How To Start Selling: On Amazon'S European Stores
How To Start Selling: On Amazon'S European Stores
SELLING
ON A M A Z O N ’ S
EUROPEAN STORES
Get ready to expand with Amazon
Your journey to successful selling in Europe
Knowing whether you’re ready to start selling in Europe can be challenging. This
checklist is designed to help guide your understanding of Amazon’s European stores
and ensure you’re set up for success. Be sure to familiarize yourself with all the tools
Amazon provides, which will make many of the requirements listed below simpler and
easier to manage.
Prepare to sell
Learn about Amazon’s six European stores (Amazon.de, Understand how value-added tax (VAT) works and
Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.it, Amazon.es, learn about regulation requirements in Europe.
Amazon.nl) and how you can sell your products with one
single account across all of Europe.
Understand how Amazon’s European selling account Learn how to link your existing Amazon
works and learn what information you need to provide 4 across different
during registration. marketplaces with a single seller account.
Complete account verification and understand the Understand the listing tools available in Europe and
5 documents required to pass learn more about how Build International Listings (BIL)
helps you manage your listings across Amazon’s five
European marketplaces.
Understand fulfillment options in Europe and choose Understand international fulfillment requirements, including
between Fulfillment by Amazon or self- fulfillment for import and export regulations complying with package and
your products. customs duty requirements.
WITH SELF-FULFILLMENT
Send inventory to a European Amazon fulfillment Fulfill international customers’ orders and provide a
center and choose a fulfillment program to help you great customer experience with prompt delivery
sell across Europe
Manage customer support in the local language and either 4 Promote your products to grow sales in all European
provide a local address for returns or offer a refund for
stores
international shipping. (FBA manages fulfillment and returns
questions.)
See how companies like yours are making Amazon part of their success stories.
Selling plans: Just like in the US, you can choose between two selling plans that enable you to sell in all
six EU Amazon stores:
• The Basic plan is for those who sell fewer than 35 items per month. You pay Amazon a fee only when you
sell something.
• The Professional plan is for those who sell more than 35 items per month. You pay a fixed monthly fee.
Use the Amazon fee calculator in the EU to estimate your average fee charges and potential revenues.
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VAT Services on
Amazon
Solution Provider Network
*A fiscal representative is a local legal entity or individual (varies by jurisdiction) responsible for representing non-EU-based sellers to tax authorities. Fiscal
representatives are held jointly liable with sellers for the payment of VAT.
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Register and list
4.
Understand how Amazon’s European selling account works and
learn what information you need to provide during registration.
During registration, you will be asked to define your source marketplace, which can be any of the six EU
stores. With an EU Unified Account, your inventory can be managed as a single pool available to all the
stores on which you choose to offer your products for sale. The default is all six EU stores. Your orders will be
managed in a single place, so selling in Europe will feel just like selling in the store where you originally
registered. Watch this video about Amazon tools and services that can help you manage, sell, and fulfill
your products globally.
• Credit card
• Phone number (in order to also receive PIN verification)
• Company registration details - Company name, Business email address, Business license Primary Contact
Person Information.
• Beneficial Owner Information
• Bank account information to receive sales (Currently, Amazon supports U.K. and U.S. bank accounts, as
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well as bank accounts in all Eurozone countries.)
• UPC/ EPN for your products
• VAT number, required if you meet the guidelines in the previous section: Managing European taxes (VAT)
Account Settings
You can manage your account information in Seller Central in Account settings. To access your Account
settings, click Settings in the upper-right corner of Seller Central. Click Account Info to see details about
seller and business information, add listing status, modify selling plans, edit listing status, add charge
and deposit methods, and more. After registration take a quick tour of Seller Central, the portal that puts
you in command of your Amazon seller account.
• Business registration extract: Please upload your business registration/formation document, for
example: Articles of Incorporation, Articles of Organization, Fictitious Name Statement for Sole
Proprietorships, or any other equivalent document.
• The business registration extract must have a business registration date listed that matches the
registration date entered in the Seller Central account.
• Business Statutes or Bylaws: Certificate of Good Standing/Existence
• Operating Agreement: If the business registration documents do not outline a share allotment for the
owners, please obtain this from your state.
