Amazon is the world’s largest online marketplace, with over 300 million active customer accounts globally and annual third-party seller revenue exceeding $140 billion. For European merchants, selling on Amazon is not just a growth option – it is increasingly a baseline expectation in competitive product categories.
The good news: the barriers to entry are lower than most sellers expect. You do not need a US legal entity, a US bank account, or a dedicated development team to get started. What you do need is a clear understanding of how Amazon’s seller infrastructure works, what product data requirements you must meet, and how to keep your inventory and orders in sync across channels once you are live.
This guide covers everything a European merchant needs to know before listing their first product on Amazon – from account setup and VAT obligations through to product attributes, common errors, and multi-channel order management.
| Key Takeaways European merchants sell via Seller Central using a pan-European or individual marketplace account – no US entity required. Amazon Vendor Central is an invite-only wholesale programme; most independent merchants use Seller Central. Each Amazon marketplace has specific product attribute requirements – what works on amazon.de may need adjustment for amazon.fr or amazon.nl. VAT compliance is the most overlooked cost for new Amazon sellers expanding across EU countries. Automating inventory and order sync between your existing store and Amazon prevents overselling and reduces manual workload significantly. |
Seller Central vs Vendor Central: which one applies to you?
Seller Central is the self-service portal where independent merchants list and sell products directly to Amazon customers. Vendor Central is an invitation-only programme where Amazon acts as a wholesale buyer, purchasing your products and reselling them. Almost all independent European merchants start – and stay – on Seller Central.
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The distinction matters because Vendor Central is not open for application. Amazon extends invitations based on sales volume and product category. If you have not received an invitation, Seller Central is your route.
| Feature | Seller Central | Vendor Central |
| Access | Open to any registered business | Invite-only from Amazon |
| Pricing control | You set the retail price | Amazon sets the retail price |
| Payments | Bi-weekly settlement to your bank | Invoiced payment terms (30-90 days) |
| Order management | You fulfill or use FBA | Amazon fulfills as the retailer |
| Suitable for | SMBs and growing merchants | Established brands with high volume |
What are Amazon’s required product attributes – and why do they matter?
Amazon rejects listings that do not meet its mandatory attribute requirements. Incomplete or inaccurate product data results in your products either not appearing in search results or being suppressed after listing. Getting attributes right from the start prevents delays and account warnings.
The exact attributes required vary by product category, but these are mandatory across virtually all categories on European Amazon marketplaces:
| Attribute | What Amazon requires | Common mistakes |
| GTIN / EAN / ISBN | Valid product identifier matching GS1 database | Using internal SKUs instead of GTINs |
| Product title | Max 200 characters; brand + key attributes first | Keyword stuffing; missing brand name |
| Brand name | Registered or declared brand | Leaving blank or entering generic terms |
| Category / browse node | Correct Amazon taxonomy ID | Using closest guess instead of exact node |
| Main image | White background, min 1000 x 1000 px, no watermarks | Lifestyle images as the main image |
| Bullet points | Up to 5 key features, plain text | HTML tags, promotional claims, pricing |
| Price | Including VAT where required | Net prices on VAT-inclusive marketplaces |
| Condition | New, Used, Refurbished (with notes) | Omitting condition for non-new items |
Category-specific attributes – such as material composition for clothing, wattage for electronics, or age range for toys – are additional requirements that vary by node. Amazon’s Category Listing Report shows exactly which fields are mandatory for your specific categories before you upload.
What VAT and legal requirements apply when selling across EU countries?
VAT is the most frequently underestimated compliance requirement for European Amazon sellers. Selling cross-border in the EU triggers VAT obligations that go beyond your domestic registration – and the rules have tightened significantly since the EU’s 2021 OSS reform.
Here is what you need to know:
| EU VAT rules for Amazon sellers (post-OSS reform) If you store inventory in another EU country (e.g., via Amazon FBA Pan-European programme), you must register for VAT in that country. If you sell B2C across EU borders and exceed EUR 10,000 in annual cross-border sales, you must account for VAT in the buyer’s country.The EU One-Stop-Shop (OSS) scheme simplifies this – you file one OSS return in your home country covering all EU B2C sales. Amazon’s VAT Calculation Services and VAT Services on Amazon can automate part of this, but they do not replace professional tax advice. Selling on amazon.co.uk after Brexit requires a separate UK VAT registration if your goods are stored in the UK or you exceed the GBP 85,000 threshold. |
Most EU-based merchants starting on amazon.de, amazon.fr, amazon.es, amazon.it, and amazon.nl can manage VAT compliance through the OSS scheme without individual country registrations – provided they do not use Amazon’s Pan-European FBA and ship from a single EU warehouse.
How does inventory synchronization work when selling on Amazon alongside other channels?
Inventory synchronization is the automatic process of updating your stock levels on Amazon whenever a sale occurs on any other channel – and vice versa. Without it, you risk overselling: a customer buys on bol.com, the same unit gets ordered on Amazon, and you cannot fulfill both.
