Brexit is fast approaching. In this post we will try to explain how the upcoming changes will drive the changes for sellers selling directly to UK customers and those who are using the FBA system.

Direct sales to customers in the UK.

What does this mean for my business at Amazon?
As a result of Brexit, there will be a number of changes to the way Amazon operates on the new customs border between the UK and the EU:

1. Saturday, November 14: Cross-border stock pickup requests will be put on hold, ie Withdrawal of stocks from UK Fulfillment Centers to EU addresses and from EU Fulfillment Centers to UK addresses. Any deletion orders created prior to that date will be processed until December 31, 2020. Local deletion requests will continue to be accepted as usual (ie UK or EU region). 

2. Friday 18 December: Pan-European FBA transfers will be halted between the UK and the EU. From then on, you will need to ship inventory to UK and EU fulfillment centers to maintain your inventory levels. Pan-European FBA states already placed in the EU before Friday 18 December will continue to be used to fulfill orders in the EU, and pan-European FBA states in the UK will continue to fulfill orders in the UK. Europe-wide transfers of FBA stocks will continue as usual in the EU region.

3. Monday, December 21: Cross-border implementation through EFN and pan-European FBA will start to end on Monday 28 December. To maintain sales in Europe, you will need to ship products to UK and EU logistics centers. For details, see Preparing for Brexit.

• Minimal disruption is expected for goods shipped by partners selling directly to the UK or the EU from outside Europe (for example from China or the US) to the Amazon Fulfillment Center, as these goods are already crossing the customs border.

• Seller orders (where the selling partner uses a third party carrier) may still be processed overseas between the UK and the EU. The selling partner will be responsible for ensuring that all duties and tariffs are paid prior to delivery to the customer.

Do I need to be VAT registered to sell to Europe after Brexit?
Whether you need UK or EU VAT registration numbers will depend on a number of factors. You should ask yourself if you intend to store products on the other side of the border and also from the level of sales you do in each country. 

What will be the impact on trading partners in Northern Ireland?
This will depend on the nature of the agreement agreed between the UK and the EU. 

How do I get started with customs compliance?
You will also have to decide whether you will submit the customs declarations yourself, or whether you will hire a customs broker and / or freight forwarder to clear the customs for you. (More information from the UK Government can be found here or on the website European Commission here ) .

Do I need an EORI number for both UK and EU?
The EORI requirement will depend on which party is the record exporter and the record importer. If you are shipping goods across the customs border after Brexit, both EOR and IOR will require an EORI number. If you do customs clearance to / from any EU Member State, you will only need an EU EORI number. If you are customs clearance to / from the UK, only an EORI GB number will be required for customs clearance to / from the UK.

This means that UK or EU selling partners sending parcels to both sides of the border will require both UK and EU EORI numbers. One EU EORI number will be sufficient for all EU countries.

If you are an MFN selling partner and ship directly to customers across the border, you may only need one EORI number (UK for UK selling partners and EU for EU selling partners). For more information, please contact a logistics agent or tax advisor.

How will Brexit affect intellectual property?
Brexit will affect trademarks, design rights and parallel imports, as outlined below. The UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) has a complete list of IP Brexit changes and recommended actions for rights owners and businesses on their websitej here . We recommend that you browse the UKIPO website regularly for the most up-to-date content. Here are some key quotes from UKIPO:

Trademarks: UKIPO’s website says: “From 1 January 2021, EUTMs will no longer protect UK trademarks. Pursuant to the Withdrawal Act, as of January 1, 2021, the Public Offering will create a comparable trademark in the UK for all rightholders with an existing EU trademark. Existing EUTMs will continue to protect trade marks in EU Member States. UK businesses can still apply to the EU Intellectual Property Office for an EUTM. There will be no changes to trademarks registered in the UK following the exit of the UK from the EU”.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eu-trademark-protection-and-comparable-uk-trademarks (Quote September 8, 2020)

Design rights: UKIPO’s website says: ‘At the end of the transitional period (1 January 2021) Registered Community Designs (RCD) and Unregistered Community Designs (UCD) will cease to apply in the UK. These rights will be immediately and automatically replaced by UK laws. If you have an existing right, you don’t need to do anything at this stage. ” Source: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/changes-to-eu-and-international-designs-and-trade-mark-protection-after-the-transition-period (Quote September 8, 2020)

Parallel Import: The UKIPO website states: “Goods placed on the UK market by or with the consent of the rights holder after the transition period can no longer be considered exhausted in the EEA. This means that companies exporting these IP goods from the UK to the EEA may need permission from the rights holder.

