Amazon UK and Amazon EU for US brands: what your seller account doesn't cover

For a US brand already selling on Amazon.com, the UK and the EU look like the easiest next step. One seller account can list your products on Amazon.co.uk and on Amazon's EU stores, including Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.it, Amazon.es, Amazon.nl, Amazon.se, Amazon.pl and Amazon.com.be. Amazon will even store and ship the stock for you.

What the account doesn't do is make your business ready for two markets. Someone still has to import the goods, register for VAT, take legal responsibility for the products and answer customers in their language. Here is what sits behind the listing.

One account, two separate markets

Since 1 January 2021, the UK has not been part of Amazon's Pan-European FBA program. In practice, the UK and the EU run as two markets behind one login:

• Two inventories. Stock in a UK fulfillment center serves Amazon.co.uk. Stock in the EU serves the EU stores.
• Two customs borders. Goods moving from the US into the UK, from the US into the EU, or between the UK and the EU are imported each time.
• Two VAT systems. HMRC in the UK, and a separate registration in each EU country where you store goods.
• Two sets of product rules. The EU's rules and the UK's own rules, which are close but not identical.

Three ways to fulfill Amazon orders in the UK and the EU

Pan-European FBA is the usual route for brands that want to sell across the EU. You send stock to one country, and Amazon moves it between its fulfillment centers. You must allow storage in at least two of Germany, France, Italy, Spain or Poland, and list the same SKU in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. Since 3 September 2026, Pan-European products also need an active offer in the Netherlands, and from 26 February 2027, in Belgium too.

The catch is VAT. Amazon requires a VAT number in each country where your goods are stored. Two storage countries mean at least two EU VAT registrations, each with its own returns.

Remote Fulfillment between the UK and the EU lets you keep stock on one side of the border and sell on the other. Amazon ships the order across the border, collects VAT and import duties from the customer at checkout, and the customer is the importer. It is a low-commitment way to test demand, with limits: it only works between the UK and Germany, France, Italy and Spain, it uses cross-border fees, and every order crosses a customs border. Returns go back to the fulfillment center the order came from.

Your own 3PL. If you also sell through your own store, a UK or EU 3PL can fulfill both channels, and you can still use FBA where it pays off. Still shipping parcels from the US? The EU's €3 parcel duty changed that math in July 2026.

VAT: Amazon collects it, but you still register

Both the UK and the EU make the marketplace responsible for VAT on many sales by overseas sellers. That does not remove your own registrations.

In the UK, Amazon is liable for the VAT on goods of any value that are in the UK at the point of sale and sold by an overseas business. You still owe import VAT and customs duty when the stock arrives. Registering for UK VAT lets you reclaim that import VAT, and you must register if you sell to UK businesses.

In the EU, a marketplace is treated as the supplier for VAT when a seller established outside the EU sells goods already in the EU to consumers. The stock itself still creates obligations: importing it, storing it in a country and moving it between EU countries are all events you report. That is why Pan-European FBA requires a VAT number in each storage country. The EU's VAT in the Digital Age reforms, adopted in 2025, will add a special scheme for these transfers of your own goods, phased in over the coming years. Until it applies, plan for one registration per storage country.

Our guide to UK and EU VAT for US brands covers OSS, IOSS and fiscal representatives in detail.

Amazon doesn't import your stock

Amazon is the delivery address, not the importer. Amazon has said it will not act as importer of record for FBA inventory, so every shipment into a UK or EU fulfillment center needs one: your own company, or a customs broker acting as your indirect representative, with the right EORI number (GB for the UK, an EU number for the EU).

In our experience, many brokers will not act as indirect representative for an overseas seller they don't know, because they share liability for the duties. This is usually the point where a UK or EU company starts to make sense: it imports in its own name, holds the VAT registrations and reclaims the import VAT. Our decision guide, do US brands need a UK or EU company?, walks through it.

We have run the UK and EU side for US brands selling on Amazon UK and through Pan-European FBA: the company, the VAT registrations and the imports into Amazon's fulfillment centers.

Product rules apply on Amazon too

Amazon checks compliance at the listing level and blocks or removes listings that fall short.

