Amazon has long ceased to be an insider tip when it comes to buying and selling products online. After all, the marketplace offers both buyers and sellers a number of advantages.
In this article, we focus on the different possible ways of selling successfully on Amazon Germany.
You’ll find out (1) why you should use Amazon to access your clients, (2) which options you have when opening an account, and (3) how to use the marketplace to generate profits.
Ready? Let’s start!
Why you should start selling on Amazon Germany
First of all, let’s look at the various advantages of using the world-famous marketplace in order to offer your products online.
As a marketplace, Amazon brings merchants and customers directly together. So that customers have a wide range of products to choose from and merchants have a large audience for their products from the very beginning, which no other online shop – and certainly not your own webshop – could ever compete with.
To be precise, Amazon already has over 55 million customers in Germany (= average monthly users in 2024), which makes Germany the biggest european market, followed by France and Italy. In fact, Amazon is the highest-grossing e-commerce website in Germany, generating a net revenue of nearly 15,75 billion euros. It is therefore far more popular than other major marketplaces like otto.de or zalando.de.
There are over 48.000 german businesses that sell millions of products on Amazon. This results in more than 850 million packages with the Amazon logo sent and delivered over the course of one year. And this means that, on average, each German resident receives 10 packages from Amazon each year.
And if you’re not tired yet of statistics, we have more for you.
Because in addition, more and more people are starting product searches directly on Amazon instead of using search engines like Google. In 2024, 82% of online product searches in Germany started directly on Amazon. With 558,13 million monthly visits, it has also been one of the most visited websites in Germany in 2024, ranking behind Google and YouTube.
As the number of users and the range of products are constantly increasing, the importance of Amazon will certainly continue to rise, making it the most powerful player in the sphere of online shopping.
Furthermore, the conversion rate is correspondingly high at about 10% on average, thanks to the high trustworthiness of Amazon as a marketplace and international brand. The typical conversion rate can be as high as 20% when selling everyday essentials such as groceries, toiletries, household supplies, and basic office items.
The payment process and – if you want so – the shipping and customer service are also handled conveniently by Amazon, so you do not have to worry about it yourself. Amazon is generally easy for sellers to use and can take some work off your hands.
If we can help you set up your seller account and get the highest product rankings on the amazon search, hire us as your Amazon Agency
What are the possibilities to sell on Amazon?
Amazon Seller Central
Seller Central offers an easy way for merchants to sell their products on the Amazon marketplace as a third-party seller.
Basically, anyone can register for free for the basic account and start selling after entering the most important company information.
For sellers who receive more than 40 orders per month, the professional seller account may be worthwhile. Using this account will result in a monthly fee of 39 euros.
Below we have listed the most notable differences between the individual and the professional seller plan.
| Individual seller plan | Professional seller plan | |
| Fees | $0.99 per item sold | $39.99 per month (no matter how many items you sell) |
| Benefits | Essential tools and services (access to Seller University, Support, Revenue Calculator etc.) | Full set of tools and services (brand registry, promotions, dynamic prices, manage products in bulk, B2B tools etc.) |
| Who is it for? | casual sellers or new sellers with lower sales volumes (under 40 items per month) | established sellers and all with higher sales volumes |
Amazon takes care of the payment process and pays sellers at regular intervals (in general every 14 days). This means that as a seller, you can rely on secure payment processing. The payment includes the total sales revenue from orders that have been shipped, minus Amazon’s fees.
In addition, as a seller you can advertise your products through „Sponsored Product Campaigns“ and if you have a registered brand even through „Sponsored Brands“ and thus increase the visibility of your products. The payment model for these ads is CPC (cost-per-click).
Generally, third-party sellers on Amazon enjoy a lot of valuable options as well as a high degree of flexibility and control because they handle the sale of their goods independently.
If you are interested, you can also use FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) at an additional cost. In this case, Amazon takes care of the storage and shipping of the goods and even handles returns and costumer inquiries. According to Amazon itself, many customers prefer sales handled by FBA.
