Curious about expanding your Amazon business beyond the U.S.? Europe offers an untapped market, with only 2% of U.S. sellers taking advantage of this massive opportunity. Natalia Ignacz from AVASK joins Todd Welch to share practical tips for navigating European VAT, leveraging Amazon’s Pan-European program, and scaling your business across 27 countries. If you’ve ever considered going global, this is the episode for you.
Listen:
Watch:
Why Europe is the Next Big Opportunity for Amazon Sellers
With a population exceeding 440 million, the European Union (EU) offers a larger market than the U.S. Plus, U.S. trends often lead the way for European consumers. Natalia shares how selling in Europe mirrors the U.S. process, making the transition easier than you think.
VAT Simplified: Tax Compliance Made Easy
Learn the key differences between U.S. sales tax and European VAT. Natalia breaks down how VAT works, why it’s included in listing prices, and how AVASK simplifies tax compliance by handling VAT registrations, filings, and even reclaiming import VAT for you.
Strategies to Scale Your Business in the EU
From selecting the right countries to store inventory to localizing your listings, discover how to strategically expand into Europe. Natalia discusses how starting with the UK and France or Germany can set the stage for scaling into Amazon’s Pan-European program.
Breaking Into Local Marketplaces Beyond Amazon
Expand your reach by listing on local European marketplaces like France’s Cdiscount. Natalia shares how to integrate these marketplaces with Amazon FBA, creating new sales channels while leveraging your existing inventory.
Resources From This Episode
- AVASK Tax Services: avask.com – Get help with VAT registration, compliance, and tax filing as you expand into Europe.
- Connect with Natalia Ignacz on LinkedIn: Natalia’s LinkedIn – Reach out directly to discuss your European expansion strategy.
- AVASK’s Email Contact: enquiries@avaskgroup.com– Get personalized guidance from AVASK’s team.
- Amazon Pan-European Program: Learn More – Streamline inventory management and expand across multiple EU countries.
- Cdiscount Marketplace: cdiscount.com – France’s leading marketplace for reaching local buyers.
- VAT Compliance Basics: Amazon VAT Resources – Understand how Amazon handles VAT deductions and payments.
- Atomic Habits by James Clear: Amazon Link – Learn how to build effective habits for business growth.
- ChatGPT for Localization: Use tools like ChatGPT to start localizing your listings, but follow up with professional translation services for accuracy.
In Conclusion
Expanding to Europe offers Amazon sellers a massive growth opportunity, and the process is more straightforward than you might think. From understanding VAT to leveraging local marketplaces, Natalia Ignacz provides the roadmap you need to succeed. Take the leap into international selling, and let AVASK handle the complexities so you can focus on scaling your business.
Transcript
[00:00:00:00 – 00:00:00:37] TEASER
Europe’s really known for their local marketplaces. Each country has a different one. Um, but actually how to sell there is exactly the same for Amazon as it is for the other marketplaces. And what we find the most common thing is, is that Europe follows the US trends. So as soon as the U S starts trending on something, then Europe follows. So by default, if you’re doing really well in the US I would definitely suggest that you start looking into Europe and the possibilities this can give to your market and you as a seller.
[00:00:00:38 – 00:00:00:57] INTRO
Welcome fellow entrepreneurs to the Amazon sellers school podcast, where we talk about Amazon and how you can use it to build an e-commerce empire. A side hustle and anything in between. And now your host, Todd Welch.
[00:00:00:58 – 00:00:01:35] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
What’s going on everybody? Todd Welch here with Amazon Seller School. Welcome to another episode. I have Natalia with me today. She’s a business development manager at AVASK. And AVASK is one of the leading tax agencies dedicated to helping sellers like us based in the U. S. navigate and Navigate the complexities and expand into Europe and UK, of course, and all the other countries that are in the EU. So, Natalia, I appreciate you coming on the show.
[00:00:1:36 – 00:00:03:17] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Thank you. Thank you for having me, Todd. It’s great to be here. As you mentioned, um, I worked for AVASK. Um, AVASK is an international tax agency. We do focus a lot of time on taxation, but I just wanted to jump on here today to talk about the European market. What this can offer you. And if you do want to expand into Europe, what the steps are that you can take to actually expand. So we’ll talk about that today.
[00:00:03:18 – 00:00:02:17] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yeah, for sure. And I’m, I’m curious how you got into this work and got into helping people with tax compliance and things, US sellers, especially expanding to the EU.
[00:00:02:18 – 00:00:03:06] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Um, well, I guess my background is international business. Um, so with international business and the world that we’re in, at the end of the day, e commerce is everywhere we look. So it was bound to happen at some point. Um, and I got into AVASK. We started expanding sellers, um, from the UK to Europe to start off with, and then realize actually, It’s exactly the same to expand US. sellers to Europe, so why not help you guys as well? We also do help sellers expand into other markets like Australia, UAE, KSA, but we can go into that a different time. Um, the biggest market out there right now is Europe, and I just want to try and help clients understand the market, understand what they need to do because it’s actually much more simpler than you think.
