Can sellers from other EU countries sell on OTTO?

What changed on OTTO in 2026

OTTO used to require a German legal form and a German VAT ID from every seller. Since 23 March 2026, companies from the Netherlands can apply. OTTO has been opening country by country since then, sometimes first as a pilot with selected sellers, and step by step by legal form within a country too.

The market itself doesn't change. OTTO still sells only on otto.de to customers in Germany. So the opening concerns where a seller is based, not where they sell to.

OTTO reviews every application individually, including the company's identity, credit standing and risk. For the identity check, OTTO gives up to 15 working days. How to apply yourself is covered in How do I become a seller on OTTO?

Which countries OTTO admits sellers from

OTTO has moved the dates several times. This table shows the state on otto.market on 28 October 2026.

OTTO says different things about Spain. Two press releases from March and May 2026 name Spain for 2026, a presentation from July 2026 a pilot from September 2026. On otto.market, on 28 October 2026, Spain isn't among the countries you can register from. OTTO excludes Kleinunternehmer (small businesses under § 19 UStG, the German VAT exemption). OTTO doesn't accept companies from outside the EU directly, for example from China, the United Kingdom, Switzerland or the USA, and OTTO doesn't allow shipping from outside the EU.

What OTTO requires of EU sellers

For VAT, EU sellers take part in the OSS procedure with the VAT ID of their country of establishment. OSS stands for One-Stop-Shop, through which they report VAT on sales to other EU countries in one place in their own country. OTTO doesn't require a German number from them. Anyone shipping from a warehouse in Germany delivers within Germany, and according to the IHK, the German chamber of commerce, such deliveries don't go through OSS. OTTO says nothing about this.

Their customer service must speak German and answer enquiries within 48 hours Monday to Friday, through the partner portal or by email.

They may ship from any EU country, but only directly to the customer in Germany, without transshipment through an intermediate warehouse, and with tracking through to delivery. Hermes, DHL, DHL Express, GLS, DPD and UPS are allowed. otto.market doesn't mention shipping by OTTO for sellers, the way Amazon offers it.

Customers have 30 days to return items. Returns go to a warehouse in Germany or with DHL to one of eight EU countries, namely Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Spain, Poland or Austria. OTTO doesn't allow any other parcel carrier for returns abroad.

They may only sell new goods with an EAN. At registration OTTO asks, among other things, about taking back old electrical equipment, participation in a packaging scheme including registration in the packaging register, and the WEEE number for electrical equipment, plus a business account in the SEPA area.

OTTO doesn't state separate fees for EU sellers. On 28 October 2026, otto.market also lists for them the OTTO base fee of 99.90 € a month plus VAT and an OTTO commission depending on assortment. What a commission group is and which rates apply is covered in How high is the OTTO commission in 2026?, and all the costs together in OTTO fees: what does selling on OTTO cost?

As of 28 October 2026, OTTO offers new sellers from EU countries outside Germany a Go-Live-Incentive. OTTO doubles their budget for Sponsored Product Ads, the ads on otto.de, in their first three months. This applies to sellers who join by 30 November 2026 and go live in under 10 weeks. The offer doesn't apply to sellers from Germany.

What changes for you as a seller in Germany

If an EU seller offers an item with the same EAN as yours, OTTO merges your listings into one item. The product page then shows one offer to buy per variant. According to the Helpdesk, OTTO decides who gets this BuyBox based on price, shipping costs, delivery time, seller trust and services such as assembly or taking away old furniture. For seller trust, OTTO as a seller gets a bonus, and at present only OTTO offers the services. OTTO doesn't state a weighting. How OTTO awards the BuyBox is covered in detail in How does OTTO's search algorithm work?

OTTO chooses the texts and images on the product page separately, based on the highest benefit to the customer. So your images may appear next to another seller's offer, and vice versa.

The BuyBox also decides your ads. According to OTTO, only an item where you hold the BuyBox takes part in the auction for Sponsored Product Ads. If you lose it to an EU seller, OTTO stops showing your ad for that item.

Whether this already affects you shows in two places. In the partner portal, according to the Helpdesk, the „Wettbewerb am Artikel“ tab shows each of your items where another seller is selling alongside you and whether you hold the BuyBox there. On otto.de, an item's other sellers appear on the seller selection page. How to find both is below in the section on OTTO today.

Open to EU sellers are, among others, home & living, garden & DIY, fashion & lifestyle, tech & media, sports & leisure, drugstore, health and non-perishable food.

What can be foreseen

OTTO doesn't publish how many EU sellers it has admitted so far. There's also no data on how prices or click prices have developed since the opening. In practice, by October 2026 no new EU competitors have appeared yet in some niches.

The consequences can still be foreseen, as an assessment from practice. Where EU sellers offer the same items, more sellers stand at the same item, and competition for the BuyBox gets tougher. Because price counts in that, this tends to push down prices and margin. Every new seller can also book ads, and new EU sellers even with a doubled budget at the start. More sellers then bid in OTTO's auction, and click prices are more likely to rise than to fall.

How to check on OTTO who's selling alongside you on your items

Everything below is in OTTO Partner Connect, the partner portal for sellers, and on otto.de. What the „Wettbewerb am Artikel“ tab shows is described by OTTO's Partner Helpdesk as in step 1.

1. In the partner portal, open „Produkte“ (Products) → „Produktdatenanalyse“ (Product data analysis) and there the „Wettbewerb am Artikel“ tab. In the „Buy Box Analyse“ (Buy Box analysis) area, according to the Helpdesk, you'll find all your SKUs in competition with other sellers, whether you hold the BuyBox and your price next to the best price in the competition.
2. On otto.de, look at the product page of an item in competition. The other sellers are on a page of their own, the seller selection page.
3. In the partner portal, open „Marketing“ → „Sponsored Product Ads“ and there the „Dashboard“ tab. With „Spalten ein-/ausblenden“ (Show/hide columns) you add the „CPC“ per campaign, the price a click cost on average. Note it down every month and you'll see whether your clicks are getting more expensive.
4. For each item in competition, work out what's left at a lower price. From the price come VAT, OTTO commission, purchase price, shipping and ad spend. OTTO doesn't know your purchase price and shipping, they're in your own records.

OTTO doesn't tell you how far you have to go down with the price to get the BuyBox. You only see the best price in the competition and work out for yourself whether you still earn at that level. Your lower limit is the price at which nothing's left after VAT, OTTO commission, purchase price and shipping. Below it you lose money on every sale, even without ads. You do this calculation individually for each item in competition and again after every price change.

What's left when an EU seller offers it cheaper

You sell the oak table for 100 €. From that come 16 € VAT and 19 € OTTO commission, plus purchase price of 25.10 € and shipping of 4.90 €, leaving you 35 € before ads. Say a seller from the Netherlands offers the same table with the same EAN for 95 €, and you also go down to 95 €. Say also that a table you sell through your ad has so far cost you 25 € of ad spend, exactly your target ACoS of 25%, the highest share of ad revenue your ads may cost. Say finally that each click gets 20% more expensive because more sellers are bidding, and you need the same number of clicks per sale.

Even at 95 €, the ACoS of 26% is above your target of 25%, because the same 25 € of ad spend now sits on less ad revenue. The 5 € lower price alone costs you 3.25 € per table, because VAT and OTTO commission fall with the price but purchase price and shipping don't. With the more expensive clicks, 1.75 € of your 10 € is left, less than a fifth. The ACoS is then 32%, above your target of 25%. For it to get back to 25% at 95 €, a table sold through the ad may cost at most 25% × 95 € = 23.75 € of ad spend, which leaves you 31.75 € − 23.75 € = 8.00 €.