Selling across all of Europe from a single inventory point sounds complicated — and without the right structure, it is. Amazon’s Pan-EU program was designed to solve exactly that: it lets Amazon automatically distribute your stock across its fulfillment centers throughout the European Union, bringing your products closer to the end customer, reducing delivery times, and lowering shipping fees. The opportunity is real, but so is the operational complexity that comes with it.
This guide explains how Amazon’s Pan-EU program works, who’s eligible, what the VAT obligations are, and what changed in 2025 and 2026.
What Is Amazon’s Pan-EU Program
Amazon FBA’s Pan-EU (Pan-European) program is an inventory distribution model where, once you ship your stock to a single fulfillment center in Europe, Amazon automatically redistributes it across multiple EU countries — at no additional cost to you. The goal is simple: put your products closer to the customer to reduce delivery times and fees.
Without Pan-EU, selling to a German customer from a warehouse in Spain means paying cross-border shipping fees and losing the Prime badge on that order. With Pan-EU, Amazon manages the redistribution and the German customer gets a local delivery experience. Sellers using Pan-EU FBA can achieve up to 53% savings on fulfillment fees by enabling additional countries for storage, compared to using the European Fulfillment Network (EFN) (Amazon).
The United Kingdom is no longer part of the program. Since Brexit, the UK has been excluded from Amazon Pan-EU FBA. To sell with FBA in both the UK and the EU, you need to ship inventory to UK fulfillment centers separately or use Remote Fulfillment between the two regions (SimplyVAT).
How Amazon’s Pan-EU Program Works, Step by Step
The mechanics are clear once you understand the prerequisites. The flow works like this:
First, you list your products on all required European marketplaces using the same SKUs. Then you register for VAT in every country where Amazon will store your inventory and enable those countries in your FBA settings inside Seller Central. Once you send your first shipment to an enabled center, Amazon takes over: it moves stock between countries based on projected demand, at no additional cost to you.
You choose which countries to store inventory in (a minimum of two), and Amazon handles the rest — making sure your products are available locally and reach customers across Europe quickly (Staxxer). Tracking works through the same standard Seller Central reports and tools.
The program only activates for a given ASIN once you have an active FBA offer on all required European marketplaces. If a listing is missing on any marketplace, that ASIN doesn’t get Pan-EU benefits.
Which Countries Does Pan-EU Cover in 2025–2026
This is where it pays to stay current, because the program has changed quite a bit recently.
As of January 2026, sellers must hold VAT numbers in a minimum of 5 EU countries to remain eligible for Pan-EU. The required countries are Germany, France, Poland, Italy, and Spain (AMZ PREP).
In addition, as of June 25, 2025, sellers must have active listings on Amazon.nl (Netherlands) to stay in the program. New ASINs added after that date must be published in all five required countries simultaneously (Marosa). VAT registration in the Netherlands isn’t mandatory under this rule, since stock doesn’t physically move to a Dutch warehouse (Marosa) — though that could change as Amazon expands its infrastructure in that region.
Sweden, Belgium, and Ireland are part of Amazon’s European network, but the five core countries with mandatory VAT registration are Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Poland, with the Netherlands added as a mandatory listing marketplace.
VAT: The Requirement Most Sellers Underestimate
Managing VAT is the most complex and critical part of Amazon’s Pan-EU program. Many sellers sign up without fully grasping the obligations they’re taking on.
VAT registration is mandatory in every country where Amazon stores your products (AMZ PREP). That means the moment Amazon moves your stock to a warehouse in Germany, you’re legally required to be VAT-registered there — even before making a single sale in that country.
The EU’s OSS (One Stop Shop) scheme simplifies part of this. For businesses established in the EU, Pan-EU FBA works well in combination with the OSS scheme for B2C sales. You file in your home country and it covers all your EU sales (SimplyVAT). However, OSS doesn’t replace the VAT registration required in each country where stock is physically stored.
Sellers based outside the EU — in the US, Latin America, or any other non-European country — face an additional layer: most EU countries require appointing a local fiscal representative to complete VAT registration. This adds costs and processing time that need to be planned for well before launch.
