Strategies for Managing Amazon FBA Capacity Limits

Many sellers rely on Amazon FBA for inventory storage and order fulfillment. Participating in the FBA program comes with many benefits, most notably Prime eligibility for fast shipping.

However, there’s a lot to consider if you store inventory at FBA. Your business will be subject to FBA capacity limits and fees, but you also need to keep enough inventory in stock to avoid stock outs. Finding the right balance to meet customer demand without over or under stocking is an ongoing challenge. Staying on top of your inventory metrics is essential to the success of your business.

Amazon introduced FBA capacity limits in 2023 to help manage unexpected surges in demand as well as supply chain disruptions. These limits enable Amazon’s fulfillment network to run more efficiently and get products to customers faster.

FBA capacity limits also give sellers insight into future storage capacity for better inventory planning. Keep reading to learn about how Amazon calculates FBA capacity limits, what you can do to manage inventory more efficiently, and 2025 changes to capacity limits.

How to Find Your Amazon FBA Capacity

You can check your FBA capacity limits and usage on the Capacity Monitor at the bottom of your FBA dashboard. Select a storage type with the tabs. Your current capacity usage and remaining capacity by inventory status are displayed on a chart on the left. The table on the right shows your estimated FBA capacity limits for the next three months.

The FBA capacity limit is a single monthly metric that determines how much inventory you can send to and store at FBA warehouses. Your capacity limits for the upcoming month will typically be provided in the fourth week of the month in the Capacity Monitor in Seller Central as well as via email.

Amazon will confirm your limit for the next month, affirm or adjust your estimated limit for the following month, and provide an estimate for your limit for the month after that. For example, towards the end of April you’ll receive confirmation of your capacity limit for May, affirmation or adjustment of your limit for June, and an estimated limit for July. The estimated capacity limit might increase if your sales and inventory performance exceed the forecast, or it could decrease if there’s greater than anticipated demand for FBA capacity.

Amazon adjusted capacity limits for US FBA sellers in April 2025. The adjusted limits are expected to provide sufficient FBA capacity to support approximately five months of sales, including Prime Day.

How are FBA Capacity Limits Determined?

Amazon considers several factors when determining capacity limits, including:

Current IPI score
Sales forecasts for your ASINs
Shipment lead time
Amazon fulfillment center capacity
Historical sales volume
Seasonal and peak selling periods for your products
Deals scheduled
New products added to your selection

Capacity limits consider both on-hand inventory in FBA fulfillment centers and shipments you’ve created that haven’t arrived yet. Amazon will also provide estimated limits for the following two months to make it easier to plan for a longer time frame. Amazon’s forecast will include anticipated FBA space and labor availability. The estimates can vary based on how efficiently you’re currently using your FBA capacity, as measured by your IPI score.

Your IPI score is based on four criteria for your FBA inventory: excess inventory rate, sell-through rate, stranded inventory rate, and in-stock inventory.

Amazon will set FBA capacity limits and measure your inventory usage in cubic feet rather than a number of units. This provides a more accurate estimate of the capacity needed in fulfillment centers and delivery vehicles.

Inventory storage overage fees will apply if your on-hand inventory (not including open shipments) exceeds your FBA capacity limit. The fees are based on how many days your capacity limits are exceeded. It’s calculated with the highest limit (estimated or confirmed) that Amazon provided for the given timeframe. These fees are charged monthly at $10 per cubic foot based on the daily average volume of the space your inventory occupies beyond your capacity limits. Overage fees are in place to help prevent excess inventory and shouldn’t impact sellers with healthy inventory levels.

Related Reading: How to Reduce Amazon Excess Inventory

FBA Capacity Limits and Storage Types

You can see your capacity limits and current capacity usage in the Capacity Monitor at the bottom of your FBA dashboard in Seller Central. Select a storage type by clicking on the tabs. The chart on the left shows current capacity usage by inventory status as well as your capacity for creating new shipments. The table includes your estimated FBA capacity limits for the next three months.

You’ll have a separate capacity limit for each storage type each month. Amazon classifies each product’s storage type into different categories:

Standard-size
Oversize
Extra-large
Apparel
Footwear
Aerosol
Flammable

You can’t adjust the storage type or exchange capacity limits between storage types. FBA capacity limits for FBA Dangerous Goods are handled separately. If you use MCF, those orders are included in your past and forecasted sales data, which is one of the metrics used to determine your capacity limits. Customer returns are added back into your capacity usage when the returns are received.

