Importing to Saudi Arabia: A Step-by-Step Guide for Online Sellers

Importing stock into Saudi Arabia is a checklist, not a mystery. Get a Saudi importer, approve your products, send clean documents and pay about 21% in duty, fees and VAT on the CIF value.

It's worth the effort. Stock held in the Kingdom reaches shoppers in one to three days, while cross-border parcels take up to three weeks.

And more competitors are getting there. Saudi Arabia now has 48,497 registered ecommerce businesses, up 23% in a year.

Here's the full process for commercial stock, from setting up as an importer to a worked cost example. It's part of our GCC logistics guides.

What does it take to import stock into Saudi Arabia?

Three things: a registered Saudi importer, products that meet Saudi standards and a complete document file. Everything runs through FASAH, the customs single window of ZATCA (the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority).

The importer is the legal key. It must hold a CR (commercial registration, the Saudi business licence), or a 700 code or Saudi or GCC ID.

You have four ways to get one:

• Your own Saudi company. Full control and your own VAT credit, but setup takes longest for foreign owners.
• An importer-of-record service. A licensed provider imports in its own name. See our importer of record guide.
• A Saudi distributor. It buys your goods and imports them under its own CR.
• A marketplace or DDP programme. The platform or forwarder handles import for you.

Personal parcels follow different rules. This page covers stock you import to sell.

How to import to Saudi Arabia, step by step

Most of the work happens before your goods leave the factory. Follow this order:

1

Choose your importer route

Pick your own CR, an IOR service, a distributor or a marketplace programme. Decide this before you order stock, because the importer's name goes on every document.

2

Register the importer

Open a FASAH importer account with the CR or ID number. It's free and done online. Register for VAT with ZATCA too, so you can reclaim import VAT.

3

Classify every product

Find each 12-digit HS code in the ZATCA Integrated Tariff. The code sets your duty rate and tells you which regulator applies: SASO, SFDA or CST.

4

Get product approvals

SASO-regulated goods need a SABER product certificate, then a shipment certificate per consignment. Food, cosmetics and supplements go through SFDA instead.

5

Book freight and send documents

Book with a forwarder and send your broker the full document set. The broker files the FASAH declaration at least 48 hours before arrival.

6

Pay, clear and receive

Pay duty, the customs fee and VAT through FASAH or SADAD. After release, the goods truck to your warehouse, 3PL or marketplace fulfilment centre.

Step 4 takes the longest, often a few weeks. Our SABER certificate guide walks through it, and the SFDA rules for cosmetics and food cover the rest.

Check the banned list early too. Our guide to prohibited and restricted imports has it.

Which documents do you need?

Customs wants the same core file for every shipment. Missing one paper is the most common reason a container sits at port.

Containerised imports must also arrive on pallets. The rule started on 8 May 2025 and took a year to phase in.

Bulk, heavy and oversized goods can be exempted on approval. Tell your factory before it packs.

How long does clearance take?

Clearance itself is fast when the file is complete. It's everything around it that takes time.

By sea from China, plan five to seven weeks from booking to warehouse check-in. From factory order to sale day, production included, it's closer to 10–12 weeks.

Freight times and rates by mode are in our guide to shipping from China to Saudi Arabia.

What does importing cost? A worked example

Your import cost has two layers. Government charges are fixed by law, while service fees vary by provider.

Say a seller imports 2,000 home fitness sets from Ningbo to Dammam in a 20ft container. They're SASO-regulated, pay the default 5% duty and already hold a product certificate.

This autumn, a 20ft to Dammam costs USD 5,085–6,215. Cargo insurance adds about 0.5% of the goods value.

That looks like 22% on top of CIF. But if the importer is VAT-registered, the SAR 21,145 of import VAT comes back as input tax. So does the small VAT on the SABER and broker fees.

So the real cost is about SAR 141,920. Each set lands at about SAR 71, against a factory price of SAR 56.25.

That's roughly 26% on top, before port handling and the truck to Riyadh.

Run your own numbers:

How to reclaim it is in our Saudi VAT guide for ecommerce, and the full rate rules are in GCC customs duties.

Notes for foreign brands without a Saudi company

• Start with an IOR. A fully foreign-owned trading company needs very high capital, so most brands rent the importer role first.
• Register for VAT once stock is in the Kingdom. Non-residents holding stock register from the first sale, with no threshold, within 30 days.
• Avoid borrowed CRs. Importing on a friend's CR is concealment, with heavy penalties. See our anti-concealment guide.

Notes for Chinese sellers

• No discount on duty. There's no GCC–China trade deal in force, so the standard rate applies.
• Apostille in China. Company papers need only an apostille from China's foreign affairs offices.
• Check 双清包税 quotes. A DDP quote covers duty and VAT, but ask which company is the importer.

Notes for marketplace sellers

• Amazon won't import for you. FBA stock needs your own importer or an IOR, with duty and VAT paid.
• noon FBN needs cleared stock too. China-registered sellers can use noon Global Shipping instead.
• Ship fully paid. Fulfilment centres turn away deliveries with duty, VAT or freight still due.

Notes for UAE-based sellers

• Courier parcels are simpler. DDP parcels from Dubai pay Saudi import VAT at the border and usually don't trigger Saudi VAT registration.
• Holding stock changes that. Once your stock sits in Saudi Arabia, you register for Saudi VAT.
• Duty is paid once. Goods that paid duty on entering the UAE generally don't pay it again in Saudi Arabia. They still need SABER and Saudi VAT.

Prefer to compare first? Browse our directory of customs brokers in the Middle East.