Guide · Margin

How to work out your profit margin on Amazon Egypt, step by step

Profit margin is your profit per unit divided by its sale price, times 100. On Amazon, the profit is the price minus the referral and fulfilment fees and their VAT, minus the product's cost and shipping it to Amazon's warehouse. Don't confuse it with markup on cost: the same product gives two different numbers.

Accreza team · Published 9 October 2026 · written with AI and checked by the team against Amazon Egypt's selling-fee page · fees as checked on 28 September 2026

The formula

Profit margin = profit per unit ÷ sale price × 100

And profit per unit = sale price − Amazon's fees and their VAT − the product's cost − shipping it to Amazon's warehouse.

Step by step: a worked example

A product in Beauty priced at E£300, a Standard Parcel weighing 0.25 kg, Fulfilled by Amazon, costing E£120, with E£5 per unit to ship it to Amazon's warehouse:

Example

Start with the sale price: E£300.
Subtract the referral fee: 12% in Beauty, so E£36.
Subtract the FBA fulfilment fee: E£19.50 for a Standard Parcel of 0.25 kg priced under E£350.
Subtract the 14% VAT on the fees: E£7.77. Amazon pays you E£236.73.
Subtract your costs: E£120 for the product and E£5 to ship it to Amazon's warehouse. That leaves E£111.73.
Divide by the price: 111.73 ÷ 300 = 37.2%. That's your profit margin per unit.

An example at an assumed price, with fees from Amazon's published table. Try your own product in the calculator.

Margin or markup?

Markup divides the profit by the cost, not the price. In the example: 111.73 ÷ 125 = 89.4%, against a 37.2% margin for the same product. Both numbers are right, but margin is the one that compares products fairly and shows how much of every pound you sell for you keep.

Gross margin, margin per unit and net margin

Gross margin: what's left of sales after the cost of goods alone, before any other expense.
Margin per unit: after Amazon's fees and the product's cost and shipping: what the calculator shows.
Net margin: after every cost: returns, ads, storage, overheads and taxes. It's the lowest of the three, and it's worked out on the month, not the unit.

What quietly cuts your margin

Returns: the sale goes back, and the fees Amazon kept stay a cost. What does a return cost you?
Ads: the cost of every sale that came from an ad.
Storage: monthly in Amazon's warehouses, and more for long-term storage.
Discounts and promotions: a discount you fund lowers the price you actually get.
Fees outside the price list: such as the cash-on-delivery collection fee.
VAT on the fees: 14% on top of every fee.

VAT and your margin

If you're VAT-registered, part of your price is VAT you owe, so work out margin on the price without VAT. The calculator does this when you tick "I'm VAT-registered".

Source: the selling-fee page on sell.amazon.eg, last checked 28 September 2026. Amazon can change its fees at any time, so check the fee page in Seller Central before any decision.

Common questions

What's the difference between margin and markup?

Margin is profit ÷ sale price; markup is profit ÷ cost. For the same product, markup is usually the bigger number: in the example on this page, a 37.2% margin is a 89.4% markup.

What's a good profit margin on Amazon?

There's no single number: it depends on your category's referral rate, your product's size and weight, and your returns. Work out your own in the calculator, then check your month in your Date Range report.

Why is my monthly margin lower than my margin per unit?

Because the month carries costs a single unit doesn't show: returns, ads, storage, overheads and fees outside the price list.

Do I work out margin with or without VAT?

If you're VAT-registered, work it out on the price without VAT, since that VAT is owed. The calculator does this when you tick "I'm VAT-registered".

The calculator is for one unit; the report is for your month. Your Date Range report shows every fee and every return in your month. Check it free