Amazon Global Selling: How to Sell Internationally on Amazon in 2026

Amazon Global Selling lets third-party sellers list and sell products across Amazon’s 23 country-specific marketplaces. If you already sell on Amazon in one country, the program allows you to reach buyers in other countries using the same Seller Central interface.

You do not need to set up warehouses, hire local customer service teams, or build a delivery network in each country. Amazon provides all of that. What you do need to handle is choosing the right markets, getting your products through customs, meeting local compliance requirements, localizing your listings, and managing the financial complexity that comes with selling across borders.

How the Program Works

Amazon Global Selling is not a separate platform. It is a feature built into your existing seller account. If you sell on Amazon US today, you can activate selling in Canada, Mexico, and Brazil from the same account. If you want to sell in Europe, you create a European account. Asia-Pacific and Middle East marketplaces each require their own registrations.

Each country has its own Amazon website with its own buyer base, search results, pricing, and competition. When you “go global,” you are essentially opening a storefront in each new country. Buyers there find your products alongside local sellers, place orders in their local currency, and receive deliveries through Amazon’s logistics in that country.

The basic flow looks like this:

1. You pick a target marketplace
2. You register for a seller account in that marketplace (or activate it through your existing regional account)
3. You create product listings in the local language with prices that account for local taxes and fees
4. You ship inventory to Amazon’s fulfillment centers in that country, or use Remote Fulfillment to ship from your home country’s stock
5. Buyers place orders, Amazon delivers, and you get paid (converted to your home currency, minus Amazon’s conversion spread)

The mechanics are familiar if you already sell on Amazon. The complexity comes from three areas: compliance (taxes, certifications, customs), localization (language, pricing, cultural fit), and logistics (getting inventory into a foreign country efficiently).

All 23 Amazon Marketplaces

Amazon operates in 23 countries, organized into four regions. Each region has its own account structure.

Americas

One Professional Seller account at $39.99/month covers all four marketplaces.

The US is the largest and most competitive. Canada and Mexico can be served through Remote Fulfillment from US inventory, making them low-risk starting points. Brazil has grown quickly since launch and has less seller competition in many categories.

Europe

A single registration covers all 11 European marketplaces.

Germany and the UK lead in revenue and traffic. France, Italy, and Spain form a strong second tier. The remaining markets are newer, less saturated, and worth considering if you are willing to invest in localization.

Asia-Pacific

Each marketplace requires a separate seller account.

Japan is the third-largest Amazon marketplace globally by revenue. India has enormous buyer volume but lower average order values. Australia and Singapore are English-speaking markets with growing Prime adoption and relatively few sellers.

Middle East and Africa

Each marketplace requires a separate seller account.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have strong consumer purchasing power and rapid e-commerce growth. Egypt and South Africa are among Amazon’s newest launches with minimal competition.

Why Selling Internationally Matters

If you have built a successful business on one Amazon marketplace, expanding internationally is one of the most direct ways to grow revenue without developing new products. Here is why it matters.

Domestic Market has a Ceiling

Advertising costs keep climbing. More sellers enter your category every quarter. At some point, squeezing more revenue from your home marketplace gets expensive relative to the return. International markets, especially newer ones, often have significantly lower advertising costs and fewer competing sellers.

To put the competition gap in perspective: Amazon US has over 2 million active third-party sellers. Amazon Australia has somewhere between 40,000 and 60,000. Amazon UAE has roughly 30,000 to 50,000. Amazon South Africa, launched in 2024, has a fraction of those numbers. Products that face dozens of competitors in the US may face only a handful elsewhere.

Seasonal Demand

Different countries have different peak buying periods. The US has Black Friday and Prime Day in July. India has the Great Indian Festival in September and Diwali. Japan has Golden Week in April and New Year. The UAE and Saudi Arabia see spikes during Ramadan, White Friday in November, and National Day in December. Selling across multiple countries smooths out the revenue swings that come with relying on one market’s calendar.

