Is your product worth it on Amazon?
The question before all others. Skip it and you'll later be optimising a product that could never have been profitable.
Before you get into tax numbers and registrations, you should know whether your product actually makes money on Amazon at all. That sounds obvious, but it's regularly skipped – and it's the most expensive mistake in the whole process.
Working the numbers backwards
Work backwards from the selling price. From the gross price you first subtract VAT, then Amazon's referral fee (usually 8–15 % depending on category), the FBA shipping fee by size and weight, your cost of goods including transport and duty – and finally the advertising costs you'll realistically need.
What's left is your contribution margin. If it's below roughly 20 % of the gross price, things get tight: returns, price pressure from competitors and storage fees eat up the rest. Products under about £10 selling price almost never work on Amazon, because the fixed costs per order barely fall.
Is the market actually accessible?
Check competitive density: How many sellers are on the first page, and how many reviews do they have? Taking on established listings with thousands of reviews costs a lot of money and time.
Check the price level: What do the top sellers charge? If your calculated minimum price is above that, you need a genuine unique selling point.
Gauge demand: Search volume of the main keywords and the competition's bestseller ranks give you a feel for the market size.
Read the competition's reviews: The one- and two-star reviews show you what customers are missing – that's your chance for a better product.
Check the category: Some categories are gated, such as food, cosmetics or certain electronics. Getting approved takes documentation and time.
Size and weight: Bulky or heavy products have significantly higher FBA fees – often FBM is then the only economical option.
Caution: Watch out for legal hurdles too: products with UKCA/CE marking, food contact, cosmetics regulation or dangerous-goods status carry testing and documentation obligations that must be met before your first sale.
From experience: Calculate two scenarios: one with your target price and one with the price of the cheapest serious competitor. If the second scenario means a loss, you don't have a product problem, you have a business-model problem – and no amount of optimisation, however good, will fix that.
Example calculation. Around 18 % of the gross price – realistic, but tight for returns and price pressure.
Tax hurdles for sellers based outside Germany.
The point where most sellers based outside Germany trip up – and which must be sorted before your first delivery.
Before you send even a single pallet to Amazon, you need to know how you sell: FBA (goods sit in Amazon's warehouse, Amazon ships) or FBM (goods sit with you, you ship yourself). Your entire tax set-up depends on this decision.
FBA with storage in Germany
If your goods are shipped from a German warehouse, you must be registered for tax in Germany – regardless of the value of the goods. As a company based outside Germany you are then registered twice: in your home country and additionally in Germany, where you need a German VAT ID (USt-IdNr.) and tax number. The point of contact for companies based outside Germany is usually the Finanzamt München (Munich tax office).
In Germany a monthly advance VAT return (Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung) is then due – there is no small-business exemption for companies based abroad. On top of that you must document every movement of goods from your home country into a German Amazon warehouse: this is a tax-free intra-Community transfer to yourself and requires atransfer document or a pro-forma invoicethat you issue to yourself. And finally, in your home country an EC Sales List / recapitulative statement (Zusammenfassende Meldung, ZM) must be filed.
Caution: Don't send any goods to Amazon while your German tax registration isn't complete and the tax number isn't on file. Technically you can create the delivery – but Amazon blocks the goods as soon as they're booked in without a valid tax number. After about 30 days they're then sent back or destroyed. And returns to your home country are a problem of their own (see Chapter 12).
FBM from your home country – and the OSS scheme
If you ship from your home country, you initially need no German registration. Since July 2021, however, the One-Stop-Shop-Verfahren (OSS)applies: the former country-specific distance-selling thresholds were abolished. As soon as you deliver to private customers in another EU country, the destination principle applies – the VAT of the destination country is due from the very first euro.
The good news: you don't declare and pay it in each country separately, but centrally through a single office in your home country. For micro-businesses there's a simplification – anyone without a permanent establishment in another EU state, and staying below €10,000 in total intra-Community distance sales and services, can continue to tax in their state of residence.
From experience: Sort out the tax set-up as your very first step with your accountant – ideally someone who looks after Amazon clients. Registration in Germany takes weeks; anyone who only starts it once the goods are finished loses a whole season.