However, Seller Central has some disadvantages.
Marketing opportunities for third-party sellers are limited while for many, it is essential to run ads in order to reach the desired visibility. This is also because the competition with other third-party sellers and with Amazon itself is really tough, which may result in price wars (especially with regard to winning the Buy Box).
But in general, Seller Central is well suited to operate smaller shops on Amazon – especially if you wish to keep control of your own products and prices.
NOTE: We are an Amazon Agency based in Germany and help brands sell successfully on Amazon. Reach out to us, in case you are interested in working with us.
Amazon Vendor Central
First of all, not every merchant can directly sell through Vendor Central, because you need an invitation from Amazon. Amazon therefore draws attention to certain merchants that fit their ideal profile and invites them to become a first-party seller.
If you agree, Amazon buys a stock of your products and becomes the official seller of your goods. For this reason, Vendor Central is primarily intended for manufacturers and well-known brands.
Example of a product sold by Amazon
As mentioned above, customers prefer products shipped by Amazon. However, trust is even higher in products that are sold by Amazon. By using Vendor Central, you can increase the willingness of your customers to buy even more.
Another advantage is that you can extend the content on your products. You now have the opportunity to add more detailed product descriptions and videos to make your offer more appealing.
On top of that, Vendor Central gives you additional marketing opportunities as you can now use Amazon Advertising and Amazon Marketing Services. In this way you can advertise your products in different ways. Plus your products are now prime-qualified at no extra cost.
Before deciding to accept Amazon’s invitation, however, you should also consider the disadvantages of Vendor Central.
By becoming a vendor, you give up a significant amount of control. Amazon determines the pricing of your products, which means you no longer have full authority over your pricing strategy. Additionally, this model creates a strong dependency on Amazon, as you must comply with all their requirements to maintain your partnership and benefits.
Another drawback is the loss of Seller Central’s robust analytics when you wish to gain insights into sales performance. Furthermore, you lose direct access to your buyers and valuable customer feedback.
Once again, we’ll give you a better overview of the pro’s and con’s of both programs in a table.
| Seller Central
sell products directly to customers on Amazon |
Vendor Central sell products wholesale to Amazon and Amazon sells them to customers |
| + you set your own prices and keep more of the profits | – Amazon sets the retail price and you have generally lower margins |
| + you are in control of listings, branding and content | – you hand over control to Amazon and are tied to your contract |
| +/- you have access to customer data | +/- Amazon handles all the logistics, from storing and shipping to customer management |
| +/- you can choose between FBA and FBM | |
| +/- you take on more responsibility in managing your account | |
| – you have more competition and high costs for advertising | + you enjoy more credibility and higher conversion rates thanks to the “sold by Amazon”-badge |
| + Amazon buys large quantities of your products upfront | |
| – you have limited marketing options as opposed to vendors | + you enjoy premium advertising possibilities |
What types of sellers are there on Amazon?
Reseller (Buy Box Optimization)
Resellers have a lot of competition on Amazon because they are not the only ones who sell a certain product. By far the most sales are made by the retailer who wins the buy box.
The Buy Box is located on the product detail page on the right, where users add the desired product to the shopping cart.
Hardly any customer takes the trouble to find out which other sellers are offering the product, but makes the purchase directly via the buy box. This means that other sellers of the product are hardly, if at all, ignored, while the winner receives almost all orders.
Example of a Buy Box winner (Papierhaus Julius Schöll) and other sellers for the same product
As a reseller you should definitely work hard to win the Buy Box.
Amazon selects sellers for the buy box according to its own algorithm, which takes into account different criteria:
- Competitive Prices: Amazon tries to choose the best between low price and good seller statistics. This means that your price does not necessarily have to be the lowest if you have good ratings. However, don’t set it too high either.
