Today, January 27, 2021, marked one of the most anticipated moments in recent years for the Polish e-commerce market. Amazon launched its seller panel in Polish and officially announced its entry into Poland.
Although some sellers had already seen the Polish version of the Amazon seller panel for several weeks, today the entry into Poland was officially announced, and practically all sellers gained access to the Polish Seller Central panel on Amazon. This was a highly anticipated event, as there had been talks for several years about Amazon planning to launch a Polish version of the service.
What does the launch of the Polish version of Amazon’s panel mean? First and foremost, access to customers who previously used Amazon abroad, and soon likely access to FBA without the need for VAT registration in one of the countries where goods could be stored until now. Additionally, the Polish version of Amazon will make working with the panel easier, and many sellers will appreciate the ability to navigate Seller Central in Polish, as well as the possibility to contact seller support and seller performance departments in Polish.
How will FBA work for a Polish company? Until now, goods in Poland could be stored by participating in the CEP (Central Europe Programme), which required Polish sellers to have VAT DE and CZ, as Amazon reserved the right to store goods in one of these 3 countries: Czech Republic, Germany, Poland.
According to current rules, it should be possible to store goods only in Poland, without the need for VAT DE and VAT CZ.
In such a situation, when goods are stored in one country – currently for example in Germany, from where orders placed on other Amazon versions are shipped: amazon.fr, amazon.it, amazon.es, sales are conducted in the FBA system in the EFN (European Fulfilment Network) variant.
EDIT: goods can now be stored only in Poland, without VAT DE registration.
FBA EFN makes it easy to start using Amazon’s logistics centers, as registration for VAT in just one selected country (usually Germany) is sufficient. However, EFN has a serious drawback – the costs associated with cross-border fees. For example, Amazon shipping of an item sized ≤ 45 X 34 X 26 cm and weighing up to 1kg, stored only in Germany, costs:
- €3.72 net to Germany
- €7.23 net to Italy
If the same item were stored in Italy, the shipping cost to an Italian customer would be only €4.59 net, which is €2.64 net less, resulting in a significant amount with a volume of, for example, 1000 orders per month.
Returning to amazon.pl, this is certainly a very good moment for sellers to finally start operating on the Amazon platform. Companies that have been hesitant to take this step will have an easier task, though not a simple one. Amazon, even in the Polish version, will certainly remain a very demanding platform where every action must comply with its terms and conditions.
Customers who have been shopping on amazon.de and other Amazon markets will also be pleased with Amazon’s entry into Poland, where they had access to the highest quality customer service and excellent warranty conditions that Amazon offers. The Polish shopping version is not yet active, but it’s probably just a matter of weeks.
How will Amazon fare in the Polish market? In my opinion, it has a very good chance of capturing a significant portion of the market that now belongs to Allegro. Shopping security, quality guarantee and product origin, as well as buyer protection and the ability to enforce their rights that Amazon gives to customers, are excellent advantages of this platform. Customers who are not yet familiar with Amazon may be surprised that products offered here are practically always original, and they don’t need to spend time verifying authenticity, origin, or seller reliability. Situations known from the Polish portal, such as selling counterfeit products or sellers manipulating product condition – for example, selling supposedly new products with VAT margin invoices, have no place on Amazon. Such actions not only risk account blocking but in extreme situations even the loss of funds accumulated by the seller.
If you want to start selling on the Amazon platform, I invite you to my online or in-person training at your company, where you’ll learn how to effectively and efficiently start selling on Amazon.
