They are not competing for the same job. Amazon captures demand that already exists in search. TikTok Shop creates demand that did not exist before the video. On fees there is no single winner in Europe: TikTok Shop is a flat 9% (7% for electronics), while Amazon's referral fee runs 5% to 15% depending on category and price band. On beauty above €10 TikTok Shop is materially cheaper. On clothing at or under €15 Amazon is cheaper. The honest answer for most brands that can produce video is both, with different roles, and the real constraint is content capacity rather than fees.
First, the numbers you have probably been reading are American
Most published TikTok Shop vs Amazon comparisons quote United States fee rates, which do not apply in Europe. Search "TikTok Shop vs Amazon" and you will find a lot of confident percentages. Most of them describe the United States, where TikTok Shop's fee structure and Amazon's fee schedule are both different from the European ones. We have seen comparisons quoting a 6% TikTok Shop commission against "Amazon's 8 to 15%" and presenting it as a general truth. In the EU that first number is wrong, and once you correct it the conclusion changes for entire categories.
So here is the European version, with both sides sourced from the platforms themselves.
What each platform actually charges in Europe
TikTok Shop
The standard EU platform commission is 9% of completed order value, inclusive of applicable taxes including VAT, deducted directly from the payout. Electronics and a few adjacent categories sit at 7%. Brands opening their first ever EU shop can qualify for a temporary reduction, but it is conditional and time limited. We broke the whole structure down in TikTok Shop commissions in the EU.
On top of the platform commission, selling through creators costs an affiliate commission that you set yourself per product. That is a real cost and it belongs in your margin model, but it is not a platform fee and it only triggers on attributed sales.
Amazon
Amazon charges a referral fee that varies by category and, in several categories, by price band. It also charges a professional selling plan subscription (€39 per month excluding VAT in Italy, £25 in the UK), and separate fulfilment fees if you use FBA. Amazon reduced several European referral fees in its 2026 update, which is why older comparisons overstate the Amazon side.
Side by side, on referral and commission only
UK figures in £ and EU figures in € follow the same band structure. Fulfilment, storage and advertising are excluded here, on both sides, because they depend entirely on your setup.
| Category | Amazon referral | TikTok Shop | Lower fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clothing, at or up to £15/€15 | 5% | 9% | Amazon |
| Clothing, £15/€15 to £20/€20 | 10% | 9% | TikTok Shop |
| Clothing, above £20/€20 | 15% | 9% | TikTok Shop |
| Beauty and personal care, up to £10/€10 | 8% | 9% | Amazon |
| Beauty and personal care, above £10/€10 | 15% | 9% | TikTok Shop |
| Home products, up to £20/€20 | 8% | 9% | Amazon |
| Home products, above £20/€20 | 15% | 9% | TikTok Shop |
| Consumer electronics | 7% | 7% | Level |
| Toys and games | 15% | 9% | TikTok Shop |
| Sports and outdoors | 15% | 9% | TikTok Shop |
| Grocery and gourmet, up to £10/€10 | 5% | 9% | Amazon |
The pattern is consistent enough to be useful: Amazon is cheaper on cheap things, TikTok Shop is cheaper on everything above the price bands. Amazon's low percentages are deliberately concentrated at the bottom of the price ladder, where its flat minimum referral fee (£0.25 per item in the UK) also bites hardest. TikTok Shop's flat 9% ignores price entirely, so the more expensive your product, the better that flat rate looks against a 15% band.
Careful with this table. It compares referral fee against platform commission and nothing else. Add FBA and the Amazon side goes up. Add creator affiliate commissions and the TikTok Shop side goes up. Neither platform is cheap once you model the whole path to the customer, and any agency that shows you only this table is selling you something.
The comparison that actually matters: who creates the demand
Fees decide margin. They do not decide whether anyone buys. The structural difference is upstream of the fee schedule.
Amazon is a search engine with a checkout. Someone already knows they want a stainless steel water bottle, types it, compares options, buys. Your job is to be findable, credible and competitively priced at the moment of an existing intent. If demand for your category already exists, Amazon captures it efficiently and predictably.
TikTok Shop is a feed with a checkout. Nobody was looking for your product. A video interrupted them, made the product make sense in fifteen seconds, and the checkout was one tap away. Your job is not to be findable, it is to be worth watching.
This has a blunt consequence that decides the platform question for a lot of brands: if nobody searches for what you sell, Amazon has nothing to capture. New categories, new formats, products whose value has to be demonstrated rather than specified, these do badly on search and well on video. Conversely, a product people search for by name, in a category with established price expectations, is being sold on Amazon whether you are there or not.
