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Amazon FBA · Europe
Replenishment that arrives cleared, labelled and booked in.
FBA is the one case where our default DDP setup is usually the wrong answer — and saying so before you book saves both of us a month.
- Countries
- DE · FR · IT · ES · PL
- Entry in
- Your VAT number
- Transit
- 3–5 days air
- Prep
- Labels and pallets
- POD
- Signed, per facility
The catch
FBA is the exception, and it is worth understanding why.
On a normal DDP shipment we are the importer of record: the entry is in our name, we settle the duty and the import VAT, and you receive goods that are already cleared. It is simple, and for most importers it is the right answer.
FBA breaks that model. The stock is your inventory, sitting in an Amazon fulfilment centre under your seller account. If the import entry is in our name, the VAT sits in our VAT position, which means you cannot reclaim it — and the paper trail between the entry and your stock record no longer lines up. Amazon’s own requirements assume you are the importer.
If you are a VAT-registered seller, the honest setup is: your VAT number on the entry, your EORI, and a freight service that handles everything else. That is what we quote for FBA — not the all-inclusive DDP product from the rest of this site.
Two ways
Which setup fits your account.
| Entry in your name | Entry in our name | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it suits | Registered sellers, regular replenishment | First trial shipment, no VAT registration yet |
| VAT reclaim | Yes, by you | No |
| What you need | EU VAT number + EORI | Nothing |
| Stock record | Clean: entry matches inventory | Entry and inventory sit under different parties |
| Amazon compliance | Matches their assumptions | Tolerated for trials, awkward at scale |
We quote both, and we will tell you which one your volume justifies. What we will not do is sell you the all-inclusive version and let you discover the VAT point in month three.
Destinations
Five markets, one shipment plan.
Most sellers start with Germany and add markets as registrations come through. Splitting a shipment across countries is normal; splitting it across the wrong countries is expensive.
Germany and France
The two biggest markets by volume, and the two where buyers are least tolerant of a late arrival. Ship by air when a listing is at risk; road truck when the replenishment is planned.
Italy, Spain, Poland
Smaller per-capita volume but often less competitive. Poland is also the cheapest place to hold stock and the entry point for much of the road freight coming west.
Enrolling in a Pan-European programme means Amazon can move your stock between countries, which generally requires VAT registrations in every country it might store in. That is a decision for your tax adviser, and it should be made before the first pallet leaves China — retrofitting registrations to stock already sitting in a facility is the expensive order of operations.
Prep
Where FBA shipments actually fail.
Almost never in transit. Nearly always at the packing bench or at the appointment window.
Labels
- FNSKU on every unit, scannable, not covered by tape or shrink wrap
- Carton labels on the outside, matching the shipment plan
- No mixed SKUs in one carton unless individually labelled and declared
Cartons and pallets
- Carton weight and pallet height limits are published per marketplace and do change — check Seller Central before packing, not after
- At the time of writing, cartons are commonly capped around 23 kg and pallets around 180 cm including the base
- Pallet edges protected, load stable, no overhang
We can label and palletise at our China warehouse, which is usually cheaper than doing it in Europe and far cheaper than a rejected delivery. Send us the label files and the shipment plan and we will prep to that spec — but the plan itself has to come from your Seller Central account.
Delivery
The appointment is the part people underestimate.
A fulfilment centre takes deliveries by appointment, in a window it sets. Miss the window and the load can be turned away or held at your cost, and the units do not become available for sale until it is rebooked.
We book the appointment, deliver inside it, and send you the signed POD with the delivery reference so the shipment reconciles against your plan. What we cannot do is make Amazon receive the units faster after they are on the dock — receiving times are theirs, and we will not pretend otherwise.
Which vehicle arrives depends on the volume. A few cartons go in by UPS or FedEx. A palletised shipment arrives on a truck, inside the slot the facility gave us. Anything over the facility’s receiving limits — an oversized single unit, for instance — is refused at the gate whoever drives it, so that is worth checking before the goods leave China rather than after they land.
Questions
Four things sellers ask about FBA.
Can you deliver straight into an Amazon fulfilment centre?
Yes — we book the appointment, deliver inside the window and return the signed POD with the delivery reference. What we cannot do is influence how quickly Amazon receives the units after that point.
Why can’t you be importer of record for my FBA stock?
Because the inventory is yours, and an entry in our name puts the VAT in our VAT position rather than yours. For a seller that needs the stock on its own books and the VAT reclaimed, the entry has to be in your name — which means your EORI and your VAT registration.
Do I need VAT registrations in every country?
In every country where Amazon stores your stock, yes. Pan-European programmes typically require registrations across several member states, and that is a tax decision to take before the first shipment, not after.
What gets an FBA delivery refused?
In practice: labels that will not scan, cartons over the weight limit, pallets over the height limit, mixed SKUs in one carton without labelling, and arriving outside the appointment window. All four are avoidable at the packing stage.