Fees checked 23 October 2026. Marketplace fees change and vary by category. Check the current fee pages for your products before deciding.
For a UAE product brand, the choice often looks like this: list on Amazon.ae and noon and get sales next week, or build your own store and spend months bringing people to it. It’s rarely either/or. The question is what each channel is for.
How they compare
| Marketplaces (Amazon.ae, noon) | Your own store (Shopify, WooCommerce) | |
|---|---|---|
| Traffic | Shoppers already searching there | You bring it: ads, SEO, social, email |
| Fees per sale | Referral fee by category, plus fulfilment or shipping fees | Payment fees (around 3%) plus your delivery cost |
| Customer data | Limited. The customer is the marketplace’s. | Yours: email, phone, order history, consent |
| Repeat purchases | Customers may buy a competitor’s product next time | You can market to them directly |
| Pricing and brand control | Price competition on the same page; marketplace rules | Full control |
| Delivery | Fulfilment programmes (FBA, Fulfilled by noon) handle storage and delivery | Your own courier or 3PL |
| Trust for new brands | High: familiar checkout and returns | You have to earn it |
What the fees look like
Amazon.ae (from its seller fee page):
- Referral fees by category, “most between 4.5% and 15%”, with a minimum of AED 1 per item. Some categories use tiered rates (for example 8% up to AED 50 and 15% above).
- Easy Ship (Amazon delivers your self-stored orders) from AED 14 per shipment; FBA fulfilment from AED 7.5 per unit, both varying by size.
- Professional selling plan with no monthly subscription fee, described as a limited-time offer.
noon (from its Partners help centre):
- Referral fees by category and fulfilment model, charged on the selling price excluding VAT. Examples for Fulfilled by noon include 9% for some general categories and up to 15% for others. Apparel and footwear under Fulfilled by Partner are listed at 27%. Minimum AED 1 per item.
- Storage and fulfilment fees on top for Fulfilled by noon, based on size and weight.
Your own store: platform subscription, payment fees (for example 2.9% + AED 1 per card order on Shopify Basic with Shopify Payments), delivery, and the cost of bringing each customer.
The calculator compares margin per order on each channel with your own numbers. For the full cost picture on marketplaces, including returns and storage, see the true cost per marketplace order.
The hidden variable: cost to acquire a customer
A marketplace order may carry a 15% fee, but you didn’t pay for the visit. An order on your own store may only carry 3% in payment fees, but if you paid AED 40 in ads to get it, the first order can be less profitable than the marketplace sale.
The difference shows up on repeat orders. On your store, the second and third orders cost almost nothing to win, through email and WhatsApp to customers who opted in. On a marketplace, every order pays the referral fee again.
A sensible way to run both
Many brands use:
- Marketplaces for discovery: people searching for the product type find you there.
- Your own store for loyalty: bundles, subscriptions, exclusive products and the full range.
- Consistent pricing: being much cheaper on your own site can breach marketplace pricing policies and confuse customers. Check each marketplace’s rules.
- Brand presence in packaging within marketplace rules: a care card or warranty registration can bring customers to your site legitimately. Don’t include anything a marketplace prohibits, such as directing customers away from its platform.
- One inventory source of truth to avoid overselling. See multichannel inventory sync.
When to start where
| Situation | Start with |
|---|---|
| New product in a category people already search for on Amazon/noon | Marketplaces first, own store in parallel |
| Distinctive brand with a story, social following or community | Own store first |
| Low price, low margin, commodity products | Marketplaces, if fees leave a margin |
| Products that need explanation, customisation or consultation | Own store (plus WhatsApp) |
| High repeat potential (consumables, beauty, food) | Own store for repeat, marketplaces for first purchase |
Frequently asked questions
Do marketplaces hurt our brand?
Not by themselves. Problems come from price wars, poor listings and stock-outs. Treat each listing like a product page you own.
Can we get customer emails from marketplaces?
Generally no, for marketing. Marketplace rules restrict contacting customers outside the platform. Plan your own store and packaging around legitimate ways to build a relationship.
What about delivery apps like Talabat and Deliveroo?
For food and convenience retail, the same logic applies. See are delivery and booking apps worth it?.
If you’d like help planning your channels, or setting up marketplaces alongside your own store, that’s part of our aggregators service.
Free download · Excel calculator
Marketplace vs own store margin calculator
Enter a product's price, cost and your fees for each channel (referral, fulfilment, payment, delivery, ad cost per sale) to compare margin per order and per customer over a year.
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