This is how much profit is REALLY left over: €500,000 monthly turnover with Amazon FBA in 2025

Imagine your Amazon FBA business is going really well and you're generating sales of €500,000 a month. For many sellers, this sounds like pure luck, but how much of it will actually end up with you? Here you'll find honest figures, real experience from the German Amazon market and a clear view of where most of the money goes and what remains as profit.

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Overview: This is what a 500,000 euro month really looks like

Many talk about high sales, but only a few show how much of it ends up in their own wallets. In this article, we take a look at the figures of selected top 10 retailers on Amazon Germany. The aim is to create transparency, uncover myths and provide you with a realistic benchmark to use as a guide.

The biggest cost factors are mainly for the goods, Amazon fees, shipping, storage, advertising and staff. If you lose track of these costs, you quickly risk losing your hard-earned profits to hidden costs. Here is an overview of the most important cost blocks for a monthly turnover of €500,000:

Sounds impressive? Even more exciting is how these figures come about in detail.

Main cost factors in the Amazon FBA business

Purchasing of goods - by far the largest block

No goods, no business - which is why purchasing costs account for around 35% of turnover at an average of € 175,000 per month. The products usually come from China, Europe or Germany. The amount varies depending on the product type and sales price.

Important factors when purchasing goods:

• Source of supply (China, EU, Germany)
• Price per product and purchase quantities
• Target selling price on Amazon
• Costs for certificates, special packaging or product adaptations

The risk: The more expensive the products become or the lower your margin is negotiated, the greater the share of sales. If you plan to scale, purchasing often eats up a large part of your capital.

Amazon fees

Hardly any seller can avoid Amazon fees. By default, Amazon charges 15% of the sales price for most categories. With a turnover of €500,000, this results in a whopping €75,000 in Amazon fees per month.

The fees may be lower in individual categories (e.g. 12 % in some niches), but the average value of 15 % was used for the calculation.

The sticking point is that the fees are non-negotiable and are charged for every unit sold - it is almost impossible to save less here.

Shipping and warehousing (FBA)

Those who opt for Amazon's Fulfillment Service (FBA) pay for storage, shipping and handling. This results in monthly costs of around €60,000. This concerns:

• Shipping the goods to Amazon
• Storage in Amazon warehouses
• Shipping to the end customer

These costs are regarded as an average; peaks are higher or lower depending on the product range, item size and sales figures.

FBA vs. own warehouse (FBM):

• With FBA, many things are automated and greatly accelerated, Prime status is included.
• Own warehouse (FBM) saves storage fees, but causes more personnel and administration costs.

Most retailers stick with FBA to ensure scale, shipping speed and customer satisfaction.

Import costs (freight & customs)

Many retailers source their products from China. On average, they spend €30,000 a month on sea freight and customs. The costs fluctuate:

• Larger and heavier products result in higher import fees.
• Small items, compactly packaged, significantly reduce costs.

Import and customs are combined in the invoice to make the statement clearer.

Advertising / Amazon PPC

Nothing works without advertising: the retailers analyzed invest an average of € 60,000 per month in Amazon PPC (pay-per-click advertising). This is because heavily advertised products achieve greater visibility, higher sales and better rankings.

Those with few bestsellers earn market dominance through offensive PPC strategies. Those with a broad base can keep costs lower. However, experience shows that there is no way around effective advertising for sales in this league.

Advantages of aggressive PPC strategies:

• Rapid market penetration
• Dominance in the niche
• Constant flow of new customers

Possible cost traps:

• High advertising pressure with strong competition
• Risk that advertising costs will reduce profits

Personnel costs and administration

Employee costs

With sales of this amount, you can no longer manage the business alone. On average, successful FBA retailers invest around €20,000 per month in employees. The staffing ratio is usually made up of several roles:

Typical areas of responsibility:

• Warehouse staff (usually 2-4 people depending on the model, covered for illness and vacation)
• Customer support
• Sourcing and purchasing
• administrative activities

The main differences are between pure FBA and own warehouse (FBM). If you operate your own warehouse, the personnel team grows quickly as you are responsible for logistics and shipping. If you use FBA almost exclusively, the "personnel" cost center remains somewhat lower.

Already included:

• Non-wage labor costs
• Social security contributions
• Minijobs

Employee costs vary depending on the business model and degree of automation, but should not be underestimated as a proportion of expenditure.

Office costs

Not every retailer needs a huge company headquarters right away, but at this level of turnover at the latest, they need a fixed location where they can work in a coordinated manner - be it a classic office or a well-equipped home office.

Average office costs:

• 3,000 to €10,000 per month depending on location, size and infrastructure
• Home office currently the exception at two of the retailers analyzed
• Urban locations and warehouses drive up costs

The range results primarily from individual requirements and the storage model. A large warehouse in Germany's major cities costs many times more than a small location in a medium-sized city.

External support: agencies and tax consultants

Especially those who focus on growth bring in external expertise - be it for marketing, the optimization of product images or targeted advertising campaigns. Agency services vary, but marketing in particular plays an important role for scaling Amazon sellers.

• Marketing agencies and service providers: Flexible costs, depending on the scope of service
• Tax advisor: On average €1,500 per month for the companies analyzed; relief for accounting and tax issues, important for overview and legal certainty

If you would like professional support, you can use the Stacvalley offer form, for example.

Software and quality control

Software costs for business & marketing

Modern Amazon businesses can hardly be managed efficiently without the right software. Whether merchandise management, project management or special tools such as Helium 10 - the costs quickly add up.

Average software costs:

• 500 € per month
• The spectrum ranges from lean SaaS solutions to expensive ERP systems
• The larger the team, the more licenses are required

The value is set at the upper end, as some retailers use very extensive merchandise management systems.

Quality control: Quality Inspections

Regular product quality inspections are mandatory, especially when importing from the Far East. The average cost of quality inspections is around €1,000 per month.

The strategies differ:

• Some check with every order
• Others randomly or only at the beginning
• Others rely on the manufacturer after a few successful runs

Good quality saves costs in the long term due to fewer returns and less hassle with disappointed customers.

What remains at the bottom line? The real profit and the margin

If you add up all the cost items, you quickly realize: on average, around € 67,000 of € 500,000 in monthly turnover remains profit, which corresponds to a margin of around 13 %.

Many people talk about a target margin of 20%, but the reality is often different. Reasons for this:

• Some products are not yet profitable
• Reorders and new product developments increase expenses in the short term
• Market pressure and competition drive advertising expenditure and discount campaigns

Good to know: In most cases, managing director salaries are already included in the personnel costs (often between €4,000 and €5,000 per month). Many sellers use clever models such as holding companies for additional profit distributions or benefit from tax compensation options.

Summary of the most important key figures:

With this margin, you can already enjoy a very comfortable lifestyle or make solid new investments.

Personal experiences and tips for aspiring Amazon merchants

A turnover of €500,000 per month sounds like financial freedom, but it comes with a great deal of responsibility. Looking at the real costs and margins replaces illusions with concrete planning. A clean cost structure, professional partners and a realistic assessment of your own figures are crucial for success.

Success factors from experience:

• Keep an eye on all ancillary costs - especially advertising, personnel and storage
• Use tools to automate the business and maintain an overview
• Recalculate your PPC strategy regularly and adapt it to the competitive situation
• Weigh up the warehouse model and outsourcing carefully: FBA takes a lot off your hands, in-house warehousing saves money with high volumes, but requires more staff and management
• If necessary, get external support, for example via Stacvalley, to optimize marketing, product visualization and scaling

With an average profit of €67,000 per month, you can not only expand your business, but also fulfill many of your private wishes.

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