Selling alcohol in the European marketplaces
We are a company based in the UK and we are considering selling alcohol on the four European marketplaces. We would be dispatching the products ourselves. Has anyone else got any experience doing this? Would we have to register in Germany, France, Italy and Spain with the tax authorities, even if we are under the VAT threshold?
10 replies
Seller_EJIX7rqDNQJi2
Firstly, make sure to obtain a permission from Amazon to sell alcohol on their site, if you haven’t already done so.
Once you are confident that you will be able to list your items for sale, contact a professional tax advisor prior to selling anything.
Seller_cJms0GbotqqtV
To sell alcohol you will require the relevant licence in each country. You will certainly have to register with the tax authorities, whether or not you reach the VAT threshold, because other duties may be payable on the products you are selling. And you will need permission from Amazon. Getting such permission is very difficult - other threads have suggested that Amazon are not currently accepting applications - and will require you to submit documents showing that you have the necessary licences.
Paul
Seller_cWI0otGdGDBbu
Regardless of thresholds if you sell even one unit into any other European country you will need to register for VAT in that country. You need to weigh up whether this extra work is worth it for your sales. Been there, got the t-shirt.
Seller_eGKchd347dDW0
I would advice to start from UK, make sure you get all Amazon permisions to sell.
IF you are lucky as this is a big big doubt.Than you can go further.
As last time i have read Amazon are not taking new apllications.Might be different now, but for sure its not easy, so be prepared.
Seller_8EYlOGTRPl1ow
We are VAT registered in the UK, and we already have Amazon’s permission to sell. But then if we need to register with each local tax authority even for a couple of bottles of wines, then that is not really worth it atm
Seller_MKi6wqe68YZuu
Good luck selling alcohol to Spain. The supermarkets often sell it cheaper than the wholesalers.
