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Selling in the Netherlands: amazon.nl or bol.com
Daniel Pawłowski · Amazonway · · approx. 9 min read
For most European sellers the Dutch question has stopped being “is it worth it". If you run Pan-European FBA, Amazon now wants an active offer on amazon.nl or you lose the programme. And bol.com, the local market leader, does not take non-Benelux sellers off the street: it asks for at least 500,000 euro of sales potential in the first twelve months, customer service in Dutch, and registration by invitation only. Most sellers will therefore end up on amazon.nl not because they picked it, but because it is the only door that is open.
Sources checked: 1 September 2026. This is not tax or legal advice. It rests on Amazon's seller-facing pages, on the bol.com Partnerplatform, and on trade press where Amazon communicates a change only inside Seller Central. Both platforms change their terms on their own initiative, so what binds you is what you see in your own account.
Key takeaways
- A Netherlands offer is already required for new Pan-EU FBA products, and Amazon has announced it will extend the requirement to existing ones. Trade press reports 3 September 2026, citing a Seller Central announcement.
- You do not have to create product pages that do not yet exist on amazon.nl. The requirement is to list where a detail page already exists.
- bol.com is closed to most foreign sellers. Five entry conditions, registration by one-time invitation, and third-party verification that can take weeks.
- bol.com has no subscription, you pay commission only. Amazon has the Professional plan at 39 euro per month plus selling fees.
- The commission base differs. bol.com charges on the price including VAT. Since February 2024 Amazon calculates the referral fee on the amount excluding VAT in the affected transaction types. At the Dutch 21% rate that is a gap in the base itself, before you compare any percentages.
- The order of decisions is the reverse of the usual guide. First check whether you clear bol.com's bar at all. If you do not, the question “which channel" does not exist and what remains is “how to make amazon.nl work".
The Netherlands stopped being optional if you are in Pan-EU
Amazon's seller page states it plainly: “A Netherlands offer is now required for new Pan-EU FBA products. Later this year, you'll be required to list your existing Pan-EU FBA offers on Amazon.nl to stay in the Pan-EU FBA program", adding that it will give at least 30 days' notice before the requirement takes effect (sell.amazon.nl).
The same page lists the nine countries Pan-European FBA covers for offers: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Belgium and Ireland.
Exactly when the requirement reaches existing products is not stated on Amazon's public pages. Three independent trade outlets (EcommerceNews.eu, ChannelX and the VAT advisers at AVASK) describe the change consistently and give 3 September 2026 as the date from which an active Dutch offer is required for products already listed. EcommerceNews names a Seller Central announcement as its source.
Being straight about the status of that date: we could not confirm it on any public Amazon page, because the announcement lives in the panel only the account holder can open. The one place you can confirm it for yourself is your own Seller Central. Treat 3 September as a working date, not as a quotation from the terms.
The sequence runs like this: from mid-2025 the requirement applied to products newly added to Pan-EU, and it is now spreading to the whole catalogue. Belgium is set to follow, according to the same sources from 26 February 2027, there described as a condition at enrolment.
Two exemptions that cut the workload
- No detail page. If a product has no page on amazon.nl yet, you do not have to create one just to satisfy the requirement. The duty is to list where a page already exists.
- Offers blocked through no fault of yours. Amazon has said exemptions will cover products whose offer is inactive because of category requirements such as local language, restricted products, or blocked accounts.
What this changes in the numbers, and what it does not
Listing on amazon.nl does not by itself create a Dutch VAT registration duty. The registration duty follows where you hold stock, not where you hold an offer. That distinction and the full list of storage countries are laid out in our piece on Pan-European FBA, together with a verified fee table.
What does change is the cost of serving Dutch orders: fulfilled from a local warehouse you pay local rates instead of the more expensive cross-border European Fulfilment Network rates. The figures for your own category and weight band are in that article, because the per-unit difference is often larger than the entire saving people chase in packaging.
bol.com has a gatekeeper, and the bar is set high
This is the part missing from most guides to selling in the Benelux. They usually say bol.com is “number one in the Netherlands, worth being there". It is worth it. You have to be let in first.
bol.com runs a separate track for EU companies outside the Benelux and publishes its entry conditions. The company must:
| bol.com condition (original) | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| “Een geregistreerde EU-onderneming hebben (dit is verplicht)" | A registered EU business, mandatory. As written, a company registered outside the EU, the United Kingdom included, does not meet this condition. |
| “Minimaal €500.000 verkooppotentieel hebben in de eerste 12 maanden" | At least 500,000 euro of sales potential in the first 12 months. This is the real barrier: half a million on a single channel in year one. |
| “Sterke ervaring hebben op internationale marktplaatsen" | Demonstrable experience on international marketplaces. A first foreign channel is unlikely to pass. |
| “Klantenservice bieden in het Nederlands en de klant altijd centraal stellen" | Customer service in Dutch. Not in English. That is a headcount or an outsourced desk, not a browser translator. |
| “Willen integreren via een bol-gecertificeerde API-partner" | Integration through a bol-certified API partner. Listing by hand is not on the table. |
Source: bol.com Partnerplatform, the European partner track.
