Opening the European seller account

The registration itself follows the same shape as the American one, so if you have read the U.S. course's lesson on opening an account, most of this will be familiar. What differs is who gets verified, what documents are considered current, and how a European account relates to a North American one.

What to have ready

Amazon's published checklist asks for a government-issued ID, an email address, an internationally chargeable credit card, a bank account and routing details, a business licence or registration, proof of residential address from the last 180 days such as a bank or credit card statement, and tax information. Registration ends with identity verification — uploaded documents and then a photo or a video call — which Amazon says usually takes three business days or less.¹

For a European company, add to that list:

• A recent extract from the commercial register of the country where the company is incorporated. Registries issue these with a date on them, and a document from three years ago is often refused.
• Identification for beneficial owners, typically anyone holding 25% or more, plus whoever is the legal representative. Lesson 1's point about nominee arrangements arrives here.
• Your VAT numbers, once issued, entered in the account so the marketplace applies the right treatment and invoices come out correctly.

How Europe relates to an account you already have

Amazon treats regions separately. Its policy is one selling account per region unless there is a legitimate business need for another, and it will not approve multiple accounts sharing one bank account inside a region — but accounts in different regions, such as North America and Europe, can be linked through Global Selling and may then share banking.²

Practically, this means an existing American seller opens a European account rather than a second American one, links them, and keeps a single set of credentials habits: one primary email under your control, two-step verification on a number you pay for, and separate restricted users for anyone helping.

The first hour after approval

• Enter your VAT numbers for every country you are registered in.
• Do not enable inventory placement in any country where you are not registered. Lesson 2 explained why this is a tax decision.
• Set the deposit method from lesson 3, knowing that changes trigger a hold.
• Check which stores your listings will appear in, and in which languages, before the catalogue fills up.
• Turn on two-step verification and add helpers as separate users with least access.

If it goes under review

The same discipline as in the American course: read the request literally, send exactly what was asked once, keep the reply short and factual, wait the stated time before following up, and never open a second account or change bank details mid-review. European reviews sometimes ask for translated documents; a certified translation is worth more than an argument about whether one is necessary.

Mistakes

• Using an out-of-date register extract. Registries date these documents for a reason.
• Leaving VAT numbers out of the account. Invoices and marketplace treatment depend on them.
• Enabling placement countries during setup because the interface suggests it.
• Opening a second account instead of linking regions.
• Names that differ between register, bank and application.

Next

Lesson 5 is the one that decides whether your listings stay switched on: CE marking, the General Product Safety Regulation's responsible person, and the producer registrations Amazon checks.