Expanding into the UK or Europe? Here’s how to ship and store across the customs border 

For ambitious Amazon sellers looking to expand their e-commerce businesses into the UK and/or Europe, using the right shipping solution to move and store inventory – and avoid customs charges – is key.  

In 2022, Amazon UK generated £6.6 billion in turnover, and in 2023, Amazon EU S.à r.l. reported a revenue of over €53 billion. However, Brexit created a divide between the UK and EU, making international trade more complicated and costly for sellers to tap into these markets. What are your options for overcoming that obstacle?  

Here, we take you through the key aspects of AVASK and Amazon’s shipping solutions, which help you with navigating the UK-EU customs border smoothly, put your products closer to the customers, and make fulfilment cheaper. 

First, a look at the UK and EU customs border 

On 1 January 2021, Brexit ended the free movement of goods between Europe and UK, which is why you need support with moving goods between the UK and EU. 

This customs border adds an additional compliance need – you could get audited for exports and imports, so it’s important to have the right information and remain compliant. AVASK can help you make the necessary customs entries to allow your shipments to move between the UK and EU.  

Storing your products in both the UK and EU means you can benefit from Amazon’s Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) programme and store inventory on both sides of the UK-EU customs border.  

The knock-on effects of Brexit: the customs border and 0% customs duty 

Before Brexit, for example if you wanted to send something from France to the UK, it would be like sending it domestically in France. Today there are different customs checks.

The 0% customs duty trade deal – and you 

The trade deal introduced means that you benefit from the 0% customs duty trade deal, which means that you’ll be effectively saving costs if you: 

• Are selling UK-origin goods and moving them into Europe  
• Have sufficient proof that the goods are indeed manufactured in the UK 
• Are likewise selling verified EU-origin goods and shipping them to the UK 

With this new customs border came the introduction of import VAT. This means that when your goods are crossing between the UK and EU, you’ll need: 

• an export entry to get your goods out of the local place 
• an import entry to allow your products to be imported in 

Why store your goods locally on both sides of the UK and EU border? 

If you’re storing close to where your final sale is, you’ll pay local FBA fulfilment fees and you won’t have to pay the higher fulfilment fees as if you were selling into the Europe and storing in the UK, or vice versa.  

Storing locally means you can: 

• Get eligibility for the Prime badge 
• Benefit from faster shipping times 
• Gain eligibility for the Pan-EU FBA programme 

How can AVASK simplify navigating your shipments between the UK and EU, and EU and UK? 

We handle all the customs declarations to make sure that: 

• your goods are exported and imported compliantly 
• that returns, etc are hassle-free 

AVASK work with different transport agencies such as UPS and ATS (Amazon Transport Services). Amazon and AVASK have been working together over the past two to three years to develop solutions that help UK sellers successfully transport their product from the UK to Europe, and help Europe-based sellers transport their product from the EU to UK.  

AVASK offers two programmes: 

1. One with two solutions for moving small parcels (ATS-AVASK and UPS-AVASK) 
2. One for moving pallets (UPS SCS-AVASK) 

Small parcels: a quick overview of the two solutions 

ATS-AVASK and UPS-AVASK are two of the transport providers that we use for sending parcels.

What is ATS-AVASK? 

ATS-AVASK is the Amazon-AVASK transport services programme which sends shipments between the UK and EU.  

In the UK, you send your inventory (via UPS or DPD) to Amazon’s sort centre in Weybridge, near London. From there, Amazon’s trucks go to Amazon fulfilment centres in Saran, France and in Krefeld, Germany. With daily weekday departures to France and Germany, there are about 10 shipments a week. 

While ATS handle the shipping, AVASK’s role is to coordinate and make sure that you provide us the information we need to declare the customs declaration.  

How ATS-AVASK and UPS-AVASK are different 

Shipping and storing your goods on both sides of the border 

Shipping and storing for UK to EU sellers 

When your goods are crossing the UK-EU border from the UK, we’ll provide: 

• The export declaration  
• The import declaration so that the goods can arrive in the EU and go to either France or Germany.  

Shipping and storing for EU to UK sellers 

This goes the other way around. First, you send your inventory via DPD or DHL as these are the couriers that Krefeld will accept. Amazon receives the parcels in Krefeld and make two departures a week. We then provide: 

• the export entry  
• The import entry to ensure that goods are moving compliantly.  

Amazon then provide the international transportation via ATS, which is free.  

Are you sending parcels or pallets – or both? 

The solution you choose is down to what works best for you and your business. 

If you’re based in the UK and sent inventory domestically, you may have used UPS for sending small parcels through Amazon already. For shipping to the other side of the border, shipment creation and the tracking is similar to doing it domestically.  

If you’d rather send larger shipments in pallets, this is currently available for the UK to EU lane (UK to France or Germany). The pallet transporter and provider is UPS-SCS, which is a separate programme. 

What if you want to send both parcels and pallets? 

You’ll have to choose either the ATS-AVASK and UPS-AVASK programme to send parcels, but you can choose UPS-SCS to send pallets for no additional fee.  

AVASK helps with the customs declarations to make sure that your shipments go through and can be imported compliantly into the destination country. 

Sending pallets from the UK to France or Germany via UPS SCS-AVASK  

Transport is provided by UPS, and AVASK completes the customs clearances. Similar to when you’re sending anything to Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA), you’ll need to tell Amazon what you are sending and you’ll get an FBA reference – this is crucial because it’s the unique identifier for your shipment, and this is what AVASK and Amazon would use if we were contacting you.  

Useful resources

Read the Amazon Customs Clearance & Shipping Services Handbook (PDF) for guidance about using Amazon’s Customs Clearance and Shipping Services to send your stock to FBA Fulfilment Centres in the EU. 

We also recorded a webinar which takes a deep dive into using our shipping solutions.

Start expanding your business with Amazon’s cross-border services 

Whether you choose to send parcels or pallets or both, Amazon’s cross-border services can help make selling into Europe easier, more streamlined and cost effective. You may find it to be less complicated and reliable than other solutions on offer, that you can stay in stock with best-selling products – and with the customs border in place, benefit from the 0% customs duty.  

We know that it’s a complex process, and we’re here to help you navigate this and help make your business a success. 

Sign up today to get started with expanding your business.

FAQs about shipping between the UK and EU