Activities for parallel exporters of IP-protected goods to the EEA:

Check that you are currently exporting IPR goods (for example, trademarked goods) to the EEA that have already been placed on the UK market and where consent of the rights owner to export these goods is not currently required. It may be necessary to contact the rights holder to obtain permission to continue after 1 January 2021. An IPR holder may not consent to parallel export of its IPR goods to the EEA. There may be a need to review the business arrangements, business model, or supply chain based on the results of discussions with the IPR holder.

Actions for IPR Holders:

Firms with intellectual property rights (for example a trademark) may wish to seek legal advice if their intellectual property goods are parallel exported from the UK to the EEA. You will need to consider whether you wish to allow parallel exports of copyright goods from the UK to the EEA after January 1, 2021.”

Source: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/exhaustion-of-ip-rights-and-parallel-trade-after-the-transition-period (quote from September 8, 2020)

How can brands prepare their Brand Registry accounts for Brexit?
With the changes to trademark law due to Brexit, EU trademarks will no longer apply in the UK, and brand owners will therefore have to register their trademarks with both UK and EU IP offices to protect them in the UK and EU in the brand register. The following are likely scenarios:

a. Brands operating in the UK – No impact on brands operating in the UK that are already registered with the UK trademark IPO OR with both UK IPO and EU trademark IPO. However, if brands are currently registered in the brand register with only the EUIPO trademark, then after January 1, 2021, these brands will no longer be able to report potential violations in the Amazon UK store, as all existing EU trademarks and designs will not be valid in the UK. Reporting potential violations on amazon.co.uk will require a valid UK IPO trademark. Accordingly, brands will have to update in the Brand Registry a comparable UK trade mark that the UK public offering creates for all brands with an existing EU trade mark.

b. UK and EU brands – Brands with only an EU trademark are currently protected in the UK and EU in the Brand Registry. However, after January 1, 2021, these brands will no longer be able to report potential infringements on the Amazon UK store, and therefore brands will have to register their UK and EU trademarks in the Brand Registry. As above, they will have to update in the Brand Registry a comparable UK trade mark that creates a UK public offering for all brands with an existing EU trade mark.

c. EU-only brands (excluding UK) – Brands only operating in the EU are not affected and their EU trademark is already registered in the Brand Register. If their EU trade mark is not registered, they should update their EU trade mark to be able to report violations with Amazon stores in the EU.

How can brands update their trademark in the brand register?
Brands can update their trademark by logging into their Brand Registry account and following the instructions in the Contacting Brand Support section and Add Trademark.

Will I have to create a separate SKU for UK and EU?
No. You can continue to use the same SKU for your UK and EU products. However, in order to be able to ship goods on both sides of the border, you must enable the Multi-Country Inventory. This will allow you to submit your FBA inventory to Amazon Fulfillment Centers in many countries of your choice across Europe. When you turn it on, you can choose the country you want to ship to. For UK and EU shipments, you can use the same SKU and Amazon will treat them as two separate pools of inventory.

What can I do to prepare to ship products to the EU and UK?
You will have to decide how you want to submit customs declarations and whether to hire a person or company to do customs for you. More information from the UK Government can be found here or on the website of the European Commission.
Setting up a new shipping model can take several months, so we recommend that you start planning and making these changes now to be well prepared for the changes.

Will there be customs duties on products crossing the UK-EU border?
This will depend on a trade deal agreed between the UK and the EU and is currently being negotiated.

Is there a chance that the implementation of the customs border will be delayed beyond January 1, 2021?
No, based on the UK Government’s confirmation that the UK will leave the EU on January 1, 2021. On leaving the EU, the UK has left the EU Customs Union and therefore there will be a customs border. The UK government has stated that it requires a gradual customs declaration from EU importing companies ( more information can be found here ). However, companies will still need to track their import activities in order to be able to correctly declare their activities retroactively.

What is stopping Amazon from moving inventory and fulfilling orders across the customs border?
As there will be a customs border, additional information is required to verify the nature and value of products crossing the border. This information must be provided by the selling partners. Amazon does not have this information, so it cannot transfer products on behalf of selling partners.

How the new rules will affect the FBA:
I don’t want to sell to Europe anymore. How do I disable my EFN and pan-European cross-border sales?
If you are using EFN, you don’t need to take any action to disable cross-border sales. Your EFN entries will still exist, but customers will only be able to view and buy these offers if you have inventory held on the other side of the customs border. UK customers will not be able to view EFN offers from EU trading partners unless there is inventory in the UK Fulfillment Center. EU customers will not be able to view EFN offers from UK trading partners unless at least one EU fulfillment center has inventory. If you are using pan-European FBA and no longer want to sell overseas, you need to turn off pan-European in your settings. To do this, go to Settings in the Merchant Center and then click Fulfillment by Amazon. In the Cross Border Fulfillment Settings section, click Edit, then deselect Enable next to Pan-European FBA.