[00:00:03:07 – 00:00:03:53] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yeah, and I think it scares a lot of people in the USA, sellers. Uh, well, scare might be a little strong, but they’re, they’re worried about going to the European Union or the UK, Germany, wherever, because Taxes and government and everything is, is different than here in the United States. So it adds an extra level of complexity. So hopefully we can help people with that today and kind of give them a better idea on what it looks like when they do expand over there. So first off, I guess, can you tell us a little bit about how the market is In the Europe in Europe right now in terms of e commerce?
[00:00:03:54 – 00:00:04:54] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, absolutely. So the e commerce market in Europe is quite big. Um, everyone shops online just like they do in the US. It is true. Amazon is the biggest marketplace that they have, but they also have local marketplaces. Europe’s really known for their local marketplaces. Each country has a different one. Um, but actually how to sell there is exactly the same for Amazon as it is for the other marketplaces. So actually we’ll go into a deep dive of how, um, you can do this, but, um, Europe is there ready for you. And what we find the most common thing is, is that Europe follows the US trends. So as soon as the US starts trending on something, then Europe follows. So by default, if you’re doing really well in the US I would definitely suggest that you start looking into Europe and the possibilities this can give to your market and you as a seller.
[00:00:04:55 – 00:00:05:07] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yeah for sure the the people that you are helping, Do they have a typical size of their business in the US already before it makes sense for them to expand to Europe?
[00:00:05:08 – 00:00:06:07] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, there’s no set algorithm as such but I would say that you would have to be selling in the US For a couple of years, that would just give you a baseline. I would give you enough reviews as well, because these reviews will then translate to the European market. So you don’t start from scratch. Um, so ideally you want to be selling for a couple of years having done well. Um, I would definitely suggest because you just need that little bit of cash flow to expand into the European market and just to invest in the VAT numbers that we’ll go into depth in a sec Um, so there’s time just having sold for a bit of time and having the cash flow. Um, and I just want to make sure that all the sellers feel comfortable doing the expansion. The last thing you want is to make this big step and then regret it in the future. Um, so if you feel comfortable doing that and you have someone advising you, um, such as AVASK next to you, then I would definitely take the leap.
[00:00:06:08 – 00:00:06:17] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yeah. So when you say cash flow, are you meaning just having enough cash available? Because obviously you’re going to have to add on additional inventory that’s going to be sent over to Europe.
[00:00:06:18 – 00:00:06:49] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Exactly. So have cash available is the key thing here. The cash that you’re willing to invest into this expansion because it’s not wasted cash. It’s just an investment that you’re going to have to do, um, such as the inventory that you mentioned. You need to start getting your VAT numbers, which, um, has to do with taxes, um, shipping costs as well. We’ll add up and then translations of your listings and stuff. So it is a slight investment, but then I think it will pay you off.
[00:00:06:49 – 00:00:07:09] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yeah, for sure. And so it sounds like you’re talking about like private label products that people have made, which is definitely a part of the listening audience. Um, but a lot of people also are selling other people’s products on Amazon as well. Do you work with people like that also?
[00:00:07:10 – 00:00:07:21] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, definitely. And it’s the same principle. It’s just having your setup ready and then you can do exactly what you’re doing now in the US but you just transfer it to, to Europe. So both would be absolutely. Yeah.
[00:00:07:22 – 00:00:07:37] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
And I, I think the EU is a good opportunity for private label sellers, but also it could be a really big opportunity for a reseller like myself working with a company that’s maybe selling really good in the U S but nobody’s ever brought it. to the EU.
[00:00:07:38 – 00:00:08:02] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, exactly. And if no one’s brought it to the EU, it’s going to be in high demand. Um, because chances are Europeans aren’t going to go on to amazon.com or any US platform and buy from there because shipping costs are just going to be too much. Then there’s going to be duties to pay for. So they just don’t even go onto that website. You want to be visible in the European websites so that people buy from you.
[00:00:08:03 – 00:00:08:18] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yeah. And by default, when you guys are shopping in the UK, for example, on Amazon, it doesn’t give you the ability to buy stock that’s in the US and pay for importing and duties and stuff. Right. Like it does for Canada.
[00:00:08:18 – 00:00:08:24] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Exactly. No, you would have to purposely go onto the Amazon US to be able to see those products.
[00:00:08:24 – 00:00:08:32] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yep. Okay. So essentially you’re losing out on a, a large market if you’re not available in the EU at all.
