death by a thousand fees #amazon

So I sent a bunch of books to Amazon to sell under the Fulfilled by Amazon program. Seemed like a quick and easy way to make some money. If, of course, by "make some money" you mean "lose some money", since I just paid 41 cents to sell a book. Here's the statement for a copy of Lolita:

Buyer pays:                                       $3.99

Amazon fees

Commission:                                      -$0.60

FBA per unit fulfillment fee:                -$1.00

FBA weight based fee:                        -$0.46

Fixed closing fee:                                -$0.99

Variable closing fee:                            -$1.35

Change to your seller account balance:  -$0.41

5 separate fees on a single transaction? This makes eBay look straightforward.

My bad, I should have done my research, but until now I've had all positive vibes from Amazon.

The takeaway is: if you're going to use FBA, which right now, I obviously do NOT recommend, you better jack your prices up.