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Irish Seller – Stuck Inventory in UK FBA & No Way to Recover It Without UK VAT?
Hi everyone,
I’m an Irish-based seller looking for advice on what feels like an impossible situation with FBA in the UK. I have several hundred units of my product stored in Amazon’s UK fulfilment centre, but my seller account has been deactivated due to not having a UK VAT number.
I do have an Irish VAT number, but Amazon seems to require a UK VAT number just because the stock is physically stored in the UK — even though I’m not actively selling there anymore. The problem is, I can’t legally get a UK VAT number without establishing a UK entity, which I don’t have and don’t intend to set up.
Support keeps telling me to create a removal order, but because my account is deactivated, I can’t access that functionality. They also confirmed Amazon no longer facilitates cross-border inventory movements from UK to the EU due to Brexit, so the inventory can’t be transferred to an EU fulfilment centre either.
At this stage, I just want to get my stock back — ideally sent to Ireland — but Amazon is saying the only way is to ship it to a UK address and then organise my own courier from there. Of course, I can’t even create the removal order to a UK address because of the account block.
I’ve gone back and forth with support multiple times. One person said to raise a ticket to escalate it. Another said they can’t help unless I register for UK VAT. It’s incredibly frustrating, especially since I just want to recover my own property and not leave it sitting there racking up storage fees or being disposed of.
Has anyone else faced this? Is there any workaround — maybe through a courier release or third-party fulfilment service — that worked for you? Any tips on how to deal with this, or who at Amazon might actually help, would be really appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
4 replies
Seller_k2X0L9mVRT0pW
there is NO workaround- you HAVE to be UK Vat registered. This is a LEGAL requirement and Amazon have no choice but to make their sellers conform to their legal responsibilities.
Seller_MT8rt0A2OpbCx
On HRMC website, you don't have to have have a UK entity. For NETPs:
"When you register, you’ll be registered at the address of your ‘principal place of business’. This is where orders are received and the day-to-day running of the business takes place. It must be outside the UK and should not be a third-party address, such as mailing forwarding or registered office address."
access.service.gov.uk/login/signin/creds (add www"dot" at the start)
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