To sell on Amazon Saudi Arabia you open a separate Amazon.sa selling account, and Amazon’s Saudi seller site states that “a commercial registration is a mandatory prerequisite for registering and selling products on Amazon” (sell.amazon.sa, data checked 2026-09-15). VAT is the second gate for FBA: Amazon’s Seller Central help says out-of-country sellers who use FBA “must register for VAT from their first sale in Saudi Arabia,” while those on Fulfilled by Merchant “cannot register for VAT in Saudi Arabia.” Amazon’s rules for the Kingdom are spread across a US expansion page, a Saudi seller site, an offer-terms PDF and help pages, and they do not always agree. This guide puts them on one page, next to the tax authority’s own guidance.
Amazon.sa at a Glance, From Amazon’s Own Pages
Every figure below is quoted from a public Amazon page, not a third-party estimate (data checked 2026-09-15).
| Item | What Amazon publishes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Separate Saudi Arabia account; US sellers “create a UAE account, a Saudi Arabia account, or both” | sell.amazon.com Middle East page |
| Local registration | “a commercial registration is a mandatory prerequisite” | sell.amazon.sa |
| Referral fees | “Most referral fees are between 5% and 15%”, minimum 1.0 SAR | sell.amazon.sa pricing |
| FBA fulfillment fee | “Starts at 5.5 SAR per unit, varies by size of unit” | sell.amazon.sa pricing |
| VAT on Amazon’s fees | “All listed fees are displayed excluding applicable VAT” | sell.amazon.sa pricing |
| Payout cadence | “pays you available funds every two weeks” | sell.amazon.sa beginner’s guide |
| Market size | 19.3 million expected ecommerce users by 2029; $1,299 average spend per customer in 2024 | sell.amazon.com Middle East page |
Payouts go to a bank account only. Amazon.sa’s Learn page states: “We cannot make payments to a credit card or online payment system, such as PayPal” (data checked 2026-09-15).
Commercial Registration: Two Official Pages, Two Audiences
This is the point most Saudi Arabia write-ups blur. Amazon publishes two statements that look contradictory.
On the Saudi seller site, a footnote under the sign-up button reads: “*In Saudi Arabia, a commercial registration is a mandatory prerequisite for registering and selling products on Amazon” (sell.amazon.sa home and Learn pages, data checked 2026-09-15). The Amazon.sa “What to sell” page lists the documents: “KSA National ID (identity verification protects sellers and customers)” and “Commercial Registration if you are owner and a Power of Attorney only if you are a legal representative.” The beginner’s guide on the same site calls the second item a “Trade License” instead.
Amazon’s US-facing Middle East page says something else: “If you’re a business outside the Middle East, you may not be required to form a Middle East-based company to sell your products in the UAE or Saudi Arabia. Depending on the specifics of your business and your sales strategy, however, it may be advantageous to do so” (sell.amazon.com, data checked 2026-09-15).
Read them as addressed to different sellers. The Saudi site speaks to people registering from inside the Kingdom, which is why it asks for a KSA National ID. The US page speaks to businesses expanding from Amazon.com, and it hedges: may not be required. Neither page says what replaces the KSA National ID for a company registering from abroad, so confirm the document list at the registration step.
Opening an Amazon.sa Seller Account If You Already Sell on Amazon.com
A US seller does not get Saudi Arabia through the North America and Brazil unified account. Amazon’s Middle East page states: “If you already sell on Amazon.com with a Professional selling account, create a UAE account, a Saudi Arabia account, or both.” New sellers are told to “first create a North America and Brazil unified account. Then use your Sell Globally dashboard in Seller Central to create UAE and Saudi Arabia accounts” (data checked 2026-09-15).
How the unified account and Remote Fulfillment work is covered in selling on Amazon Canada and selling on Amazon Mexico. None of that carries over here. Amazon’s Middle East page names two ways to reach customers: “Export inventory to Amazon fulfillment centers in the Middle East and use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA),” or ship orders yourself through Fulfilled by Merchant. The freight side is in Amazon Global Logistics; the general trade-off is in FBA vs. FBM.
Listings can be copied: “If you already sell on Amazon.com, you can use the Build International Listings tool to cross-list your products in our UAE and Saudi Arabia stores” (data checked 2026-09-15).