FBA or FBM – the fundamental decision.
Both models work. The question is which one suits your product, your margin and your logistics.
In favour of FBA: Amazon's logistics system is excellent and cheap, the level of automation is high – smaller companies in particular save an enormous amount of work. The decisive advantage, though, is the Prime badge: Prime offers are shown preferentially and win the Buybox far more often.
Against FBA: more bureaucracy from the double advance VAT return, extra costs for tax advice and Amazon fees, a noticeable start-up effort until everything is running – and be careful with the PAN-EU programme: as soon as Amazon distributes your goods to further countries, registration obligations arise there too.
In favour of FBM: full control over packaging and the delivery experience, initially no registration in Germany needed, more flexibility with product changes and no storage fees.
Against FBM: OSS activation or registration in the destination country, usually higher shipping costs to Germany, your team has to be trained on Amazon's processes – and delivery times must be met even at order peaks, otherwise your seller performance suffers.
The Prime badge without FBA
There is a programme called "Seller Fulfilled Prime" through which self-shipped goods can also get the Prime badge. The catch: the warehouse must be located in Germany – so it doesn't save you the tax registration.
From experience: In practice, many of our clients run a twin-track approach: FBA for fast-moving standard items, FBM for bulky, heavy or very low-priced products where the FBA fees would eat up the margin.
PAN-EU, CEE or Germany only?
Your choice of programme decides your fees – and the number of your tax and EPR registrations.
Amazon offers several storage programmes, and the decision is no small matter: every country in which your goods physically sit triggers a VAT registration obligation there – and usually EPR obligations too (see Chapter 07). The OSS scheme doesn't help here: it covers cross-border sales to private customers, not local warehousing.
The three usual routes
Germany only: One registration, manageable effort – but the highest shipping fees for orders to the rest of the EU. The right starting point for most sellers based outside Germany.
CEE (Central Europe programme): Amazon also stores in Poland and the Czech Republic. The fees drop noticeably, but you need registrations in three countries.
PAN-EU: Amazon distributes your goods freely across up to seven countries. The lowest shipping fees and the fastest delivery across Europe – but registrations, ongoing filings and EPR obligations in each of these countries.
Caution: PAN-EU is actively promoted by Amazon, and the fee saving sounds tempting. But do the honest sums the other way: ongoing tax-advice costs in up to seven countries, translations, local EPR registrations and reporting obligations. At smaller sales volumes this eats up the saving entirely.
From experience: Our rule of thumb: start with Germany. Switch to CEE when the volume is right and the fee saving carries the three registrations. PAN-EU only pays off once you're actively selling in several EU markets and are registered there anyway – not the other way round.
Important: you can control stock distribution in Seller Central. Anyone who doesn't want PAN-EU should check this actively – otherwise Amazon may distribute the goods to countries where you aren't registered at all.
OSS, invoices and accounting.
Once the tax question is sorted, it's about automation – and about a decision that's hard to correct later.
Amazon offers its own VAT calculation service that generates invoices for you. It sounds handy, but in practice it isn't fully mature in every case. The calculation follows strictly the settings in Seller Central, including a dedicated OSS setting. You do, however, hand over part of the responsibility for invoicing – whether you want that is something you should decide consciously.
What you can't ignore: for B2B orders Amazon requires an invoice within 24 hours. You either use the Amazon service for this or connect an external tool. Anyone already using the VAT calculation service who still wants to upload their own invoices has to get that enabled by Amazon.
Which tool suits you?
Amazon only, as little effort as possible: a lean invoicing solution that connects directly is entirely enough.
Mehrere Plattformen plus Amazon-Fulfillment: Then you need a solution with multi-channel fulfilment that bundles orders from all channels.
Several platforms plus real warehouse management: here the path leads to an ERP system. That's considerably more work to set up, but beyond a certain size there's no alternative.
Caution: This decision belongs at at the very heart of your Amazon account. Switching to another system later always involves considerable effort – product master data, stock, historical records and interfaces all have to be migrated.
From experience: When comparing tools, don't just think about the monthly fee, but about the question: does the system grow with you? Anyone who has to migrate after 18 months with five channels and 400 products pays many times the licence costs they saved.
