Amazon does not publish a “sellers by country” table, so the honest way to compare marketplaces is to line up three things it does publish: where the stores are, how much money runs through each of the biggest ones, and what each fulfilment setup obliges you to register for. On the money question the answer is lopsided — in the year ended 31 December 2025 Amazon attributed $489.7 billion of net sales to the United States and $45.9 billion to Germany, its largest non-US market (Amazon 10-K, FY2025, data checked 2026-09-01). On the compliance question the answer is equally blunt: in Europe, “a VAT number is required for each country where goods are stored” (sell.amazon.de, data checked 2026-09-01).
This article is descriptive, not tax advice, and not a recommendation about where to incorporate. It maps published market data to published compliance mechanics. It cannot assess your position, which turns on your establishment, entity type, goods and volumes. Registration duties and rates change and are determined by each national tax authority — confirm anything here with a qualified tax professional in the relevant country before acting on it.
Where Amazon Actually Has Stores — and How Far One Account Reaches
Amazon’s own Global Selling page groups its seller-facing marketplaces into four regions (sell.amazon.com, data checked 2026-09-01):
| Region | Marketplaces listed |
|---|---|
| Americas | United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil |
| Europe | United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Turkey |
| Asia-Pacific | Japan, India, Australia |
| Middle East & North Africa | United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt |
Two things here are routinely conflated.
A store is not the same as a country you can sell into. The same page states: “Use a Europe account to reach Amazon customers in 28 countries.” Ten stores, 28 countries of customers — the extra reach comes from cross-border delivery out of the stores, not from twenty-eight separate listings.
The “unified European account” set is not identical to the regional list above. Amazon’s UK seller page says: “With just one account you can reach customers all across Europe with our ten European stores (Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, Amazon.it, Amazon.es, Amazon.pl, Amazon.nl, Amazon.se, Amazon.com.be, and Amazon.ie)” (sell.amazon.co.uk, data checked 2026-09-01). That list includes Ireland and omits Turkey; the Global Selling regional list does the reverse. If your plan depends on a specific store being inside a single-account bundle, check the account page for that store rather than a regional map.
Market Size by Country, From Amazon’s Own Filings
Amazon reports country-level net sales for the four markets that are individually material. These are the only country figures the company itself publishes, and they are audited.
| Market | FY2024 net sales | FY2025 net sales | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $438,015M | $489,657M | +11.8% |
| Germany | $40,856M | $45,900M | +12.3% |
| United Kingdom | $37,855M | $43,212M | +14.2% |
| Japan | $27,401M | $30,688M | +12.0% |
| Rest of world | $93,832M | $107,467M | +14.5% |
| Consolidated | $637,959M | $716,924M | +12.4% |
Source: Amazon.com, Inc. Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, Note — Segment Information. Data checked 2026-09-01. Percentage changes calculated from the filed figures.
Read the caveat before you read the table. Amazon states the basis of attribution plainly: “Net sales are attributed to countries primarily based on country-focused online and physical stores or, for AWS purposes, the selling entity” (same filing, checked 2026-09-01). AWS revenue is therefore folded into these country lines, and it is not a rounding error — $128,725M of the $716,924M consolidated total in FY2025. The US line in particular is inflated relative to anything a marketplace seller would recognise as addressable retail demand. These are all-Amazon revenue figures, not marketplace GMV and not a seller’s addressable market.
The segment split is a cleaner read on the retail balance. In FY2025 the North America segment recorded $426,305M of net sales and the International segment $161,894M (same filing). Amazon adds that “during 2025, net sales from our International segment accounted for 23% of our consolidated revenues” — and Canada and Mexico sit inside the North America segment, not International.
One more published figure sets the scale of the seller side: third-party sellers accounted for 61% of worldwide paid units in the fourth quarter of 2025, against 62% in the fourth quarter of 2024 (Amazon Q4 2025 results, supplemental business metrics, data checked 2026-09-01). Amazon does not break that unit mix down by country, so anyone quoting a per-country seller share is quoting an estimate, not a disclosure. For the population side of the question, see how many Amazon sellers there are.
What “VAT Complexity” Actually Means, Market by Market
Complexity here is not about the rate. It is about how many separate registrations a given setup forces, who is liable for collecting the tax, and how much of it the marketplace absorbs on your behalf. Those three variables differ sharply by region.
