Amazon International Shipping: FBA Export, Remote Fulfillment, and Global Selling Explained

Published: February 27, 2017
Last updated: June 09, 2026

International shipping on Amazon refers to any program or method that lets sellers reach customers outside their home marketplace - and lets international customers purchase from Amazon stores in other countries. The term covers everything from a passive opt-in that ships your existing US FBA inventory overseas to actively listing across 23+ Amazon country sites as part of a deliberate global expansion.

Amazon has built at least five distinct programs to handle cross-border commerce, each with different cost structures, effort levels, and use cases. The old BMVD rate table in seller documentation is a relic. Modern international selling starts with FBA Export and scales up to full global marketplace expansion.

Table of Contents

• FBA Export: The Simplest Path to International Sales
• Remote Fulfillment with FBA: Sell Across North America Without Local Inventory
• Amazon Global Selling: Full Marketplace Expansion
• Pan-European FBA: The EU’s Version of Remote Fulfillment
• How Customs and Duties Work
• What International Shipping Actually Costs (2026)
• Which Program Is Right for You?
• FAQ

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FBA Export: The Simplest Path to International Sales

If you’re already selling with FBA, you’re almost certainly already enrolled in FBA Export. Amazon auto-enrolls most FBA sellers by default.

Customers in 100+ countries shopping on Amazon.com can see your products, add them to cart, and buy them. Amazon handles the international shipping and customs clearance from your US fulfillment center inventory. Your FBA fees don’t change - there’s no additional charge for the cross-border handling. The customer pays international shipping and an Import Fees Deposit (Amazon’s estimated duties and taxes) at checkout.

To check your status: Seller Central → Settings → Fulfillment by Amazon → Export Settings. You can opt out by product category, or opt out entirely if you have restrictions on where your products can ship.

Not all products qualify. Amazon restricts FBA Export for certain hazmat items, large/heavy products, some electronics with frequency restrictions, and other regulated categories. View which SKUs are export-eligible in Reports → Fulfillment → Exportable Inventory report.

For most FBA sellers, this is free incremental revenue. Leave it on.

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Remote Fulfillment with FBA: Sell Across North America Without Local Inventory

Remote Fulfillment with FBA (sometimes called NARF for North American Remote Fulfillment) solves a specific problem: you want to sell on Amazon.ca, Amazon.com.mx, or Amazon.com.br, but you don’t want to ship inventory into those countries or deal with local logistics.

Amazon mirrors your US FBA listings on the Canadian, Mexican, and Brazilian marketplaces automatically. When a customer in those countries orders, Amazon cross-ships from your US FBA inventory. No Canadian warehouse, no customs broker, no separate inventory pool.

The tradeoff is cost. Remote Fulfillment fees are higher than standard domestic FBA because Amazon is absorbing the cross-border shipping. As of April 17, 2026, Amazon also added a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on top of Remote Fulfillment fees. To estimate your post-surcharge fee on any unit: multiply the published Remote Fulfillment fee by 1.035. On a $4.86 base fee, that’s $5.03.

There’s also a delivery speed consideration. Cross-shipping from a US FC to a Canadian or Mexican customer adds transit time. A seller with local FBA inventory will usually win the Buy Box over Remote Fulfillment on delivery speed.

Run these two scenarios:

• Testing demand: Use Remote Fulfillment. Zero inventory commitment, minimal setup.
• Established volume: If you’re moving 200+ units/month in Canada, model the math. Local FBA in Toronto eliminates the surcharge and improves delivery speed - both of which affect conversion and Buy Box eligibility.

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Amazon Global Selling: Full Marketplace Expansion

Skip this if you’re not ready to manage listings, localization, and VAT compliance across multiple countries. Amazon Global Selling is the right move when you’re treating international expansion as a real strategy - not a passive experiment.

You get access to 23+ Amazon marketplaces:

Region	Countries
North America	US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil
Europe	UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Belgium
Middle East	UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey
Asia-Pacific	Japan, Australia, Singapore, India

Amazon has simplified account management for certain regions - North America and Europe each use a unified account, so you don’t need separate logins. For other regions (Japan, Australia), you register independently.

The Build International Listings (BIL) tool can auto-translate your listings and synchronize prices across stores. It works reasonably well for European languages; for Japan, expect to invest more in localization.

What most guides skip: selling in Europe requires VAT registration in each country where your inventory will be held. This is a real compliance cost that doesn’t appear in Amazon’s fee estimates.

Selling plan fees for linked accounts: Amazon charges whichever is lower - the $39.99/month equivalent or the sum of each region’s plan fees. For most multi-marketplace sellers, the flat rate covers all linked regions.

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Pan-European FBA: The EU’s Version of Remote Fulfillment

The European version of Remote Fulfillment has one major catch you need to plan for: VAT registration in every country where Amazon stores your stock. Once that’s in place, Pan-EU FBA cuts fulfillment costs relative to EFN and gives customers local Prime delivery.

Here’s the mechanic: you ship inventory to one EU fulfillment center - say, Germany - and Amazon redistributes it across France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia based on demand. Customers in each country get local Prime shipping; you’re billed at local FBA rates rather than cross-border European Fulfillment Network (EFN) rates. EFN rates run approximately 3-3.5% higher than local Pan-EU FBA rates for equivalent shipments, on top of slower delivery.