What Selling on Amazon.sa Costs
Amazon.sa’s pricing page gives starting points, not a full rate card (data checked 2026-09-15):
| Fee | Amazon.sa public figure |
|---|---|
| Referral fee | “Starting from 5% or min 1.0 SAR”; “Most referral fees are between 5% and 15%” |
| Easy Ship (Amazon shipping) | “Starts at 19.0 SAR per shipment, varies by size of shipment” |
| Shipping you may charge buyers | “up to 12 SAR per shipment” |
| FBA fulfillment | “Starts at 5.5 SAR per unit, varies by size of unit” |
| Storage | Monthly, by daily average volume; long-term storage fee after 365+ days |
Two details change the arithmetic. First: “All listed fees are displayed excluding applicable VAT. We will additionally apply VAT to all fees displayed above.” Amazon’s Saudi VAT FAQ puts the rate at “A 15% VAT applies to most Amazon fees in Saudi Arabia, including monthly subscription and selling on Amazon fees.” Second, the referral fee is charged on “the total price—including item price, shipping cost, and any gift-wrapping charges.” The mechanics match Amazon.com; see our referral fee guide.
The monthly subscription is where Amazon.sa’s own pages disagree. The pricing page says: “You are eligible for Professional selling plan at no monthly subscription fees, for limited time only.” The Learn page FAQ on the same site still says: “The Professional selling plan costs $39.99 per month plus a per-item referral fee that varies by category” (both checked 2026-09-15). For linked accounts across regions, the US Middle East page caps the fee at “either the equivalent of USD 39.99 per month or the sum of the selling plan fees for each region and country in which you have active listings, whichever is lower.” Check the subscription line on your first invoice. Plan differences are in Individual vs. Professional.
The 30% Referral Fee Offer: Who Actually Qualifies
The Amazon.sa homepage banner reads: “New sellers on Amazon.sa get 30% off referral fees across ALL categories for 60 days, up to SAR 150,000 in sales,” with “Limited time offer: Valid until 31 Dec 2026” (data checked 2026-09-15). It adds: “To start selling on Amazon.sa, you need to create a new seller account and then add your first products within 20 days of signing up.”
The linked terms PDF (Amazon.sa New Sellers Fee Reduction terms, checked 2026-09-15) narrows it in ways the banner does not mention:
- Location. “Only domestic sellers that are located and fulfil orders from within Saudi Arabia are eligible for the Discount Rates.” A cross-border seller is outside the offer as written.
- Timing. “Offer Period: August 1, 2026, to December 31, 2026.” The rates “activate within 20 business days after successful listing of the first eligible products,” then run “for a total of 60 days from the date of first activation.”
- Scope. “Eligible products and their applicable Discount Rates will be communicated via email.” The banner’s “ALL categories” is not repeated as that exact phrase in the terms — but the same PDF immediately follows with a full per-category discount rate table, roughly 40 rows running from Apparel and Automotive through a catch-all “All Other Categories” line, each with its own reduced referral fee (for example, Apparel drops from 15% to 10.5%, Consumer Electronics from 5.5% to 3.9%, both a 30% cut). Reaching a catch-all row confirms the table does cover every category, matching the banner rather than narrowing it.
- Stacking. “Sellers who are on the “New Seller incentive – Brand Owner’s bonus” are not entitled for this Discount Rates.”
That last clause matters because the brand-owner bonus is the larger program: Amazon.sa lists “up to 5% back on your first SAR 3,500,000 in eligible branded sales through your first year until reaching SAR 175,000 in bonus value.” Brand owners should compare the two before launch; enrollment is covered in Amazon Brand Registry.
VAT for FBA Sellers in Saudi Arabia
This section summarizes official guidance. It is not tax advice; whether registration applies to your business is a question for a Saudi tax adviser.
ZATCA, the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, sets out the registration rules in its VAT Guideline for Electronic Contracts (Version 1, September 2022, checked 2026-09-15):
| Who | ZATCA wording |
|---|---|
| Resident, mandatory | Must register if taxable supplies “during any previous 12 months exceeds SAR 375,000,” or are “expected to exceed SAR 375,000 in the next 12 months” |
| Resident, optional | May register above the “Optional VAT registration threshold” of SAR 187,500 |
| Non-resident | “required to register on a mandatory basis where such a person is obligated to pay tax on the supplies made or received by the person in the KSA irrespective of the value of the supplies” |
Amazon’s Seller Central help pages — Saudi Arabia VAT FAQ for international sellers and Saudi Arabia VAT frequently asked questions — apply this to Amazon’s own channels (both checked 2026-09-15):
- FBA, from outside the Kingdom. “If you’re an international seller selling goods in Saudi Arabia through Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), you must register for VAT from the date of your first supply on sales to any buyer, irrespective of the level of turnover from such sales.”