- Amazon FBA and Amazon Prime: Amazon knows that customers have greater confidence and willingness to buy when shipping through Amazon. Therefore, FBA sellers are given preferential treatment in the Buy Box selection. When using FBA, you can offer Prime-qualified products, which is also taken into account when competing for the Buy Box.
- Fast shipping and high stock levels: You should try to offer the fastest possible shipping. Amazon is naturally interested in customer satisfaction and therefore prefers sellers who deliver products as quickly as possible. Also, avoid running out of stock.
- High seller performance and high customer satisfaction: You should make sure to achieve the best ratings by offering helpful support, fast deliveries and low prices. Avoid defect products, give plenty of information in your product listings and keep the return rate low.
Private Label Seller (Listing Optimization)
Whoever manufactures and distributes their own brand does not have to worry about the buy box, as there is no competition in this area.
Merchants of private labels, on the other hand, have to work hard to improve the visibility of their product listings. Why? It turns out that as many as 90% of Amazon users only look at the first results page, and sometimes they only look at the top-listed products on this first page.
On the very top of a search results page, Amazon lists a few sponsored ads from sellers who chose to pay for a PPC-campaign. After that follow other featured products with a high relevance. Customers can choose to sort the search results by other factors such as price, average customer reviews or newest arrivals.
To achieve a high placement of your product listing, you need to focus on Listing Optimization in general and Search Engine Optimization as a crucial part of it.
The Amazon algorithm takes into account many different ranking factors that you can have an influence on. Below you find a list of the most important ones:
- Relevance: In a search, Amazon first filters out those products that are relevant for the search query. Your product title and bullet points should therefore contain important keywords for potential customers to search for.
- Sales: A factor that you can only influence indirectly at the beginning and that needs some time. However, the more sales you generate over time, the higher your product is ranked.
- Conversion rate: Similar to sales, the higher the conversion rate for a given keyword, the higher you rank for that keyword.
- Click-through rate: The same applies here. A high CTR for a keyword leads to a higher ranking for the corresponding keyword. Make sure that your main picture and your title are the best they can be.
So you see: If you want to increase your ranking on Amazon, it’s not only about improving your product detail page or your keywords.
You need to increase both your conversion rate and your CTR, which will ultimately automatically generate more sales.
Here is you you do that:
- Appealing images: Choose high-quality, well-taken images of your products that show them clearly against a white background. The main image should motivate the customer to click on the result.
- Fair price: Make sure that you don’t overestimate the price and that there aren’t too many cheaper competitor products.
- Shipping costs: Amazon customers naturally prefer to order free shipping.
If possible, offer your products with Amazon Prime. Prime-shipment increases the conversion rate very much and is also a valuable ranking factor. - Product reviews: It is important that your customers are satisfied with your products and leave positive feedback. It is obvious that products with good ratings are much more likely to be viewed and bought.
- Vendor performance: You should also pay attention to seller ratings. Provide your customers with satisfactory support and ensure the fastest possible delivery times.
What shipping methods are available? (FBA vs. FBM)
FBM
FBM stands for „Fulfillment by Merchant” which means that the seller handles the entire order process, including warehousing and shipping of the goods, independently. In this scenario, you also take care of customer service.
FBM offers the advantage of full control over the storage, the packaging and the shipping.
A disadvantage of FBM is that the independent processing of orders requires a lot of work – and possibly additional staff. Again: Anyone who has been running their own online shop for a while and has the appropriate staff will probably have no problems with that. Smaller or new merchants can quickly get the work done as well.
But another disadvantage of FBM is that customers tend to have more confidence in products that are shipped by Amazon. Plus Amazon itself favors FBA merchants in some specific ways, so FBA vendors are a major competitor.
FBA
FBA stands for „Fulfillment by Amazon”. With this model, Amazon takes care of the shipping logistics for a fee.
In this scenario, your products are stored in one of the many Amazon warehouses in Germany or even Europe and then packed and shipped by Amazon staff.
The biggest advantage of FBA is probably that you can transfer a lot of work to Amazon. Another advantage of FBA is that you can offer Prime-shipment for your products (if they are qualified).