[00:00:08:33 – 00:00:08:50] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, exactly. And we actually have a huge statistic here that only 2 percent of US sellers have expanded into Europe. So that just gives you an idea of the market. It’s not saturated. It’s ready for you to expand. And there’s a whole bunch of clients waiting to buy your products. So
[00:00:08:51 – 00:00:09:18] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
yeah, and I think that is probably in part because we were just so comfortable in the US we have such a large market here that we don’t necessarily always think about expanding out to Europe. So we’re kind of spoiled in the way, I guess, having such a big market all in one. Uh, which isn’t normal throughout most of the markets that Amazon is in.
[00:00:09:19 – 00:00:09:45] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, but if we do compare it, when we say, okay, fine, the U. S. has all its states and you can sell to all the states, Europe has 27 countries. So you could be selling to an additional 27 countries. You could do that from one single country if you wanted it. So the potential is definitely there, but maybe what it comes down to is just do people have the knowledge of how to actually expand.
[00:00:09:45 – 00:00:09:53] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yeah. And you’re talking about the, the pan EU program, right? Where you can ship in to say Germany.
[00:00:09:53 – 00:00:09:45] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah. And Penny, you only include seven countries. Okay. So I’m talking even further away from pan EU. Um, Amazon focuses on the seven countries because it’s the biggest ones, but from those seven countries, you can also sell to additional ones, um, which adds to a total of 27.
[00:00:10:11 – 00:00:10:32] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Okay. Yeah. And we’re kind of getting into the weeds a little bit, uh, early here. So we’ll kind of. Pull back. And before we dive into that a little bit more, but, uh, what are some of like the unique things in the European market, uh, that are not necessarily the same in the U.S. Market?
[00:00:10:33 – 00:00:11:58] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Um, I would definitely say languages. Languages is something that’s very different in Europe to the U. S. Each language. Um, Yeah. Each country speaks a different language, so you are going to have to translate your listings into different ones. But once you’ve done that effort, um, you’ve gone through that effort of translating, you are tapping into markets that other people that haven’t translated their listings aren’t tapping into. So it is unique in that sense, um, that you could be tapping into a new pool of clients completely that you didn’t have before. So that’s one unique thing. Um, another one is what I was mentioning that you could just be selling from one country in Europe and you could be selling to 27. So I think a lot of people don’t actually know that, that they think every country is completely different. You have to go through the whole process again, 27 times. Well, actually you could start small. You could start from one country and have 27 other countries buying from you. Start gathering that knowledge. Where are my customers coming from? Where are they normally buying from? And then that could be your next step. So I think those are the two unique things that I would say people don’t really know about, or people don’t maybe analyze as much. Um, and it could be bringing them lots of potential.
[00:00:11:59 – 00:00:12:11] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
All right. So what, how are people selling in, in all 26 countries? Cause I know about the pan EU, but what’s the program that is allowing them to sell in the 26?
[00:00:12:12 – 00:00:13:01] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
So it’s not a program as such. It’s just the legislation that’s in place. So to put it into perspective, when you ship into Europe, you have to go through the customs border. You’re in Europe already. And then once you’re in Europe, there’s no borders between countries. So you don’t have to go through customs again. Um, so that once you’re in Europe, everything’s free movement. So that’s where you can sell to the 27 countries because you’re in already. Um, and then you have the flexibility that let’s, let’s use an example. You ship into Germany and you’re storing in Germany, but someone from Austria. wants to buy from your inventory. That’s absolutely fine. There’s no customs border between Germany and Austria. So you can make that sale.
[00:00:13:02 – 00:00:13:22] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
So are they going to have be on separate sites though? Because Amazon Germany has its own site. The UK has its own site. So if they wanted to buy from our stock that was in Germany, would they have to go to the German site or does Amazon automatically kind of bring them across all the countries?
[00:00:13:23 – 00:00:13:56] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
That’s a good question. So you can make your listings visible in Austria, in my example, so that Austrian client could just go on to Austria and buy your product. It will simply go from Germany to Austria. Or you maybe don’t want to list your products and then that Austrian client would have to go into Amazon Germany to buy your products. So ideally you want to list your products everywhere and then at least everyone has visibility of your listings and can decide to purchase. It’s just the products are then just coming from a different country.
[00:00:13:57 – 00:00:13:22] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Got it. So you, you set up a seller central for each of the countries. And add your product in there, then you say bring stock into Germany, perhaps, and then it will be available in all the countries, though.
[00:00:14:12 – 00:00:14:41] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
In all of them. But it, it will work, um, because a lot of people will say, okay, why don’t I do the same thing? Open my listings up in Europe, but keep my inventory in the U. S. Yes, that is possible. But that client is probably not going to click on your one or purchase your one because they’ll see that the shipping comes from the U.S. So that’ll just be a blocker. Whereas if you do it from inventory already in Europe, it won’t be a blocker and that client will buy the product.