Infrastructure Already Exists

This is the biggest practical advantage. Amazon has built fulfillment centers, last-mile delivery, localized customer service, payment processing, and return handling in each of these 23 countries. You are not building international operations from zero. You are plugging into a system that already serves hundreds of millions of buyers.

How to Choose the Right Marketplace

Picking the wrong market wastes time and money. Picking the right one and executing well can add meaningful revenue within a few months. Here is how to evaluate your options.

Five Things to Assess Before Committing

Product demand: Search for your product category on the target marketplace. Are similar products listed? Look at how many reviews the top sellers have. If the bestseller in your niche has 200 reviews instead of 20,000, that market is less mature and easier to break into.

Competition level: Count the sellers offering comparable products. Check whether they are local brands with deep roots or other international sellers. Look at how heavily the search results are packed with sponsored listings.

Fulfillment feasibility: Can you use Remote Fulfillment (available for Canada, Mexico, and Brazil from US inventory)? If you need to ship inventory to the country, how complex is that? Do you have a freight forwarder who covers that route?

Compliance requirements: What tax registrations do you need? What product certifications are required? Will you need to relabel products in the local language? This is where many sellers underestimate the work involved.

Language: English-speaking markets (US, UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore, South Africa, Ireland) are straightforward for English-speaking sellers. Non-English markets require professional localization of your listings, which is an ongoing cost.

Where to Start Based on Where You Sell Now

Start with one marketplace. Get your operations, compliance, and listings working properly. Expand to a second market only after you are generating consistent, profitable sales in the first.

Account Registration

Plan for 1 to 4 weeks from application to account approval.

Account Type

For international selling, the Professional Seller plan ($39.99/month in the US or equivalent in other regions) is the only practical choice. It gives you access to advertising, the Buy Box, bulk listing tools, and full analytics. The Individual plan lacks all of these and charges $0.99 per item sold on top.

Documents You Need

Have these ready before you begin:

• Passport. Preferred over other IDs for international registrations because it is universally accepted.
• Business registration document. Certificate of incorporation, business license, or equivalent.
• Bank account or payment service. A bank account in the target country, or a Payoneer or Wise multi-currency account.
• Internationally chargeable credit card. Visa or Mastercard that works for international transactions.
• Tax identification number. Your home country tax ID at minimum. Some marketplaces require local tax registration before you can sell.
• Proof of address. A recent utility bill or bank statement showing your business address (within 180 days).

Registration Process

For marketplaces within the same region as your existing account (for example, adding Canada to your US account), you activate them through Seller Central under “Sell Globally.” No separate registration needed.

For marketplaces in a different region, you register a new account on that region’s Seller Central site (sellercentral.amazon.co.jp for Japan, sellercentral.amazon.ae for UAE, etc.).

During registration you will enter your business information, upload identity documents, set up your payment method, provide tax details, and possibly complete a live video verification call where you show your original documents on camera.

Amazon reviews applications in 3 to 10 business days typically, though it can run longer during busy periods or for marketplaces with stricter requirements like Japan or Germany.

Creating International Listings

This is where most international sellers either succeed or quietly fail. A listing that sells well in the US will not automatically sell in Germany or Japan. Buyers in different countries search differently, care about different product attributes, and respond to different styles of communication.

The Build International Listings Tool

Amazon’s Build International Listings (BIL) tool gives you a starting point by automatically creating listings in your target marketplace based on your existing catalog. It matches your products to existing ASINs using product identifiers like UPCs or EANs and applies pricing rules you set.

BIL is useful for getting started quickly, but it has real limitations. It does not translate your content into the local language (it only uses existing localized content if an ASIN match exists). It does not optimize your titles or bullet points for local search behavior. It does not check whether the existing content on the matched ASIN is accurate. Treat it as a starting point, not a finished product.

Localization Is Not Translation

Translation means converting words from one language to another. Localization means adapting your listing to actually resonate with buyers in that country. The difference shows up directly in your conversion rate.

Titles and search terms. What buyers type into the search bar varies country to country, even among English-speaking ones. “Cell phone case” in the US is “mobile phone case” in the UK. “Sneakers” is “trainers.” “Diapers” is “nappies.” You need to do keyword research in each marketplace separately. Do not translate your US keyword list and assume it will work.

