Amazon recently revealed that EU sellers on the platform set a new record for sales in 2025, surpassing €40 billion. In addition to that, cross-border sales also climbed dramatically last year, thanks to a large majority of EU sellers shipping their products beyond their home country. Amazon itself has also played a large role in helping these sellers achieve so much success.
However, the milestone also reignites the debate around the fragmented regulatory landscape of Europe, with Amazon calling for reform. Also, while sales are up, compliance costs continue to eat away at profit.
EU Sellers on Amazon Reach New Sales Record
While companies and entrepreneurs across the globe sold products on Amazon in 2025, it was a special year for Europe, as EU sellers on Amazon reached a record €40 billion in sales on the platform.
More than 100,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe sell on Amazon, and there are over 2,500 products sold every minute.
In addition to sales in general hitting new highs, cross-border sales are also climbing rapidly. In 2025, cross-border exports for EU sellers on Amazon reached €17 billion, which was €2 billion more than the previous year.
This means that around 42.5% of total EU sales on Amazon are cross-border, showing there’s a major shift toward international selling. Similarly, intra-EU exports grew to €13.5 billion, around €1.5 billion higher than in 2024.
EU sellers on Amazon export to more than 200 different countries, and 85% of these SMEs export beyond their home country. This shows that a large majority of EU sellers are aware of the amazing opportunities that open up when you expand your horizons and ship to new regions.
Not only does it give you access to more potential customers and help you boost sales, but it can also help you scale more quickly and diversify your revenue. Also, Amazon made global commerce easier for sellers in the EU, as it recently launched Amazon Seller Wallet in Europe.
How Amazon Has Helped Sellers
Amazon has become so much more than a marketplace for many EU sellers, as it has transformed how their business operates. For example, Filippo Ciocca, CEO of Italian sock manufacturer Ciocca, said that Amazon “created not just a channel, but a completely new way of working”.
He added that “Ten years ago, our market was extremely limited; almost all of our socks were sold on the Italian B2B market. Today, we are able to reach end-consumers in 32 different countries.”
Other sellers echo these claims and say Amazon has brought them new customers, boosted consumer trust, assisted with cross-border logistics, and handles storage, packing, and shipping for products in different warehouses across Europe.
The company has even stood up for small sellers, who are often the ones most impacted by Europe’s complex requirements and regulatory environment.
For instance, Amazon’s Chief Global Affairs and Legal Officer, David Zapolsky, said that “it’s been a struggle for SMEs the entire time. Things like VAT, recycling schemes that vary from European country to country. The European Commission agreed to try to streamline VAT regimes, but it’s happening too slowly, and we’re hearing from small and medium-sized enterprises that it needs to happen faster.”
The Hidden Cost of Growth
While the news of such impressive growth in the region is exciting, the costs of complying with the complex and varied regulations in Europe can quickly bring down this excitement.
According to Ciocca: “In order to be compliant with regulations, small and medium European companies have to bear a cost that foreign competitors do not have to deal with, and that could be up to 25 or 30% of our cost of operations”.
He also adds that policymakers in the EU need to address the issue of VAT in the different regions, as having to manage dozens of different laws and rules adds a ton of additional administrative work, especially for small sellers.
In fact, the tax rules in Europe force small businesses to navigate 27 VAT systems, all while many non-EU bad actors are falsely registering companies to avoid VAT.
Zaplosky addressed this directly and said, “this strange disparity between the way reseller rules affect non-EU sellers versus EU sellers means there is a fraud vector. Certain sellers can set up pretend domiciles in the EU to avoid this payment obligation, and in doing so, they never pay VAT at all”.
Another thing that creates an uneven playing field for EU vs. non-EU sellers is the “Deemed Supplier” rule. This is a rule that requires Amazon to collect VAT from overseas sellers trading on European stores, while EU sellers have to pay VAT directly to different tax authorities.
While Amazon has tools to help these sellers navigate the compliance complexities, it’s simply not enough to overcome the regulatory barriers in place.
Leveling the Playing Field
To make things fair for EU sellers on Amazon, the platform is calling for policymakers in the region to extend the deemed supplier regulation to require online retailers to collect VAT on all sales, no matter where a seller is located.
This would extend the same simplified approach to EU sellers that only international sellers currently get to enjoy. It will also free them up from having to manage complex VAT reporting for every sale.
Thankfully for ecommerce sellers in the region, relief may be on the way. The European Commission’s “One Europe, One Market” Single Market Roadmap commits to tearing down many of the most harmful Single Market barriers to trade by March 2027.