• EU product safety (GPSR). Most consumer products sold in the EU need an economic operator established in the EU, named on the product and in every online listing. Our GPSR guide for US brands explains what the listing must show.
• Cosmetics. A Responsible Person in the UK and one for the EU, and a product notification on each side before sale. The marketplace is not your Responsible Person. Our guide to selling cosmetics in the UK and the EU covers the details.
• Food supplements follow their own notification and claims rules in each market.
• Packaging and EPR. In Germany, you need a packaging registration number (LUCID), and in France, an EPR registration for each category that applies. Amazon asks sellers to upload these numbers and suspends listings without them. Other EU countries and the UK run packaging schemes of their own.
• Great Britain is outside the EU's GPSR, but its own sector rules still apply, for example to cosmetics, toys and electrical goods.

Listings, prices and customers

• Language. Each EU store needs a listing in its language. Machine translation misses size conventions, claims and safety warnings, and warnings often have to be in the local language by law.
• Prices. Consumer prices in the UK and the EU include VAT. Set prices per store, not by currency conversion.
• Consumer rights. Amazon's returns process does not replace your legal obligations. EU consumers have a legal guarantee of at least two years on goods, and UK consumers have their rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
• Customer messages. Buyers on Amazon.de and Amazon.fr write in German and French, and they expect a fast answer. Product questions, complaints and warranty claims land with you, not with Amazon. Multilingual customer support that knows your products protects your ratings in every store.

What a seller account doesn't cover

• An importer and EORI number for each market where you store goods
• UK VAT registration, to reclaim import VAT and sell to businesses
• A VAT number in every EU country where Amazon stores your stock
• An EU responsible operator named on products and listings
• Sector registrations, such as cosmetics Responsible Persons and notifications
• Packaging EPR numbers for Germany and France, and other schemes that apply
• Listings and safety warnings in each store's language
• VAT-inclusive prices set per market
• Customer support in your buyers' languages, with a route for complaints and returns

Where to start

You don't need all of Amazon's European stores on day one. A path that keeps the risk low:

1. Start with Amazon.co.uk and FBA in the UK: one language, one VAT registration, one importer.
2. Use Remote Fulfillment to test demand in Germany, France, Italy and Spain from your UK stock.
3. Move to Pan-European FBA once EU demand justifies EU stock and EU VAT registrations.

It is the same logic as testing the UK first: one market, a clear review point, then scale. With Your European Office, we set up and run the company, VAT, imports, 3PL and customer support for each market, so your Amazon account has a working business behind it.

Questions

Can I sell on Amazon UK and Amazon in the EU with one account?

Yes. One seller account can cover Amazon.co.uk and Amazon's EU stores. Inventory, VAT, importing and product rules are still separate for the UK and the EU.

Do I need to register for VAT if Amazon collects it?

Usually, yes. Pan-European FBA requires a VAT number in each EU country where your stock is stored, and a UK VAT registration lets you reclaim the import VAT you pay when stock arrives in the UK.

Does Pan-European FBA include the UK?

No. The UK left the program on 1 January 2021. Remote Fulfillment connects the UK with Germany, France, Italy and Spain, with the customer as the importer.

Do I need a UK or EU company to sell on Amazon there?

Not always. You need an importer, the right VAT registrations and a responsible operator for your products. A local company makes all three simpler once you hold stock in the UK or the EU.

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; check the current position before acting.

Sources

• Amazon: Sell across Europe
• Amazon: Pan-European FBA
• Amazon: Remote Fulfilment between the UK and the EU
• Amazon Seller Central: Import and export inventory
• Amazon Seller Forums (Amazon news): EPR registration numbers for Germany and France
• GOV.UK: VAT and overseas goods sold to customers in the UK using online marketplaces
• EUR-Lex: Council Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of VAT (Article 14a)
• EUR-Lex: Council Directive (EU) 2017/2455, which added Article 14a
• European Commission: EU VAT rules for e-commerce, five years on
• EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety
• EUR-Lex: Directive (EU) 2019/771 on contracts for the sale of goods
• legislation.gov.uk: Consumer Rights Act 2015