Marketplace Web Services, providing free API access to developers
• November 3, 2025 - Amazon announces SP-API fee structure and opens billing setup in Solution Provider Portal
• January 31, 2026 - Deadline for developers to submit charge method and tax information; annual subscription fee charges begin for existing developers
• February 9, 2026 - Applications without valid payment methods removed from Selling Partner Appstore; new authorizations blocked
• February 16, 2026 - Applications without valid charge information lose all SP-API access
• April 30, 2026 - Monthly API usage fees based on GET call volume commence
• February 1, 2025 - Amazon implemented updated return fees for European sellers with category-specific thresholds
• February 20, 2025 - Amazon removed partial shipment splits option for standard-size FBA products
• May-August 2025 - Amazon sellers reported sales declines of 60-80% year-over-year across marketplace forums
• July 21-23, 2025 - Amazon eliminated entire Google Shopping advertising presence across global markets
• July 31, 2025 - Amazon reported advertising services revenue of $15.7 billion for Q2 2025, up 22% year-over-year
• September 12, 2025 - Federal Trade Commission launched investigations into Amazon and Google over search ad pricing disclosures
• September 18, 2025 - Amazon released Profit Analytics dashboard for sellers under seller economics reporting section
• October 2025 - Amazon introduced reserve share of voice for branded search, accessible via API
• October 14, 2025 - Amazon announced extended holiday return window through January 31, 2026

Summary

Who: Amazon announced the policy affecting third-party developers who build applications serving Amazon selling partners. The fees apply to software companies creating inventory management, repricing, analytics, and marketplace tools that access Selling Partner API. Individual sellers and vendors using SP-API only for their own businesses remain exempt from charges.

What: Amazon introduced a fee structure requiring third-party developers to pay an annual subscription of $1,400 starting January 31, 2026, plus monthly usage fees based on GET API call volume beginning April 30, 2026. Four subscription tiers accommodate different usage scales: Basic (2.5 million calls monthly, $0 additional fee), Pro (25 million calls, $1,000 monthly), Plus (250 million calls, $10,000 monthly), and Enterprise (custom pricing). Overage charges of $0.40 per thousand calls apply to usage exceeding tier allowances.

When: Amazon made the announcement on November 3, 2025, opened billing setup immediately in the Solution Provider Portal, set a charge method submission deadline of January 31, 2026, and scheduled annual subscription charges to begin on that date. Applications without valid payment methods will lose Appstore access on February 9, 2026, and complete API access on February 16, 2026. Monthly usage fees commence April 30, 2026.

Where: The fees apply to all third-party developers integrated with Selling Partner API across Amazon's global marketplace operations. Developers access billing management and usage monitoring through the Solution Provider Portal. The policy affects developers serving sellers in North America, Europe, Asia, and other Amazon marketplace regions.

Why: Amazon stated the fee structure enables "continued investment in improved developer experiences, API capabilities, and partner enablement programs that accelerate the growth of your businesses serving our selling partners." The monetization ends over 15 years of free API access dating to Marketplace Web Services' 2009 launch. Industry observers anticipate sellers will ultimately absorb costs through higher software subscription prices as developers pass through API fees to maintain profitability.