How can I stop pan-European FBA shipments to the UK after the UK-EU customs border has been entered? Do I need to turn off my UK destination setting?
After December 18, 2020 | Amazon will halt all pan-European FBA transfers between the UK and continental Europe. As a result, none of your products will be transferred to or from the UK after this date. As such, no changes to UK destination settings are required in the seller’s account as Amazon will no longer automatically place UK inventory. To ensure local availability within the UK following the UK-EU customs border, we recommend that you ship your incoming shipment directly to the UK.
Note that you will still be able to sell all products that are currently stored in the UK to UK customers, even after January 1, 2021. If you wish to place a removal order after that date, you will need to provide a UK base address for processing.

If i use Build International Listings, do i need to change my pricing rules?
Brexit will not affect your Build International Listings connection, where the source market is UK, so there is no need to change the pricing rules. Where UK is the target store, the pricing rule set for FBA will be applied to your selection in Europe. We recommend that you set the pricing rule to “Same as Source, Adjust for Fees and Taxes” for both pan-European and FBA selections, to automatically adjust Fee Fee and VAT revisions post Brexit or evaluate the impact and adjust the pricing rule accordingly.

What happens to the auctions that I sync with Build International Listings?
After 1 January 2021, Build International Listings will continue to synchronize auctions between the UK and the EU. While you don’t need to change anything, make sure stocks are available in both the UK and the EU. If you have inventory held at UK Fulfillment Centers, your Listings synced through Build International Listings will still be available for purchase in the UK. If you have stock held in EU Fulfillment Centers, your listings synchronized through Build International Listings will still be available for purchase in the EU. Build International Listings will continue to sync newly created offers, however, offers cannot be purchased if you don’t have inventory in the region. Also, to prevent inventory from being left behind.

Can I decide which logistics centers to ship my inventory to in the EU?
With Multi-Country Inventory (MCI), you can ship your FBA inventory to Amazon Fulfillment Centers in multiple select countries across the EU. This allows you to decide which country your inbound shipments arrive, but you won’t be able to decide which specific fulfillment centers your shipments arrive at.

Should I consider importing directly from a supplier outside the region (for example from China) to an Amazon FBA warehouse?
Yes, as direct incoming is likely to save you costs. If you are shipping from China to the UK and then onwards to the EU, you will have to cross the customs border twice, leading to higher costs for customs clearance and duties. To avoid this, you should consider working with a supplier to find out if there are certain product lines that you can ship directly to a UK or EU fulfillment center.

How can I track UK and EU stock levels to make sure I have sufficient stock in each region?
To keep track of available UK and EU inventory, you can use the Daily Inventory report, which shows the quantity, state and country where they are stored.

I want to create a removal order before the November 14 deadline. How do I create a country-specific delete request?
To create deletion requests for specific countries before the November 14 deletion deadline, complete the following steps:

1) Download the Daily Inventory History report. You can find this by going to the Reports tab on your home page, selecting Fulfillment by Amazon, and then downloading Daily Inventory History. They can be found on the left side of the Inventory Reports tab. This report will provide ASIN-level information on the number of units you have in each country so you can decide what you want to remove and from where.
2) Download a simple delete order file from the Create Delete Request page.
3) Fill in all the details on the Request To Delet tab, including the Remove From Country Code line where you need to enter the two letter country code you want to delete the inventory from (for example DE for Germany).
4) Save the file as a text document and upload it to the Submit Delete Request page.

Should I start increasing the incoming amounts I am sending to the other side of the border?
Amazon will continue to fulfill orders in the UK and Continental Europe and to distribute your inventory across the EU according to demand forecasts for each country, including the UK, until mid-December (see FAQ “What does this mean for my Amazon?”) Exact dates ). You can take advantage of cross-border movement of goods by shipping your inventory before this deadline, however we recommend that you keep 4-8 weeks of protection on the Amazon network and start planning changes to the new shipping model now so you are prepared for January 1, 2021. Requirements are outlined in the Preparation section to Brexit.

Can you confirm that Amazon plans to start measuring performance in areas such as inventory and account balance for each region separately? Will I have a separate UK and EU IPI score?
After 1 January 2021, the EU’s stockpile will be split to reflect the varying quantities of stocks in the UK and continental Europe. In order to accurately measure the inventory status in each region and make appropriate recommendations to assist you in inventory management, we will need to generate two different IPI scores for UK and Continental Europe inventory performance during 2021.