• If your state does not issue this, please send an email to: [email protected]
informing them that your state does not issue a formal document, but that you will draft and upload a
statement confirming the ownership information.
• Business utility bill or bank statement: Upload a bank statement or utility bill such as gas, electric,
internet, telephone. You can black out account balances, but all other information, including the
statement date, must be legible. The business name and address on the utility bill or bank statement
must match the business name and address entered in Seller Central.
• Please read the performance notification email closely to review instructions before uploading any
additional documents. When emailing the Seller Verification team, you must use the email address
used to register the UK Seller Central account. The Seller Verification team will not respond to email
addresses that differ from the address used to register the account.
• Important: The Seller Verification team will email the Point of Contact on the account if additional
documents are needed, so be sure to include that email address
Two-Step Verification
Go through the account safety two-step verification (2SV). This is your best protection against
unauthorized access to your seller account, even if your password is stolen and especially if you use the
same password across multiple sites. Once you have enabled Two- Step Verification, when you access
your account, you will first enter your Seller Central user name and password. Then, you will be prompted
to enter a security code. This code is sent via text message to your SMS-enabled phone, received through a
voice call, or obtained from an authenticator app, which does not require cell service. It has been
mandatory for all sellers worldwide since November 1, 2017.
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6.
Understand the listing tools available in Europe and learn more
about how Build International Listings (BIL) to manage your
listings across Amazon’s European marketplaces.
Build International Listings works within a region where there are multiple stores, such as Europe and
North America, and across regions when you have connected them using Linked Accounts. If you already
have an Amazon seller account in non-EU stores, use Build International Listings to synchronize your
listings in EU stores. See this important information about eligible products.
Hear how successful US-based sellers handled European languages as they grew their Amazon businesses across
Europe.
If you use BIL, your product (ASINs) will be automatically synchronized in all stores where the product already
exists without requiring additional translation. If your product does not exist in a store, you need to create
your product page in the source store and then, if eligible for translation, it will be automatically
translated by our system.
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Remember the images you choose to upload for your product will affect customer buying choices, so
quality matters. Choose images that are clear, easy to understand, information-rich and attractively
presented. Main images should be on a white background. If you need help with imaging services for the
EU store, contact our third-party providers.
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Ship and fulfill
7. Understand fulfillment options in Europe and choose between
Fulfillment by Amazon or self- fulfillment for your products.
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• Sell internationally: List your inventory from one single seller account and we dispatch your products to
customers throughout the EU
• Benefit from Amazon’s 24/7 customer service: With FBA, Amazon's acclaimed 24/7 customer service is
available in the local language you are selling in
• Fulfill orders from other channels: You manage your inventory through a simple online user interface and
can direct us to return the inventory at any time
• Keep selling even when you take a break: Thanks to the FBA vacation settings, you can carry on selling
even when you are on holiday
Read our Frequently Asked Questions about FBA.
Regardless of which fulfillment method you choose, shipping to Europe involves certain
requirements. Two of the most important ones are providing an importer of record (IOR) and using
delivery duty paid (DDP). These largely involve who is responsible for paying fees such as import
duties and taxes.
Importer of record: An IOR is required to sell in Europe. The IOR is the entity responsible for paying
import duties and taxes, ensuring that your imports comply with local laws and regulations. Note
that neither Amazon nor its fulfillment centers can serve as the IOR for FBA shipments.
These are just a few of the requirements to plan for when shipping to Europe. To learn
more, download the shipping to Europe checklist.
See how FBA can help you quickly scale your business from selling in one country to selling across Europe.
Watch this video about the three international FBA services in Europe that make cross-border sales
much easier to manage: Pan-European FBA, European Fulfillment Network FBA, and Multi-Country
Inventory FBA.
The Pan-European FBA program enables you to fulfill offers in all European stores from one inventory
pool without incurring per-unit cross-border fulfillment fees. The main benefits of the PAN-EU program
are:
• Easier inventory management: Send products to the Amazon European fulfillment center(s) in the
country of your choice and let Amazon distribute them to meet expected demand.
• Low fulfillment costs: Amazon distributes your products across Europe at no additional cost. You only
pay the local fulfillment fee for the customer’s store. In contrast, when you sell to customers of
other stores via the European Fulfilment Network (EFN), you will pay a cross-border fee for each order
shipped. Learn more about the Pan EU fee structure.
