Amazon Germany

[Porky]

Not sold anything via Germany other than direct from here.

Thinking about Amazon Germany FBA but understand you need a German VAT and EORI number.

Anyone doing this and was it worth the hassle / how did you get on regarding the German vat aspect?

Thanks very much in advance

 

[AmazonGeek]

Very much so. Germany is the second biggest Amazon marketplace in the world after Amazon.com and much bigger than Amazon.co.uk. About 1/3 of my total sales come from Germany and over half comes from the EU.

You can list on amazon.de and try to ship from here but you will suffer bad CVR because customers won't wait. And if you try PPC, you will get lots of clicks but low sales for the same reason.

Using FBA in the EU means having a VAT number wherever Amazon will store your inventory. Once you get your German VAT number, you can then ship into Germany (ATS is a great way of doing this). Your stock will be spread around the German FCs for free and you will win the Prime badge on your listings. Your stock will be completely separate to your UK FBA stock by the way.

You can register for VAT within Seller Central and pick a partnered tax supplier. There are usually big discounts and often full refunds on the registration cost and returns for the first year or two. Amazon is the 'deemed supplier' and therefore collects the VAT on your behalf so your returns will be mostly zero. Any none-Amazon transactions in Germany will need to be added manually via Seller Central.

If you add on another country (France for example) and get the VAT number there, then you qualify for PAN Euro FBA. You send your stock to one FC in either Germany or France (I use France) and it is automatically distributed around both countries for free. You win the Prime badge everywhere, your CVR goes up and your advertising becomes more productive. Your EU FBA stock will also be used to fulfil cross border to Italy, Spain, etc although (as before), your CVR will be lower. If you see demand from Spain, add on that VAT number and your stock will then migrate across the border. And Pan Euro FBA is the only system in the world where the stock is unified. So you will have two lots of inventory to manage - the UK and the EU (potentially 10 more countries now that Ireland has joined the party).

You need one EORI number for the whole of the EU (easy enough to get and it will be the same as your VAT number with some zeroes on the end). You also want to sign up to PVA so you don't pay VAT when your products arrive in France/Germany.

Don't just translate your UK listings though! You need proper keyword research and a native speaker to check them before they go live. You also need regionalised images and infographics. Make sure your ASINs are the same everywhere so your reviews are shared.

Avask ATS is a great way of getting stuff into the EU by the way. You ship your cartons to Rochester and Amazon sends them to the EU for free. I sent 18 cartons (almost 300kg) on Monday and they became available yesterday (although the SLA is 7-10 working days from collection). You pay 60 Euros per consignment so the more you send, the more economical it becomes. You can also send pallets, although there is a cost for them. They also waive the 60 Euros for the first shipment.

If you need any help with this send me a PM. This is what I do all day long with clients so I know it backwards. If it is a quick question or two, happy to help when I get a spare minute. If you want walking through it all, we would need to set something up.

 

[fisicx]

My offspring live in Germany so I use Amazon.de quite a lot (for presents). Many of the products are shipped from warehouses in Germany even though they are not German (if that makes sense).

Even if I use Amazon.co.uk the goods are shipped from Germany.

 

[AmazonGeek]

Sounds right. My products ship inside Germany using Pan Euro FBA. I send my stuff from the UK to Germany and Amazon spreads them around the FC network for me.

If you shop on Amazon UK and enter a German shipping address, they will often ship from the German FC, if the seller has inventory there.

 

[Pish_Pash]

Not sold anything via Germany other than direct from here.

Thinking about Amazon Germany FBA but understand you need a German VAT and EORI number.

Anyone doing this and was it worth the hassle / how did you get on regarding the German vat aspect?

Thanks very much in advance

Use Remote Fulfilment...y then ou don't need a German VAT (or EORI) number (unless you sell a LOT into Germany and cross the threshold) ...send your stock to an Amazon UK FC & they will handle the Amazon.de order for you, here's their help page...

Fulfillment Between the UK and EU | Amazon UK

Let Amazon fulfill your orders across borders with Remote Fulfilment between the UK and EU or with Dual Inbounding. Provide Prime experience to customers now!

sell.amazon.co.uk

Sure, you won't get as many sales (vs. storing your stock in Germany), but the admin/grief is way ***WAAAAAY**** less!

 

[AmazonGeek]

My offspring live in Germany so I use Amazon.de quite a lot (for presents). Many of the products are shipped from warehouses in Germany even though they are not German (if that makes sense).

Even if I use Amazon.co.uk the goods are shipped from Germany.

The big problem with this is delivery time. Everyone is in a big rush these days and many will click on your listing/PPC ad and then pass when they realise it will take days to arrive. This massively affects your conversion rate, which teaches the algorithm the listing is not relevant for the search term that generated the click - and you start to fall out of the rankings. It is therefore almost impossible to compete on a level footing with local sellers who are using FBA and can get the order to the customer in 1 day.

Using FBA in Germany is not that difficult. You can get your VAT number from Amazon at a massively reduced rate (as are the returns. The EORI number is free and then you can send stuff via ATS. I did one last week - 18 cartons picked up on Monday and were available by Friday. It cost £8 per carton to get them to Rochester and then Amazon shipped them for free to France (other than a 60 euro fee for the paperwork). And another 17 cartons going tomorrow!

Don't underestimate the damage that slow delivery can do to conversion and rankings. When was the last time you ordered something on Amazon that took a week to come from the EU when you could get it from within the UK faster and cheaper...?