By Rahul Bisht, Cotasks IT Solutions · Published 9 Nov 2026 · Last fee check: 9 Nov 2026 · About 10 minutes

Quick answer: which is cheaper per order in the UAE?

For a standard-size parcel, FBA and FBN cost almost exactly the same per order because Amazon.ae and noon publish the same fulfilment rate card. Both beat seller-fulfilled shipping by about AED 4.50 to AED 5 per order, before storage and before any shipping fee you collect from the customer. Amazon Easy Ship and noon DirectShip pickup use the same rates (AED 14.00 to AED 17.50 for parcels up to 3 kg). Self-ship with your own courier is only cheaper if your all-in cost per order is below roughly AED 9.50 to AED 12.50, which few sellers can reach.

Two things can shrink that gap. The first is storage: fulfilled models charge by the cubic foot every month, so a large, slow-moving item can flip the result. The second is customer-paid shipping: Easy Ship and DirectShip let you charge customers up to AED 10, which can close the gap on orders where the customer pays it. The worked examples below show exactly where.

Key takeaways

• On a 0.5 kg parcel priced above AED 25, FBA and FBN both charge AED 9.50 to fulfil. Easy Ship and DirectShip pickup charge AED 14.50.
• Items priced AED 25 or less get lower fulfilled rates (AED 7.50 for a 0.25 to 0.5 kg parcel on both marketplaces), so the saving against seller-fulfilled is about AED 7 there.
• The referral fee (commission) is usually the biggest line. At 15% on an AED 349 order it is AED 52.35, versus AED 12.50 to fulfil.
• Storage is AED 2.00 per cubic foot per month on Amazon.ae and AED 1.75 on noon (from 1 October 2026).
• A 1.5 cubic foot item that sits longer than about two months can cost more to store than the AED 5 you save on shipping.
• Easy Ship and DirectShip let you collect up to AED 10 from the customer for shipping. If customers pay it, seller-fulfilled can come out cheaper per order.
• Choose by sell-through speed, item size and who pays shipping, not by the headline fee.

Written by Rahul Bisht, Cotasks IT Solutions. All fees exclude 5% UAE VAT and were checked on 9 November 2026 against the official Amazon.ae pricing page, noon's FBN fee page and noon's FBP and DirectShip fee page. noon's referral and outbound rates apply from 10 September 2026 and its storage rate from 1 October 2026. The Amazon.ae FBA rate card is dated 1 August 2025 and its Easy Ship rate card 22 August 2022. Fees change, so confirm in Seller Central or Seller Lab before you decide.

Why trust this comparison (E-E-A-T)

Cotasks IT Solutions is a Dubai-based, Amazon SPN-listed marketplace agency that manages Amazon.ae and noon accounts for brands across the UAE, USA and UK. The numbers in this guide come from the published fee pages, and every calculation is shown so you can rerun it with your own prices. Where we use an assumption (courier and packing cost), we say so.

How each model charges you

All four models charge a referral fee. What changes is who ships the parcel and what you pay for it. Rates below are per order, excluding VAT, for a standard parcel with a selling price above AED 25.

Official sources: Amazon.ae selling fees, noon FBN fees in UAE and noon FBP and DirectShip fees in UAE.

What each fee means

• Referral fee: a percentage of the sale price, with a AED 1 minimum per item. Home and kitchen products are 15% on both Amazon.ae (Home and Kitchen) and noon (Kitchen & Dining, Bath, Bedding, Home Decor), which makes them a clean like-for-like test. Other categories differ by marketplace, so check yours.
• FBA and FBN fees: a per-unit charge that covers picking, packing and delivery, set by size tier, weight and whether the selling price is above AED 25. noon charges the FBN outbound fee once an order is first marked Delivered or NDR (non-delivered return). Details are in noon's outbound fee guide.
• Easy Ship: charged per shipment: AED 14.00 up to 250 g, AED 14.50 up to 500 g, plus AED 0.50 for each extra 500 g up to 2 kg, and AED 17.50 between 2 kg and 3 kg. Amazon says sellers can collect up to AED 10 per shipment from the customer as a shipping charge.
• DirectShip: charged per shipment, not per unit, by weight and handover method (pickup or drop-off at a noon hub). noon says the fee is non-refundable except in cases such as an unresponsive customer leading to an undelivered shipment. noon reimburses the shipping fee charged to the customer after delivery, up to AED 10 per order (AED 10 under AED 100, AED 5 from AED 100 to AED 500, none above AED 500, judged on each seller's order value).
• Self-ship: Amazon charges no self-ship fulfilment fee. You only pay your carrier.

Costs that sit outside the per-order fee

• Returns on noon: the return administration fee applies to returns for seller-controllable reasons (for example wrong, damaged, defective, used or incomplete items) and is the lesser of AED 15 or 20% of the referral fee.
• Aged stock on noon: AED 25 per cubic foot for inventory older than 365 days, and AED 12 per cubic foot for non-saleable stock older than 30 days.
• Aged stock on Amazon.ae: a long-term storage fee applies to inventory held 365+ days. Check the current rate in Seller Central.
• noon removals: AED 15 minimum per request, plus AED 0.30 handling per unit and AED 1.00 per kg for delivery.
• Packaging: FBN offers inbound prep, for example AED 0.80 per unit for a polybag or shrink wrap and AED 2.00 per unit for bubble wrap on envelopes and standard parcels.
• Amazon selling plan: Amazon.ae currently lists the Professional plan with no monthly subscription fee for a limited time. Confirm the current terms in Seller Central.
• VAT: all fees above exclude 5% UAE VAT, which is added on top.