Europe: complexity scales with storage locations, not with sales. The One Stop Shop lets you report cross-border B2C distance sales through one return; the European Commission describes it as covering “three special schemes: the non-Union scheme, the Union scheme and the import scheme” (EU One Stop Shop portal, data checked 2026-09-01). What OSS does not do is dissolve storage-driven registrations — the same portal notes that “goods already stored in a warehouse in the EU are not covered and do not qualify as distance sales of imported goods”. Amazon’s programme pages line up with that: under Pan-European FBA “Amazon distributes and stores your products across Europe in the EU countries you have enabled for storage” and “a VAT number is required for each country where goods are stored”, whereas under the European Fulfilment Network “a VAT number is generally not required in the destination shop” (sell.amazon.de, checked 2026-09-01). Registration limits per country are mapped in the VAT threshold guide, and the programme mechanics in Pan-EU FBA vs EFN.
United Kingdom: a separate regime since Brexit, with a stock-location trigger. HMRC states that “if you are an overseas seller who owns goods of any value that are located in the UK at the point of sale you must register and account for VAT on any sales you make directly to customers in Great Britain or Northern Ireland” (GOV.UK guidance, last updated 13 May 2022, data checked 2026-09-01). For goods sitting outside the UK, the split is by consignment value: consignments “with a value of £135 or less” sold directly to customers “will have UK supply VAT charged at the point of sale”, while above that “normal VAT and customs rules will apply on importation” (same page). Sales through an online marketplace are treated separately, and the marketplace can be the liable party.
United States: no VAT, and marketplace facilitator laws move most of the burden. Sales tax is set at state level, and marketplace facilitator statutes generally make the platform the collecting party. California’s tax authority puts it directly: “a marketplace facilitator is generally responsible for collecting, reporting, and paying the tax on retail sales made through their marketplace”, and a seller “is not required to be registered with CDTFA for a seller’s permit … if all of your retail sales of merchandise will be facilitated by a marketplace facilitator that is registered as a retailer with CDTFA” (CDTFA Marketplace Facilitator Act guide, effective 1 October 2019, data checked 2026-09-01). That is one state’s wording; each state legislates its own version, and income-tax and reporting duties are a separate matter — see Amazon seller taxes and the 1099-K.
Japan: one national consumption tax, one exemption test. The National Tax Agency states the standard rate is 10% (7.8% national plus 2.2% local) from 1 October 2019, and that “in principle, a business is exempted from consumption tax obligation in a Taxable Period if its taxable sales in the Base Period for the Taxable Period are equal to or less than 10million yen” (NTA, Consumption Tax basic knowledge, data checked 2026-09-01). Whether that exemption is available to a given foreign business is exactly the kind of establishment-dependent question a professional has to answer.
| Region | Main indirect-tax regime | What usually drives extra registrations |
|---|---|---|
| EU | VAT, plus OSS for cross-border distance sales | Each country where stock is stored; import/EPR duties handled separately |
| UK | UK VAT, separate from the EU system | Stock located in the UK at point of sale; £135 consignment split |
| US | State sales tax, no VAT | Marketplace facilitator laws shift collection to the platform in most states |
| Japan | Consumption tax, 10% standard rate | Base-period taxable sales test; establishment status |
Rates, thresholds and marketplace-liability rules change. Every figure above was read on the cited official page on 2026-09-01 and should be re-checked at the source before you rely on it.
Three costs sit outside VAT but land at the same time: EU extended producer responsibility, covered in EPR compliance for EU marketplaces; the EORI number needed to move goods across the EU or UK border, covered in the EORI guide; and import duty, treated in FBA import tariffs.
That compliance load is not hypothetical even for Amazon itself: in the fourth quarter of 2025 the company recorded “$1.1 billion related to the resolution of tax disputes associated with our stores business in Italy” (Amazon 10-K FY2025, checked 2026-09-01).
Fulfilment Reach: The Variable That Drives the Registrations
The practical order of operations runs the opposite way to how most comparisons are written. You do not pick a country and then discover the compliance load; you pick a fulfilment configuration, and that determines both the countries you serve at domestic delivery speed and the registrations you owe.
