Cross-Border E-Commerce: Amazon and Temu Top €176bn EU Ranking

A ranking measured just before the rules changed

The latest index of Europe's biggest cross-border marketplaces arrives at an awkward time for the companies at the top of it. Cross-Border Commerce Europe's seventh annual TOP 100 Cross-Border Marketplaces Europe report puts Amazon first, with Temu and AliExpress in second and third place29. The US platforms eBay and Etsy come next. Lithuanian second-hand fashion marketplace Vinted is sixth, followed by OLX and then German fashion platform Zalando21. AbeBooks and StockX complete the top ten21.

The financial figures show strong growth. Combined revenue across the top 100 cross-border marketplaces reached €176 billion in 2025, a 16 per cent rise from €152 billion in 2024. That compares with only 4 per cent growth the year before21. Sales that actually crossed borders made up €140 billion of the 2025 total, or 80 per cent. The share was 76 per cent in 2024 and 77 per cent in 202321.

Those numbers cover 2025, the last full year in which Europe's low-value import regime was still in place. Since then, the EU has scrapped the duty exemption for small parcels and introduced a flat customs charge3. It has also passed a reform of the Union Customs Code that adds a handling fee and makes platforms legally responsible as importers1115. The ranking is therefore a record of the old model at its high point. The question is how much of that model survives the next two years.

Two very different routes to the top

The ranking places companies with very different supply chains side by side. Amazon reports that 97 per cent of its EU shipments are already fulfilled from warehouses inside the bloc, which largely protects it from the new duty1618. Zalando serves 29 European markets as a European fashion platform24. Vinted's business is mostly peer-to-peer resale inside Europe21. For all three, cross-border trade mostly means moving goods between EU member states.

Temu and AliExpress built their European growth on a different model: individual orders flown directly from Chinese factories to European homes, priced low because of the duty exemption18. Coverage of the reform agrees that these platforms are the main targets. Officials have said that the levy applies to all non-EU origins, but that the practical aim is Chinese direct-to-consumer shipping1720.

The two models look similar in the ranking but face very different costs from here. In practice, 'cross-border' now covers both an intra-EU logistics network and a long-haul parcel pipeline from Asia, and only the second is being directly repriced.

What the EU actually changed

Until 1 July 2026, goods worth €150 or less could enter the EU without customs duty. Import VAT has applied to them from the first euro since the 2021 VAT reform3. Member states agreed in November 2025 to abolish the exemption. In December they set a temporary fixed duty of €3 starting in July 202641. The Council said the charge would cover goods sold by non-EU sellers registered in the Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS). By its estimate, that is 93 per cent of e-commerce flows into the EU4.

How the duty is counted matters a great deal. It is charged per tariff heading, not per parcel42. Five identical T-shirts in one box trigger one €3 charge. A T-shirt, a phone case and a toy trigger three, or €9 in total1216. For a typical mixed basket from a discount platform, the duty can exceed the price of some items. One analysis noted that €3 on a €5 T-shirt changes the economics of a single sale entirely18.

The flat duty is meant to be temporary. Most reporting says it will run until 1 July 2028, when the EU Customs Data Hub is due to go live and normal tariff rates will apply regardless of value39. Some outlets describe the end date only as "mid-2028"12, and one notes that the interim duty could be extended if needed19. Given how often large EU IT projects slip, a delay to the 2028 handover should be treated as a real possibility rather than a remote one.

The customs code reform adds a second charge

The €3 duty is only the first part of the package. In September the European Parliament gave final approval to the Customs Code reform, which the Council had already backed earlier that month11. The reform introduces a handling fee on each item bought from a non-EU seller and shipped directly to a consumer. Member states must start collecting it by 1 November11. It also classifies online platforms as importers, which makes them responsible for paperwork, taxes and product standards15.

Reports disagree on the amount of the fee. Most logistics and advisory coverage expects about €2 per item or consignment257. One report said €3 per item after the political agreement in spring15. More recent reporting says the Commission had not yet fixed the amount when Parliament voted11. Sources also differ on whether the fee applies per item or per consignment211. The most reliable reading is that a charge of roughly €2 to €3 is coming, with the exact basis still to be confirmed. Several outlets estimate the combined charge at about €5 per tariff line10.

One part of the reform matters more than the headline amount. Goods imported in bulk and then shipped from European warehouses would qualify for a lower handling fee11. Brussels is not only taxing small parcels. It is deliberately rewarding the business model that Amazon already uses.

Why Brussels moved

The main reason is volume. Commission figures cited in coverage show about 5.8 to 5.9 billion low-value items entered the EU duty-free in 2025, up from 1.4 billion in 20221216. An earlier Commission estimate put the 2024 total at 4.6 billion parcels, more than 90 per cent of them from China14. One summary of Commission data said parcels worth up to €150 made up 97.9 per cent of packages but only 2.1 per cent of their value, with an average value of €8.8619. Customs authorities estimate that up to 65 per cent of small parcels are undervalued20.

The chair of the European Parliament's trade committee, Bernd Lange, said the flow was barely manageable and that normal checks were almost impossible16. Pressure from member states also played a part. France and the Netherlands had signalled plans for their own national charges, and the Commission wanted to avoid a patchwork of different rules5.

France's experience showed why. Its national €2 fee, introduced in March, was easy to avoid. Platforms rerouted air cargo to neighbouring countries such as Belgium and trucked the goods into France18. French customs estimated that about 90 per cent of parcel volume was diverted, and the fee raised about €2.3 million a month instead of the expected sums. Paris suspended it once the EU levy took effect18. Romania also imposed a roughly €5 fee per shipment from January8. Reports differ on France's current local charge, with one claiming it now stands at €5 per parcel16, so the national picture remains unclear.

The likely result: more European warehouses, not fewer imports

The ranking and the customs rules together point to a clear conclusion. The reform is unlikely to remove Temu or AliExpress from the top of the table. It is more likely to make them operate more like Amazon. Coverage reports that Shein, Temu and AliExpress invested heavily in European warehouses before July16. Temu now works with EU-based sellers holding local stock24, and Shein has expanded in Poland18. Goods held inside the EU clear customs once as a bulk commercial shipment, which avoids the per-item charge on most orders16.

The ranking's authors also note that global platforms are investing in European infrastructure and local fulfilment29. That supports this reading.

The short-term disruption is still real. Consultant Derek Lossing of Cirrus Global Advisors expected e-commerce air shipments into the EU to fall by 10 to 35 per cent in the weeks after the duty started1218. Researchers at the E-Commerce Institute Cologne call the measure necessary but limited. They argue that its steering effect will stay weak while the underlying price gap between Chinese direct imports and European goods remains12. A retail association official in Greece raised a different concern: that customs will simply wave everything through at the €3 rate whatever the parcel contains19.

The biggest losers may not be the Chinese platforms, which have the money to build European warehouses. Smaller non-EU merchants shipping individual parcels are more exposed. That includes UK brands selling through Shopify, which advisers expect to be hit much harder than sellers using Amazon's fulfilment network5. A flat charge weighs most on low-value items, and a €3 duty on a €30 accessory amounts to an effective rate of 10 per cent1.

The outlook for the market as a whole is still for growth. Cross-Border Commerce Europe forecasts 7 per cent growth in European online fashion, beauty and luxury sales, to €198 billion. It expects cross-border sales in that segment to rise 10 per cent to €87 billion21. Its forecast does not suggest a contraction. Next year's ranking will show how much of the growth comes through European warehouses rather than individual parcels from abroad.