Selling on both marketplaces? Our guide on how to sell on Amazon.ae and noon from Dubai covers licences, VAT thresholds and setup.

Worked AED examples: AED 50, AED 99 and AED 349 orders

We priced one home and kitchen product at three price points, so the referral fee is 15% on both Amazon.ae and noon. That isolates the fulfilment choice. Fees exclude VAT.

Assumptions

The two self-ship lines are our assumptions, not published rates. Replace them with your own courier quote.

Total fees per order (AED) and share of selling price

How we calculated it

• FBA, Example A: referral 7.50 + fulfilment 9.50 (up to 0.5 kg) + storage 0.40 (0.2 cu ft at AED 2.00) = AED 17.40.
• FBN, Example A: 7.50 + 9.50 + storage 0.35 (0.2 cu ft at AED 1.75) = AED 17.35.
• Easy Ship or DirectShip, Example B: referral 14.85 + shipping 15.00 (0.5 to 1 kg) = AED 29.85.
• FBA, Example C: referral 52.35 + fulfilment 12.50 (up to 3 kg) + storage 3.00 (1.5 cu ft) = AED 67.85.
• Self-ship, Example A: referral 7.50 + courier 14 + packing 2 = AED 23.50.

What the numbers show

1. FBA and FBN are a tie. The gap is under AED 0.40 per order in every example, and it comes only from noon's lower storage rate.
2. Fulfilled beats seller-fulfilled by AED 4.50 to AED 5.00 per order against Easy Ship and DirectShip, before storage and before any shipping fee collected from the customer.
3. The gap matters most on cheap items. On AED 50, fulfilled saves about 10 points of margin. On AED 349 it saves under one point, because the referral fee dominates.
4. Customer-paid shipping can reverse the result. Easy Ship lets you collect up to AED 10 per shipment, and noon reimburses DirectShip shipping fees by order value. If customers pay in full, the net seller-fulfilled cost on noon DirectShip falls to AED 12.00 on Example A, AED 19.85 on B and AED 64.85 on C (AED 59.85 on Easy Ship if you collect the full AED 10). That is a best case: it assumes the customer is charged and still buys. Check your own statements.

When storage flips the result

Fulfilled models save about AED 5 per order against Easy Ship or DirectShip. Storage eats that saving the longer a unit sits.

The lesson: a bulky, slow seller is the one case where seller-fulfilled can win. Ignore this table only if the product turns over inside a month or two.

Formula you can reuse: break-even months = (Easy Ship fee − FBA/FBN fee) ÷ (cubic feet × monthly storage rate). Example C on FBA: 5.00 ÷ (1.5 × 2.00) = 1.7 months.

Which model should you choose?

Planning for the 2026 sale season? Read our Noon Yellow Friday vs Amazon White Friday budget guide before you send stock to a warehouse.

Five mistakes that make fulfilment look cheaper than it is

1. Comparing fulfilment fees only. Referral fee and storage decide the real margin. Our Amazon management team always models all three.
2. Ignoring returns. noon charges a return administration fee (the lesser of AED 15 or 20% of the referral fee) on returns caused by seller-controllable reasons such as wrong, damaged or defective items.
3. Overstocking before a sale. Aged-stock fees on noon start at AED 25 per cubic foot after 365 days, and Amazon.ae applies a long-term storage fee after 365 days.
4. Forgetting advertising. Fulfilment is one cost line. Ads often cost more, so pair your fulfilment choice with Amazon PPC management that protects your margin.
5. Using last year's rate card. Both marketplaces revise fees. Always check the live noon FBN fee page and the Amazon.ae pricing page before you ship stock.

Frequently asked questions

Tap a question to open the answer.

Not sure which model fits your catalogue?

A wrong fulfilment choice can quietly cost you 5 to 10 points of margin on every low-priced SKU. Cotasks will run the numbers on your real products.

• Prefer to chat? WhatsApp us, call +971 (4) 285 9886, or email contact@cotasks.com.
• Want us to run it for you? Explore our noon marketplace management and Amazon management services, or see more UAE ecommerce services.

More guides are on the Cotasks blog.

Sources and methodology

• noon: Fulfilled by noon (FBN) fees in UAE, Fulfilled by Partner (FBP) fees in UAE and the FBN outbound fee guide. Checked 9 November 2026.
• Amazon: Amazon.ae selling fee structure and Seller Central. Checked 9 November 2026.
• Method: referral fee + fulfilment or shipping fee + one month of storage, excluding VAT. Self-ship courier and packing costs are illustrative assumptions.
• Disclaimer: fees change and category-specific exceptions apply. Verify in Seller Central or noon Seller Lab before making decisions. This is general guidance, not financial advice.

About the author: Rahul Bisht works at Cotasks IT Solutions, a Dubai-based agency helping sellers grow on Amazon, noon, Shopify and other marketplaces.

Related reading

• Amazon.ae vs Noon fees 2026-27: what you keep per product
• Holiday inventory planning for Noon and Namshi sellers in the UAE