- Single-country storage, cross-border shipping. One stock location, one storage-driven registration, wider reach at slower and dearer delivery. EFN in Europe is the canonical example.
- Multi-country storage. Stock distributed across enabled countries, domestic delivery promise in each, and a registration in each country holding stock.
- Export-style programmes from a home marketplace. Reach without a new local entity, but the reach is limited to what the programme covers. Amazon FBA export sets out what that covers.
Regional bundles behave the same way: North America accounts share a listing surface across the US, Canada and Mexico, with the Canadian mechanics detailed in selling on Amazon Canada. European storage planning, including cross-border inbound, is covered in AWD in Europe.
A Descriptive Comparison Framework
Nothing below tells you which market to choose. It lists the variables that are knowable in advance, so a comparison rests on published facts rather than forum consensus.
- Demand scale. Treat the country net sales in the 10-K as an order-of-magnitude ranking only, allowing for the AWS caveat on the US line.
- Storage footprint required. Count the countries where stock will physically sit under your intended programme. That count, not sales volume, drives European registrations.
- Who collects the tax. In the US, marketplace facilitator laws usually put that on Amazon. In the EU and UK it depends on the transaction shape and whether the marketplace is liable.
- Whether reach substitutes for local presence. A store reachable on a single account is cheaper to test than one requiring a separate registration.
- Non-VAT overheads. EPR, EORI, product-safety and labelling regimes are separate workstreams with their own deadlines.
- Currency exposure. Amazon’s international results are “primarily denominated in the functional currencies of the corresponding stores and primarily include Euros, British Pounds, and Japanese Yen” (10-K FY2025, checked 2026-09-01); your revenue carries the same exposure.
- Professional support. Filing capacity in the target market is a real constraint; vetting criteria are in how to choose an EU/UK VAT provider and ecommerce accountants for Amazon sellers.
Common Mistakes When Comparing Markets
- Treating Amazon’s country net sales as marketplace GMV. They include AWS and first-party retail. They are a scale indicator, not an addressable market.
- Assuming OSS removes local registrations. It consolidates reporting for distance sales; it does not cover goods already stored in another Member State.
- Reading a regional marketplace list as a single-account bundle. The two lists differ, as the Turkey/Ireland mismatch above shows.
- Quoting a per-country third-party seller share. Amazon publishes the unit mix worldwide only.
- Carrying a threshold across borders. A registration threshold is set by one country’s law, and the country-by-country picture is in the VAT threshold map.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which country has the largest Amazon market?
The United States, by a wide margin. Amazon attributed $489,657M of FY2025 net sales to the US against $45,900M to Germany, its largest individually reported non-US market (10-K FY2025, data checked 2026-09-01). Both figures include AWS revenue attributed by selling entity.
How many Amazon marketplaces can a seller sell in?
Amazon’s Global Selling page lists 20 seller-facing marketplaces across four regions as of 2026-09-01. Reach is wider than the store count: the same page states a Europe account reaches “Amazon customers in 28 countries” (sell.amazon.com).
Does selling in the EU require a VAT registration in every country?
Not in every country you sell to — but Amazon states that under Pan-European FBA “a VAT number is required for each country where goods are stored” (sell.amazon.de, checked 2026-09-01). Storage footprint, not sales footprint, is the trigger. Your own position should be confirmed with a tax adviser.
Do US sellers have to collect sales tax on Amazon orders?
In most states the marketplace facilitator laws place collection on the platform. California’s tax authority states that “a marketplace facilitator is generally responsible for collecting, reporting, and paying the tax on retail sales made through their marketplace” (CDTFA, checked 2026-09-01). Rules are set state by state, so this is not uniform.
Where can I find the per-country number of Amazon sellers?
Amazon does not disclose it. The company publishes a worldwide third-party unit mix — 61% of paid units in Q4 2025 — but no country breakdown, so every per-country seller count in circulation is a third-party estimate rather than an official figure.
Conclusion
The three questions resolve into one operating fact: demand is concentrated in the handful of markets Amazon names in its filings, while compliance load is driven mainly by where inventory physically sits. The cheapest way to test a new market is usually the configuration that adds reach without adding a storage location. Everything above is drawn from official filings, government guidance and Amazon’s own seller pages, each dated 2026-09-01; none of it substitutes for advice from a qualified tax professional in the market you are entering.