Amazon SP-API fees cancelled - full chronology (2025-2026)
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- May 12, 2026: Amazon cancels the SP-API usage and annual fees - the $1,400 subscription and $0.40 per 1,000 GET-call overage are both withdrawn
- Full chronology: Nov 2025 announcement, Jan 2026 first delay, Mar 2026 indefinite delay, May 2026 cancellation
- The cancellation language ("at this time") leaves room for a future proposal in a different shape
- Vendors that already raised prices citing SP-API fees are exposed to renegotiation requests from sellers and agencies
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Update - May 12, 2026: fees cancelled
Amazon has cancelled the SP-API usage and annual fees. On May 12, 2026, the Amazon Solutions Partner team emailed third-party developers confirming that, after careful consideration, Amazon will not move forward with SP-API usage and annual fees at this time. The fee schedule below is preserved as a historical record. No charges have been collected and none are planned. See our May 12 breaking coverage for the full announcement. On Nova, the sellers in our cohort tend to see this hit P&L visibility first, before ad spend or inventory.
What happened
Amazon's plan to monetise the Selling Partner API (SP-API) is over for now. After announcing in November 2025 that all third-party developers would pay a $1,400 annual subscription starting January 31, 2026, Amazon delayed implementation in January, postponed the entire programme indefinitely on March 9, 2026, then cancelled the fees outright on May 12, 2026.
The original plan called for a $1,400 per year subscription, with usage-based fees of $0.40 per 1,000 GET calls kicking in on April 30, 2026. That entire structure has now been withdrawn. Amazon's May 12 email leaves the door open with the phrase "at this time", so a future SP-API monetisation proposal in a different shape is possible, but no schedule has been announced.
Sellers were never going to pay Amazon directly. The risk was tool vendors passing API costs into higher subscription prices. With fees cancelled, those pass-throughs do not happen. Vendors that already raised prices in late 2025 or early 2026 citing SP-API costs are now exposed to renegotiation requests.
For context, the SP-API handles approximately 58 billion calls per year across more than 1.6 million third-party developers. Amazon still operates that infrastructure at its own cost.
Annual subscription (cancelled)
$1,400
Originally proposed base fee, withdrawn May 12, 2026
Basic tier GET calls
2.5M
Per month included
Overage rate (cancelled)
$0.40
Per 1,000 GET calls, withdrawn May 12, 2026
Key Dates & Deadlines
Amazon proposes SP-API monetisation
Amazon Solutions Partner team begins informal consultations with large tool vendors about charging for SP-API access.
Public announcement and billing setup
Amazon publishes the fee schedule: $1,400 annual subscription, four usage tiers, $0.40 per 1,000 GET calls in overage. Billing portal opens for developers.
First implementation push delayed
Original date for the annual subscription to take effect. Amazon delays after pushback from the developer community and large agencies.
Indefinite delay announced
Amazon emails all solution providers postponing all SP-API fee deadlines indefinitely. Updated timelines promised for fall 2026.
Fees cancelled
Amazon confirms in writing that SP-API usage and annual fees will not move forward at this time. The original fee structure is withdrawn.
SP-API fee tiers (cancelled, kept for reference)
Amazon structured the SP-API fees into four tiers. This pricing was cancelled on May 12, 2026 and is preserved here as a historical reference for the November 2025 to May 2026 chronology:
| Tier | Annual Fee | Monthly Fee | GET Calls/Month | Overage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $1,400 | $0 | 2.5 million | $0.40/1K |
| Pro | $1,400 | $1,000 | 25 million | $0.40/1K |
| Plus | $1,400 | $10,000 | 250 million | $0.40/1K |
| Enterprise | $1,400 | Contact Amazon | Custom | Custom |
Note: PUT calls (writes) are metered separately at higher rates. Most analytics tools primarily use GET calls for data retrieval.
Who Is Affected
Every seller tool that connects to Amazon relies on the SP-API. Here's how different tool categories will be impacted when fees eventually take effect:
Repricing Tools (High Impact)
Repricers make thousands of API calls per minute to monitor competitor prices and adjust listings. They'll face the highest cost increases and likely pass significant price bumps to users.