[00:00:14:41 – 00:00:14:52] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Okay. So is this something that’s relatively new legislation? Because I feel like the last time I talked to someone about this, which might’ve been a couple of years ago, that wasn’t the case that you could do that.
[00:00:14:52 – 00:00:15:26] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
It’s not new as such, but I think it’s becoming more popular. So more people are talking about it now. Um, whereas before everyone was really focused on the seven. Now it’s, it’s a whole other world that you’re looking at. You, you have that flexibility of having more sellers. So my recommendation would be say, Don’t just focus on the seven that Amazon, um, promote.
The seven are absolutely great, but think even further ahead. There’s more countries out there that will be buying from you.
[00:00:15:26 – 00:00:15:45] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yup. Definitely. Now I know before Brexit happened, UK was kind of the, the holy grail to send all your inventory in, in there because, you know, they speak English, we speak English. Perfect. Um, but is that still the case post Brexit or how is that working?
[00:00:15:46 – 00:00:16:46] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, that’s a great question. It is still up there with one of the biggest markets. It’s on par with Germany, but the only downside of the Brexit was that the UK is no longer part of the EU. So we see it as two different, um, territories. So the difference to all the sellers that we’ll be watching today is that you would have to do two shipments. So from your manufacturer to the UK, and then from your manufacturer to the EU. Before it was amazing. Amazon used to send inventory from the UK to the EU, and it was nice and simple. Um, the only difference now is you do two separate shipments. One stays in the UK and one is in those 27 countries. So there’s just a, think of it as a customs border in between the two territories. Um, so to your question, it’s still a great market and I still would recommend it, especially because of the language. But do bear in mind. That it’s separate to the EU.
[00:00:16:47 – 00:00:17:00] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Okay, and you do find that is the best way to do it? Sending from the U.S. to U.K. and to, say, Germany, versus just sending everything to Germany and then to the EU, or to U. K. from there?
[00:00:17:01 – 00:00:17:19] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Definitely, yes. And the main reason is because you don’t want to pay double duties. So if you go from the U. S. to Germany, you’re paying once, and then from Germany to the U.K., you’re paying again. So I just want to avoid people having to do that twice. If you split up your shipments, then you just do it once.
[00:00:17:20 – 00:00:17:53] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Okay. Yeah, so that’s probably a, uh, a good segue to kind of talk a little bit more about tax compliance. Because that is probably the biggest thing that people worry about, especially, you know, the difference between sales tax that we have, the VAT tax that you have, it’s A different way of adding it into the product price. So tell us a little bit about that, uh, how, what things we need to watch out for and, you know, the best way to go about it, how you guys help with that, et cetera.
[00:00:17:54 – 00:00:18:54] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Definitely. So the biggest, biggest thing to watch out for is exactly what you said. That sales tax is added at checkout. Where is VAT, which is. If the equivalent of sales tax, we just call it VAT. We include that in our listing price. So whenever you’re looking at competitors and you want to ballpark where your products will be based, um, make sure that you remember that VAT is included in the listing price. Um, so that 20%, that 19 percent is already into that Fee that you can see is already built in that you’re not going to add it on top But the beauty about the U.S. Sellers is that amazon will actually deduct this vat from your sale They’ll pay it to the tax office and then you’ll receive the the rest of it. So everything you get is revenue whereas amazon have already dealt with the VAT for you. So I would say that’s the biggest thing to look out for.
[00:00:18:55 – 00:00:19:20] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
And I’m curious how what number are they calculating the VAT off of because if I’m selling my product for say £10 and that includes the VAT tax, are they calculating the VAT tax as a percentage of the £10 which already includes the VAT so you’re like paying twice I guess or what number are they facing that off of?
[00:00:19:21 – 00:00:19:45] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, they’re basing it off your final um listing price. So if you’ve sold it for 20 euros, they assume that that already includes VAT, and they’ll deduct the 20 percent away and then give you the rest, which is why it’s so important that you’ve already added that 20 percent so that when they deduct it, It’s not being deducted from your money, but rather the client’s money.
[00:00:19:46 – 00:00:19:50] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
And is 20 percent the typical amount that most of the countries there are at?
[00:00:19:51 – 00:00:20:01] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, that would be the average. Um, it goes all the way down to 19 and it goes up to 23. It depends on the country, but as an average, we’re seeing about 20%.
[00:00:20:01 – 00:00:20:12] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
So whatever you’re going to sell it at, if you just take 20 percent off the top as an expense. You want to be calculating your profit or your ROI off of that number.
[00:00:20:12 – 00:00:20:32] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, definitely. But the biggest thing here is just that the client pays for that 20 percent VAT. The last thing you want is this to be cutting into your margins. So by adding it onto your listing price, the client pays for the full price, including the VAT. Amazon take the VAT away. And then you receive the rest.