How much inventory should be shipped to the UK and EU?
There are many factors that can influence the demand for your products and your inventory placement decisions. To mitigate the effects of Brexit, you should consider splitting your inventory and sending some to a UK logistics center and others to an EU logistics center. This will allow you to have enough stock on both sides of the new customs border. For your own convenience, you can use the Amazon website for a suggested UK / EU split of your products.

Will the Amazon Partner Carrier Program (PCP) continue to be available in 2021?
Amazon is working to ensure the program continues to serve all existing shipping lanes in 2021, including those affected by Brexit. Amazon is working with partner carriers to identify how existing workflows will change, based on the new requirements for customs clearance for shipments to and from the UK and across Europe. Amazon will maintain the same discounted rates advertised in the pre-Brexit promotion until March 31, 2021.

Please see our FAQ page for more information on promotions and average rebate rates here .

Will Amazon split my UK and EU stock pools and if so, when?
Yes. You can still use the same FBA SKU for UK and EU auctions, however the inventory pools will be split to reflect the different quantities in each. For example, if you shipped 60 units to UK and 40 to DE, you will have 60 units available in your UK offers and 40 units available in any EU market (provided you have enabled EFN or Pan-EU in EU4). For an offer to be active (ie In stock) in the UK, it must have UK FC shares and vice versa in the EU. 

How will I get my equipment returned if it is on the other side of the border?
As Amazon will not move goods across the customs border, you will not be able to create Inventory Pickup Orders in DE, FR, IT, ES, PL, and CZ for return to a UK address (and vice versa). To receive a return of inventory, you will have the following restrictions when creating a pickup request:
1) Enter a valid UK address to clear UK FC stock
2) Enter a valid EU address (excluding UK) to clear inventory from DE, FR, IT, ES, PL and CZ FC To return inventory, you need to create a pickup order to the local address where the inventory is stored. You can then arrange for a courier to pick up your inventory from that address and ship these items back overseas. If you have automatic deletion turned on, these returns will only be processed if your auto delete address is local to your inventory storage.

Will I need to create new FNSKU (Amazon FBA barcodes) for my Amazon product?
No. You won’t have to create new FNSKUs and you can keep using the same barcodes for your products. FNSKUs are determined by the product SKU. As you can continue to use the same SKU for both your UK and EU entry, there is no need to generate new FNSKU barcodes.

How to ship goods directly to FC on the other side of the border?
If you intend to ship to FC on the other side of the border after January 1, 2021, you must enable Multi Country Inventory, which allows incoming shipments to be shipped to the UK and to a number of selected EU countries.

What is the FBA Exports program and how will it affect it after Brexit? Will EU customers still be able to purchase my products from Amazon.co.uk?
The FBA Export program allows you to fulfill orders of qualifying products on Amazon.co.uk to a postal address outside the UK. FBA Exports will continue to run. Exports can protect a small fraction of your European sales after Brexit, however, with the vast majority of Amazon customers purchasing from their domestic stores, expect limited sales generated through exports. The best way to protect sales in the EU after Brexit is to ship inventory on both sides of the border.

What happens to my UK / EU stocks when I cross the new customs border?
This range will continue to be sold in the UK and the EU. Amazon will not take it across the UK and EU border, but you will be able to remove it from the Fulfillment Centers to your local address and then you will be able to ship it across the UK and EU border if you wish to do so.

What happens to my EFN European / UK entries after the deadline?
UK auctions will only be active when UK FC stocks exist (and vice versa for EU auctions / stocks). To have an active offer in UK and EU, you must go directly to each region.

I was thinking about launching on the Pan-EU FBA this year. Should I keep doing this?
Yes. Pan-EU FBA remains the most effective way to maximize the sales of your products across the EU by ensuring that your inventory is placed close to your customers, providing customers with fast delivery that supports higher sales. It also reduces your costs, as there will be national fees for selling in each country, which are lower than EFN’s fees. Pan-EU FBA will continue to be the most effective way to maximize sales in the EU after BREXIT (on our sites in Germany, France, Spain and Italy).

Should I stop using Pan-EU FBA and EFN now?
No. The pan-European FBA and EFN will continue to operate normally until the end of December. After Brexit, you can continue to use Pan-EU FBA and EFN to sell your products in the EU (on sites in Germany, France, Spain and Italy).

What are the long-term plans for Pan-EU FBA and EFN after BREXIT?
Pan-EU FBA and EFN will continue to operate in the EU and Amazon will continue to invest and improve these products, helping trading partners to expand across the EU.