Temu seller fees and profit in 2026: consignment vs semi-managed

Temu runs two very different seller programs, and the money works differently in each. The timely change: as reported from Temu's August 2026 announcement, semi-managed fees moved on 1 October 2026 from a single bundled deduction to itemized, line-by-line charges across roughly 12 items — and some low-margin category commissions reportedly rose at the same time. This page explains both models and how to work out true profit. Note up front: SettleClear currently audits Amazon settlement reports only (multi-platform support is on the roadmap), so the Temu math below is manual — but if you also sell on Amazon, the free tool reconciles that settlement line by line.

The two models at a glance

Figures below are as of 2026. Temu does not publish a public fee schedule, so treat every rate as indicative and confirm your own at onboarding in Temu Seller Center.

Consignment / fully-managed: how the fees work

In consignment, Temu sets the retail price and handles cross-border logistics, customs and returns. You supply stock to a China warehouse and step back. There is no seller-side subscription, payment, or shipping fee, and no separate commission line — the effective commission of roughly 2–5% is baked into the supply price you negotiate with Temu.

Because Temu compresses that supply price, net margin is typically ~10–25%, and often closer to 10–15%. Payout runs about T+15 to T+30 and is settled in USD, so foreign-exchange risk sits with you. Watch the penalty regime: late or failed delivery and quality issues can cost ~2–5× declared value. Profit in this model is essentially your supply price minus cost of goods minus the first leg into the warehouse — simpler to reason about, but thinner.

Semi-managed: how the fees work

In semi-managed, you set the retail price and fulfil orders yourself, from your own or a third-party overseas warehouse, while Temu supplies traffic and handles settlement. The headline cost is a referral commission of about 8–15% of sale price by category. Some Chinese-language sources cite a higher all-in take of 15–25% once other platform fees are folded in; treat 8–15% as the referral commission and assume the total platform take can be higher.

On top of that: a $39/month subscription for business accounts (individual sellers may have none) and payment processing of 2.9% + $0.30 (PayPal). You pay shipping to the customer and return logistics, and Temu may deduct a refund from your balance the moment a customer initiates a return. Net margin is typically ~20–30%, but logistics alone can be 15–25% of order value, which is why the "before or after logistics" distinction matters. The model requires an overseas-warehouse footprint or fast domestic-direct capability (for example, 48-hour dispatch), and late-shipment penalties are heavy.

The 1 October 2026 change: bundled to itemized fees

Per Temu's August 2026 announcement (verify the exact wording as reported), from 1 October 2026 semi-managed fees moved from a single "bundled deduction" to itemized, line-by-line charges across roughly 12 items, such as:

• Shipping
• Storage
• Return processing
• Commission
• Payment fees
• Other line items confirmed at onboarding

Reported alongside the change, some low-margin category commissions rose from about 15% to ~18–22%, while high-AOV categories stayed around 12–15%. This matters because, by one report, about 67% of semi-managed sellers had been using back-estimation — reverse-calculating cost from the payout — with roughly ±8% error. Itemization removes that guesswork and makes freight-upside-down SKUs and high-return SKUs visible for the first time. That is significant given an average semi-managed return rate reported at about 11.3%, with some apparel categories above 20%. More transparency is good, but it also exposes SKUs that were quietly losing money inside the old bundled number.

The true-profit formula for semi-managed

Because you now see each fee separately, you can (and should) compute profit properly instead of estimating from the payout. Start from the sale price and subtract every line:

• Sale price (converted at your actual FX rate)
• − Cost of goods (COGS)
• − First-leg logistics
• − Platform commission
• − Overseas-warehouse fees
• − Last-mile delivery
• − Return shipping
• − Return loss (price × return rate × unsellable rate)
• − Payment fees
• − Other costs and FX

A common rule of thumb is to reserve about 25% of the sale price for combined platform and logistics deductions, and to keep target net margin at ≥15% after everything above. Treat these as planning guides, not guarantees. Temu does not publish an official public fee schedule — rates are confirmed at onboarding — so always verify your current numbers in Temu Seller Center before you price a SKU.

If you also sell on Amazon

The discipline is the same on any marketplace: subtract every fee, not just the obvious ones, or a "winning" SKU turns out to be underwater. On Temu you have to do that by hand today. On Amazon you don't — SettleClear parses your settlement report (Flat File V2) entirely in your browser and shows true net profit per SKU, with every fee line categorised. Multi-platform support, including marketplaces like Temu, is on the roadmap. For Amazon sellers, run your settlement through the free tool and see the guide on true profit per SKU.

Related: Walmart seller fees · how true profit works on Amazon · Amazon FBA fee types.