[00:00:20:32 – 00:00:20:43] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yeah. It’s an important differentiation. You don’t want to sell your product for 10 or 10 pounds. And then that 20 percent come out and you’re like, Oh my goodness, I don’t have any margin left.
[00:00:20:43 – 00:00:20:44] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
That was mine. Yeah.
[00:00:20:44 – 00:00:20:45] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yes, for sure.
[00:00:20:45 – 00:00:20:46] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Definitely.
[00:00:20:47 – 00:00:21:08] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
And now the other thing that I’ve heard of in the past is that when you’re selling in Europe, if you’re selling, if you make sales in the UK and Germany and Austria and wherever else Turkey or whichever countries that you then have to file taxes in each one of those individual countries is that still the case
[00:00:21:09 – 00:00:21:49] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
So the case is you have to where you’re storing the inventory so that if you could take something away from this podcast it would be that you just need to be registered in the country where you store your inventory And where you are registered is where you have to file. So don’t be fooled when they say you have to file everywhere you sell to. Before when I was saying about selling to 27 countries, don’t think that I’m trying to get you to file in 27 countries. That’s not the case. You only need to be registered where you store, and where you store and are registered is where you need to file. So that could be one country. Or it could be four. It’s down to you.
[00:00:21:50 – 00:00:21:53] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
And is Germany the best place to store your stock in addition to the UK?
[00:00:21:54 – 00:00:23:21] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
It is the, it is what I was saying. It’s, it’s on par with the UK in terms of sizing. So it’s not a bad start. I would definitely recommend the UK and Germany as your starting points. Um, but a tip France actually has really good imports. So when you import into France, you don’t have to pay what’s called import VAT. Um, and I’ll go into depth into this. Import VAT is completely separate to what we were just talking about. It’s a VAT that you just pay when you import, as the name says, but you do get it back. Um, so you get it back no matter where you’re importing. So if anyone’s listening and they’ve paid for import VAT, just make sure that you know that you can claim it back and your tax advisor should be claiming this back for you. So, If you want to avoid having to pay import VAT, I would recommend you ship into France. Either way you’re going to get your import VAT back, but why pay for it when you can maybe not pay for it? So the UK and France are the only two countries in the whole of Europe that offer this scheme that you import and you don’t pay for import VAT. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, you don’t need anything additional, you just have to import by the UK and France. So if you’re worried about maybe the cash flow. Rather than Germany, I would maybe suggest France. Something good came out of Brexit and we don’t have import VAT.
[00:00:23:22 – 00:00:23:38] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
All right. So the UK and possibly France or Germany, depending on where it makes the most sense, because of course, if you’re making a majority of your sales in say Germany, you might want to have inventory there because shipping is going to be faster, right?
[00:00:23:39 – 00:00:24:08] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, exactly. So. Do think about, obviously, there’s this tip about no import VAT, but if on, in the long term, Germany is going to be a more beneficial country for you, just ship into Germany, you’ll pay the import VAT, we’ll reclaim it back for you, so you’ll always have that back. Um, and what I was saying before, because you’re importing, it then means that you’re storing in that country, so you need to have the VAT registration for that country, just the ones that you’re storing in.
[00:00:24:09 – 00:00:24:20] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Now, is there a point at which it makes sense to start having more stock in more countries for that faster shipping or whatever the case may be?
[00:00:24:20 – 00:00:25:40] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Exactly exactly that so that’s when we start seeing people expanding more and more. They start gathering knowledge of where their customers are based and they start moving more inventory into that other country and by doing that or you’re essentially doing is offering them next day delivery same day delivery and lower shipping costs um because you’re in that country.
They require you to have a VAT number in that country, but you then have the inventory there and the customers can buy from you. Um, so that’s when we start seeing what you mentioned, the pan European program. And the pan European program is one of the most popular from Amazon. And how it works is that you ship into one country, let’s call it France, because there’s no import VAT. Amazon then move your inventory into the other countries that you selected. So you can say to Amazon, I’d like to include in my pan European France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. Perfect. I have my four VAT numbers. Here they are. Please, can you do everything for me? So you ship into France. And then Amazon will redistribute your inventory into the other three countries. You’re now storing in four countries. You have access to all those sellers and Amazon has done everything for you.
[00:00:25:41 – 00:00:26:06] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yup. Then you got a lot more tax compliance you got to deal with, but if you’re working with a professional. For sure. So something to think about in the beginning, you’re definitely going to want to focus on the UK and then either France or Germany, and then after you get the ball rolling and you’re doing well, then contemplate if it makes sense to move into a different country.