• Reach millions of Prime customers: You can sell your products in all six Amazon European stores with
Prime eligibility.
• Provide fast, reliable deliveries: With your products stored closer to customers, you can trust Amazon
to quickly fulfill and deliver your orders.
• Rely on Amazon’s trusted, 24/7 support: Amazon provides customer support in the local language
of the six European Amazon stores, handling customer inquiries, returns, and refunds, freeing you to
focus on your business.
You can track your Pan-European FBA offers using the standard reports and tools in Seller Central. Pan-
European FBA becomes active for a product after you create an FBA offer in all the Amazon European stores
as required on the Pan-European FBA Manage Your Inventory page in your Seller account, and enroll the
ASIN in Pan-European FBA.
The European Fulfilment Network (EFN) allows sellers with a European store account, who have also
registered for FBA, to store their inventory in their local FBA fulfillment center. This enables orders from
multiple European stores to be fulfilled from the same local inventory pool. When selling through EFN,
sellers must localize their source store offers to other Amazon European stores to enable local customers
to purchase them in their local language.
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For example, a Germany-based customer can purchase an Italian seller's offer listed on the German-
language Amazon.de once the seller has registered their FBA Italy-based products on the Germany store.
The order is then shipped to the customer from the seller’s local Italian fulfillment center. See frequently
asked questions about EFN
FBA Multi-country Inventory (MCI) enables you to dispatch your FBA inventory to Amazon fulfillment
centers in multiple countries of your choice across Europe. With MCI:
• Your customers receive faster, local delivery when your products are located in fulfillment centers
close to where they live.
• Your listings qualify for accelerated shipping options including Amazon Prime 1-Day Delivery, FREE
Delivery and Next-Day Delivery (where available).
• You save on transportation costs when you send inventory in bulk to local fulfillment centers rather
than dispatching individual orders across borders.
Learn more about MCI.
FBA Export
FBA Export enables you to fulfill orders of eligible products to postal addresses outside your source store,
making your offers available to EU and worldwide customers. They can purchase them from your source
store where you have listed your offers in your source-store language.
For example, a Netherlands-based customer can purchase a Germany-based seller's offer on the German-
language Amazon.de if the seller has activated FBA Export on their Germany source marketplace. Learn
more about FBA Export.
A-to-Z Guarantee
The A-to-Z Guarantee is designed to handle situations where a customer either never received a product or
received a product that differs from what the customer ordered or expected.
In order to avoid claims and chargebacks, follow these best practices:
Respond promptly to customer emails
Refund proactively
Describe products accurately and provide clear images
Ship with care
Confirm dispatches and provide tracking information
Promptly cancel any out-of-stock orders
Confirm appointments
Complete all the tasks as outlined on the detail page of a listed service
Fix the buyer's service quality issues: Offer to remedy a situation by fixing a buyer's quality issue free
of charge
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Manage your business
11.
Manage customer support in the local language and either provide a
local address for returns or offer a refund for international shipping.
(FBA manages fulfillment and returns questions.)
Customer support
Local language customer support: When you choose to fulfill customer orders yourself, it’s not just the
picking, packing, and shipping to customers that you’ll need to handle; Amazon also requires that you
handle customer support. This can be challenging if you are selling in an Amazon store where you don’t
know the language.
You may be tempted to use automated computer translators to respond to email inquiries from
international customers. However, a risk to this approach is that machine translation may lead to less-
than-optimal translations, which in turn could lead to a poor customer experience, ultimately affecting
your seller performance ratings. A better option, if you do not have in-house customer service
capabilities in the local language, is to use third-party service providers to handle your customer support.
Timely responses: Customers expect prompt, helpful service when they have questions or concerns
about your products. To maintain a healthy seller scorecard, you should have customer service specialists
who understand your products, that know where the customer's product is and when it will be delivered,
and who will be able to respond quickly (within 24 hours) to customer e-mail contacts in the local
language. This may be challenging when selling in stores that are in different time zones from your
place of business, as the time differences will shorten the timeframe in which you can respond to
customers during your regular business hours.