Bullet points and descriptions. Emphasis should shift based on what local buyers care about. European buyers often want to see sustainability credentials and certifications. Japanese buyers expect very detailed technical specifications. Australian buyers tend to prefer straightforward, practical language.

Pricing. In most countries outside the US, the displayed price includes VAT or GST. If your product is $25 in the US and you are selling in the UK where VAT is 20%, your listed price must include that tax. You cannot simply convert USD to GBP and list it.

Images. If any of your product images contain text, that text needs to be in the local language. Also check that lifestyle images are culturally appropriate for the target market.

A+ Content. If you are brand-registered, rebuild your A+ Content in the local language for each marketplace. This is one of the most commonly skipped steps in international selling, and it costs you conversions.

Backend search terms. Input keywords in the local language that buyers actually use. Machine-translated versions of your English keywords often miss the mark.

Fulfillment Options

Your choice of fulfillment method affects your costs, delivery speed, Prime eligibility, and how much inventory risk you take on. Here are the options.

Local FBA (FBA in the Target Country)

You ship inventory to Amazon’s fulfillment centers in the country where you want to sell. Amazon stores, picks, packs, and ships to buyers. Your listings qualify for Prime. This is the gold standard for committed expansion.

You will need to handle import duties and customs clearance (or use Amazon Global Logistics for shipments from China). Products must meet all local labeling and certification requirements before they enter the country.

Remote Fulfillment with FBA

Available for US sellers only. Your existing US FBA inventory can fulfill orders from Amazon Canada, Mexico, and Brazil without shipping anything to those countries. Amazon handles cross-border shipping when a buyer in those markets places an order.

The trade-offs: per-unit fees are higher, delivery takes 5 to 12 business days instead of 1 to 3, and products do not get the Prime badge. But there is no upfront inventory investment in the target country, which makes it a practical way to test demand before committing.

European Fulfillment Network (EFN)

You send inventory to fulfillment centers in one European country (say, Germany), and Amazon ships cross-border to buyers in other EU marketplaces from that single location. You only need VAT registration in the country where your inventory is stored (initially). Cross-border delivery is slower (3 to 5 days) and costs more per unit than local fulfillment, but it lets you test multiple EU marketplaces without splitting inventory across countries.

Pan-European FBA

You send inventory to one European fulfillment center, and Amazon automatically distributes it across warehouses in multiple EU countries based on where demand is strongest. This gives buyers faster delivery and gets your products Prime-eligible across Europe.

The catch: Amazon may store your inventory in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Czech Republic, or elsewhere, and you must be VAT-registered in every country where inventory sits. The administrative burden is higher, but the conversion and delivery performance is the best you can get in Europe.

Merchant Fulfilled (FBM)

You handle all shipping yourself, from your own warehouse or a third-party logistics provider directly to the buyer. No Prime badge (unless you qualify for Seller Fulfilled Prime, which has strict requirements). You handle customer service, returns, and refunds.

This works for sellers with existing international logistics capabilities, high-value low-volume items, or products that do not fit standard FBA size and weight tiers.

Amazon Global Logistics (AGL)

End-to-end freight shipping from China to Amazon FBA centers in the US, UK, EU, Japan, and Canada. Amazon arranges pickup from your Chinese supplier, handles transit, clears customs, and delivers to the FBA warehouse. Currently only supports shipments originating from China. Ocean freight typically takes 30 to 45 days; air freight runs 7 to 15 days.

Costs and Fees

International selling adds cost layers on top of what you pay domestically. You need to account for these accurately before launch, or you will discover your margins are thinner than expected.

Subscription Fees

You pay a Professional Seller subscription for each region.

Selling in North America and Europe runs about $80 to $85/month combined. Adding Japan, Australia, and the UAE brings the total to roughly $170 to $175/month.

Referral Fees

Amazon charges a percentage of every sale, varying by product category. Most categories fall in the 8% to 15% range. Fashion tends to be higher (15 to 17%). Electronics tend to be lower (6 to 8%). Rates are broadly similar across marketplaces, but check the exact schedule for your target market.