[00:00:26:06 – 00:00:26:13] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, and once you have Data, there’s no point expanding into spain if all your clients are in italy So
[00:00:26:13 – 00:00:27:05] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
And I just pulled up the population of the different countries. So people have an idea on the markets. The United States is 334 million people. Canada is about 40 million people. So most people in the USA are familiar with Canada, the U S and selling in those countries. Um, so the UK is about 67. 7 million. So a little bit larger than Canada. France is about 68 million. And then Germany is about 84 million. So people can probably extrapolate off of their sales in the U S and Canada and guesstimate what they might do in the EU. In each of those countries
But of course now in the EU like you said we’re adding all those countries together So we’ve got uh, I don’t know. Do you know the entire population of the EU what that is?
[00:00:27:06 – 00:00:27:27] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
I wouldn’t know right now. Um, but it’s probably not too far off from the US. If we think about it in size is definitely smaller, but I would say it’s maybe about 70, 80 percent of the size of the US. So think about that. If you’re already making sales in the U S and it’s going well, if you could double that by just going into Europe, I don’t see why not.
[00:00:27:27 – 00:00:27:53] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yeah, so I I just asked chat gpt. So assuming that it’s correct. It says the EU minus the UK, since that’s, they’re no longer in it is 448 million. So it’s actually a larger population in the United States. Um, I think Amazon, correct. I think Amazon is a little bit less used in the EU than it is in the United States, but it’s growing pretty quickly.
[00:00:27:54 – 00:00:28:10] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, definitely, but I also don’t see that as a bad thing because if it’s being not it’s not being used too much If you start selling on amazon now, you’re more likely to get on to those first pages before everyone else does. Um, and then they’re more likely to buy from you.
[00:00:28:11 – 00:00:28:20] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Now, uh, you may or may not know this. So if not, that’s fine. But do you know how the competition with. Chinese sellers is in the EU right now?
[00:00:28:20 – 00:00:28:59] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Um, there isn’t too much competition these days because there’s been a lot of regulati ons put into place. Um, so having people like Avask help you has I think, made Just made sure that everyone that’s selling in the EU has everything in place, has all their VAT numbers in place. So we’re seeing less competition, whether it’s from Chinese sellers or from US sellers. The competition is definitely lower. Um, so I think there hasn’t been a huge boom, um, for me to tell you that there’s less Chinese sellers, but it’s definitely even out the playing field and there’s not as much competition anymore.
[00:00:29:00 – 00:00:29:21] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Okay. Yeah. And that’s another important thing I just thought of, uh, don’t assume just because your product is compliant with all USA laws, it doesn’t mean it’s That it’s also compliant in the EU because you guys, of course, have your own set of regulations and laws and everything. So you’ll want to make sure that’s not an issue, uh, depending on the product that you’re selling.
[00:00:29:22 – 00:00:30:09] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, definitely. The good thing is, is there’s loads of companies out there that could just look at, look at your product, look at your labels and just make sure that they match with the regulations in place. Um, I do have to say we’re not as strict. Um, there’s no huge thing that you’d have to do. Just make sure that the labeling is correct for the territory. Um, and we usually see that it’s EU as a whole and then UK on its own. Um, so it won’t necessarily be by country, but, um, I’m not sure what products everyone’s selling, but it definitely, if you sell supplements or anything that people eat. I would definitely make sure that you have the correct licenses for those, um, for more generic products. It should be very simple.
[00:00:30:10 – 00:00:30:19] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yeah. Is there going to be particular labeling that you need to have, let’s say for if you’re selling a fishing reel or, uh, shoes or something like that?
[00:00:30:20 – 00:00:30:34] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, you’ll definitely need a specific sticker that says that it’s compliant with the regulations. So just make sure that you have that and your manufacturer can probably help you with this as well and make sure that when they’re printing out the labels that they add this on.
[00:00:30:34 – 00:00:30:42] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Okay. All right. Very good. So definitely something you’ll want to look up and research a little bit. Is that something you guys help with people with as well?
[00:00:30:43 – 00:00:30:46] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
We don’t specifically, but we can definitely send you some recommendations.
[00:00:30:46 – 00:00:31:13] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Okay. Yeah, definitely want to plan ahead. You don’t want to get, you know, 10,000 units over there. And then somebody says, Hey, this isn’t compliant. And now you got to redo all your boxes or something. All right. Very good. Next thing we were going to talk about is some of the common myths of the EU market, which we might’ve touched on some of these already. So anything that we haven’t touched on that people tend to believe about Europe that aren’t true?
[00:00:31:13 – 00:00:31:49] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Well, a lot of people tend to believe that, um, just using ChatGPT to translate your listings is enough, um, but it’s really not. If there’s something I could recommend is that you lo, um, localize your listings to the language of the country. Even the UK. I know obviously we speak the same language, but there are so many words that are different and you don’t want to be making those mistakes. Um, we’ve seen all kinds, so definitely localize your listings would be one of the tips and slash myths that. Not everyone speaks in the same way.
