FLEX. Fulfillment
We provide logistics services to online retailers in Europe: Amazon FBA prep, processing FBA removal orders, forwarding to Fulfillment Centers - both FBA and Vendor shipments.
This guide is for sellers based outside the European Union — in the UK, US, Hong Kong, Australia or elsewhere — who are planning to sell on Amazon Europe or ship inventory to EU fulfilment centres for the first time. It covers every step you need to take before your first sale: account setup, VAT registration, product compliance, logistics onboarding and your first inbound shipment.
Getting Started
Start by creating an Amazon EU Seller Central account — a single Unified Account covers all European marketplaces. Then choose your first marketplace: Amazon.de (Germany) is the largest EU market, but Amazon.fr and Amazon.pl are strong alternatives depending on your product category. At the same time, not after, start your logistics setup: you need an EU address for your GPSR responsible person, and you need to decide whether to ship directly to Amazon FBA or use a prep centre as a buffer. Waiting until after your account is approved to sort logistics adds 6 to 10 weeks of unnecessary delay. A FBA prep centre in Germany for non-EU sellers can serve as your EU address and handle inbound preparation from day one.
No. You do not need to register a European legal entity. However, you do need three things that a local company would normally provide: an EU VAT number (required before you store goods in the EU), a GPSR responsible person with an EU address (required for all consumer products), and a way to file European tax returns. Many non-EU sellers handle this through a fiscal representative for VAT and an authorised representative for GPSR — both services available without forming a company. The GPSR and responsible person requirements for non-EU brands page covers what each involves.
Plan for 8 to 14 weeks from a standing start to your first EU sale. The main time driver is VAT registration, which takes 4 to 8 weeks with the German Finanzamt or equivalent in your chosen country. While that runs, you can complete GPSR responsible person appointment (1 to 2 weeks), onboard with a prep centre (1 to 2 weeks), and prepare your first shipment. Amazon account verification typically takes 1 to 5 business days. The practical advice: start VAT registration on day one, and run everything else in parallel.
Germany is the right first market for most non-EU sellers — it is the largest Amazon marketplace in the EU, has the most developed FBA fulfilment centre network, and Hamburg gives you direct container import routes from Asia. France is the second largest EU marketplace and covers Southern Europe well. Poland is worth considering if cost efficiency matters: warehousing and prep costs are materially lower, and Amazon.pl is growing quickly. The EU fulfillment hub comparison for non-EU brands walks through the decision in detail.
VAT and Tax
Yes — and you need one per EU country where you store goods. If you use Amazon FBA in Germany only, you need a German VAT number. If your inventory is placed in multiple countries through Pan-EU FBA, you need VAT registration in each. For B2C sales of goods under €150 shipped directly from outside the EU, you also need IOSS registration. VAT registration typically takes 4 to 8 weeks — start it before your shipment departs, not after it lands. The EU VAT and IOSS guide for non-EU Amazon sellers explains the full system.
IOSS (Import One-Stop Shop) applies when you ship individual goods valued under €150 directly from outside the EU to EU consumers. With IOSS, you collect VAT at checkout and file a single monthly return covering all EU sales. Without it, customs collects VAT from your customer at delivery — creating delays and a poor buyer experience. If you import goods in bulk to an EU warehouse first and fulfil from there, IOSS does not apply: you pay import VAT at the EU border and charge domestic VAT on sales. Most Amazon FBA sellers import in bulk, so IOSS is typically only relevant for direct-ship or dropship models. See the overview of B2C and B2B fulfillment in Europe for how fulfilment channel affects your VAT treatment.
Product Compliance
The EU General Product Safety Regulation came into force on 13 December 2024 and applies to virtually all consumer products sold in the EU — including via Amazon. As a non-EU seller it requires: an EU responsible person named on your product or packaging, a product traceability system (batch or serial number, manufacturer details), and documentation confirming your product is safe. Amazon enforces GPSR at listing level — without a valid responsible person detail, Amazon can suppress your listing. The GPSR compliance guide for non-EU brands covers all requirements in detail.
The GPSR responsible person is an EU-based natural or legal person who can be held accountable for product safety. They hold your technical documentation, respond to market surveillance authorities, and take corrective action if a safety issue arises. For non-EU sellers, this is almost always an appointed EU representative — it does not need to be a company you own. Many prep centres and compliance services offer this as a service. The responsible person must have a genuine EU address, be named on your product packaging, and hold the technical file for your product. Costs are typically a fixed annual fee per product category.
EU packaging requirements include: the product name, the manufacturer's name and registered address, the EU address of the GPSR responsible person, a batch or lot number for traceability, safety warnings in the language of the destination country, and CE marking where applicable (electrical products, toys, personal protective equipment and other regulated categories). This information must appear on the product or its packaging — not just on the Amazon listing. Amazon may request documentation confirming labelling compliance for regulated categories during the listing approval process.
Logistics Setup
A prep centre is a third-party warehouse that receives your inbound shipment, prepares it to Amazon's requirements, and forwards it to Amazon FCs. For non-EU sellers, a prep centre solves three problems: it gives you an EU delivery address (Amazon does not accept direct shipments from non-EU origins for most product types), it handles FBA prep — FNSKU labelling, poly-bagging, palletising — that Amazon would otherwise charge you to complete, and it acts as a buffer warehouse where you can hold inventory outside Amazon's restock limits. FLEX. offers an FBA prep centre in Europe with locations in Germany and Poland.
Germany is the default choice: the largest FC network in Europe, Hamburg port access, and the highest-volume EU marketplace. Poland is the right choice if cost efficiency is a priority — prep and storage costs are significantly lower, and Wrocław gives excellent Amazon.pl and Amazon.de reach. France suits sellers whose primary market is Amazon.fr or who want Southern EU coverage. Many sellers start with Germany and add Poland once volume grows. FLEX. offers warehouse services in Germany and Poland under a single onboarding process.
