Noon vs Amazon Middle East: Which Marketplace Should You Sell On?

Thinking about selling in the Gulf? Two big marketplaces want your products, and both are offering fee cuts and ad credit to win new sellers.

Amazon is the global giant, with the most shoppers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Noon is the home-grown challenger, with cheaper clicks and a loyal Arabic-speaking audience.

My verdict: Amazon gives you the biggest audience and the best support. Noon is cheaper to advertise on, quicker to rank on and pays you faster. Most brands end up on both.

Below, I compare them on fees, shoppers, delivery, ads, support and payouts. Notes for specific seller types come at the end.

Noon vs Amazon at a glance

	noon	Amazon (.sa / .ae)
Saudi traffic rank (Semrush, Sep 2026)	#4 (~8.6M visits/month)	#1 (~13.9M visits/month)
UAE online sales rank (ECDB, 2025)	#2	#1
Referral fee, most categories	14–15%	10–15%
FBN / FBA fee, standard parcel ≤1 kg, KSA	SAR 8 / 10	SAR 8 / 10
Monthly storage per cubic foot	SAR 2.75 / AED 1.75	SAR 3 / AED 2
Typical cost per click (seller-reported)	Often under SAR/AED 1	About SAR/AED 1–4
Payouts	Weekly, every Thursday	Every 14 days, or daily on request
Open to foreign sellers
New-seller incentives	Ad credits for new advertisers	Fee discounts and ad credits

Who is Amazon best for?

Amazon is the safer first bet for most sellers:

• Sellers who want the biggest audience in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
• Brands already on Amazon in another country, who can add the Gulf from the same Seller Central.
• Premium products aimed at expats and professionals.
• Anyone who values fast support and a full ads toolkit.

Who is noon best for?

Noon is the faster, cheaper way to get going:

• New sellers on a tight budget, who want cheap clicks and weekly cash flow.
• Brands with local appeal: fragrance, modest fashion, home, gifting and everyday essentials.
• Sellers who want quick first sales, because categories are less crowded.
• Arabic-first brands, because noon's core audience shops in Arabic.

1. Fees: close for most products

For most products, you'll pay about the same on both. Fashion and phones are the big exceptions, covered in the notes at the end.

Both marketplaces charge three main fees:

• Referral fee. A cut of each sale, usually 10–15% depending on the category, with a minimum of SAR or AED 1 per item.
• Fulfilment fee. If the marketplace stores and ships your stock, it charges per order. A small parcel costs about SAR 10 on both.
• Storage. A small monthly charge for the space your stock takes up in the warehouse.

Neither charges a closing fee or a monthly subscription right now.

Worked example: a SAR 150 home item on both

Let's price a bath towel set on the Saudi rate cards. It sells for SAR 150, weighs 0.8 kg and ships as a standard parcel. Both marketplaces store and ship it.

That's a dead heat. Each marketplace keeps about a fifth of the price.

So for a typical home, gift or everyday product, fees shouldn't decide your choice. Ads, audience and cash flow will.

Three costs sit outside this table:

• VAT. About SAR 19.57 of your SAR 150 shelf price is VAT for ZATCA, the Saudi tax authority. VAT on marketplace fees is normally reclaimable if you're registered.
• Ads and returns. These can cost more than any fee gap, so we cover ads below.
• Conversion. Noon says FBN listings convert about 60% better, thanks to the Express badge. Amazon's FBA listings get the Prime badge.

Try it with your own numbers

Plug in your price, category and size tier. Then switch the marketplace to compare.

Every category is listed in our guides to noon seller fees and Amazon referral fees by category.

2. Audience size: Amazon

Amazon has more shoppers in both main markets.

Amazon.sa gets about 14 million visits a month, according to Semrush. Noon.com gets about 9 million in Saudi Arabia, which is still a huge, fast-growing audience.

And these shoppers are young. Most Saudi nationals are under 35, and about two-thirds of Saudi web traffic comes from phones.

The two audiences lean different ways:

• Amazon. Expats, professionals and shoppers who already know Amazon from the US or UK. Strong for premium products and anything where Prime delivery matters.
• noon. Emiratis, Saudis and Arab expats who like a regional, Arabic-first brand. The biggest age group is 25 to 34, according to Similarweb.

So picture your buyer. If they shop in Arabic and love local brands, noon gets you in front of them fast.

3. Fulfilment: a tie

FBN (Fulfilled by noon) and FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) work the same way. You send stock to the marketplace's warehouse, and it picks, packs, delivers and handles returns.

