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How to sell globally on Amazon (& top tips)
Last update: 24 Jul 2025
Amazon is the most popular e-commerce marketplace in the world, and the first place we think of when talking about online shopping. With close to a million new sellers joining nearly every year, and an algorithm that tends to favor low prices and high ad spend, it’s increasingly difficult to reach the front page and still keep your margins up.
Despite the challenges, opportunity is actually growing: there are fewer active sellers than in 2021. Those who remain are seeing over 30% more traffic, which translates to hundreds more visits to their Amazon stores and product pages. And international Amazon marketplaces like those in Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Singapore are seeing massive growth.
In other words, selling on Amazon is still very much worthwhile – perhaps even more so than during the COVID e-commerce boom. Those who tap into rapidly expanding international markets will be even better positioned to get noticed.
But being profitable requires strategic marketing, lean operations and smart financial planning. With rising seller fees, ad prices, fulfilment costs, and more, the winning brands will be the ones that run the most efficiently.
In this step-by-step guide, we’ll look at what it takes to stand out internationally on Amazon, including:
- How to sell internationally on Amazon: choosing the right business model
- How to make your international listings stand out on Amazon
- How to localise your Amazon offerings for global audiences
- How Wild & Stone took their brand global on Amazon
Looking to expand internationally on Amazon without opening bank accounts abroad? Open a World Account for free today.
How to sell internationally on Amazon: choosing the right business model
Before you start selling internationally on Amazon, you need to decide how you’ll list and ship your products. There are three main ways to do so:
1. Use Amazon FBA for easier order fulfillment
Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) is a popular way of fulfilling Amazon orders – particularly for companies intending to scale their business into new international markets.
With FBA, sellers source their products and then send them to an Amazon fulfillment center, where Amazon takes over the rest of the fulfillment process. Inventory is stored until a customer places an order, at which point Amazon packs and ships the product on the seller’s behalf. Amazon also manages communications with the customer, including shipping notifications, tracking, reviews, returns and target language customer support.
On its own, this fulfillment method is a good choice for sellers who want to expand into just one or two additional markets, since it removes many of the logistical hurdles from the expansion process. You can pick a new market, create a seller account, list your goods there, then ship your products to local warehouses, where Amazon will handle the rest.
FBA makes an easier alternative to handling your own international shipping (aka “fulfillment by merchant” or FBM), which usually requires contracting with an overseas 3PL. The tradeoff, however, is learning to navigate a long list of rules and fees. This includes fulfilment fees, monthly inventory storage fees, aged inventory surcharges, returns processing costs, removal and disposal fees, inbound placement service fees, low-level inventory fees, and dangerous items fees — all of which can impact your seller ranking and your bottom line.
Amazon has strict rules, for instance, about inventory and storage, and if you don’t keep up, you can incur additional costs. If you don’t keep enough units in stock at any given time (say, because your cash flow is too low to re-order), you can get hit with a low-inventory fee. Low inventory levels can also hurt your seller status and make it harder to rank in search results, which in turn makes it even harder to sell products, pay for inventory, and turn a profit.
Despite the unavoidable costs, Amazon FBA gives you the unique flexibility to test the market response of new products at relatively low risk. As long as you adhere carefully to the rules, it’s one of the easiest ways to take your business global on the marketplace.
2. Use Amazon Global Selling to expand into new regions
Amazon Global Selling (or AGS) is a programme that allows sellers to list and sell products on Amazon’s marketplaces in Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and the Americas. Currently, Amazon operates 21 online marketplaces globally, empowering sellers to expand their businesses to every corner of the world, regardless of where they’re officially based.
AGS helps sellers expand globally on Amazon, supporting international marketplace access, localised listings, regulatory guidance, and customer support in local languages. Sellers can choose to use AGS with FBA, or manage their own storage, fulfillment, and international shipping.
In some cases, AGS lets you add new seller accounts by region, so you can add multiple countries with one regional account. In others, you must add an individual account for each country:
- With a North America and Brazil Unified Account, you can sell across Amazon’s North American marketplace sites, to sell in the USA, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil.