FBA Fees

FBA costs vary by marketplace, product size, and weight. International FBA rates can run 10 to 30% higher than US rates, especially in smaller markets. For a standard-size item around 12 oz:

These change regularly. Always check the current fee schedule in Seller Central.

Tax and Regulatory Compliance

This is the section most sellers dread, and it is the one where mistakes are most expensive. Getting tax or compliance wrong can lead to account suspension, inventory seized at customs, financial penalties, and in serious cases, legal liability.

VAT and GST

Most countries outside the US charge Value Added Tax (VAT) or Goods and Services Tax (GST) on consumer goods. Unlike US sales tax, which gets added at checkout, VAT and GST are typically included in the listed price. Your pricing must account for this from the start.

As the seller, you are responsible for registering for VAT/GST where required, collecting the correct amount, filing returns on schedule, and paying what you owe to the local tax authority.

Standard VAT/GST rates across major marketplaces:

EU One-Stop Shop (OSS)

If you sell across multiple EU marketplaces, the One-Stop Shop scheme can simplify things. Instead of filing separate VAT returns in every EU country where you make sales, OSS lets you file a single quarterly return through one EU member state covering all your EU distance sales.

Important limitation: OSS helps with cross-border sales to consumers, but if you use Pan-European FBA and Amazon stores your inventory in multiple countries, you still need VAT registration in each country where stock is held.

Customs, Duties, and the Importer of Record

When you ship inventory to a foreign country, it goes through customs. You (or your appointed agent) act as the Importer of Record, which means you are legally responsible for the goods entering that country. This includes paying import duties, which are calculated based on your product’s HS (Harmonized System) code, the declared value, and the origin country.

A few things sellers often overlook:

• HS code classification matters. The wrong code can mean you pay more duty than necessary, or it can flag your shipment for inspection. Get your codes right. If you are unsure, consult a customs broker.
• Duties are a cost, not a refund. Unlike VAT (which you collect and remit), import duties are a straight cost to you. Factor them into your landed cost calculations.
• Free trade agreements can reduce duties. Depending on where your products are manufactured and where you are importing them, trade agreements between countries may lower or eliminate duties on certain goods. This is worth researching, especially for high-volume products.
• Amazon Global Logistics handles customs for China-origin shipments, but you are still the importer of record. You bear the legal responsibility.

Product Compliance and Certifications

Every marketplace has its own product safety and labeling rules. Shipping non-compliant products can result in goods being seized, destroyed, or returned at your expense.

European Union and United Kingdom:

• CE marking for electronics, toys, personal protective equipment, medical devices, and many other categories
• REACH compliance for products containing chemical substances
• WEEE registration for electronic and electrical equipment
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging in France, Germany, and expanding to other member states
• UK PSTI Act compliance for internet-connected products

Japan:

• PSE mark for electrical products
• All product labeling must be in Japanese
• Strict import restrictions on food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals

Australia:

• RCM (Regulatory Compliance Mark) for electrical products
• Mandatory safety standards for children’s products and certain consumer goods
• Country of origin labeling for food

India:

• BIS certification for electronics and IT equipment
• Legal Metrology compliance for pre-packaged goods
• FSSAI registration for food products

UAE and Saudi Arabia:

• ECAS/ESMA certification for certain products
• SASO compliance for Saudi Arabia
• Arabic labeling requirements

Invest in compliance research and, where needed, legal consultation before you ship inventory to a new market. The upfront cost is always less than the cost of getting it wrong.

Protecting Your Brand Internationally

If you are a brand owner, expanding internationally means your brand will exist in new legal jurisdictions where your existing trademarks may not apply.

Register your trademarks in each country where you plan to sell. Your US trademark does not protect you in Germany or Japan. In the EU, you can file a single European Union Trade Mark (EUTM) that covers all member states. For other countries, you will need separate filings. The Madrid Protocol allows you to file international trademark applications through WIPO, which simplifies the process across multiple countries.