Register your trademark – and why merely using it isn't enough.
Without a registered trademark you sell on Amazon with the handbrake on. And there's a particularity worth knowing right from the start.
As a brand owner you get tools on Amazon that others are denied: extended advertising formats, A+ Content for better product descriptions – and, often underrated, greater write access over your own listings.
Write access in particular leads to conflicts time and again. Anyone who has uploaded products and wants to change something afterwards often finds that Amazon simply doesn't apply the change. And if you're a manufacturer and your resellers are already selling on Amazon but the listings are poorly maintained, without trademark rights you can't get at the content.
Which trademarks Amazon accepts
Amazon recognises two forms: the pure word mark and the figurative mark with words, letters or numbers. What's decisive, though, is the trademark office.
Caution: A mark that is merely used but not yet registered is currently not acceptedRegister the trademark instead with the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) – or, for the EU, with the EUIPO. Bear in mind that since Brexit an EU trademark no longer covers the UK, so if you sell in both you'll usually need both registrations.
Recognised offices include, among others, those of the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, India, Turkey and Australia – as well as the EUIPO for the whole of the EU.
From experience: If you're planning to sell across several European countries anyway, an EU trademark via the EUIPO is usually the better choice for the EU markets: one application, protection in all member states, and you can enter the registration number directly with Amazon. For the UK you register separately with the UK IPO.
Reckon on several months from application to registration. That time belongs at the start of your Amazon planning – not at the end.
EPR: packaging, electricals & batteries.
One packaging register has turned into several obligations in several countries – and Amazon actively checks them.
EPR stands for Extended Producer Responsibility – extended producer responsibility. Anyone who, as the first party to place goods on the market, brings goods into an EU market is jointly responsible for their later disposal: for the packaging, but depending on the product also for electrical devices, batteries and further categories.
Packaging: LUCID in Germany – and beyond
In Germany this runs through the packaging register LUCID: register, appoint a dual-system operator, report the packaging quantities and enter the LUCID number in Seller Central. Registration in the register is free, participation in the system is not.
New compared with earlier versions of this guide: it doesn't stop at Germany. Austria also requires a separate registration from foreign distance sellers, and France, Spain and Italy each have their own EPR systems with their own numbers. If you sell in several countries – or store there via CEE or PAN-EU (see Chapter 04) – you need them all.
Not just packaging
Electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE): registration in the respective national register, in Germany with Stiftung EAR. This also affects products you might not immediately think of – for example illuminated or battery-powered items.
Batteries and rechargeable batteries: separate registration and take-back obligations, even if the battery is merely included with the product.
Further categories per country: France additionally covers, among other things, textiles and furniture. What applies to you depends on the product and the target market.
Caution: Amazon reconciles the EPR numbers on file with the registers. If a number is missing or doesn't match the country of sale or storage, the affected offers are deactivated – sometimes without much warning. Amazon offers to take on the obligations for a fee; convenient, but rarely the cheapest option.
What's now being added: PPWR
The new EU Packaging Regulation (PPWR) harmonises the requirements across Europe and tightens them: recyclability, material requirements, labelling and reducing empty space in shipping boxes. The rules come into force in stages over the coming years. Anyone now developing new packaging or switching suppliers should plan for them already – changing over later is more expensive.
From experience: Keep a simple table: country × obligation × registration number × filing date. Sounds trivial, but it prevents exactly the deactivations that really hurt during the Christmas period. And remember: every additional storage country automatically expands this table.
GPSR – the EU General Product Safety Regulation.
In force since the end of 2024 and, for many sellers, the most unwelcome change: without the right details your offer disappears.
The EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) has applied since 13 December 2024 and affects practically all consumer products. The core of the rule: for every product there must be a responsible person established in the EU – named, reachable and shown on the product page.
What is specifically required
Responsible person in the EU: If you're a manufacturer established in the EU, that's you. If you import from third countries, you need a named person or an authorised representative within the EU.
Manufacturer details in the listing: Name, postal address and electronic contact address must be visible to customers.
Safety and warning notices: in the language of the destination country, including pictograms where required.
