Amazon Tariffs in 2026: Seller Costs, Margins, and Refunds

Consider a hypothetical brand that imported $400,000 of inventory from China between March 2025 and January 2026. It paid duties at every entry, raised prices twice to protect margin, and read in July that Amazon received about $600 million in tariff refunds. The question it should be asking is not whether Amazon will share. It is who was the importer of record on its own entries. If the brand or its broker was, the duty was the brand's cost, and any refund claim is the brand's to pursue.

That is the shape of the tariff question for Amazon sellers in late 2026. The Supreme Court struck down the IEEPA tariffs on February 20, a temporary Section 122 surcharge ran from February 24 to July 24, and a new Section 301 forced-labor tariff took its place on July 24. Most seller guides still describe a stack that no longer exists.

No. Tariffs are collected by CBP from the importer of record at the port of entry. For most FBA inventory shipped from overseas, the seller or its customs broker is that importer. Amazon's referral and FBA fees contain no tariff line, and Amazon has not added a tariff surcharge to seller accounts.

The confusion comes from two headlines. In April 2025, reports that Amazon would display tariff costs on its Haul storefront drew a response from the White House, and Amazon said it had no such plan. In July 2026, Amazon's CFO told analysts the company received about $600 million in tariff refunds in the second quarter, called the amount limited because Amazon pre-positioned inventory ahead of the tariffs and is not the importer of record for the large majority of items it sells, and said Amazon would refund customers only where it could trace a specific import charge to a specific order.

That statement does not settle who the importer was on any particular seller's shipments. Some sellers import under their own entity, some through a broker acting as importer, and some buy from a U.S. distributor that already paid the duty. Check your entry summaries (CBP Form 7501) or ask your broker; the importer of record number on those records determines both who bore the cost and who can file for a refund.

Three dated actions in 2026 changed every seller's landed-cost model:

The Supreme Court's IEEPA decision did not invalidate existing Section 301 tariffs on covered Chinese products or Section 232 tariffs on covered goods. However, those duties should not automatically be added to every newer tariff measure. USTR's July 2026 forced-labor action expressly excludes articles and parts subject to Section 232 tariffs, including steel, aluminum, copper, automobiles and parts, and timber and lumber derivatives. USMCA-qualifying goods are also exempt. The applicable rate therefore depends on the product's HTS classification, country of origin, effective entry date, and any exclusions or special rules.

The $800 de minimis exemption was suspended for China and Hong Kong on May 2, 2025, and for all other origins on August 29, 2025, with exceptions, and the Supreme Court ruling did not restore it. Low-value shipments now generally require formal or informal entry and pay applicable duties; treatment varies by shipping method and carrier, so confirm with your broker.

As an illustration of how the layers combine when they all apply: a consumer product from China on Section 301 List 3 carries a 25% product duty, and if it is not Section 232-covered, the 12.5% forced-labor duty applies as well, for 37.5% in additional duties on top of MFN. A product on List 4A at 7.5% would total 20%. A Section 232-covered article would pay its Section 232 rate and no forced-labor duty. Have a customs broker verify the exact rate for any product before treating a figure as your 2026 tariff stack. (Verified October 2026.)

Tariffs directly increase landed cost. If a seller raises prices to recover that increase, percentage-based referral fees and advertising costs may rise with revenue, making the required price adjustment larger. The example below is hypothetical and uses stated assumptions; both tariff rates must actually apply to the product for the second scenario to be representative.

A $1.25 duty increase removes $1.25 of contribution. To restore the $3.49 contribution in this example, the price must rise to about $31.66, a 5.6% increase, because the referral fee and ad spend scale with price while the FBA fee does not. That assumes conversion holds at the higher price, which it may not. Run your own ASINs through the Amazon profitability calculator with the duty included in the landed-cost input; the tool does not have a separate tariff field.

If you were importer of record on entries between February 2025 and February 24, 2026, that carried an IEEPA duty line, you may be able to recover that duty. Whether you can, and through which route, depends on each entry's liquidation status and on the court orders that govern the process.

CBP estimates that approximately $166 billion in IEEPA duties was assessed during the affected period, across millions of customs entries. That figure represents the estimated duties involved in the refund process, not the amount already repaid. CBP's Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) tool allows eligible importers of record or their designated customs brokers to submit entry information through the ACE Portal. Approved refunds may include applicable interest, while duties assessed under other authorities remain payable. The October 5, 2026 Federal Register notice on IEEPA refund administration is the controlling reference.

Importers who did not bring a case should not assume finally liquidated entries qualify for the same administrative process. The treatment of those entries remains subject to litigation, so importers should seek timely guidance from qualified trade counsel about protests, court actions, and available refund procedures.

The practical sequence: pull every entry in the window from ACE or your broker, identify the ones with Chapter 99 IEEPA lines, record each one's liquidation status, confirm ACH enrollment, and have the broker file the CAPE declaration for entries that qualify. For the rest, get counsel's view on deadlines before assuming the money is gone.

Six levers, roughly in order of how fast they move margin:

• Reprice deliberately, not reactively. Model the full-stack price needed per ASIN (section 03), then stage increases so you do not hand the Featured Offer to a reseller sitting on pre-tariff inventory. Our guides to Amazon price wars and the Automate Pricing tool cover the mechanics, including setting floors that reflect the new landed cost.
• Review HTS classification. The difference between two plausible codes can be a full Section 301 list, or the difference between Section 232 coverage and the forced-labor duty. Have a broker review your top-20 ASINs by duty paid.
• Check origin and exemption status before moving production. Vietnam and India sit in different forced-labor groups (12.5% and 10% respectively), and USMCA-qualifying goods are exempt from that action. A shift only pays if the MFN rate and factory cost hold, and substantial transformation rules decide origin, not where the box was packed.
• Use first-sale valuation where it applies. If you buy through a trading company, duty may be assessable on the manufacturer's price rather than the middleman's. This requires documentation and legal review.
• Evaluate duty drawback. Duties paid on imported goods that are later exported or destroyed under CBP supervision may be partially recoverable under the drawback rules, subject to eligibility, documentation, timing, and filing requirements. FBA removal orders that leave the country can qualify only if the export is documented to CBP's standard; ask a drawback specialist before counting on it.
• Time inventory against announced dates. Amazon's own CFO credited forward-buying for keeping its tariff exposure small. Section 301 actions carry comment periods and effective dates; USTR's July action, for example, exempted goods already in transit before July 24 that entered by July 28. Use the windows.

Tariff recovery and Amazon reimbursements are different processes with different counterparties. A customs duty refund is claimed from CBP by the importer of record, usually through a broker or trade counsel. FBA reimbursements for lost or damaged inventory, fee overcharges, and refund discrepancies are claimed from Amazon through Seller Central, on Amazon's own claim windows. Both are worth reconciling before the year closes, but neither substitutes for the other.

The tariff claim belongs with your customs broker or trade counsel. The Amazon side, including margin modeling under the new duty stack, is scope we run inside Amazon reimbursement and account management.

This article is general information, not customs, tax, or legal advice. CMO is not a licensed customs broker. Tariff rates and refund procedures change; confirm current rules with CBP, USTR, and your broker before acting.