Once a brand sells in more than one European Amazon store, the question becomes where the stock should be. Amazon offers three fulfilment setups for Europe. None is best for everyone: the right one depends on how much you sell in each country and how much paperwork you are ready to take on.
Option 1: European Fulfilment Network (EFN)
You keep your stock in one country, for example Germany. Orders from other European stores are fulfilled from there and shipped across borders.
- Good for: getting started, testing demand in new countries, small volumes.
- Trade-offs: cross-border fulfilment fees and longer delivery promises in the other countries, which can lower conversion.
- Paperwork: a VAT registration where the stock is stored, plus VAT on cross-border sales, usually through OSS.
Option 2: Multi-Country Inventory (MCI)
You decide which countries hold stock and send shipments to each of them yourself.
- Good for: brands with strong sales in two or three specific countries.
- Trade-offs: more shipments to plan and more stock to forecast per country.
- Paperwork: a VAT registration in each country where you store stock.
Option 3: Pan-European FBA
You send stock to one country, and Amazon moves it between its fulfilment centres in several EU countries based on expected demand. Orders are fulfilled locally, with local delivery speed and local fulfilment fees.
- Good for: brands selling meaningful volumes across several EU stores.
- Requirements: active offers for each enrolled product in the participating stores, and VAT registrations in the countries where Amazon may store your stock. Amazon checks eligibility per product, and some product types are excluded.
- Trade-offs: the most VAT registrations and returns, and less direct control over where stock sits.
How to choose
| EFN | MCI | Pan-EU | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock held in | One country | Countries you choose | Several countries, chosen by Amazon |
| Delivery speed abroad | Slower | Local where stocked | Local |
| Fees for other countries | Cross-border fees | Local fees where stocked | Local fees |
| VAT registrations | Fewest | One per stock country | Most |
A common path is to start with EFN from Germany, see which countries buy, and move to Pan-EU or MCI once volumes justify the extra registrations. Read our overview of VAT for Amazon sellers in Europe before deciding.
Before you enrol: the listings
Pan-EU only works if your products are live in each participating store, and they only sell if the listings read naturally in each language. Machine translation is a start, but titles, keywords and bullet points need a native speaker who knows how people search in that country. That is what our listing localization service does.
Running it day to day
Whichever option you choose, stock planning gets more complex: more countries, more forecasts, more places where a stock-out can happen. Our FBA management covers shipments, stock limits and reimbursements across European stores. If you are new to sending stock, our guide to FBA inbound shipments explains each step.