Technical documentation and risk analysis: must be available and able to be produced on request.
Traceability: batch or serial number on the product or on the packaging.
Reporting obligation: Safety problems must be reported via the EU portal, and affected customers informed.
Caution: Amazon has introduced its own mandatory fields in Seller Central for this and hides offers where the details are missing. Particularly affected are sellers who import goods from third countries and previously had no named responsible person.
From experience: Sort out the responsible person before you order – not only once the goods are in the warehouse. With imported goods this can often be handled via the supplier or a service provider, but it needs lead time.
In addition, the Digital Services Act applies to marketplaces: Amazon has to verify and disclose seller identities. Incomplete or contradictory details in the seller account lead to suspensions – so keep your company data, address and contact details up to date.
EAN, SKU and ASIN – the three numbers.
Three abbreviations that are constantly muddled up – yet each number has a clearly separate job.
EAN (also GTIN): an internationally unique number combination held in a worldwide database. Every product should have exactly one EAN. You source it yourself – officially through GS1 (in the UK gs1uk.org, in Germany gs1-germany.de). Without an EAN you can't even create a new product in most categories in the first place.
SKU (Stock Keeping Unit): your internal item number, freely chosen. It should be structured so that you can find your own way around it – for example following the pattern PROT-50G-SCHOKO. Mind the maximum character length.
ASIN: the ten-digit Amazon product number. It's assigned automatically as soon as you create a new product. If the product already exists in the Amazon catalogue, it already has an ASIN – you then attach yourself as an additional seller to the existing listing and only assign your own SKU.
When you can do without an EAN
There are categories in which you can apply for a GTIN exemption . If it's granted, you can create any number of products without an EAN. Which categories this applies to and how the application works is set out directly in the Amazon Help pages.
From experience: Set your SKU system before you create the first product. A well-thought-out structure – product line, size, variant – pays off at the latest when you have to find 200 items again in Excel.
Caution: Don't buy EAN codes from resellers. They're formally assigned to another company, and Amazon now checks this. The official route via GS1 costs more, but it's the only clean one.
Image and listing guidelines.
A single breach can suppress your offer – and the rules are more specific than many think.
Amazon sets clear requirements for how product images and text have to look. Breaches don't lead to a warning, but often straight to suppression of the listing – your product simply can no longer be found.
Rules for the main image
Pure white background (RGB 255,255,255) – no surroundings, no props, no colour block.
Only the product itself: no accessories that aren't included, no packaging used as an eye-catcher.
No text, no logos, no callouts: discount stickers, "bestseller" banners or watermarks aren't allowed.
Product fills at least 85 % of the area and is fully visible.
At least 1,000 pixels on the longest side, so that the zoom function kicks in.
The other images
With the additional images you have far more freedom: usage situations, infographics with text, size comparisons, detail shots, what's in the box. Use six to nine images – each one should clear up a purchase objection. A video boosts conversion even further and is available to brand owners.
What's banned in the text
Curative and health claims without permissible proof – a classic with supplements and cosmetics.
Price details or promotional references in the title or in images ("this week only", "lowest price").
Contact details, website links or invitationsto buy outside Amazon.
Fremde Markennamen for comparative advertising or in the title.
Requests for positive reviews – the only thing permitted is the neutral "Request a Review" function.
Superlatives without evidence such as "best product" or "number 1".
Caution: The title has rules too: no special characters like ~ ! * $ ? _ ~ { } # < > | *, no all-caps throughout and a character limit per category. If it's exceeded, Amazon truncates – often mid-word.
From experience: Before you go live: open your listing on your phone. That's where the majority of your customers only see the main image, the first three bullet points and the price. If the buying decision doesn't work there, the nicest A+ Content won't help.
Fees, margin and cash flow.
Amazon's jungle of fees is the reason why many sellers make revenue and still don't earn any money.
It isn't one or two fees, but lots of small ones: monthly account fee, referral fee per category, FBA shipping fee by size and weight, storage costs, long-term storage fees, removal and disposal fees, returns processing, advertising costs. In total, depending on the category, this eats up a considerable part of your margin.