You almost certainly need pre-Amazon storage, at least initially. Amazon imposes restock limits per ASIN that restrict how much inventory a new seller can hold at FBA — as a new seller with no sales history, these limits are tight. Sending a full container directly to FBA risks having most of it rejected or placed in a long receiving queue. Pre-Amazon storage lets you hold buffer stock outside FBA, send portions as your limits allow, and avoid long-term storage fees on slow-moving inventory. It is also significantly cheaper per unit per month than FBA storage. Pre-Amazon storage in Europe at FLEX. operates from Germany and Poland with no minimum commitment.
Amazon-Specific Setup
Yes, but it requires VAT registration in multiple EU countries — typically Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic. Pan-EU allows Amazon to distribute your inventory across its European FC network for faster delivery times and lower local fulfilment fees. Most non-EU sellers starting out use Single Country mode first — stock in Germany, fulfilled to German customers, with EFN covering cross-border orders at a slightly higher fee. Once EU operations are established and VAT registrations are in place, switching to Pan-EU is straightforward.
A single Seller Central account covering all European Amazon marketplaces: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Belgium. The UK requires a separate registration post-Brexit. You register once and access all marketplaces from one dashboard. Listings created in one marketplace can be pushed to others automatically with translation options. You still need separate VAT registrations per country where you store goods or meet local thresholds, but the account structure itself is unified. This is the standard account type — you do not register separately per country.
Amazon's verification requires: a government-issued ID for the account owner (passport or national ID), proof of business registration in your home country, a bank statement or bank letter showing account holder name and address, a valid credit card for billing, and a phone number for SMS verification. If you have a VAT number, provide it during registration — if not, complete registration and add it before your first sale. Verification typically takes 1 to 5 business days but can take longer if Amazon requests additional documentation.
Your First Shipment
The standard workflow via a prep centre: (1) create an inbound shipment plan in Seller Central — this generates your FNSKU labels and tells Amazon how many units to expect; (2) ship to your prep centre address, not to Amazon — freight clears customs at Hamburg or another EU port, then trucks to the prep centre; (3) the prep centre receives, inspects, labels and packages your goods to Amazon's requirements; (4) the prep centre builds Euro pallets (80×120cm) and books an Amazon inbound appointment; (5) Amazon confirms a delivery window and the prep centre dispatches. FLEX. handles steps 3 to 5 as part of its standard Amazon FBA prep services in Europe.
Before your shipment arrives, FLEX. needs: your SKU list with unit counts, box dimensions and gross weights, FNSKU barcodes or EAN codes for each product, the Amazon inbound shipment plan ID from Seller Central, and a commercial invoice and packing list for customs clearance. For products subject to hazmat classification or product compliance checks, additional documentation may be required. FLEX. has an onboarding form that collects everything in one step — fill it in once and use it as the template for subsequent shipments.
Standard customs clearance for courier and air freight takes 3 to 5 business days. Sea freight containers take 3 to 7 business days depending on port, product category, and whether a physical inspection is triggered. Delays are most commonly caused by incomplete documentation (missing commercial invoice, incorrect declared value, wrong HS codes) and restricted product categories (electronics with batteries, cosmetics, food). FLEX. works with licensed customs brokers for all inbound clearances. See the guide to customs clearance for online sellers in Europe for more detail.
The five most common first-shipment mistakes: (1) wrong FNSKU label format — too small, wrong barcode type, or not covering the original barcode; (2) missing or incorrect commercial invoice — underdeclared values and vague product descriptions are the most common triggers for customs holds; (3) wrong pallet format — EU FCs require 80×120cm Euro pallets, not 40×48 inch US pallets; (4) no responsible person address on packaging — Amazon will reject listings without it even after goods have arrived; (5) sending full container quantities directly to FBA without checking restock limits first. A test shipment identifies issues before they apply at scale. Amazon FBA prep in Germany covers the prep process in detail.
Scaling Up
Once your first shipment is live and generating sales, the next steps are: expand to EFN (European Fulfilment Network) to reach French, Italian and Spanish buyers from German stock without needing local inventory; establish a regular replenishment cadence with your prep centre; explore a non-Amazon channel (Shopify, own website) fulfilled from the same EU warehouse to reduce dependency on Amazon's fee structure; and evaluate whether Pan-EU FBA is worth the additional VAT registrations at your current volume. As your EU business grows, your prep centre becomes your operational backbone — the value of an established ecommerce fulfillment service in Europe extends well beyond the first shipment.
Related Services
Not sure where to start? Here are the most relevant FLEX. services for non-EU sellers entering the EU market:
FBA Prep in Germany — single-unit prep, FNSKU labelling, pallet builds, and removal order processing near Hamburg and the main German Amazon FCs.
Pre-Amazon Storage in Europe — hold buffer inventory outside FBA at lower cost, replenish in portions as your restock limits allow.
Customs Clearance for Online Sellers — import customs handling for inbound shipments from the US, UK, China, Hong Kong and Australia.
Amazon FBA Prep Services across Europe — EU-wide FBA prep overview covering Germany, France and Poland.
Ecommerce Fulfillment — B2C order fulfillment beyond Amazon, with Shopify and multi-channel integrations.
Located in the center of Europe, FLEX. Fulfillment provides FBA prep, pre-Amazon storage, customs clearance and B2C fulfillment for non-EU sellers entering the EU market from the UK, US, Hong Kong and Australia.
Get in touch for a free quote and assessment tailored to your EU market entry requirements.