The scale of this risk grows quickly. If your store processes 30-100 orders per day across three channels without synchronized inventory, a stockout or oversell event is statistically likely within days.
| Real scenario: what overselling costs you A mid-size apparel merchant selling on their own WooCommerce store and Amazon.de has 14 units of a jacket in stock. On a busy Friday evening, 9 units sell on their own store. Their Amazon listing still shows 14 units available. Six more orders come in through Amazon overnight. The merchant wakes to 5 unfulfillable Amazon orders. Consequence: order cancellations, a defect rate hit on the Amazon account, potential listing suppression, and five unhappy customers. Amazon’s Order Defect Rate (ODR) threshold is 1% – exceeding it risks account suspension. |
Effective inventory sync requires updates to reach Amazon within minutes of a sale occurring anywhere. Amazon’s API accepts stock updates in near real-time, but your store must push those updates automatically. Manual CSV uploads – even daily ones – are too slow for merchants running more than 20-30 orders per day.
Koongo syncs inventory between your Shopify or WooCommerce store and Amazon every 5, 15, or 60 minutes, depending on your plan – using Amazon’s API connection, set up through the Marketplace Manager wizard without any coding.
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What are the most common Amazon feed errors European sellers make?
Most Amazon listing errors fall into a predictable set of categories. Knowing them in advance lets you build your product data correctly the first time, rather than diagnosing suppressed listings after going live.
| Error type | Why it happens | How to fix it |
| Invalid or missing GTIN | Product uses internal SKU, not EAN/UPC from GS1 | Apply for a GS1 GTIN exemption or register your GTINs |
| Title too long / formatted incorrectly | Copy-pasting from own webshop without reformatting | Apply Amazon’s title formula: brand + product type + key attributes + size/colour |
| Wrong browse node / category | Guessing the closest category instead of using Amazon’s taxonomy tool | Use Amazon’s Product Classifier or review the browse tree guide for your marketplace |
| Missing mandatory category attributes | Not reviewing the category-specific required fields | Download the Category Listing Report before setting up your Amazon integration |
| Price mismatch with detail page | Feed price differs from what shows on the listing | Ensure VAT handling matches the marketplace’s price display rules |
| Image below minimum resolution | Using the same image as your webshop (often too small) | Re-export images at 1000 x 1000 px minimum; 2000 x 2000 px recommended |
| Restricted product flag | Listing a regulated category without prior approval | Apply for category ungating through Seller Central before submitting the feed |
How do you set up an Amazon product feed from Shopify or WooCommerce?
A quick note on terminology: when merchants talk about setting up an “Amazon product feed”, they usually mean the process of getting their product data into Amazon and keeping it synced. Technically, Amazon does not use a traditional product feed file. Koongo handles this via a direct API connection through the Marketplace Manager wizard. The steps below cover how that works in practice.
Setting up a product feed for Amazon means mapping your existing product data from Shopify or WooCommerce to Amazon’s required attribute structure, then keeping that data synchronized automatically. This is not a one-time CSV export – it is an ongoing, live connection.
The process breaks down into four practical stages:
- Attribute mapping: Your store uses fields like “product name”, “description”, and “SKU”. Amazon requires “title”, “bullet_points”, and “external_product_id” (your GTIN/EAN). The mapping step translates between the two, category by category.
- Category assignment: Each product must be assigned to Amazon’s browse node taxonomy. A wrong category assignment results in missing mandatory attributes and listing suppression.
- Image validation: Amazon requires the main image to have a white background and be at least 1000 x 1000 pixels. Images that pass your webshop standards often fail Amazon’s stricter requirements.
- Price and VAT alignment: Amazon’s European marketplaces display VAT-inclusive prices. If your store exports net prices, the feed must apply the correct VAT rate before submission.
Manual CSV feeds uploaded through Seller Central can handle initial listing creation, but they cannot maintain real-time inventory sync. Amazon’s Selling Partner API (SP-API) enables near real-time synchronization of products, inventory, pricing, and orders, making it the preferred integration method for merchants selling across multiple channels. Stores processing more than 20 orders per day typically benefit from an API-based connection rather than scheduled file uploads.
Koongo handles all four stages through the Marketplace Manager wizard not via CSV file uploads, but through a direct API connection to Amazon’s Selling Partner API. You connect your Shopify or WooCommerce store, select the Amazon marketplace, and the wizard walks through category mapping, attribute alignment, and image validation rules. Once live, any product change in your store is pushed to Amazon automatically through the API no manual exports needed.
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How do you manage orders across Amazon and your other sales channels?
Once your Amazon listings are live and orders start arriving, you need a clear system for processing them without confusion. Amazon orders and your own webshop orders arriving in separate dashboards is manageable at 5-10 orders per day. At 50+ orders per day across three or more channels, operating from multiple dashboards becomes a bottleneck.
The standard approach for growing merchants is to route all marketplace orders back into their primary store platform Shopify or WooCommerce – where a single fulfillment workflow handles everything. This gives you one inventory view, one shipping workflow, and one place to check order status.