- With a Europe Account, you can sell in 28 countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
- To sell in APAC countries like Australia, Japan, and Singapore or MENA countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, you need individual seller accounts and selling plans for each country.
Anyone with an Amazon Seller account can enrol in Amazon Global Selling, but they must register a new selling account and purchase new professional selling plans for every region or country they want to expand into.
For each region, AGS provides tools and services like:
- Build International Listings tool, which can be used to edit your product detail pages, automatically translate them, and share details from existing product pages across regional sites
- Service Provider Network, which can help you find an appropriate facility to manage inventory if you choose to use FBM, or other third party resources like tax and regulatory advisors
There is one downside to Amazon Global Selling: the scheme is not available in certain major markets, like China or South America. If you’re hoping to branch out into these regions, Amazon’s FBA programme is the best solution.
3. Use dropshipping for easier international supply chain management
Dropshipping is an inventory-free business model that involves the retailer selling to customers without holding any physical product. Instead, when a customer places an order, the information is sent to your supplier, who ships the product straight to the customer using your business shipping labels.
With dropshipping, you’re only responsible for marketing and customer communication. This online selling model has the advantages of low startup costs and simpler supply chain management. However, product margins can be very low and you have limited control over branding and product quality.
Another challenge to dropshipping on Amazon is that you must closely adhere to Amazon’s strict dropshipping policies. These include:
- Identifying yourself as the seller of your products on all your product slips, invoices, and packaging
- Removing any labels and information that come from your supplier
- Being responsible for product returns and defects
- Complying with all other Amazon Seller policies
- Not purchasing from another retailer and shipping their items to your customers
If you’re looking to take advantage of Amazon’s expansive reach without worrying about complicated supply chains, consider a dropshipping business model. For example, set up an account on AliExpress, find the products you want to sell, add the listing to your Amazon page and let the selling begin.
- Open 20+ local currency accounts and get paid like a local
- Pay suppliers, partners and staff worldwide in 100+ currencies
- Collect payments for free from 130+ marketplaces and payment gateways, including Amazon, Etsy, PayPal and Shopify
- Save with competitive exchange rates on currency conversions and transfers
- Lock in exchange rates for up to 24 months for cash flow certainty
How to make your international listings stand out on Amazon
The best (and cheapest) way to reach prime Amazon real estate and stand out on the platform is through carefully crafted listings. Here are four key listings components to optimise in order to get more views and land more conversions:
1. A product title that converts
Product titles have two main purposes on Amazon: they help people find your products, and they encourage consumers to find out more. The title is one of the first things a shopper will notice when browsing Amazon, so it’s critical to get it right. When writing a title, consider the following:
- Keep it under 200 characters long
- Put the brand name at the start
- Make sure the title is clear, with no ambiguity around the brand name, number of items, or other details
- Take advantage of keywords for discoverability purposes
- Include descriptive elements like colours and sizes for easy comparison
2. An eye-catching image
Amazon’s product image requirements can help you make the most of your listings and drive Amazon international sales. They include:
- Products should fill 85% or more of the image frame (unless they are book, music or video images, which must fill 100% of the frame)
- The full product must be in frame
- Backgrounds must be pure white
- The image must not contain additional text, graphics or inset images
3. Optimised bullet points
The product description and detail pages provide vital information about the product. However, as many shoppers simply scan for the important details, take advantage of the bullet point section to highlight key advantages of using the product.
To optimise your product description section:
- Use keywords, reinforcing those used in the title and adding new ones
- Keep it concise – avoid technical jargon or flowery language, but do include details like quantity, sizing, colours and materials
- Mention the benefits instead of simply listing features – make it clear exactly how your product can solve your customer’s problem
Remember, you’re trying to reach an international customer base, and many won’t speak your language, which could ruin your marketing efforts. After optimising your content, it’s crucial to translate it into your target market’s language to drive conversions.
4. A detailed product description
The product description is a brief chunk of text toward the bottom of the product detail page. It’s one more chance to share details about your product and expand on each bullet point. If you’re enrolled in Amazon’s Brand Registry, you can use A+ content to add larger images, customise formatting, etc. Otherwise, you’re stuck with a block of text (see an example here) that’s mainly useful for adding additional keywords and product benefits.