With FBA, you give Amazon a certain amount of control over the packaging and handling of your products which might not seem like an attractive option to some merchants.
In addition, there are many fees associated with storing your products in Amazon’s logistics centers. It is therefore important to consider whether the additional costs are worthwhile. Read more about the disadvantages of Amazon FBA on our blog.
Which shipping model is better?
As you can see, both shipping models have their pro’s and con’s, </span>so it always depends on your specific case if one or the other model might be better suited for you.
If you are already familiar with the shipping of goods and are experienced in handling the work involved, you can basically save the additional costs for FBA and take over the processing of the orders yourself. This is also recommended for those who want to keep control over the packaging of their goods and value direct customer contact.
Especially for new merchants with relatively high sales volumes, FBA can be worthwhile. With FBA, you can benefit from Amazon’s expertise in the field of logistics and also from the trust that customers place in Amazon’s shipping service, while you save some time that you can invest in building your brand.
According to Amazon’s statistics, around 86% of registered merchants have chosen the FBA method.
How can you start selling on Amazon Germany?
Your first step on the road towards success is to register as an Amazon Seller and create your Seller Central Account.
Upon registration, you need to specify a few things, which are:
- business information (country, address, phone number, business type or individual, name, company registration number if applicable)
- personal information (name, country, date of birth, residential address, phone number)
- billing information
- store and product information (unique store name how it should appear on Amazon, GTINs of products sold, manufacturer or own brand)
After this, you will need to verify your identity and once this is done, you can start creating your first product listings!
As a third-party seller on Amazon (especially if you decide against FBA), you will have to work hard on:
- drawing attention to yourself as a merchant/brand
- making your products visible to your target group
- winning the trust of customers
- competing with the many other sellers
But which criteria play a role when you want to sell successfully on Amazon?
- Merchant ratings: Trust in sellers who have little or no feedback is not particularly high, and it’s even worse if you have some ratings but they are very poor. Therefore, make sure to satisfy your customers by meeting their needs, responding to their queries and keeping your promised delivery times.
- Product reviews: Of course, positive ratings of the product itself should also be encouraged. If you pack your products yourself, do it carefully and safely. Defective or poorly packaged products inevitably lead to poor reviews that can be avoided. Also, pay attention to select product images which correspond to the actual appearance of the product. Don’t ever try to mislead people with false claims in your product descriptions.
- Competitive prices: Of course, your price should not be too high, but even significantly lower prices than those of the competition can lead to mistrust and indicate poor quality. Therefore, choose a reasonable price that appeals to customers.
Selling on Amazon Germany: Your journey starts here
Starting to sell on Germany’s largest e-commerce website might feel overwhelming at first. But with the right strategy it can be incredibly rewarding. Whether you choose to sell via FBA or FBM, as a retail seller or a private labe seller, using Seller Central or Vendor Central or a combination of both – the key to success lies in great product selection, competitive pricing, a strong customer focus, and endurance.
Remember, Amazon is a dynamic marketplace – so stay adaptable, track your performance, and optimize your listings as you grow.
Selling on Amazon Germany: Frequent Questions
How to sell on Amazon Germany?
You can sell on Amazon Germany through Seller Central where everybody can register for free and build their account. In case you receive a special invitation from Amazon, you can also start using Vendor Central.
Why should I start selling on Amazon Germany?
Amazon Germany is the second largest Amazon Marketplace in the world, only the US Amazon Marketplace in larger. On top of that, Amazon.de is a well-known website for specific online product searches and purchases. You will reach millions of potential customers and can benefit from Amazon’s reputation.
What are the best performing products on Amazon Germany?
You can view the best performing products per category if you click on the menu icon on the upper left side of Amazon.de and then go to Best Sellers. Note that the listed products are updated frequently as they are subject to change. If you want to start selling on Amazon.de, it is crucial for you to perform thorough market research before you decide on what to offer.
