April 2, 2022
September 2, 2023
5
min Read

How to Expand With the Amazon FBA Program in EU?

As an Amazon seller, you have several Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) expansion options in EU. We have summarized below the 5 FBA models available right now with a brief description for each, the requirements to enroll to the PAN-EU FBA program and finally your VAT obligation when expanding in EU with Amazon FBA.

At Gonuggets, we’ve helped multiple sellers to expand in EU and enable Exports by leveraging Amazon FBA expansion programs. Feel free to contact us if you want to know what is the most suitable FBA model to grow your business and conquer Europe!

1. FBA Expansion models in EU
Storage only enabled in home marketplace country

- FBA in home marketplace (with the exception for Netherlands, where home marketplace is Germany): Items are stored in home marketplace country and orders are placed on Amazon home marketplace.

- FBA in home marketplace with Export enabled: Exports are enabled with FBA to countries in EU (+Switzerland) from your home marketplace (Netherlands marketplace has export options to Belgium. Sweden and Poland marketplaces have no export capabilities as of now).

- European Fulfilment Network (EFN): Fulfilment of Orders on Amazon EU marketplaces outside of your home marketplace from local inventory (stored in home marketplace country).

Storage enabled in multiple countries

- Multi-Country-Inventory (MCI): Items are stored in more than 1 European marketplace country.

- Pan-European FBA: Items are stored in at least 2 EU countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland). Amazon will distribute the inventory across countries enabled for inventory storage at no additional cost.

2. Pan-European FBA program
Benefits

- Inventory is automatically distributed to Fulfilment Centres of Amazon where storage is enabled.

- No additional cost for orders placed from a different country location than where the item is stored. Local fulfilment fees apply, lower than EFN fees.

- Faster delivery to the end-customer than the EFN model (see section 1.).

Requirements

- Listings live in EU4 marketplaces: Germany, France, Italy, Spain. Except for country restriction reasons.

- Storage in at least 2 Pan-EU countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland).

- VAT registered in Countries where Pan-EU inventory is enabled.

3. VAT registration and compliance obligation

We have summarized below the key activities that trigger a mandatory VAT registration and compliance obligation:

- Importing goods into the EU countries or UK from outside Europe

- Storing goods in EU countries or UK

- Selling across EU and UK from another EU country or UK above certain threshold of sales within the country

Since July 1st, 2021 there is a new cross-border VAT legislation. The new threshold for the entire EU cross-border sales is EUR 10,000. If the sales cross the threshold, either VAT number is required in the countries of sales or you can enroll into Union One-Stop-Shop (UOSS) for a central management of VAT for all EU. You can apply for UOSS with your local tax authorities.

However, when storing your products in countries other than your home marketplace country, you will still need a local VAT number for the additional countries of storage.

Reach out to us if you need any support with your VAT registration in EU.