Registration by invitation only
The second decisive point: European sellers outside the Netherlands and Belgium register only on a one-time invitation from bol.com or from selected integrators and agencies (the registration process for European partners). There is no form you simply fill in.
Verification itself covers your entry in the home country's trade register, a VAT number from the country of establishment, a NACE code for eCommerce activity, ultimate beneficial owner details, a valid identity document, and an active payment account in a SEPA country. A third party (Duna) runs the check, and bol.com warns the process can take several weeks. No answer within five working days means a rejection.
For scale, the figures bol.com gives in its own partner materials: 13 million customers across the Netherlands and Belgium and over 34 million items in the catalogue. There is no measurement date attached, so treat them as an order of magnitude.
Where the two channels actually differ
| Element | amazon.nl | bol.com |
|---|---|---|
| Availability to a foreign seller | Open. With a European seller account you add the Dutch store on the account you already have | Closed. Invitation plus five entry conditions |
| Turnover threshold | None | 500,000 euro of potential in the first 12 months |
| Subscription | Professional plan 39 euro per month; Individual plan 0.99 euro per item sold | None. “Je betaalt alleen commissiekosten voor je verkochte artikelen" |
| Commission | Referral fee, a percentage that depends on the category | A variable commission (category-dependent percentage) plus a fixed commission (amount dependent on category and price) |
| Commission base | Since February 2024, in the affected transaction types, the amount excluding VAT at the rate of the store of listing | The price including VAT. “Wij berekenen de commissie over de verkoopprijs (inclusief btw)" |
| Logistics | FBA, including local fulfilment from Pan-EU warehouses | Logistiek via bol, their equivalent of FBA, or your own shipping |
| Listing language | Dutch for the Dutch store | Dutch |
| Customer service | No local-language requirement for cross-border selling | Dutch required as a condition of entry |
| Integration | Panel, bulk files or SP-API, your choice | A certified API partner as a condition of entry |
Amazonway's read, not a quote from either platform: these two channels are not competing for the same seller. amazon.nl is an extension of an account you already run, and under Pan-EU it becomes an obligation. bol.com is a separate commercial project with its own budget for service and integration, justified only at the scale bol.com asks about openly in its entry conditions.
The commission base: 21 points you will not see in the percentage
Comparing headline commission percentages across platforms is misleading, because they are charged on different amounts.
bol.com charges on the price including VAT. Its commission page carries the sentence “Wij berekenen de commissie over de verkoopprijs (inclusief btw)", meaning the commission is calculated on the selling price with VAT in it (bol.com Partnerplatform). The commission has two parts: a variable one, a category-dependent percentage, and a fixed one, an amount that depends on category and price. For the kitchen category bol.com gives 5% to 12.5% plus 0 to 0.85 euro.
Amazon moved the other way. Since 1 February 2024 it calculates the European referral fee on the amount excluding VAT, at the rate of the store where the offer sits, regardless of the delivery country. In the worked example published with that change, a 119 euro offer on amazon.de at a 10% rate produces a fee of 11.90 euro, that is 10% of 100 euro net, even when the parcel ships to a country with a higher VAT rate (description of the change). Amazon described it for transactions where it accounts for the VAT itself, so check your own fee report to see which amount your fee is calculated on.
What the gap does to the numbers
The standard Dutch VAT rate is 21%. Take a product on the shelf at 121 euro gross, that is 100 euro net:
- Commission on 100 euro at a 12% rate is 12 euro.
- Commission on 121 euro at the same 12% rate is 14.52 euro.
That is 2.52 euro per unit at an identical percentage in the table. At a thousand units a month it becomes 2,520 euro, roughly five years of the Professional plan. This is not an argument against bol.com, because on the other side there is no subscription and there is different demand. It is an argument for costing both platforms in currency rather than in percentages.
When bol.com makes sense, and when it is a waste of a quarter
A simple test, in this order:
- Will you do 500,000 euro in the first twelve months on one channel? If you cannot support that with data from other markets, the remaining questions are moot.
- Do you have Dutch-language customer service? In-house, an agency, or a partner. If the answer is “we will work something out", that is a cost you have not counted.
- Do you have an integration through a certified API partner? If you list by hand today, add an integration project to the plan.