Steps to set up a functional multi-channel order workflow
- Connect your store platform to Amazon via API integration – this is what syncs product data, inventory, and orders between the two systems.
- Configure order sync so that new Amazon orders automatically appear in your Shopify or WooCommerce order management dashboard.
- Set up shipping confirmation sync so that when you mark an order as shipped in your store, Amazon is automatically notified with the tracking number.
- Configure inventory deduction so that each Amazon order immediately reduces available stock across all your connected channels.
- Set buffer stock rules – for example, if your real stock is 10 units, show only 8 on Amazon to absorb processing delays and prevent last-unit oversells.
- Test the full cycle with a real low-value order before going live at scale.
What does it cost to sell on Amazon Europe, and how do you calculate profitability?
Amazon’s fee structure for European sellers consists of several layers. Understanding each one before listing is critical – many sellers discover their margins are thinner than expected only after their first sales cycle. According to Statista, Amazon accounted for over 30% of e-commerce sales in Germany, the UK, and France in 2023 – the reach justifies the fees, but only if your unit economics work.
The main cost components for European sellers on Seller Central are:
- Monthly subscription fee: EUR 39/month for a Professional seller account, which is required for API access, bulk listing, and advertising.
- Referral fee: Between 7% and 15% of the item price (including VAT where applicable), deducted per sale. Electronics typically sit at 7-8%; apparel and beauty at 15%.
- FBA fulfillment fee: Charged per unit shipped by Amazon, based on size tier and weight. A standard small item (under 400g) costs approximately EUR 2.70-3.20 per unit in fulfillment fees.
- FBA storage fee: Monthly charge per cubic metre of inventory held in Amazon’s warehouses. Long-term storage fees apply to units held for over 365 days.
- VAT: Not a fee, but a cash flow consideration. VAT collected on Amazon sales must be remitted to the relevant tax authority on a quarterly or monthly basis.
A practical profitability formula per unit: Sale price – referral fee – FBA fee – product cost – shipping to FBA warehouse – VAT payable = net margin. Run this for each product category before deciding which items to list on Amazon versus keeping exclusive to your own webshop.
Amazon’s Revenue Calculator (available in Seller Central) lets you model FBA vs FBM costs per product before committing. Run calculations for your top 20 SKUs before activating the Amazon connection – it immediately shows which items are viable and which are margin-negative at current pricing.
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Amazon’s API connection (set up via the Marketplace Manager Wizard) handles all of this automatically once configured. Although Amazon still supports traditional feed uploads for certain workflows, Koongo’s Marketplace Manager uses Amazon’s Selling Partner API (SP-API) for continuous synchronization of products, inventory, pricing, and orders.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a US company or bank account to sell on Amazon from Europe?
No. European merchants register on Amazon Seller Central as a European business. You need a valid EU business registration, a local bank account (SEPA-compatible), and a government-issued ID. A US entity is only required if you are selling exclusively on amazon.com and wish to use FBA in the US.
Can I sell on multiple Amazon marketplaces with one account?
Yes. Amazon’s European Seller Account covers amazon.de, amazon.fr, amazon.es, amazon.it, amazon.nl, amazon.pl, amazon.se, and amazon.co.uk through a unified Seller Central. You can list on some or all marketplaces from one account and manage everything from a single dashboard.
What is the difference between FBA and FBM for European sellers?
FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) means you send inventory to Amazon’s warehouse and Amazon handles shipping, returns, and customer service. FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) means you ship each order yourself. FBA gives you Prime eligibility and typically better Buy Box performance, but requires sending stock to Amazon’s fulfillment centers – which triggers VAT registration in the countries where your goods are stored.
How long does it take to get approved as a new Amazon seller in Europe?
The identity verification process typically takes 1-3 business days for straightforward applications. Additional verification steps – such as video verification or document review – can extend this to 1-2 weeks. Restricted product categories require separate ungating approval, which varies by category from a few days to several weeks.
What fees does Amazon charge European sellers?
Amazon charges a monthly Professional seller fee (approximately EUR 39/month), plus referral fees per sale ranging from 7% to 15% of the item price depending on category. FBA sellers also pay fulfillment fees per unit based on size and weight, plus storage fees for inventory held in Amazon warehouses. These costs should be modeled per product category before deciding which items to list.
Can I connect my existing WooCommerce or Shopify store to Amazon?
Yes. Both Shopify and WooCommerce can connect to Amazon via API integration. This syncs your product catalog, inventory levels, and orders between your store and Amazon automatically – without manual data entry. The integration is configured through a step-by-step wizard and handles listing creation, inventory deduction, and order import in both directions.
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| Ready to connect your store to Amazon? Koongo connects your Shopify or WooCommerce store to Amazon via API – syncing products, inventory, and orders automatically. Plans start from EUR 24/month with a 7-day free trial or try the free plan to get started with no commitment. No credit card required to start. Set up your first Amazon integration and see how much time you save in the first week. |