Individual selling accounts are limited to 15 cubic feet of FBA capacity. This limit is not eligible to be increased.

New professional selling accounts that have been active with FBA for less than 39 weeks won’t receive capacity limits. This allows new sellers to establish an FBA sales record without limits so Amazon can determine how much space is needed as the businesses grow.

Professional selling accounts that have been active with FBA for more than 39 weeks will receive FBA capacity limits based on IPI score and sales performance. If you consistently have a higher IPI score, you’ll receive higher capacity limits based on sales volume and availability.

Capacity Manager: Request a Higher FBA Storage Limit

If you’re confident that customers will buy your products, you can request additional storage capacity with Capacity Manager. Let Amazon know how much additional storage capacity you want and when you need it. You can make these storage increases in monthly increments for any future period in which you have a capacity limit or estimated capacity limit. The maximum amount you can request for a given storage type and period depends on available FBA capacity.

If additional capacity is available, set the maximum reservation fee you’re willing to pay. This reservation fee can be offset by earned performance credits from sales generated by using the extra storage space. No upfront payment is needed.

Select your maximum reservation fee based on your confidence that you can sell the inventory and offset the reservation fee with performance credits. You’ll be responsible for the remaining balance of your reservation fee minus performance credits.

Amazon will assess current fulfillment center capabilities about twice a week and grant storage limit increases when available. Requests with the highest reservation fee per cubic foot are granted first and will continue in this order until all available FBA capacity has been allocated.

If Amazon grants your request for a capacity limit increase, it will be reflected in the Capacity Monitor. When the specified period begins, you’ll earn a $0.15 performance credit for every dollar of sales generated using the additional storage capacity. The fee is designed to give you the opportunity to offset 100% of the reservation fee by selling the inventory.

Amazon determines your total FBA capacity as the sum of the estimated capacity limit you receive as well as any additional capacity you request and receive from the Capacity Manager. If your request is granted and Amazon later reduces your estimated capacity limits, the capacity you received through Capacity Manager won’t change. If your estimated limits increase, Amazon will decrease the additional capacity you requested or cancel the request if the increase exceeds your request.

Exceeding FBA Capacity

Maintaining healthy inventory levels is critical. If you exceed your capacity limits, Amazon won't allow you to create shipments to FBA. You’ll be blocked from creating shipments if your on-hand inventory and shipments on the way to fulfillment centers exceed your capacity limit. You’ll also be unable to create shipments if you are below your capacity limit but the number of units you’re attempting to ship would cause you to exceed your capacity limit.

Overage fees will be charged if on-hand inventory in fulfillment centers exceeds your capacity limit. This does not include open shipments. These fees are changed on the inventory that is held above your limit.

Seasonality

Amazon considers seasonal sales patterns along with your IPI score and other details such as deals scheduled and shipment lead time when determining your FBA capacity limits.

Due to the way Amazon manages fulfillment center operations during the holiday season, most sellers can expect to see higher estimated capacity limits for October and lower estimated limits for November. If you need additional capacity, use Capacity Manager to request to increase your limit. You can also use Amazon Warehousing and Distribution to automatically replenish at fulfillment centers as needed.

Learn more about the FBA Capacity Manager in this interview with Seamus Browne, Principal Product Manager at Amazon, and Colleen Quattlebaum of eComEngine. Discover why capacity limits are set, how to improve inventory management, ways to request additional capacity, and what you need to do to maintain a strong IPI score.

Maximize Your FBA Capacity

Amazon has several recommendations to help you make the most of your FBA storage capacity. Cancel any open shipments you’re not planning to send, as those count towards your total capacity usage. You can view or cancel a shipment in the Shipping Queue. Remove inventory that isn’t selling. You can have removed inventory returned to you, have Amazon donate it on your behalf, or try to recoup some cash through FBA Liquidations. You can also set up automatic removal orders for ageing items or unsellable units.

Improving your FBA inventory sell-through rate is the fastest way to free up capacity for new products. It also helps increase your IPI score. Discounts, ads, and product page updates can all help you increase sales on Amazon. Getting more reviews is another great strategy since reviews impact buyer sentiment as well as your Amazon search rankings.

You can use Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) to sell on other channels and fulfill orders via Amazon’s network. MCF orders are included in the sales data used to calculate your FBA capacity limits.

Related Reading: How to Use Amazon Coupons: A Seller's Guide