On top of that comes something beginners regularly underestimate: Cashflow. Amazon usually pays out every two weeks. Anyone who has to reorder stock, fund advertising and pay suppliers at the same time can run into a liquidity gap despite good sales.
What you need to keep an eye on
Contribution margin per product – not per order overall, but per item after all fees.
Attribute advertising costs per product – otherwise bestsellers quietly cross-subsidise your slow movers.
Retourenquote – it hits twice: lost revenue plus processing effort.
Lost and damaged stock – Amazon reimburses, but often only on request.
Stock coverage – too much stock costs fees, too little costs ranking.
From experience: An analytics tool that shows you profit and loss per product in real time is, for us, basic kit – not an optional extra. Without this transparency you're flying blind. In our managed service this is handled by our own software Sellercore.
Caution: Work out before the first delivery what's left at the end at your selling price. We've seen products that could never be profitable on Amazon – half an hour of doing the maths beforehand would have shown it.
Example category with a 15 % referral fee. Your figures depend on category, size and weight.
Returns from the FBA warehouse.
A point that affects anyone storing in FBA abroad (for example in Germany) – and that is almost always forgotten during planning.
Amazon only delivers removals to an address in the country of the warehouse. If your stock is in a German FBA warehouse, there's no way to have it sent back directly to an address in your own country.
For many sellers this looks at first like a dead end – but it isn't. The solution is a fulfilment service provider in Germanywho takes in the removal, checks the goods and forwards them on to your country in one batch. It costs little and runs reliably once you've set the process up.
Why this should be sorted out early
Removals aren't an exception, but routine: customer returns, damaged outer packaging, discontinued products, excess stock ahead of the cut-off dates for long-term storage fees. Anyone who only starts looking for a service provider when the fee statement arrives is already paying twice.
From experience: Plan the way back before you set off on the way out. We set this up for our clients together with the tax setup – so the structure is in place before the first pallet goes out. More on this on our page about Fulfillment.
By the way: the return journey is also, for tax purposes, an intra-Community transfer and has to be documented accordingly – the same logic as the outbound journey, just in the opposite direction.
Amazon Business – the overlooked customer base.
A considerable part of Amazon's revenue runs through business customers. Many sellers never activate it.
Amazon Business is the platform's B2B area: companies, public bodies, schools and associations buy there with a business account. For you as a seller it isn't a separate marketplace, but an extension of your existing account – you just have to activate it and set up your offers accordingly.
What you need for it
Net prices: Business customers see prices without VAT. For this you enter B2B prices per item.
Volume discounts: Tiered prices from certain quantities – the most important lever for winning B2B customers.
Invoices within 24 hours: Amazon requires a proper invoice promptly for every B2B order. Without an automated solution this quickly becomes a problem (see Chapter 05).
Qualifications (optional): Certificates and credentials can make your offers visible for certain tenders.
Why it's worth it
B2B customers order larger quantities, reorder more predictably and return far less often than private customers. Especially with consumables, office and operational supplies, repeat-purchase cycles arise that stabilise your business – independently of seasonal swings.
Caution: Check the discount tiers against your margin before you switch them on. A blanket volume discount on items that are already tightly costed quickly turns good revenue into a loss.
From experience: Start small: first activate B2B for the items where multiple purchases are realistic – and after two months look at how order quantity and return rate have developed.
Account security & Account Health.
A suspended account stops your entire business from one hour to the next. Prevention is far easier than repair.
Amazon summarises your seller performance in the Kontozustand – a score that drops when there are breaches. If it falls too far, the account is deactivated for review. Until it's resolved, nothing runs: no sales, no payouts, no advertising.
The metrics that count
Order defect rate: negative reviews, A-to-Z guarantee claims and chargebacks. It should stay below 1 %.
Late deliveries and cancellation rate: affects FBM sellers above all.
Policy violations: Product safety, trademark rights, impermissible details in the listing.
Validity of the stored data: expired ID documents, address changes or amended bank details trigger verifications.
How to protect your account
Activate two-factor authentication and use a company email address that more than one person can access – an account tied to the personal inbox of an employee who has left is a real risk. Assign staff and service providers their own user permissions instead of sharing the main password.