The compliance requirement you can’t skip: local VAT numbers in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Poland at a minimum. The EU’s OSS scheme handles cross-border B2C sales reporting, but it doesn’t replace local VAT registration for countries where you hold FBA inventory.

For sellers newer to European selling: start in UK or Germany, test demand with EFN or single-FC FBA, then move to Pan-EU FBA once volumes justify the VAT compliance overhead.

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How Customs and Duties Work

For FBA-based programs, customs isn’t your problem - Amazon acts as importer of record and handles the paperwork per shipment. Amazon collects an Import Fees Deposit from the customer at checkout; if actual customs duties turn out to be lower, Amazon refunds the difference to the customer.

Your responsibilities are product-level, not shipment-level:

• Products must be legally exportable from the US and legally importable in the destination country
• You need to provide accurate product attributes (materials, function, battery type) so Amazon can classify HS codes and estimate duties correctly
• EU and UK sales require CE marking or UKCA marking for relevant product categories - this is enforced, not optional

For FBM international shipping, you handle customs documentation per shipment and the buyer is responsible for import fees. Sellers using FBM internationally have run into complications when buyers refuse packages over unexpected duties - leaving the seller responsible for return costs. Most serious international sellers prefer FBA-based programs for this reason.

BMVD categories still have a specific requirement: books, music, videos, and DVDs sold internationally must ship within 48 hours of purchase - a shipping deadline, not a delivery deadline.

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What International Shipping Actually Costs (2026)

Customer-Side: Delivery Times and Fees

AmazonGlobal delivery times and fees (as of early 2026):

Shipping Speed	Typical Delivery Time	Starting Cost
AmazonGlobal Standard	8-21 business days	~$5.42 + $2.46/lb
AmazonGlobal Expedited	3-7 business days	Higher; varies by destination
AmazonGlobal Priority	2-5 business days	Highest; limited availability

Orders meeting minimum thresholds to qualifying destinations may qualify for free AmazonGlobal Standard Shipping.

Seller-Side: 2026 Fee Changes

Program	Fee Structure	2026 Change
FBA Export	Standard US FBA fees only	+3.5% fuel surcharge on all US FBA (effective Apr 17, 2026)
Remote Fulfillment	Higher Remote Fulfillment fees	+3.5% fuel surcharge added
Amazon Global Selling (local FBA)	Per-marketplace FBA fees	Varies by region; EU cross-border ~3-3.5% over local
FBM International	Carrier costs only	No Amazon surcharge, but you absorb logistics costs

The 3.5% surcharge applies to FBA and Remote Fulfillment effective April 17, 2026. The FBA Revenue Calculator in Seller Central reflects the updated fees. For a full breakdown of Amazon fees, the University article has the current schedules.

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Which Program Is Right for You?

Situation	Best Option
FBA seller, want passive international sales	Keep FBA Export enabled (already auto-enrolled)
Want to test Canada or Mexico without risk	Remote Fulfillment with FBA
Running 200+ units/month in Canada	Model local FBA in CA vs. Remote Fulfillment
Want to expand to EU, starting simple	Amazon Global Selling + single-country FBA
Established EU seller with 4+ marketplaces	Pan-EU FBA (when VAT compliance is in place)
Managing your own warehouse and logistics	FBM International (with customs documentation)

The most common mistake: treating “international shipping” as a single decision. FBA Export requires no decision - it’s already on. Remote Fulfillment requires enrolling in a program. Global Selling requires registering accounts and handling compliance. Pan-EU FBA requires multi-country VAT. Four different commitment levels.

Start where you already are. Check your Exportable Inventory report, confirm which products you want reaching international customers, and let Amazon handle the rest. Then evaluate Remote Fulfillment for North America once you have demand data to act on.

Selling across multiple marketplaces amplifies every pricing and advertising decision you make. Feedvisor’s AI-powered platform manages repricing and advertising across Amazon’s global marketplaces, ensuring your pricing remains competitive whether you’re selling on Amazon US, Canada, or Europe. See how Feedvisor handles international marketplace optimization.

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FAQ

Does Amazon ship internationally for all product categories? No. FBA Export excludes hazmat, certain electronics, oversized items, and other restricted categories. Check eligibility via Reports → Fulfillment → Exportable Inventory in Seller Central. Domestic Standard Shipping has separate eligibility rules.

Who pays customs duties on international Amazon orders? Customers pay an Import Fees Deposit at checkout - Amazon estimates duties and collects upfront. If actual charges come in lower, Amazon refunds the difference. For FBA Export and Remote Fulfillment, sellers don’t handle per-shipment customs paperwork.

What is the difference between FBA Export and Remote Fulfillment with FBA? FBA Export ships your US FBA inventory to international customers shopping on Amazon.com - no separate marketplace setup required. Remote Fulfillment creates active listings on Amazon.ca, Amazon.com.mx, or Amazon.com.br and fulfills cross-border from US inventory. Remote Fulfillment is more visible in those marketplaces but carries higher fees.

How long does Amazon international shipping take? AmazonGlobal Standard runs 8-21 business days; Expedited shipping is 3-7 business days. Actual delivery depends on destination country, customs processing, and product eligibility.

Do I need to register for VAT to sell internationally on Amazon? For FBA Export and Remote Fulfillment from the US, no - Amazon handles tax collection for consumer orders. Selling on European Amazon marketplaces with local FBA inventory requires VAT registration in each country where you hold inventory. Pan-EU FBA requires multi-country VAT registration.