Polski
English
Deutsch
Amazon.de
The widest door of the three. Registration asks for company details with a VAT ID, an identity document, a card and a bank account; the Professional plan is 39 euro excluding VAT a month plus selling fees.
Selling in Germany from the UK, the Nordics or the Baltics: Amazon.de, Kaufland and OTTO
If your company is registered in the UK, the Nordics or the Baltics, Germany is usually the first large market you look at. What decides whether you can start is the paperwork, and the order you do it in. And not every German channel accepts a seller registered outside Germany.
What we can take on
- Choosing the channels open to a company registered where yours is
- Opening and running the accounts: Amazon.de, Kaufland, OTTO and the smaller German platforms
- Listings, product data and service written in German, not translated into it
VAT and OSS filings, EPR registrations, warehousing and returns are run by partners we choose and hold to their deadlines.
Selling into Germany at a glance
- Who can sell where
- Amazon and Kaufland register companies from outside Germany. OTTO does not: it asks for a registered office in “Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, France or Spain”, with the company’s own VAT ID from that country.
- Packaging, electricals, batteries
- The German packaging register is explicit that anyone distributing packaged goods in Germany has to be registered in LUCID, with dual-system participation and volume reporting as separate duties. Stiftung EAR enforces the electrical and battery law, with an authorised-representative route for companies abroad.
- A responsible person inside the EU
- Under the General Product Safety Regulation a product may only be placed on the Union market if an economic operator established in the Union is responsible for it and acts as contact point for market surveillance.
- VAT: OSS or a German number
- The One Stop Shop lets you register in one Member State and declare distance sales across the EU from there; above the EU-wide threshold of EUR 10 000 the VAT goes to the buyer’s country. The OSS return is additional, not a replacement, and stock in a German warehouse takes you past it.
Checked: September 2026 Source: otto.market – seller requirements (opens in a new tab)
Before the first listing
The order that keeps a launch from stalling
In the wrong order the quick steps wait for the slow ones, and the account is open with nothing it is allowed to list.
-
Check what your range triggers
The packaging rules catch almost anything you ship to a German customer; electricals and batteries reach further than sellers expect.
-
Start the registration that sets the pace
EAR sets the pace, so the partner opens it first; the LUCID entry and the dual-system contract run alongside.
-
Settle your responsible person in the EU
Outside the Union this is a contract you sign with a partner, in place before you offer the goods. Sellers find out about it last.
-
Match VAT to where the stock will be
Shipping from home under OSS is one answer; stock in a German fulfilment centre means a local registration.
-
Open the accounts, then keep them current
Registration numbers go in from day one, reporting gets a fixed slot, and listings and inbox are German from the start.
Channels
Which German channels take a company registered abroad
Kaufland Global Marketplace
One registration opens nine marketplaces, from Germany and Austria to France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, for 39.95 euro a month with commission of 4 to 16 per cent.
OTTO Market
Open to sellers from outside Germany, but only to companies seated in six countries, each with its own VAT ID from that country. An EU company from anywhere else is not enough, and we say so at the start.
Logistics
FBA in Germany or shipping from Poland
Two working models for a seller with no German warehouse of its own. The second runs from a partner warehouse we use in Poland, next door to the German market.
| Criterion | Stock in a German fulfilment centre most volume in one marketplace | Shipping from a partner warehouse in Poland several channels at once |
|---|---|---|
| Tax | ||
| VAT | local German registration; OSS does not replace it | distance selling settled through OSS above the EU threshold |
| Delivery | ||
| Distance to the buyer | stock already sits in the market | stock sits inside the EU, next door to the German buyer |
| Returns and stock | platform standard; stock tied to one platform | returns in German by a partner, one pool for all channels |
Stock in a German fulfilment centre
most volume in one marketplace
Tax
- VAT
- local German registration; OSS does not replace it
Delivery
- Distance to the buyer
- stock already sits in the market
- Returns and stock
- platform standard; stock tied to one platform
Shipping from a partner warehouse in Poland
several channels at once
Tax
- VAT
- distance selling settled through OSS above the EU threshold
Delivery
- Distance to the buyer
- stock sits inside the EU, next door to the German buyer
- Returns and stock
- returns in German by a partner, one pool for all channels
How we help
A small team, and you know who does what
Six of us, in Zielona Góra, next door to the German market. No call centre – the person running your account is the person you talk to.
One plan, and the accounts run
We map the duties against your assortment, brief the partners who file the registrations and keep one schedule instead of four inboxes – then the accounts themselves: verification, catalogue, pricing, metrics. Amazon Gold Agency Partner in the Amazon Europe Agency Program, Kaufland Global Marketplace partner, part of Amazon SPN.
The maths before the launch
Every channel checked against your margin before it opens. If it does not work at your prices, you hear it straight away.
Is OSS enough, or do I need a German VAT number?
OSS is additional to your domestic return and stops being enough once stock is stored in Germany. The filing is a partner’s job – ours is to make sure the decision comes before the stock moves.
Who handles the packaging and WEEE registrations?
The duty is your company’s – but you do not file it yourself. A partner we pick handles the LUCID entry, the dual-system contract, the volume reports and the EAR registration, to a schedule we keep.
More on: EPR, BDO and PPWR – environmental complianceMy company is outside the EU. What changes?
An economic operator established in the Union has to be responsible for the product, and EPR registrations from abroad run through an authorised representative. Both start first, and we give no launch date.
More on: EPR, BDO and PPWR – environmental complianceSee also
Selling on Allegro from abroad: how a foreign company gets in
Marketplace agency for selling across Europe
Selling in Poland from abroad: Allegro, Amazon.pl and the rest
Temu in Europe for UK and EU brands: what to settle first
Selling in Germany
Selling on Amazon
Selling on Kaufland
Selling on OTTO
EPR, BDO and PPWR – environmental compliance
Marketplace launch
Let’s check what Germany looks like for your products
Thirty minutes of honest talk about your marketplace sales – no pitch about us, no obligations. We’ll reply by e-mail and suggest a time for the call.