What the same €30,000 month looks like on each
On €30,000 of monthly sales in a 15% Amazon category, TikTok Shop’s flat 9% commission costs €1,800 less than Amazon’s referral fee. Illustrative arithmetic on a €30 beauty product, 1,000 units, in one EU market. These are not projections and not our results, just the published rates applied to a round number.
| Line | Amazon | TikTok Shop |
|---|---|---|
| Gross sales | €30,000 | €30,000 |
| Referral fee / platform commission | 15% = €4,500 | 9% = €2,700 |
| Selling plan | €39 | None |
| Creator affiliate commission (seller sets it) | Not applicable | Variable, on attributed sales only |
| Fulfilment | FBA fees, per unit and size band | Your own logistics, or FBT where available |
The €1,800 gap on commission alone is real and it is the reason the TikTok Shop side of a beauty or home catalogue looks attractive on paper. It is also the number most agencies stop at. The honest completion of the sentence is that TikTok Shop only produces that €30,000 if the content exists to produce it, and content is a recurring cost that Amazon does not require in the same way. Whether the gap survives contact with your creator budget is precisely the thing to model before launching, not after.
Five questions that settle it
- Does anybody search for your product category by name? If yes, Amazon is capturing that demand today, with or without you. If no, there is nothing on Amazon to capture and TikTok Shop is where the demand has to be created first.
- Can you produce short-form video every week, indefinitely? Not once, not for a launch. TikTok Shop does not have a version of itself that works without content. If the honest answer is no, and you cannot buy that capacity, the fee advantage is theoretical.
- Where does your product sit against the price bands? Below £15/€15 in clothing or £10/€10 in beauty and grocery, Amazon's referral fee is genuinely lower. Above the bands, TikTok Shop's flat 9% wins on fees.
- Does the product demonstrate well? Something with a visible before and after, a satisfying use, or a benefit that is obvious on camera converts on a feed. A replacement part or a commodity refill does not, no matter how good the video is.
- Can your operations handle a demand spike you did not schedule? Amazon demand is reasonably forecastable. A video that performs is not. Running out of stock mid-spike is the most expensive way to learn this.
The answer is usually both, with different jobs
Most European brands that can produce video end up running both platforms with different jobs. The either-or framing mostly exists because it makes for a cleaner article. In practice the two channels feed each other in one direction: a product discovered on TikTok gets searched for by name afterwards, and that search frequently lands on Amazon, where the buyer already has an account, a saved card and a delivery expectation. Brands that run only TikTok Shop hand that second purchase to whoever is ranking for their product name. Brands that run only Amazon wait for a demand curve that, in a new category, nobody is creating for them.
What that costs to run properly, and whether your catalogue clears the bar in the first place, is a modelling exercise on your actual numbers. It is the first thing we do in our TikTok Shop launch pilot, before anything goes live. And if the market you are asking about is one where TikTok Shop has not launched yet, when TikTok Shop is coming to Denmark shows how to read the expansion pattern instead of the rumours.
FAQ
TikTok Shop vs Amazon: which has lower fees?
It depends on the category and the price point. TikTok Shop charges a flat 9% platform commission in the EU, 7% for electronics and a few adjacent categories. Amazon's referral fee ranges from 5% to 15% depending on category and price band, plus a monthly professional selling plan. On beauty above €10 or home products above €20, TikTok Shop's 9% is lower than Amazon's 15%. On clothing at or under €15, Amazon's 5% is lower than TikTok Shop's 9%.
Should I sell on TikTok Shop or Amazon?
TikTok Shop and Amazon solve different problems. Amazon captures demand that already exists: people search for a product and buy it. TikTok Shop creates demand: people are shown a product they were not looking for. If nobody searches for your category yet, Amazon has little to capture and TikTok Shop is where the demand gets made. If your category is heavily searched and price compared, Amazon is where the transaction naturally lands. Most brands that can produce video end up running both, with different roles.
Are TikTok Shop fees in Europe the same as in the United States?
No, and this is the most common error in comparisons published online. Most TikTok Shop vs Amazon articles use United States rates, which are structured differently. In the EU the standard TikTok Shop platform commission is 9%, inclusive of applicable taxes including VAT. Any comparison that quotes a single low percentage without naming a market is not describing Europe.
Does TikTok Shop charge a monthly fee like Amazon?
No. TikTok Shop has no subscription fee and seller onboarding is free, so the platform commission is the only fixed platform charge. Amazon charges a professional selling plan on top of its referral fee, €39 per month excluding VAT in Italy and £25 in the United Kingdom.
Can I sell on TikTok Shop and Amazon at the same time?
Yes. TikTok Shop and Amazon are separate sales channels with separate catalogues, and nothing in either platform's seller terms requires exclusivity. The practical constraints are operational rather than contractual: stock allocation across two fulfilment paths, consistent pricing, and enough content production capacity to feed TikTok Shop, which does not sell without video.
Sources: TikTok Shop Seller University, Platform Commission Fee, TikTok Shop Seller University, Introduction to Seller Fees, Amazon UK selling plans and referral fees, Amazon Italy selling plans and fees, Amazon, update to European referral and Fulfilment by Amazon fees for 2026. Rates checked August 2026. Fee schedules change, so verify against the platforms before modelling a launch on them.