How to localise your Amazon offerings for global audiences
In order to succeed in different international markets, you need to change up your strategy to suit different global audiences. Here are some of the most important components of localisation:
1. Research your audience and tailor your products and packaging
- Conduct market research and choose products that will sell in the target region, for example weather-appropriate apparel or culturally popular goods.
- Adapt existing products to local audiences. For example, Chinese consumers tend to prefer attractive, high-quality packaging that makes even affordable products look expensive, while German customers might prioritise minimal, eco-friendly packaging that communicates functionality and sustainability.
- Adjust product and package sizing by region – for example, American shoppers might prefer bulk packages with larger quantities, while consumers in large Asian or European consumers might prefer small or space-saving formats.
2. Ensure your translations are accurate
A 2020 study by Common Sense Advisory found that 40% of global consumers won’t buy in other languages, and 65% prefer content in their native language. While more recent stats aren’t available, it’s safe to say that most customers would probably still rather transact in the language they’re most comfortable in.
If you’re scaling internationally, it’s important to prioritise translating your listing to build trust in your brand among international audiences. But building that trust isn’t just about speaking the language; it’s about getting the nuances right.
It can be tempting to drop your product descriptions into ChatGPT or use free translation tools like Google Translate. However, machine translations can limit the success of your international expansion, as they can be too literal, error-prone, or fail to convey your brand’s tone or personality. This can be a turn-off to customers, especially if humor or sarcasm fails to land, or you commit an offensive faux pas.
Don’t forget that localising a text may involve details beyond translation, including changing date and time formats and converting measurements.
By investing in a qualified translator, you can create cohesive texts that work from a nuanced marketing perspective, and avoid standing out for the wrong reasons.
3. Craft a culturally appropriate marketing strategy
Along with making sure the language checks out, you may also need to make more significant adaptations to text, imagery, and strategy. Your marketing needs to respect the target audience’s societal codes (humour, etiquette, modesty, etc.) and make sure they’re in on any jokes.
Be sure to:
- Adapt your overall brand messaging, instead of just translating text
- Make sure images resonate with local audiences and are culturally sensitive (eg. modesty in certain countries, not using all white models, etc.)
- Make sure all bases are covered: not just product listings, but CPC ads, follow-up emails, packaging, etc.
4. Develop a multilingual SEO strategy
Like websites and blogs, product listings on Amazon need to be optimised to ensure product discoverability in the search bar.
However, high-performing English keywords can’t be translated directly into another language because the search habits of cultures differ. For this reason, you’ll need to conduct region-specific SEO research.
If you’re not familiar with your target language, country-specific SEO research provides another reason to invest in a qualified translator. A native translator or local agency can weed out irrelevant keywords and curate an equivalent list of seed keywords in their language for an effective, optimised listing.
5. Let global customers pay in their local currencies
To sell effectively to global customers, your prices should be listed in relevant local currencies and priced competitively for each international market:
- You may need to adjust your pricing strategy to sell in different regions (ie. make your products more affordable for customers in certain regions). You can manage this from each of your regional selling accounts.
- Amazon automatically localises currencies on the seller end, so you don’t have to manage that yourself. Customers see relevant local pricing and currency, but you get paid out in the same currency as your bank account
In the next section, we’ll look at how a multi-currency account with WorldFirst can help you save on fees, receive payouts faster, get local receiving account details, and manage Amazon expenses like referral fees and advertising in one place.
Why open an account with WorldFirst
Founded in 2004 and partnering with major financial institutions like Barclay’s, HSBC, Citibank, and J.P. Morgan, WorldFirst has helped over a million businesses process over $3 billion in transaction value.
A multi-currency account with WorldFirst can make it easier to adapt your business for any region you operate in, enabling you to sell more easily on global marketplaces like Amazon.
Here’s how:
Get your Amazon payouts faster, in the currencies you want
Amazon payouts can take a long time to process, even before you consider international conversions and bank transfers. But with WorldFirst’s Amazon seller payment solution, you can receive Amazon payouts on the same day or next day, without waiting for transfers to clear.