- FBM, from outside the Kingdom. “Those who use Fulfilled by Merchant cannot register for VAT in Saudi Arabia.”
- Rate. Supplies, “including the importation of goods,” are “subject to VAT at the standard rate of 15%, unless they’re specifically VAT-exempt or zero-rated.”
- Resident sellers without a VAT number. “Effective January 1, 2026, if we determine that you’re a seller who resides in Saudi Arabia and we don’t hold a valid VAT registration number for you, we’ll automatically deduct 15% VAT from the amount that the buyer pays for your orders.”
The FBA-versus-FBM split is the practical decision. Choosing FBA from abroad means a Saudi VAT registration from the first sale, before any revenue test. For the EU version of this problem, see Amazon VAT thresholds.
Amazon.sa vs. Amazon.ae: Where the Two Stores Differ
Amazon groups the two stores together, but their public seller pages — sell.amazon.sa and sell.amazon.ae — differ on these points (data checked 2026-09-15).
| Amazon.sa (Saudi Arabia) | Amazon.ae (UAE) | |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Separate Saudi Arabia account | Separate UAE account |
| Language | Saudi seller site offers English and Arabic | “Our UAE store is also an English-language experience” (US page) |
| Referral fee range | “between 5% and 15%” | “between 4.5% and 15%” |
| FBA fulfillment, from | 5.5 SAR per unit | 7.5 AED per unit |
| Easy Ship, from | 19.0 SAR per shipment | 14 AED per shipment |
| New-seller referral discount | 30% off, domestic sellers only (terms PDF) | Not listed on the UAE seller homepage |
| Local-business program | Not listed on the Saudi seller homepage | “DET x Amazon Accelerator” for Dubai Trade Licence holders: “AED 2,000 in advertising credits + 6 months of FREE professional support” |
| Sponsored Products credit | Up to SAR 3,500 | AED 3,700 |
| Ecommerce users by 2029 (Amazon) | 19.3 million | 5.7 million |
SAR and AED figures are different currencies and not directly comparable. The structural difference is audience: Amazon pitches the UAE store to international sellers because it is English-language, while its Saudi site is built around local registration, a KSA National ID and a Saudi-only launch discount. For how both fit among Amazon’s other marketplaces, see Amazon FBA by country.
How to Decide
- Can you meet the registration requirement? Without a Saudi commercial registration or a confirmed route as a foreign business, resolve that first.
- FBA or FBM? Per Amazon’s help pages, FBA from abroad means Saudi VAT registration from the first sale; FBM from abroad cannot register at all.
- Do you qualify for the 30% offer? Only if you are “located and fulfil orders from within Saudi Arabia.” Cross-border sellers should model standard referral fees plus 15% VAT on fees.
- Brand owner? Compare the brand-owner bonus with the 30% discount; the terms exclude holding both.
- Is the UAE a better first step? If English-language listings matter more than Saudi market size, Amazon’s own pitch points to Amazon.ae.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a commercial registration to sell on Amazon.sa?
Amazon.sa’s seller site states that “a commercial registration is a mandatory prerequisite for registering and selling products on Amazon” (data checked 2026-09-15). Amazon’s US Middle East page says a business outside the Middle East “may not be required to form a Middle East-based company,” so foreign businesses should confirm the document list during registration.
Can I use my Amazon.com account to sell on Amazon.sa?
Not directly. Amazon’s Middle East page tells Amazon.com Professional sellers to “create a UAE account, a Saudi Arabia account, or both,” using the Sell Globally dashboard in Seller Central (data checked 2026-09-15).
Do international FBA sellers need to register for VAT in Saudi Arabia?
Amazon’s Seller Central help says international FBA sellers “must register for VAT from the date of your first supply on sales to any buyer, irrespective of the level of turnover” (checked 2026-09-15). ZATCA’s guideline sets SAR 375,000 as the mandatory threshold for residents. This is not tax advice.
Can cross-border sellers get the Amazon.sa 30% referral fee discount?
Not under the published terms. The terms PDF states: “Only domestic sellers that are located and fulfil orders from within Saudi Arabia are eligible for the Discount Rates” (checked 2026-09-15).
The Bottom Line
Saudi Arabia is not an add-on to an Amazon.com account. It is a separate account, and Amazon’s Saudi site puts a commercial registration first. Amazon’s published fees exclude VAT, the headline 30% discount is limited to domestic sellers, and international FBA sellers register for Saudi VAT from the first sale. If English-language selling in the Gulf is the real goal, compare Amazon.ae before committing to Amazon.sa.