Inventory Management (Medium-High)
Tools syncing stock levels, creating shipments, and managing FBA inventory make frequent API calls. Expect noticeable price increases from these providers.
Analytics & Profit Tracking (Medium)
Dashboards pulling sales data, fees, and performance metrics. Call volumes are moderate but consistent. Some price increases likely.
PPC Management (Moderate)
Advertising tools use the Ads API separately, but many also pull product and sales data via SP-API. Impact depends on feature set.
What this means for sellers
With fees cancelled on May 12, 2026, the practical picture for sellers shifts:
- →No SP-API-driven price increases coming. The 5-15% subscription bumps that vendors warned about for late 2026 are off the table. Vendors that already raised prices on this basis are exposed to renegotiation requests.
- →Smaller and niche tools survive. The $1,400 floor was an existential threat for solo developers. Cancellation removes it. The long tail of single-purpose tools keeps operating without forced consolidation.
- →Vendors get API headroom back. Engineering teams that spent Q1 2026 rationing call volume to fit Basic-tier limits get that work back as headroom. Expect more frequent refresh cycles, deeper history and faster onboarding.
- →"At this time" is doing real work. Amazon's wording leaves room for a future SP-API monetisation proposal in a different shape (tier-only, write-call-weighted, or capped at the largest commercial users). Treat May 12 as a reset, not a guarantee.
Pro tip
Pull every tool invoice from November 2025 forward. Any vendor that raised its rate while citing SP-API fees is now overcharging on a withdrawn justification. Ask for a renegotiation, a downgrade path, or a richer data refresh in exchange.
What you should do now
- 1.
Audit recent tool price changes
List every Amazon-connected tool whose price moved between November 2025 and May 2026. If the vendor cited SP-API fees in their notice, the justification is now withdrawn. Open the renegotiation conversation this month.
- 2.
Push for richer data refresh, not only lower price
The cancellation gives vendors API headroom. Ask for hourly refresh, longer history and full marketplace coverage rather than only price cuts. The latter is fungible; the former changes how you operate.
- 3.
Re-evaluate the consolidation case for your stack
If you consolidated to an all-in-one platform expecting per-tool API cost pass-throughs, the pure cost case is weaker now. The product case (single source of truth, unified P&L, fewer reconciliation seams) still holds. Decide deliberately, not by default.
- 4.
Stay alert for a future SP-API monetisation proposal
Amazon's wording ("at this time") leaves the door open. Future proposals may be tier-only, write-call-weighted, or limited to the largest commercial users. Subscribe to Amazon's developer announcements channel.
How Nova is positioned
Hourly data refresh, no pass-through risk
Nova ingests Amazon SP-API data on an hourly refresh cycle and ships it into seller and enterprise workflows without per-call surcharges. Whether SP-API fees are zero (today) or return in a future shape, Nova absorbs the cost as part of operating expenses rather than billing it through to sellers.
For teams that want raw and analysis-ready Amazon data alongside dashboards, the Amazon data library and data pipeline Deliver the same SP-API feeds straight to BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks or Sheets. The Profit and Loss module Reconciles 40+ Amazon fee types against settlement data, and Custom Breakdowns lets you slice by tag, brand, marketplace or account.
Sources
- Amazon SP-API Team Email to Solution Providers (March 9, 2026) - Direct communication confirming indefinite delay of SP-API fee implementation
- Amazon Developer Services: Selling Partner Portal Announcement
- PPC Land: Amazon Introduces Fees for Third-Party Developer API Access
- Marketplace Pulse: Amazon Monetizes the Software Layer Sellers Depend On
- Shopifreaks: Amazon Selling Partner API Is No Longer Free
- ESellerHub: Amazon SP-API Fees Update 2026
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Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this topic
Verified Sources
- Amazon Solutions Partner team email (May 12, 2026)
- Amazon SP-API Team email (March 9, 2026)
- Amazon Developer Services
- PPC Land
- Marketplace Pulse
- Shopifreaks
- eSellerHub
All information verified from official Amazon sources and trusted industry analysts as of publication date.
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