Amazon EFN - The Amazon European Fulfilment Network

Amazon European Fulfilment Network is back but is it as good as before and what do you need to know before you turn EFN back on?

I started selling on Amazon in October 2020, just when all the “seasoned” sellers were turning off their EFN (European Fulfillment Network) settings and disconnecting all those extra sales after Brexit pulled that plug. So I never really missed them or got to feel the loss in sales.

I hear it was super simple and there were no complicated forms or procedures to go through. Just connect and sell.

Many people thought Amazon was going to come up with a plan, I mean they couldn’t possibly lose out on all those fees without putting up a fight, could they?

But the deadline came and went and nothing really helpful came about for the smaller seller. Sure there was Pan-European, but this involved a lot of VAT faff and compliance rules and just wasn’t worth it for the average Online Arbitrage seller.

Then there was the IOSS (Import One Stop Shop) which again was a faff and more paperwork blah blah boring, time-consuming, and didn’t work very well on Amazon, especially if you were not VAT registered.

So when the announcement came that EFN was back I was really pleased and thought great, I can sell my Heinz Beans and Hp sauce to those lovely Germans who could smother their Frankfurters in our British delicacies.

But again, things are not as simple as Amazon leads us to think.

After watching Nevermind the Buybox on Youtube with Natalie Cromie and Matthew Wright last night, there are a few things that you might want to consider before you jump in and connect those Amazon European Marketplaces.

1. You may need to price your goods up to 50% more to cover the costs and still make a profit.

2. Amazon will take VAT for each country you list on & for every product, even if you are not VAT registered. So this means those who aren’t VAT registered will have to calculate this into their margins.

3. For each product you are selling in Europe there needs to be a “responsible person” named on the listing. (if a product is already listed then this means there already is, but if you are listing a new product then you need to add this).

4. Going forward things may get tricky in terms of compliance as Britain and the EU will have different rules and regulations, especially for things like food and toys, and this could lead to compliance issues.

5. If you are selling over the VAT threshold in European countries you will need to register for VAT in those countries and then you may as well do Pan-European. These are the current VAT thresholds - France €35k, Germany €100k, Spain €35k, and Italy €35k.

I am still on the fence about whether I will sell via EFN. I am not yet VAT registered and will have to check the margins and how high my products will have to be priced., also there are more questions I'd like answered like what happens when you get a return? and if you have a bundle of different products will you need a "responsible person" for each product?

I use Buy Bot Pro as an Amazon profit calculator and they are currently making sure their software is ready to use with EFN, this is going to be really useful in making my decision on whether my products will work with the higher EFN fees.

I also use Profit Protector Pro as my Amazon repricer, which will also enable me to price my products differently for each European marketplace, and I will be able to see which, if any, are working with my profit margins.

I totally recommend you watch the replay of the EFN Episode on Nevermind the Buy Box on the Secret Wealth Youtube Channel and hear all the facts that I have briefly outlined above, and make up your own mind.

Let me know in the Mrs Prime Facebook group where we can carry on this conversation whether you have decided to sell via EFN or Pan-European or why you have decided not to,?.

Amazon Seller's VAT Claim Back Guide

I'm sure some of you will have seen this PDF guide that has been shared on a few of the Amazon groups. But for those of you who haven't, I'll add it below.

The gist of it is, if you are a registered business. Limited business or sole trader (although I have heard sole trader may be slightly trickier) and you are NOT VAT registered (Yearly turnover is less than £85k), then you can apply to not be charged VAT on Amazon FBA and Referral fees. Or get a refund for the time before you became VAT registered.

Warning - Only try and do this if your account is in good health, as in you have all the correct names and details and your paperwork matches this exactly. You don't want Amazon looking into your account and finding something they're not happy with while they're doing their checks. If you are unsure you should ask your Accountant.

I received my refund in August 2021 and no longer pay VAT on fees going forward, it took me about 6 weeks from applying to get my refund.

Thanks to the Amazon Sellers who wrote the guide and shared it in the Amazon selling community. 💚

VAT Claim Back from Amazon for Fees

.pdf

Download PDF • 423KB

Amazon Seller Software Addict - Trying out Amazon Profit and Loss Software

Today I realised how much of an Amazon software addict I am. I like trying different Amazon software and apps out (just to check I'm not missing out, and yes I do get FOMO).