Per-unit fees are nearly identical. The differences are speed and storage:

• Delivery promise. Amazon FBA listings get Prime: free one-day delivery in the UAE and two-day delivery in Saudi Arabia. Noon FBN listings get the noon Express badge and can arrive within 24 hours.
• Storage. Noon is a little cheaper per cubic foot, so slow-moving stock costs less to keep there.
• Shipping it yourself. Both let you store stock and ship orders yourself too, with noon DirectShip and Amazon Easy Ship.

If you run noon's FBN and FBP (Fulfilled by Partner) side by side, keep separate stock for each. Our noon FBN vs FBP breakdown shows when each one pays.

4. Ads: noon for cheap clicks, Amazon for tools

Both marketplaces sell sponsored ads on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis. You set a daily budget and a bid, and you pay when a shopper clicks.

Here's what sellers and agencies report for 2025–26:

	noon ads	Amazon Ads (.sa / .ae)
Ad types	Product Ads, Brand Ads, Display	Sponsored Products, Brands, Display, DSP
Typical CPC	Often SAR 0.3–0.5 on long-tail terms	About SAR/AED 1–4
Starting budget	AED 50 a day is a practical start	About AED 40 a day; agencies suggest SAR 50–100
Typical ACoS	About 25% (ROAS ~4x)	About 30% average; 22–25% for well-run accounts
New-advertiser credit	500 ad credits, up to USD 1,000	Up to SAR 3,500 / AED 3,700

Sellers typically see much cheaper clicks on noon. A long-tail Arabic keyword often costs well under SAR 1.

The returns end up close, though. One UAE agency tracked the same product on both for 90 days. It made about AED 4 in sales per AED 1 of ads on each marketplace, and it was far more profitable on noon once fees were counted.

Amazon gives you more tools. Sponsored Brands and Display need Brand Registry, and DSP reaches shoppers off Amazon too.

Noon's ads reward fast delivery. Agencies say an FBN listing with a sharp price wins placements that a higher bid alone can't buy.

Campaign setup is covered step by step in our guides to noon ads and Amazon ads in the GCC.

5. Competition: noon is easier to break into

Noon is far less crowded than Amazon, and that's a real opening for new sellers.

Noon had about 5,000 sellers in its 2021 Yellow Friday sale. Amazon.ae alone has roughly 21,000, according to Helium 10.

UAE sellers who run both say the same thing. A new noon listing with good photos, a fair price and FBN can reach page one for its main keyword within weeks. On Amazon, ranking takes reviews, sales velocity and often outside traffic.

The reward on Amazon is bigger, though. Page one there reaches more buyers.

Two things help on both:

• Run ads from day one. Sellers say noon listings rarely get traction on organic search alone at launch.
• Protect your Buy Box. On both marketplaces, other sellers can offer your product on the same page. Brand Registry on Amazon, and noon brand approval, let you control your listings.

A smart playbook many sellers use: launch on noon for quick traction and early reviews, then bring the proven product to Amazon.

6. Seller support: Amazon

Sellers rate Amazon's support higher. You can reach it by live chat, phone callback or email from Seller Central, and most issues get fixed within hours. The Account Health dashboard flags problems early.

Noon's support is slower. Sellers describe tickets that take days and answers that change from one call to the next. One UAE seller reports urgent listing problems taking 5–7 days on noon, against under 2 hours on Amazon.

You can make noon support work for you:

1. Use live chat in Seller Lab for quick fixes.
2. Raise one ticket per issue, with screenshots and SKU numbers.
3. Check FBN stock reports weekly, because inventory mismatches are the most common complaint.

On Amazon, the big risk is a suspended account, usually after a verification check or a "related account" flag. Keep your documents, bank account and business details identical everywhere, and you'll avoid most of it.

7. Getting paid: noon

Noon gets cash into your account faster.

It issues a statement every Wednesday and pays the next Thursday, once your balance reaches AED/SAR 1,000. Smaller balances roll into a monthly payment.

Amazon settles your account every 14 days, then the money reaches your bank within about five business days. On Amazon.ae, Disburse on Demand lets you request a payout once every 24 hours.

8. Getting started: quick on both

Both want a real trading business. In Saudi Arabia, that means a CR (commercial registration, your Saudi business licence) and VAT registration. In the UAE, both accept a mainland or free-zone trade licence.

No Gulf company yet? That's fine. Both marketplaces have routes for foreign businesses, explained in the notes below.

Getting approved is quick. Noon says it reviews applications in 24–48 working hours. Amazon's identity check usually takes up to three business days.

Most sellers with good listings and a small ad budget see their first orders within the first few weeks. The fastest launches have stock in FBN or FBA before the ads go live. Our noon seller registration guide lists every document.

Pros and cons of each marketplace

Which should you choose?

So which one should you start with? For most new sellers, here's my simple rule.