- Does your category genuinely sell in the Benelux? That is a question about your assortment, not about the platform, and the answer sits in your German sales data rather than in a market ranking.
Four times “yes" means bol.com is a project worth a budget. One “no" means that for the coming year your Dutch channel is amazon.nl, and you are better off squeezing it than waiting for an invitation.
What to do this week if you are in Pan-EU
- Open Seller Central and find the Netherlands notice. It is the only place where you can confirm the date that applies to your account.
- Pull the list of SKUs with no active offer on amazon.nl. The ones that matter already have a detail page; you do not have to create the rest.
- Check which offers are inactive because of category requirements or restrictions. Those should fall under the exemptions, but it is worth knowing how many there are before someone counts them against you.
- Look at the translations. An offer pushed out automatically with a machine-translated description satisfies the requirement and sells nothing. Those are two different things, and only the first happens by itself.
- Cost Dutch delivery both ways: from local stock and cross-border. The rates and the method are in our piece on Pan-European FBA.
- Check VAT. The offer alone does not trigger it, storage does. If Amazon spreads your stock into new countries, the registration duties follow the goods.
How Amazonway handles it
We treat the Netherlands requirement as two separate jobs, because only one of them is urgent. The first is compliance: get the account to a state where it does not drop out of Pan-EU, which means the SKU list, the exemptions, and activating offers. The second is selling: Dutch copy written rather than passed through a translator, prices set against local competition, and logistics arranged so Dutch orders draw local fulfilment rates.
The first can be closed in days. The second decides whether the new market is revenue or just another line in the fee report. We run both stages as part of international expansion and marketplace account management, and the Dutch channel itself is described on our bol.com page.
FAQ: selling in the Netherlands
Do I need an amazon.nl offer to stay in Pan-EU?
Amazon's seller page says a Netherlands offer is already required for new Pan-EU FBA products, and that existing offers will have to be listed on amazon.nl to stay in the programme, with at least 30 days' notice. Trade press reports 3 September 2026 as the date covering existing products, citing a Seller Central announcement. Confirm the date that applies to your account in the panel.
Do I have to create product pages on amazon.nl if none exist?
No. The requirement is to have an active offer where a detail page already exists. Amazon has also announced exemptions for offers that are inactive because of category requirements, restricted products or blocked accounts.
Does listing in the Netherlands mean registering for Dutch VAT?
The offer alone does not. The registration duty arises where you store goods. If Amazon places your inventory in another country under Pan-EU, the obligations follow the goods, and the One Stop Shop does not replace them. Settle the details with your accountant.
Can a foreign company simply open a bol.com account?
Not by self-registration. bol.com runs a separate track for EU companies outside the Benelux, and applications go through a one-time invitation from bol.com or from selected integrators and agencies. On top of that come five entry conditions, including 500,000 euro of sales potential in the first twelve months and customer service in Dutch.
What does selling on bol.com cost?
There is no subscription: bol.com states you pay only commission on the items you sell. The commission has two parts, variable (a category-dependent percentage) and fixed (an amount that depends on category and price), and it is calculated on the selling price including VAT. The exact rates for your assortment appear in your seller account.
Can a UK company sell on bol.com?
bol.com states the requirement as a registered EU business and calls it mandatory. As written, a company registered outside the EU does not meet it, so a UK entity would need an EU-registered company. Confirm your situation with bol.com before assuming any workaround.
Which is bigger in the Netherlands, Amazon or bol.com?
bol.com remains the local leader and holds the established position with Dutch buyers. bol.com gives 13 million customers across the Netherlands and Belgium and over 34 million items in its catalogue. For a foreign seller the more useful fact is that access to amazon.nl is immediate and access to bol.com is not.
Sources
- Amazon, Pan-European FBA, seller pages
- Amazon, Pan-European FBA, Polish seller pages
- bol.com, Start met verkopen via bol als Europese partner
- bol.com, Het aanmeldproces voor Europese partners
- bol.com, Commissie
- EcommerceNews.eu, Amazon expands listing requirements for Pan-EU FBA (31 August 2026)
- ChannelX, Amazon Pan-EU FBA adds Netherlands and Belgium requirement
- AVASK, Netherlands required for Pan-EU FBA listings
- GeekSeller, Amazon updates referral fee calculation for cross-border sales (change effective 1 February 2024)
Find out what your account has to do in the Netherlands
We will go through your catalogue against the Netherlands requirement: which SKUs already have a page on amazon.nl, which fall under the exemptions, how many can be activated straight away, and what needs translating so the offer does more than exist. We will also tell you plainly whether bol.com is a conversation worth having at your current scale.