Enroll in Amazon Brand Registry globally. Once you have trademarks registered (or pending) in your target countries, enroll in Brand Registry for those marketplaces. This gives you access to brand protection tools, A+ Content, Sponsored Brands ads, and the ability to report counterfeiters and unauthorized sellers.

Monitor for unauthorized sellers. As your products gain traction in new markets, you may find unauthorized third parties listing your products, sometimes sourced through gray market channels. Brand Registry and Amazon’s Project Zero tools help, but active monitoring is necessary.

Advertising in International Marketplaces

Running Sponsored Products campaigns from day one in a new marketplace is important for building sales history, which is what drives organic ranking. You will not rank organically without sales, and you will not get sales without either advertising or an established reputation in that market.

A few things to know about advertising internationally:

Costs are often lower outside the US. Average cost-per-click in markets like Australia, UAE, and Saudi Arabia tends to run 30 to 60% lower than in the US. Your advertising budget goes further.

Do not translate your US keyword list. Even in English-speaking markets, search terms differ. Run auto and broad match campaigns first to learn what local buyers actually type into the search bar. Build your exact match campaigns from that data.

Budget for local peak seasons. Ramadan, Golden Week, Diwali, and local Prime Day events all create demand spikes that you should be ready for with increased ad spend.

Start moderate and scale based on performance. A daily budget of $15 to $30 per marketplace is reasonable at launch. Increase spending on campaigns that are performing and cut what is not working.

Returns and Customer Experience

Returns handling is something many sellers do not think about until orders start coming back.

Set a local return address or use Amazon’s programs. If you use FBA, Amazon handles returns in the destination country. If you are merchant-fulfilled, you need a return address in that country or you need to enable returnless refunds (where you refund the buyer but do not require the product back). Asking international buyers to ship returns back to your home country at their own cost is a guaranteed path to negative reviews and account health problems.

Customer service expectations differ by market. Japanese buyers expect extremely responsive service and high attention to detail. German buyers expect precise product descriptions and reliable delivery windows. Understanding these expectations helps you avoid unnecessary complaints and negative feedback.

Response times matter everywhere. Amazon tracks your buyer message response time across all marketplaces. Late responses hurt your account health metrics regardless of the market.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I sell internationally without sending inventory abroad?
Yes. Remote Fulfillment with FBA lets US sellers use their existing US inventory to fulfill orders from Amazon Canada, Mexico, and Brazil. Fees are higher and delivery is slower, but it eliminates the need to ship inventory internationally for initial testing.

Do I need a business entity in the country where I want to sell?
In most cases, no. Amazon allows foreign sellers to register on nearly all marketplaces without a local business entity. You will typically need tax registrations (VAT/GST) in the target country and a payment method Amazon accepts, such as a Payoneer multi-currency account.

Which marketplace is easiest for US sellers to expand into?
Canada. Same language (with bilingual requirements for Quebec), same unified account, Remote Fulfillment available, and straightforward tax registration.

How long does it take to start selling internationally?
Account registration and verification typically take 1 to 3 weeks. Remote Fulfillment can have you receiving orders within days of activation. Shipping FBA inventory to a foreign country adds 2 to 6 weeks depending on the shipping method. Most sellers see consistent traction within 30 to 60 days of launch with active advertising.

Do I need to charge VAT on products sold in Europe?
Yes. You must register for VAT, include it in your displayed price, and remit the collected tax to the relevant authority. Rates range from 19% (Germany) to 25% (Sweden). Amazon’s VAT Calculation Service can automate invoice generation, but registration and filing are your responsibility.

What are the newest Amazon marketplaces?
South Africa (2024), Ireland (2025), and Belgium (2022). These have the lowest seller density and the strongest first-mover advantages, though buyer volume is still building.

Is Amazon Global Selling worth it in 2026?
For sellers with stable domestic operations and proven products, international expansion is one of the most direct growth paths available. Less competitive markets mean lower ad costs, faster organic ranking, and access to buyers that most sellers are not reaching. The keys are starting with one market, investing in proper localization and compliance, and treating it as a serious initiative rather than a side project.