[00:00:31:49 – 00:00:31:57] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Okay. So you haven’t seen that chat GPT is good enough yet to translate into different languages properly.
[00:00:31:58 – 00:00:32:15] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
It’s a great start, um, but I wouldn’t fully, fully rely on it. Um, there’s so many good companies out there that can use what you have already translated and just make sure that it’s localized to the actual country. Um, so, yeah, I would say it’s, it’s almost there, just not, not yet.
[00:00:32:16 – 00:00:32:34] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
It’s a lot better than Google Translate, for sure. Especially if you tell it to translate into a specific region. Like, if you tell it to translate into UK English or British English. Yeah, it will do better, but still not perfect.
[00:00:32:34 – 00:00:32:39] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Oh, for sure. It might, uh, it might. It pokes it up. Yeah.
[00:00:32:39 – 00:00:32:47] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
I was just going to say it might spell COLOR instead of color with a U. Yeah, you never know.
[00:00:32:48 – 00:00:32:55] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, definitely. But it’s those kind of things that when the client Google searches it on Amazon, you want to make sure that yours pops up.
[00:00:32:56 – 00:00:33:15] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yeah, and you want to have the language right because here in the US, for example, we’re used to looking at listings that are obviously put out up by somebody in China that doesn’t speak English very well. And it’s, it’s very obvious as soon as you start reading it. So you don’t want your product to be on that kind of level.
[00:00:33:16 – 00:00:34:25] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Exactly. Yeah. And then we also mentioned about the VAT. So, you know, that you need to add it onto your listing price and it’s not being added at checkout. I think that would be the next myth that a lot of people think. Um, and I guess another myth that people, well, you mentioned it, that you’re going to need to have numbers everywhere. That you sell and you need to file everywhere. And I’m just going to have to do the everything I do with the IRS in the U S I’m going to have to do it per country in every single country I sell to. That’s not the case. It’s, it’s honestly as simple as just decide where you want to store. We’ll help you get your VAT number. We’ll do the filings for you as well. So you don’t have to do anything and then you can start selling. Um, and I think my fourth myth that I come across quite often is that people think that they need to register a new company, register a new company in Europe, have a new bank account, have a new CPA, you don’t have to do all that. With everything that you’ve established already and it’s working well, use that company and then just get your VAT numbers in Europe and expand. You don’t need to have a new company.
[00:00:34:26 – 00:00:34:49] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yeah. I definitely don’t want to have a bunch of companies laying around and then have to file a million tax returns and everything else. All right. Very good. Uh, any other common myths or anything that we haven’t touched on yet?
[00:00:34:49 – 00:00:34:50] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Uh, nothing I can think of right now. I don’t know whether past conversations you’ve had with, uh, sellers, uh, common questions come up that I could maybe, um, explain a bit in more detail.
[00:00:34:51 – 00:00:35:34] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Well, I think the big ones, we’ve covered most of them being tax related. And then, you know, how much is my product actually gonna sell over there? Um, one thing that I just thought of, so in the USA, If your product is made in the USA, that can be a benefit to people who are looking for that. The same can go for, you know, Germany has a, has a reputation of high quality, uh, Europe in general for like foods and things like that have a reputation of being more healthy. Is there any benefit of USA made products? In European countries that are similar.
[00:00:35:34 – 00:00:36:44] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
It definitely depends on the type of product that you’re selling. If clients are looking for specific wines, they might be looking, as you mentioned, for specific made products in Italy or Spain or France. If they’re looking for cheese, they might go for French cheese. So I think for, Let’s toys, um, and household items, or I would say the most popular items that sell in Europe.And if the client does see that they’re made in the US, they might be more likely to buy it than if it’s sold in, if it’s made in China or India. So it’s just that sense of knowing where the product has come from. Um, so I would say, yes, it does come as a benefit, but I wouldn’t say it’s a huge difference between one or the other depending on the product that you sell. Um, obviously we’re talking about very niche products. They might be more leaning towards specific countries. Um, but I would say supplements is maybe the, the top one selling right now that I would. see clients rather buying it from U. S. made, um, factories than anywhere else?
[00:00:36:44 – 00:00:36:57] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yeah, I could definitely see made in the USA versus say made in China or something, but I would think that they would even prefer more buying supplements that are made in say the UK or Germany or France or something, right?