Non-compliance carries serious consequences. You can lose the Buy Box, the Prime badge, and visibility in search results. Listings can be blocked, payments withheld, and access to Pan-EU benefits disabled entirely (AMZ PREP).
Pan-EU vs. EFN: Which One Fits Your Situation
The core difference between the two programs comes down to where your inventory lives. With EFN (European Fulfillment Network), you store everything in a single country and Amazon ships from there to customers in other EU markets, with cross-border fees applying. With Pan-EU, Amazon actively distributes your stock across multiple countries so fulfillment is always local.
EFN is simpler: one VAT registration, one warehouse, less administrative load. But you pay higher cross-border fees and your listings won’t show a local Prime delivery promise in markets where you don’t hold stock.
Pan-EU makes economic sense once volume justifies it. Savings on fulfillment fees add up quickly at scale, but so do VAT compliance costs — you need enough revenue in each market to justify the registration and ongoing filings. A common strategy is to start with EFN to validate demand in new markets and migrate to Pan-EU once sales volume makes the VAT investment worthwhile.
What You Need to Enroll in Amazon’s Pan-EU Program
Before activating the program, confirm you have the following:
An active Professional selling plan on Amazon Europe. VAT registration in at least two of the core countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland). Active listings on all required European marketplaces with consistent SKUs. At least one ASIN with FBA inventory shipped to a European fulfillment center. Active listings on Amazon.nl (mandatory as of June 25, 2025).
To enable Pan-EU FBA, go to your Fulfillment by Amazon settings in Seller Central. Under “Cross-Border Fulfillment Settings,” select Edit and confirm your VAT number for each country you want to enable for inventory storage (Amazon).
Additionally, Amazon covers the cost of VAT filings for the 6th and 7th country once you’re already filing in 5 countries — a concrete benefit that lowers the operational cost of running the program at full scale (Amazon).
How Capybaras Agency Manages Pan-EU for Sellers in Europe and LATAM
Setting up Amazon’s Pan-EU program is one thing. Running it profitably — with the right VAT structure, optimized listings across every marketplace, inventory planning that accounts for Amazon’s automatic redistribution, and fee management — is an entirely different challenge.
At Capybaras Agency, we work with sellers from the United States, Spain, and Latin America who want to scale within Amazon’s European ecosystem. We handle the entire launch structure: from account setup and cross-listing across all required marketplaces, to coordinating VAT registrations, building inventory projections, and optimizing your FBA settings so Pan-EU is profitable from day one.
If you’re evaluating whether Pan-EU makes sense for your current catalog and volume, we can run a fee simulation comparing your current EFN structure against what operating at scale with Pan-EU would look like.
FAQ: Amazon’s Pan-EU Program
Does Pan-EU FBA include the United Kingdom? No. As of January 1, 2021, the UK was excluded from the program due to Brexit. UK sales require a separate FBA setup with inventory in British fulfillment centers.
How many VAT registrations do I need for Pan-EU? As of January 2026, a minimum of five: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Poland. If Amazon stores your inventory in additional countries, you’ll need to register there too.
Does Amazon charge for redistributing my inventory across EU countries? No. Cross-border inventory redistribution within the Pan-EU network is included at no additional cost. You pay local fulfillment fees on each sale, not cross-border fees.
What happens if I don’t have listings on Amazon.nl? As of June 25, 2025, sellers without active listings on Amazon.nl can be removed from the Pan-EU program.
Can I use OSS instead of individual VAT registrations? OSS simplifies filing for B2C sales, but it doesn’t replace VAT registration in each country where your inventory is physically stored. Both are required under Pan-EU.
Ready to Scale in Europe?
Amazon’s Pan-EU FBA program gives sellers a real competitive edge in Europe: faster deliveries, an active Prime badge across all major EU markets, and significantly lower fulfillment fees. But it requires precise setup: the right VAT structure, consistent listings across every required marketplace, and active inventory management.
If you’re ready to launch your business on Amazon Europe or want to optimize a Pan-EU operation that’s already up and running, the Capybaras Agency team is here to help. We work with sellers at every stage — from their first EU launch to multi-market optimization in Germany, Spain, France, Italy, and beyond.