WorldFirst’s Amazon solution meets Amazon’s Payment Service Provider Program (PSPP) standards for secure, reliable transfers. It’s an easy way to keep your cash flow steady, improve your inventory management, and increase your Amazon ranking to boost sales.
Get local account details to save money on fees
With a multi-currency World Account, you can send payments in 100+ currencies to 200+ regions, at competitive exchange rates. You can also open 20+ local currency accounts to hold and receive funds in major currencies including GBP, USD, EUR, AUD, CNH, and more, and get local account details for each without setting up a local business entity.
With local account details, it’s easier to join international marketplaces like different global Amazon sites. You don’t need to open a local bank account to start selling and receiving Amazon payouts from other countries.
You can also make instant payments to other World Account holders, and same- and next-day international payments using local payment rails or SWIFT. With faster payments, it’s easier to pay suppliers on time, improving relationships and giving you leverage to negotiate better rates.
There’s no fee to open a World Account, and no monthly fees or fees to hold funds. You also get access to competitive currency conversion rates and clear, transparent pricing on other transactions.
Save on FX fees, get cashback, and manage your spending with World Cards
When you register for a World Account, you get immediate access to free virtual World Cards – a Mastercard-powered debit card that you can use to make purchases online.
With your World Card, you can make fast, FX fee-free payments in 15 major currencies from existing balances. You can pay in a total of 150+ currencies anywhere where Mastercard is accepted. Use your World Card to pay seller fees, order inventory, or cover CPC advertising, FBA fees, and other Amazon expenses like A+ Content, and get up to 1.2% cashback on all eligible purchases, with no limit on how much you can earn.
There’s no charge to get up to 20 World Cards that you can use to separate out expenses. Divide them by merchants, different countries, currencies, marketplaces, teams, or any other category you choose.
You can set custom spending limits to make sure you stay within your ad or storage budget on Amazon, and prevent employees from inadvertently exceeding departmental budgets or accidentally making high-value purchases with the wrong card. And, you can track all spending across your business with just a single login to your WorldFirst dashboard.
How to set up a World Account
Ready to open your World Account? Follow these simple steps:
- Navigate to our Sign up page
- Fill out some basic personal and business details
- Upload all necessary verification documents
- Choose your World Account requirements
- Start selling on Amazon marketplaces worldwide
Need additional assistance? Use our official Help Centre guide.
How Wild & Stone took their brand global on Amazon
Wild & Stone is a UK-based brand that sells sustainable household goods like plastic-free toothbrushes and hair ties. Its COO and cofounder, Andrew Dowley, understands that Amazon is still the fastest way to grow a business globally.
One of the main keys to the brand’s success is its ability to differentiate its products and tailor marketing to its target audience. The company performs well on Amazon with meticulous listings optimisation to stand out from global marketplace competitors. Wild & Stone’s marketing copy, particularly on its product detail pages, is error-free, ambiguity-free and ultra-specific.
Using this strategy, the brand continuously trial new products – including testing different products to appeal to different local audiences – so it can grow its product portfolio across the globe. But in order to effectively customise and localise products for each audience, Wild & Stone needs to maintain excellent communication and relationships with suppliers abroad.
WorldFirst makes it easier for Wild & Stone to manage international revenue and supplier payments. The company uses its World Account to:
- Receive Amazon payouts faster
- Save on fees
- Build trust with on-time payments
Wild & Stone is also a bit of a WorldFirst champion: Andrew loves to convince his suppliers to get World Accounts too, since transfers between World Accounts are instant and fee-free.
Read the full case study here: Wild & Stone: Scaling a sustainable brand through marketplaces
Simplify your international Amazon venture with WorldFirst
When it’s time to expand into international marketplaces, WorldFirst makes everything easier. With a World Account, you get the local account details and currency support you need to transact on global marketplaces.
We also help you get your Amazon payouts faster, and give you more ways to pay and save on fees. Open a World Account for free today to grow your marketplace sales and simplify international selling.
How to sell globally on Amazon (& top tips)
How can you sell globally on Amazon? This guide goes into detail about choosing the right business model and how to make your listings stand out.
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