Keep all documents up to date as well: company register extract, ID, proof of address, bank details. Amazon requests these for verification at irregular intervals – and sets deadlines that are easily missed without your paperwork to hand.
Caution: Respond to every Account Health notification immediately and factually. Anyone who lets deadlines slip or objects in a blanket way drags out the process. In the event of deactivation you need a concrete plan of action: name the cause, immediate correction, future prevention.
From experience: Set up a folder with all your evidence – company register, ID, your suppliers' invoices, tax numbers, EPR confirmations. When Amazon asks, you usually only have a few days.
Below 200 deactivation looms
Seasonal planning and the Q4 business.
For many ranges, the fourth quarter decides the year's result – and it's planned in summer, not in November.
From October to December everything shifts on Amazon: demand rises sharply, click prices likewise, and the fulfilment centres work at the limit of their capacity. Anyone who only reacts in autumn is too late.
The realistic timeline
Sommer: Analyse the previous year's sales, project demand, order stock from suppliers. For imports from Asia, allow lead times of several months.
September: Finalise listings, images and A+ Content. Changes should be in place and indexed before the hot phase.
October: Delivery to the FBA warehouse – here Amazon sets fixed cut-off dates. After these deadlines, check-in can take weeks.
November: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Deals have to be registered well in advance, advertising budgets set considerably higher than usual.
December/January: Factor in the wave of returns and check remaining stock before the long-term storage fees bite.
Caution: In peak season Amazon caps the storage quantity per seller. This capacity depends on your past sales and your storage efficiency – anyone who sells too little in summer or has too much sitting around gets less space in autumn. Exactly when they need it.
From experience: When it comes to stock, err on the generous side rather than too tight. A sell-out in December costs not only the revenue of those days, but also the ranking you start the new year with.
Think about the opposite direction too: after Christmas comes the highest return rate of the year. Plan for staff, inspection capacity and – with FBA – how to handle stock credited back as unsellable (see Chapter 12) firmly.
Product pirates and listing hijackers.
As soon as a product does well, third-party sellers attach themselves to your listing. That's everyday reality – what matters is how quickly you react.
A hijacker is a seller who places themselves as an additional offer under your existing listing – often with counterfeits, remainders or grey imports and almost always cheaper. The result: you lose the Buybox, stop selling, and bad reviews for someone else's goods land on your product.
How to go about it
Carry out a test purchase: Order from the third-party seller and document everything – packaging, labels, condition. That's your evidence.
Report via the Brand Registry: As a brand owner you have access to a reporting procedure for trademark infringements. Without a registered trademark (see Chapter 06) you have practically no leverage here.
Contact directly: Some sellers disappear of their own accord after a factual request.
Consider Transparency or Project Zero: Amazon's protection programmes with product codes or a self-removal function for brand owners – the most effective route for recurring problems.
Escalate legally: In stubborn cases there's still a cease-and-desist letter through a solicitor.
Prevention is better
Anyone who has a registered trademark, labels their products unambiguously and controls the supply chain becomes a target far less often. Also pay attention to who you sell goods to at wholesale terms – not infrequently the hijacker sits within your own distribution network.
Caution: React quickly. Every day with someone else holding the Buybox costs revenue and ranking – and where there are quality problems with their goods, also reviews that stay with you for good.
From experience: Set up an alert that warns you as soon as the Buybox is lost or a new offer appears under your ASIN. In our managed service this is handled by Sellercore automatically.
Frequently asked questions about getting started on Amazon.
How do I know whether my product is worth it on Amazon?
What rules apply to Amazon product images?
Do I need a German tax number for Amazon?
What's the difference between FBA and FBM?
Is a national trademark accepted by Amazon?
What is LUCID and do I need it?
Is PAN-EU worth it for me?
What is EPR and does it affect me?
What does the GPSR require of me?
Is LUCID alone still enough?
What does selling on Amazon cost?
How do I get goods back from the German FBA warehouse to my own country?
Do I need an EAN for every product?
Is Amazon Business worth it for me?
What happens if my Amazon account is suspended?
By when do I have to deliver stock for the Christmas trade?
What do I do about hijackers on my listing?
Can I also get the guide as a PDF?
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