Customer support for Fulfillment by Amazon: When you use FBA, Amazon will provide 24-hour
customer support on your behalf in the local language of the relevant store. For many sellers, this
feature of FBA is critical to selling in international stores successfully. With local language customer
support already included in FBA, you can provide your customers with Amazon’s world-class customer
service, and you can focus on growing and managing your business.
Customer returns
When listing in an international store and fulfilling items on your own, you must either provide
customers with a local return address within the country of their Amazon store website or offer them
free shipment for returns. This is a requirement to sell on Amazon's stores.
As you consider how your customers will return items that they purchase from you, please keep the
following options in mind:
Using Fulfillment by Amazon: When you choose FBA, Amazon will handle local returns on your
behalf for FBA orders in that store, so you don't have to worry about providing a local return
address.
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Implementing restocking fees and offering partial refunds: In certain situations, it might be
appropriate to charge the customer a restocking fee or offer a partial refund on the product
being returned. Restocking fees or partial refunds must comply with Amazon's policies on returns.
Engaging a third-party International Returns Provider: We have created a list of returns providers
that can accept returns in your customers' countries. Depending on your sales volume and unit
price, international returns providers may offer solutions that reduce the costs you incur when
customers in other counties return your products. For example, some providers will consolidate
returns and ship them back to you or ship them to another customer.
We have two effective advertising solutions: Sponsored Products for promoting individual listings, and Headline
Search Ads to help registered brand owners to promote their brand and product portfolio. Both solutions are
designed to:
• Help you increase sales
• Help customers find what they're looking for
• Get your products discovered
• Control your costs. You pay only for the clicks your ads receive. Campaign reports track your ads' performance, so
you can measure Return on Investment, and adjust your bids and budget to optimize results.
Watch this step-by-step video on how to create your first Sponsored Products campaign. See how to track
and improve the performance of your campaigns.
Get answers about Sponsored Products, Headline Search Ads, costs, keywords, and more.
Selling Coach
Learn about how to use Selling Coach to help increase sales. As we identify opportunities, we will alert you
through Amazon Selling Coach and on the Business Reports page.
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Appendix 1
Category, Product and Content Restrictions by Amazon Store
UK Germany France Italy Spain Netherlands
Alcohol Alcohol Alcohol Alcohol Alcohol Alcohol
Animals and Animal Animals and Animal Animals and Animal Animals and Animal Animals and Animal Animals and Animal
Products Products Products Products Products Products
Currency, Coins, Cash Currency, Coins, Cash Currency, Coins, Cash Currency, Coins, Cash Currency, Coins, Cash Currency, Coins, Cash
Equivalents and Gift Equivalents and Gift Equivalents and Gift Equivalents and Gift Equivalents and Gift Equivalents, and Gift
Cards Cards Cards Cards Cards Cards
Drugs, Drug Drugs, Drug Drugs, Drug Drugs, Drug Drugs, Drug Drugs, Drug
Paraphernalia and Paraphernalia and Paraphernalia and Paraphernalia and Paraphernalia and Paraphernalia and
Dietary Supplements Dietary Supplements Dietary Supplements Dietary Supplements Dietary Supplements Dietary Supplements
Food & Beverage Food & Beverage Food & Beverage Food & Beverage Food and Beverage Food & Beverage
Gambling & Lottery Gambling & Lottery Gambling & Lottery Gambling and Lottery Gambling and Lottery Gambling & Lottery
Hazardous and Hazardous and Hazardous and Hazardous and Hazardous and Hazardous and
Dangerous Items Dangerous Items Dangerous Items Dangerous Items Dangerous Items Dangerous Items
Medical Devices Medical Devices Medical Devices Medical Devices Medical Devices Medical Devices
Offensive and
Offensive and Offensive and Offensive and Offensive and Offensive and
Controversial
Controversial Materials Controversial Materials Controversial Materials Controversial Materials Controversial Materials
Materials
Other Products Other Products Other Products Other products Other products Other Products
Sex & Sensuality Sex & Sensuality Sex & Sensuality Sex and Sensuality Sex and Sensuality Sex and Sensuality
Tobacco, E-Cigarettes Tobacco, E-Cigarettes Tobacco, E-Cigarettes Tobacco, E-Cigarettes Tobacco, E-Cigarettes Tobacco and Tobacco-
and Related Products and Related Products and Related Products and Related Products and Related Products Related Products