How to sell again in Germany?
Is there an easy way?
I think everyone’s situation can be different but there are only so many scenarios I guess.
I read one post that said. “Send inventory to France and Pan-EU to Germany?”. How does that help? Perhaps it was specific to that seller’s situation.
We’re not VAT registered. We can post DDP. It seems we cannot use our UK FBA stock either.
I sent this message to Amazon:-
They responded with this (no mention of OSS - which actually appears in an article on their help pages though I’ve no idea if that info is out-of-date as it wouldn’t be the first time info on help pages was…)
I’ve no idea why they have put links to reserved inventory in their reply. Just adds to my general confusion.
I half expected the answer to come back and say you can use EFN to sell products into Germany from our FBA stock or some other solution.
Seems like a bit of a rabbit hole.
All we want to do is sell one item into Germany at present and it is NEFF so it probably came from Germany in the first place though not sure on Country of Origin without checking.
Germans love their Neff, Bosch and Siemens.
Even if we registered for VAT in Germany would that help? The other half really doesn’t want to go there.
Here is what we sent to Tax Office Hannover-Nord yesterday (no response as yet):-
And here is the text if anyone wants to translate it (though I am not sure how good Google Translate is):-
Guten Tag.
Ich hoffe ich finde hier eine Antwort, falls dieses email and the falsche Addresse verschickt wurde waere ich sehr dankbar fuer eine Alternative Anlaufstelle.
Im Oktober 2019 wurden wir von Amazon für den Verkauf aus dem Vereinigten Königreich nach Deutschland gesperrt, weil wir den PAN-europäischen Versand durch Amazon deaktiviert hatten.
Nach Brexit und dem Ausstieg der UK war der Versand nach Europa sehr unklar und ungewiss.
Am 25. Sept. 2019 kaufte ein deutscher Kunde einen Artikel im Wert von 66 Euro und entschied sich, den Artikel zurückzugeben da dieser nicht kompatible war. Dies is kein Problem allerdings landete dieser Artikel aufgrund der Amazon-Richtlinien in einem deutschen Warenhaus. Wir sind kein Mega-Unternehmen und haben kein eigenes Warenhaus in EU-Laendern. Dieser Artikel wurde letztendlich zerstoert da Amazon sich weigerte den Artikel nach UK weiterzuleiten.
Amazon besteht auf einer Mwst-Nummer fuer DE, allerdings erreichen wir zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt noch nicht den Schwellenwert für die Umsatzsteuerregistrierung in UK und wir gehen davon aus das wir auch niemals den Schwellenwert von 10.000 für deutsche Verkäufe erreichen werden.
Können Sie uns sagen, was wir tun müssen und welche Voraussetzungen wir erfüllen müssen, um den Verkauf an deutsche Verbraucher fortzusetzen/wieder aufzunehmen? Eine Mwst-Nummer kann ja nicht ausgestellt werden wenn diese nicht benoetigt wird?
Ich bedanke mich jetzt schon fuer Ihre Zeit.
49 replies
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
you’ve 3 options
- FBM - you don’t need VAT in germany but will need to send IOSS or DDP
- EFN from UK Stock - no VAT required again
- Send stock to German FBA warehouses - you’ll need VAT, and importer of record and fiscal representation
Seller_wqciCXuQbNS4p
Option two, EFN, would be you’re easiest solution.
However, look very, very carefully at the fee structure. It doesn’t come cheap.
Seller_fFylOZ9rejlBH
For avoidance of doubt:-
These are our current settings.
So all I need to do is tick Enable under List your products across Europe and this will enable EFN from UK FBA stock into Germany only?
I know I sound stupid at times but a picture paints a thousand words and I hope my pedantic nature helps someone else in the future (with exactly my doubts) with the brilliant support received from you folks.
I know there is also talk about Build International Listings but I cannot find that anywhere.
Seller_esvgLzKXw2YAl
Sorry, not read the whole post, but to answer your questions.
Firstly, the quote about sending to France, for distribution into Germany, is more to do with customs etc as it harder to ship direct into Germany. There are a lot more issues. Far easier, to send to France and use PANEU, to spread the goods between the countries. As it stands, you only need to register for two countries to use this.
There is a way of shipping via an Amazon program to the EU centres.
You will have to look it up as I don’t have the link currently.
You have a few options.
- Use standard FBM to ship direct to customers.
- Use EFN, where Amazon will ship from the UK direct to customers for you. Prices are expensive for this and not all products are eligible.
- Register for VAT in 1 or more countries and ship direct, using FBA centres.
With this comes the need to register for EPR and you will fiscal representation.
Seller_fFylOZ9rejlBH
Guys! Thank you very much. I think I probably have ALL the information I need here to be able to make a decision and try and improve sales.
You’ve been immensely helpful and accommodating and patient as usual so thank you for that patience especially as I feel like I am on the edge at the moment. Well. I’ve been here for the last 18 months sometimes with my head in the sand.