[00:00:36:58 – 00:00:38:34] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
I see. I see what you mean. Um, it could be because it’s locally made and they feel that, um, linked towards those products. Um, but I don’t think it would be something that puts them off buying from elsewhere, especially because the U S is known so much and trends, as we mentioned at the beginning, anything that is happening in the U S the Europeans want to follow. So if they see products like the Stanley Cup that started in the U.S., everyone then wants to have it in, in Europe. Um, so trends do follow. And that does leave me, I, I didn’t really expand on it, but Europeans have local marketplaces. I know we touched upon Amazon quite, quite a lot, but there are other marketplaces that you could sell on. Even if your product is manufactured in the U.S. So, for example, France has a website called c discount. The requirements of selling are exactly the same. You just need to have your French VAT number to be able to sell on Amazon and on C discount. So what I would recommend that the people expanding do is that once you have everything set up to sell on Amazon, you also sell on places such as C discount, um, using France as an example. So you’re breaking that barrier of saying, fine, my product is manufactured in the U.S. But I’m selling on your local marketplace. So now you see my product as a local product and you might be more likely to buy it.
[00:00:38:35 – 00:00:38:56] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yeah, definitely something to think about. Kind of like selling on, you know, Walmart here in the U S the separate marketplaces, do you know, in the, in Europe on the C discount, for example, would they allow you to fulfill the inventory from the Amazon warehouse for those orders?
[00:00:38:57 – 00:00:39:08] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
A lot of marketplaces have that integration that you could just store everything in the FBA. And then link it up with their marketplace so that you can sell on that one as well. So it’s much, much easier.
[00:00:39:09 – 00:00:39:15] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yeah, definitely something to think about then for sure if it’s easy like that You could definitely look at doing it if the sales are high enough.
[00:00:39:15 – 00:00:39:20] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Definitely and the regulations are exactly the same so you’re already set up
[00:00:39:20 – 00:00:39:35] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
So now that we’ve got stock in Europe, you know, maybe we got some stock in the UK and in France, what kind of tips do you have for people for scaling their business in the EU that we haven’t talked about yet?
[00:00:39:35 – 00:00:40:31] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, so that’s where I was mentioning about gathering that data Um because you can distance sell see where most of your clients are based off of and use that as your next step so that would be your first. um your expansion strategy once you’re in Europe moving on to new countries storing in those new countries and then Expansion number two would be the marketplaces Um, so once you’re established in a country, you’ve got everything set up You’re selling on Amazon do that next step of selling on another marketplace and then you’ve got You can integrate everything into one place as well. So you could use integrations that are out there to manage everything from one place, but you’ve already now expanded into more countries and expanded into more marketplaces all within Europe. Um, so those would be my two next steps once you’re in the European market.
[00:00:40:32 – 00:00:40:48] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
Yep okay very good and I’m curious obviously as we’ve talked about it we’re gonna need someone to help us with taxes and stuff like that so for a service like that what does a service like that run typically for a seller?
[00:00:40:49 – 00:00:42:01] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
It depends on the number of countries that you want to store in. Um, so all our pricing is based off of the, the number of countries. Um, you’re gonna want to think about the registration fee, which is just a one time fee and then we do have an ongoing fee, um just to take care of your filings as I was mentioning so that you don’t have to worry about it um obviously if people want to reach out i’m more than happy to give them a quote based on the number of countries that they’ve chosen our fee doesn’t increase. It doesn’t change. It’s all a set fee based on the number of countries. So you don’t have to worry about how many marketplaces you sell on, how much revenue you’re making, um, nothing like that. It’s all set so you know exactly how much you’re spending on taxation. And then you can worry about doing the selling. Um, and a lot of clients, what they ask me is okay, how does a day to day work? Well, we integrate with those marketplaces. So we have a system that can integrate with the backend of those systems. We pull out the sales reports from there and then we’ll file with the tax office. So you literally don’t have to do anything.
[00:00:42:01 – 00:00:42:17] TODD WELCH | HOST OF AMAZON SELLER SCHOOL
All right. Well. Well, Natalia, this has been fantastic. A lot of really great information. If people want to get your guys help to move into the European union or UK or wherever, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you?
[00:00:42:17 – 00:00:42:57] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Uh, the most simple way that you can do is just go on avask.com. And then just fill in a form and one of the team members will reach out to you, coordinate a call. I think the best way to do this is to have a genuine call with you, see what you want to do, see if you got any questions. Uh, the team will give you an exact pricing of what you will, what it would cost to expand, no commitment. And then if you feel like it’s the right choice for you, then we can start everything. Um, so yeah, avask.com, or you can find me on LinkedIn if that’s easier. Um, or Todd, I don’t know whether you could put my email address somewhere and people can just reach out.
[00:00:42:58 – 00:00:43:07] NATALIA IGNACZ | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT AVASK
Yeah, absolutely. We’ll put links to all of that in the show notes. Uh, your email, LinkedIn and Avask as well, of course. So have a great one, everybody.
[00:00:43:07 – 00:00:43:21] OUTRO
This has been another episode of the Amazon Seller School Podcast. Thanks for listening, fellow Amazon seller. And always remember, success is yours if you take it.
