Selling On OTTO From The UK
Category
Marketplaces
Published by
Tom Emmanuel
Read Time
5 Minutes
Selling on OTTO from the UK is possible, but not through your UK company. OTTO only signs sellers with a registered office and VAT ID in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, France or Denmark. A UK limited company with a German VAT number does not qualify. Here is what you need in place, what it costs, and when it is worth doing.
Tom Emmanuel
Founder, Furnace Commerce
What you need before selling on OTTO from the UK
An EU company, not a UK one
OTTO's checklist is specific. Your company must have one of the listed legal forms, a registered office in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, France or Denmark, and its own VAT ID from that country. Companies outside Germany must also use the OSS scheme with that home-country VAT ID. Denmark is in a pilot from November, with selected partners only. Two details catch UK brands out. A UK company that is simply VAT registered in Germany does not count, because the registered office has to be in one of those countries. And OTTO will not connect entities that share a VAT ID, or let you use the VAT ID of a parent company, so a group needs a properly separate EU subsidiary. The business bank account OTTO collects fees from must be within SEPA.
EU stock and a returns setup OTTO accepts
Goods must ship from a warehouse in Germany or elsewhere in the EU, so OTTO orders cannot be fulfilled from a UK warehouse. Parcels go out with DHL, DPD, GLS, Hermes or UPS, and every order needs both an outbound and a return tracking number at dispatch, because OTTO creates the customer's return label from it. Returns must arrive in Germany or one of eight named countries: Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Spain or the Czech Republic. Returns to Germany have to use DHL, GLS or Hermes. Returns to the other countries have to use DHL eCommerce, and a standard DHL contract is not enough. Customers get 30 days to return. Choose your 3PL around those rules, not the other way round. If you already use a German 3PL for Amazon or Zalando, check it can meet OTTO's tracking and returns requirements before you assume it can.
German service and German compliance
OTTO requires German-speaking customer service. In practice that means customer messages, product content and returns handled properly in German, not machine-translated English that nobody has checked. At onboarding you also answer OTTO's compliance questions: registration with a packaging scheme and the ZSVR under the German Packaging Act, take-back obligations for electrical goods, whether you hold a WEEE number, and whether you have FSC certification. Every seller signs OTTO's Business Partner Declaration on Sustainability, which bans, among other things, real fur, angora and mohair wool, and PVC in packaging and textiles. If your range touches any of those, check before you apply, not after.
Know the fees before you price
OTTO charges a monthly basic fee of €99.90 from the point you can technically sell, whether or not you have listed anything. On top of that is commission by product group, which already includes a 2.7% payment fee. Current rates include 7% for electronics, 15% for kitchen and household goods and for toys, and tiered fashion rates: women's textiles are 17% on the part of the price up to €25, 16% from €25 to €75 and 14% above €75. Jewellery starts at 22%. Non-perishable food and pet food dropped to 10% in July. The tiers apply to each slice of the price. A €40 women's top pays 17% on the first €25 and 16% on the remaining €15: €4.25 plus €2.40, so €6.65 in commission. OTTO deducts fees and commission from your sales and pays out weekly, on Thursdays. The contract can be ended with one month's notice to the end of a month.
OTTO is not a channel you switch on from the UK. It is a German operation you set up properly, or not at all.
Questions UK brands ask about OTTO
Can a UK company sell on OTTO?
Not directly. OTTO only accepts companies with a registered office and VAT ID in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, France or Denmark. A UK brand needs either its own subsidiary in one of those countries, or a partner with an eligible EU entity that holds the stock and sells it on otto.de. Which route is right depends on how much of Europe you plan to trade, not just OTTO. If you set up your own entity, allow time for incorporation, VAT and OSS registration and an EU-ready bank account before you apply, then OTTO's own review on top. OTTO says every application is reviewed individually.
Is OTTO worth it compared with Amazon.de or Zalando?
It depends on your category and margin. OTTO gives access to German shoppers who do not start on Amazon, and its own payment service takes on the default risk when customers pay on account or in instalments, both popular with OTTO shoppers. Against that you carry an EU entity, EU stock, German service and a monthly fee. For most UK brands it works as a second wave once Amazon.de or Zalando is profitable, not as the first step into Germany. Our post on which European marketplace to open first goes through that decision.
How much does it cost to sell on OTTO?
€99.90 a month plus commission by product group, from 7% to 22% depending on category and price, with the 2.7% payment fee included. The bigger costs usually sit outside OTTO's invoice: the EU entity and its accounting, OSS VAT returns, an EU warehouse, German returns handling and translation. Model all of it, not just the commission, before you decide.
Do you need to speak German to sell on OTTO?
Your customer service does. OTTO lists German-speaking customer service as a requirement, not a preference. Its seller site is available in English and an English translation of the seller terms is included in the document, but anything a customer reads or hears needs a German speaker, either on your team or through a service partner.
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