Start on Amazon if you want reach. It has the most shoppers, the best support and the most tools, and it's easy to join from abroad.

Start on noon if you want a cheap, fast test. Clicks cost less, listings rank sooner and cash comes back weekly.

Not sure? Check your category fee in the notes below, then picture where your buyer shops.

Here's the good news. You don't have to choose forever. Most successful Gulf brands end up on both within a year. Pick the one that fits your first products, get your first hundred orders, then add the other.

Notes for fashion brands

Fashion is where the two differ most. Noon takes 27% on apparel and footwear in Saudi Arabia, while Amazon.sa takes 15%.

Here's a cotton T-shirt at SAR 79, weighing 0.3 kg:

• Amazon wins on fees. Sell 1,000 shirts a month, and the gap is worth about SAR 9,500.
• Noon still has a place. Modest fashion and regional styles sell well to noon's Arabic-first audience, so test it once your margins are clear.

See every fashion rate in our noon seller fees guide.

Notes for electronics and phone sellers

Phones go the other way: noon is a bit cheaper in Saudi Arabia.

• Noon's phone rate drops above SAR 750. Once a phone sells above that price, noon charges 4.5% on the whole price instead of 5%.
• Accessories have price tiers. On noon KSA, cheap mobile accessories pay 20% and pricier ones 15%. Amazon.sa drops electronics accessories to 8% above SAR 250.
• Laptops cost the same. Both charge 6%.
• The UAE differs. Amazon.ae charges 7% on consumer electronics. Noon UAE charges 6% on phones up to AED 500.

The full category list is in our guide to Amazon fees in the Middle East.

Notes for beauty and fragrance sellers

• Fragrance is a tie. Both charge 15% in Saudi Arabia, and fragrance suits noon's local audience well.
• Noon splits personal care. Branded and generic products pay different rates, so check your product type in Seller Lab before you price.
• Register cosmetics first. Saudi Arabia needs SFDA approval for cosmetics. Our SFDA guide walks you through it.

Notes for Saudi-based sellers

You already hold the CR and VAT number both marketplaces ask for, so registration is quick.

My advice: start with Amazon.sa and add noon within 90 days. Amazon has the most Saudi traffic, and it's paying new local sellers to join this year.

On the T-shirt above, that discount takes Amazon's fees down to about 22.8% of the price.

Notes for UAE-based companies

• Launch both at home. Amazon.ae is #1 by online sales in the UAE, so go live on noon and Amazon.ae together.
• Reach Saudi through noon Global Store. A UAE VAT-registered seller can list into Saudi Arabia on the UAE rate card, with no Saudi CR.
• Add a Saudi HS code. For KSA on noon, every SKU needs a 12-digit Saudi HS (customs) code.
• Claim Dubai support. Dubai trade licence holders can join the DET x Amazon Accelerator for AED 2,000 in ad credits and six months of support.
• Check UAE rates. Amazon.ae charges 15% on home, a point more than Amazon.sa.

Start with our guide to selling on noon UAE.

Notes for Chinese sellers

Test on noon Global Shipping, then scale on Amazon. That's the path many factories take.

• noon Global Shipping (NGS). It needs only your Chinese business licence, with no Gulf licence or VAT. You drop orders at noon's Shenzhen hub and set a USD price per unit. Noon handles freight, customs and delivery across the GCC.
• The trade-off. On NGS, noon sets the shopper price.
• Room to grow. Chinese sellers on noon still number only a few thousand.
• Amazon China Global Selling. 2026 incentives include a USD 50,000 prepaid referral voucher and FBA inbound cashback of up to SAR 3,754 per ASIN.
• Your job on Amazon. You manage FBA inbound shipping, SABER (Saudi Arabia's product certification platform) and an importer of record yourself.

Start with our guide to noon Global Shipping.

Notes for US, UK and EU brands

Amazon first, through Global Selling. If you already sell on Amazon.com or in Europe, add Saudi Arabia and the UAE as linked accounts from the Sell Globally dashboard.

You'll still clear customs, register regulated products on SABER and handle VAT. Most brands do this through an importer of record (IOR), a local company that imports the goods in its name.

Noon's international route needs a VAT certificate in each country you sell to, with payouts through Payoneer or LianLian. Add it once you have a UAE entity or a local distributor. Our guide to selling on noon as a foreign company covers each step.

Launch checklist for noon or Amazon

Use this whether you start on one marketplace or both.

Get help running both marketplaces

Running noon and Amazon well means two catalogues, two ad consoles and two sets of stock. Plenty of fast-growing brands hand the day-to-day work to a specialist agency and focus on product.

The firms below were independently researched. Compare more in our directory of noon and Amazon marketplace agencies.