I have been using Seller Toolkit for almost a year now and I really like it. I have recommended it to people who ask about Amazon Profit and Loss software, and it seems accurate.

My favourite features are the replenishment tab and the product history, which I use when deciding whether to buy a product again, and check how many sales and how much profit the product/s have made (or not).

I also like that I can see an overview of my inventory, showing in stock, inbound, warehouse damaged etc and the total COG's, potential sales and potential profit that I currently have in Amazon for FBA.

Seller Toolkit has been my go-to profit and loss software for nearly a year, and I thought it did everything I needed it to do.

But.......

Then I tried the beta version of Sumfully. Which is a new Amazon Profit and Loss software, which connects to Buy Bot Pro and Profit Protector Pro (both that I use and love). Being able to have all my software connect is a real winner, and I love that it goes back to your very first sale for no extra cost.

I can see it has massive potential as the Owners are renowned for producing great software that is constantly evolving and improving with new and great features that both they, and their customers have thought of. Also their customer service has been top notch every time I have reached out to them.

Sumfully is also partnered with a British accountant who specialises in Amazon and online businesses, and the features they have coming in the future sound amazing and i'm sure Sumfully will be one of the best Amazon Profit and Loss Softwares out there once it is out of beta.

I also have a subscription to Helium 10, as I use this to make my Amazon bundles. Helium 10 is an amazing piece of software.

It is mainly targeted towards Private label, but it also has features that can help with Online Arbitrage and even Wholesale, although probably a bit pricey if that is all you're using it for.

I am now heavily invested into making bundles on Amazon which is somewhere between Online Arbitrage and Private label, and Helium 10 is perfect for what I do.

It helps with Product Research (blackbox), Keyword Research (Cerebro) Keyword Processing (Frankenstein) and Listing Optimisation (Scribbles). These are the main features I currently use, but there is so much more that I haven't had a chance to try out yet.

They also have a Profit and Loss Feature which is quite nice, but again seems more useful to use if you're doing Private Label.

You would think that Seller Toolkit, Sumfully and Helium 10 would be enough for me, but no.

I recently heard another Amazon Seller (let's call him Jonny Smith - because his name is Jonny Smith 😆 ) talking about how Sellerboard automatically fulfils eBay orders using Amazon Multi Channel Fulfilment. I have recently been trying to increase my ebay sales and have been doing this manually using Amazon's MCF.

For me having another stream of income and not relying on Amazon totally is what I am currently working on, and the upside is I don't need to keep any products at home or have another 3PL fulfil these orders. The downside is they don't combine postage for you, as your products could be in several different warehouses. But for me this works for now.

I also heard the Queen of Amazon (Natalie Cromie - who knows Amazon inside out and who reads their Terms of Service for fun 🤪 ) talking about how Sellerboard gives you an Amazon Pay per click advertising breakdown. Which unlike standard OA, when you are doing Amazon bundles you need to be doing PPC. So this was also something I wanted to look into as my PPC spending was all over the place and I needed to keep an eye on it, as it is very easy to spend more than you're earning.

So I went ahead and tried out Sellerboard and it looks pretty amazing! I have just started a 2 month free trial and uploaded all my COG's from Sumfully to Sellerboard. I connected my Amazon and ebay account, which was also simple.

I then added my monthly expenses (software, accountant etc) and then linked my Amazon SKU's to my ebay SKU's and have now connected them so that if I get an order on ebay, Sellerbord will automatically send my product to the customer using Amazon's MCF.

Boom! that's just saved me a job.

It also has a very clear and easy to read profit and loss table showing all the incomings and outgoings and has shown me exactly how much I have made every month since I started, and I can clearly see what I am spending too much on.......

You can try Sellerboard out with 2 months free trial instead of 1 month. https://sellerboard.com/?friend=db1f131ae0

So now I know what I need to do, i'm off to make some adjustments to my Amazon software subscriptions and spend some time reviewing my Amazon PPC.

It is so easy to get caught up with the everyday Amazon tasks and working IN our businesses, we sometimes forget to work ON our businesses.

I wanted to share this blog with you and ask you, when was the last time you reviewed your outgoings and checked how much you were spending?

If you want to see all the software I currently use and a more in depth breakdown of them you can find it here https://www.mrsprime.com/amazon-software-tool-apps-reviews