How do I become a seller on OTTO?

Who may sell on OTTO

OTTO only accepts companies with a legal form from its list. For Germany these include the sole proprietorship not entered in the commercial register, the e.K., the GbR, the GmbH, the UG, the OHG, the KG and the AG. OTTO excludes all other legal forms. That also applies to small businesses under § 19 UStG, the German small-business VAT exemption.

Your registered office must be in a country from which OTTO accepts sellers. Until March 2026, that meant German companies only. Since 2026 you can also register from the Netherlands, Poland, Austria and France. Denmark starts from November 2026 as a pilot with selected partners. The full list of legal forms per country is on the „Formalien“ (formal requirements) page of otto.market.

You need your own VAT ID from the country of your registered office, so as a company from Germany your German one. An article in the Partner Helpdesk dated 2 July 2026 still requires a German number for everyone. The „Formalien“ page of otto.market is newer and names the number of the country of your registered office.

What OTTO requires of your business

You sell to end customers and have customer service in German. You ship from a warehouse in Germany or the EU, and OTTO doesn't allow shipping from other countries. You send parcels with DHL, DHL Express, GLS, Hermes, UPS or DPD. You take returns in Germany with Hermes, DHL or GLS. If you want returns sent back to another EU country, that only works with DHL eCommerce, and a normal contract with DHL isn't enough.

You may only sell new goods with an EAN. OTTO takes assortments such as furniture and living, garden and DIY, fashion and lifestyle, tech and media, sports and leisure, drugstore, health and non-perishable food. There's also a list of unwanted products, and you agree to OTTO's sustainability declaration for business partners.

Which documents OTTO checks

OTTO Payments does the check. The application is made by the person who acts for your company. Which documents you upload depends on your country and legal form, and they must be in German or English. Have these details ready.

• Company name with legal form, address, tax number and business identification number (Wirtschafts-Identifikationsnummer)
• a business account in the SEPA area with proof, as OTTO Payments doesn't accept an account in Switzerland or the United Kingdom
• depending on legal form, articles of association and power of attorney
• the details of your legal representatives, meaning owners or managing directors, while an authorized signatory (Prokurist) doesn't count
• the details of each person who owns more than 25% of your company
• a device with a camera and your ID card or passport for identification by video

OTTO Payments then checks in four steps.

1. It checks that your company exists and the details are correct.
2. It checks your company's creditworthiness.
3. It identifies each person by video. You're alone for this and speak German or English.
4. It assigns your company a risk rating.

Anyone who can't represent your company alone needs a signed power of attorney. For your OTTO account you also enter your registration under the German Packaging Act (Verpackungsgesetz). If you sell electrical devices, your registration number under the German Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (Elektrogesetz) is added, the WEEE number.

How long signing up with OTTO takes

OTTO doesn't say how long it takes until you start. According to the Partner Helpdesk, it can vary a lot. OTTO gives no figure for reviewing your application. For the Legitimationsprüfung (OTTO Payments' identity check), otto.market gives up to 15 working days. How quickly you finish your documents and settings after that is up to you.

What signing up with OTTO costs

OTTO doesn't name a fee for signing up or for listing products. As soon as your account is technically able to sell, though, the OTTO base fee applies, 99.90 € a month plus VAT. It applies even if you haven't uploaded a product yet.

You don't pay for the month in which your account becomes able to sell. OTTO first charges the OTTO base fee for the month after. OTTO doesn't state clearly which day counts as the day your account can sell. Plan with the earliest day the Partner Helpdesk names, the start of the step „Herstellen der Verkaufsfähigkeit“ (making your account able to sell) right after the check by OTTO Payments.

OTTO charges the OTTO base fee on the first of the month for the previous month and offsets it through OTTO Payments against the money from your sales that hasn't been paid out yet. If there's nothing there, OTTO collects it by direct debit from your business account.

From your first sale, OTTO keeps an OTTO commission of between 7% and 22% of the price per sale, depending on the commission group. If your customer pays shipping costs, OTTO takes 16% on those. The payment fee is already included in the OTTO commission. OTTO fees: What does selling on OTTO cost? covers all the running costs.

OTTO Payments pays out your money at the earliest 14 days after shipping, on the following Thursday.

What's new in 2026 for sellers from the EU

Sellers from the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, France and Denmark take part in the OSS procedure for OTTO. Through it they report VAT for sales to other EU countries in one place. OTTO also offers new sellers from the EU outside Germany a Go-Live Incentive. OTTO doubles their budget for Sponsored Product Ads, the advertising on otto.de, for the first three months. To get it, you register by 30 November 2026 and go live within 10 weeks of registering. The offer doesn't apply to sellers from Germany.

Your path to your first sale on OTTO

The steps up to launch come from the Partner Helpdesk and otto.market. Only the partner portal after launch was viewed firsthand, because an account that already sells no longer sees the steps before it.

1. On the „Formalien“ page of otto.market, check whether OTTO accepts your legal form, your country of registered office and your VAT ID.
2. Fill in the registration form on otto.market. OTTO reviews your application and then sends you login details by email.
3. Log in to the partner portal OTTO Partner Connect at portal.otto.market and set up two-factor authentication, for example with an app for one-time codes on your phone.
4. According to the Helpdesk, agree on the welcome page to OTTO's terms of use and OTTO Payments' payment services framework agreement.
5. Go through the connection to OTTO Payments in seven steps, from applicant through documents, company, business account and representatives to submission. The partner portal shows you the status of the four checks.
6. According to the Helpdesk, make your account able to sell. Among other things, you fill in „Steuerinformationen“ (tax information), „Versand- und Retoureninformationen“ (shipping and return information), a shipping profile, your legal notice and the statutory details, and create your first product. From here the OTTO base fee runs.
7. Place a test order if you like. Until launch, your products aren't visible on otto.de.
8. Click „Jetzt mit dem Verkauf starten“ (Start selling now). From then on customers can order your products.

You create products one at a time in the „Produkte“ (Products) module or send them through OTTO's interface. OTTO only releases the interface to you after signing up and the Legitimationsprüfung. Without your own development, you need an inventory management system or a service provider that connects to OTTO.

What you'll find in the partner portal after launch

After launch, the left menu of the partner portal shows „Produkte“, „Aufträge“ (Orders), „Finanzen“ (Finance), „Analysen“ (Analytics) and „Marketing“. Under „Finanzen“ → „Zahlungsbelege“ (payment statements) there's one payment statement per week. Under „Marketing“ → „Sponsored Product Ads“ you create advertising.

What you have to work out yourself

How many months of OTTO base fee come up before your first sale is for you to work out, because OTTO doesn't give a total duration. Plan with the up to 15 working days of the Legitimationsprüfung, the review of your application and the time you need yourself for documents, settings and products. Each full month from the month after your account can sell costs 99.90 € plus VAT. Your first money arrives at the earliest 14 days after your first shipment. Costs outside OTTO come on top and appear on no OTTO invoice, for example for a connection, the packaging license or registering electrical devices.

From a sellable account to your first money on OTTO

Say you sell garden furniture with your GmbH from Germany. The days are example days. On Wednesday, 14 October 2026, your check at OTTO Payments is complete and you start the step „Herstellen der Verkaufsfähigkeit“. The example takes this day as the start of the OTTO base fee, because OTTO doesn't clearly name a later day. On Monday, 2 November 2026, a customer orders your first acacia chair for 119 €, and you ship it on 3 November 2026.

You pay nothing for October, because OTTO first charges the following month. From November each month costs 99.90 € plus VAT, whether you sell or not. If you can deduct input tax, the VAT on it costs you nothing.