Amazon FBA or FBM, from Romania
From Romania the decision isn't the same as from Germany. FBM means you ship from Romania to a customer in Berlin: international courier cost and two or three days more than a competitor with stock in a German warehouse. That badly weakens the case for FBM on small, fast-moving products. FBA solves the distance but brings storage fees, VAT obligations in every country where your stock is held, and EPR registrations. The practical rule: small, light, well-turning products — FBA; large, heavy or slow-moving — FBM, distance handicap and all.
The figures Amazon publishes officially
Selling plan: Professional €39/month excluding VAT, or Individual €0.99 per item sold. The minimum referral fee is €0.30 per item in most categories. Source: Amazon EU official pricing page, checked September 2026.
Referral fees, by category: Computers 7% · Consumer electronics 7% · Clothing 5% under €15, 10% between €15 and €20, 15% above · Home products 8% under €20, 15% above · Books 15% · Video game consoles 8% · Amazon device accessories 45% · all other products 15%. The grid changed on 15 December 2025 and 5 January 2026. Source: Amazon EU official pricing page.
FBA fees in Germany, from the official rate card effective 1 July 2026: light envelope to 20 g — €2.07 · small parcel to 400 g — €3.13 · standard parcel to 1.9 kg — €3.69 · standard parcel to 11.9 kg — €6.39 · heavy oversize — from €12.74.
Storage: €27.54/m³/month for standard size January–September and €52.20 in October–December. Nearly double in Q4 — which is why stock brought in too early for Christmas costs more than people expect. Above 22 weeks of cover a utilisation surcharge is added, from €14.85/m³/month.
A 1.5% fuel and logistics surcharge applies across all FBA services from 17 April 2026. It's easy to miss and belongs in any margin calculation.
The European programmes, briefly
Pan-European FBA: Amazon distributes your stock across countries by expected demand, with no additional cross-border fee — you pay local rates. In exchange you need VAT registration in every country where stock is held.
EFN: ship cross-border from one stock pool. Simpler on tax, but per-unit fees are much higher: €5.08–37.93, depending on size tier.
CEP, the Central Europe Programme: store in Poland or Czechia and pay German rates. This is the most relevant one for a Romanian seller — those are the nearest Amazon warehouses. If you don't participate, you pay a €0.26 per unit surcharge.
All figures above: Amazon EU official rate card, effective 1 July 2026.
What a Romanian company needs on top
VAT. OSS simplifies reporting of cross-border B2C sales, but it does not replace local registration where your stock is held. Pan-EU or CEP means VAT registrations in every storage country. That confusion is the most expensive mistake we see in sellers starting out.
GPSR and the responsible person. Here you have a real advantage: a Romanian SRL is already EU-established, so it can generally act as its own responsible person for products it manufactures or imports. Paid responsible-person services are aimed at non-EU sellers. Check your own category all the same.
EPR, per country you sell into. Germany: LUCID for packaging. France: CITEO and a unique identification number, across 19 distinct categories. Italy: CONAI. Spain: Ecoembes. From 31 March 2026 EPR numbers are mandatory for packaging, batteries, oils and polyethylene, and from 12 August 2026 the EU packaging regulation PPWR applies to all packaging regardless of material or origin. Annual costs of €300–800 across three markets circulate widely, but come from a single secondary source — get quotes rather than relying on them.
When to pick each
FBA for products under half a kilo with steady sales, when you're a new seller and need the Prime badge to win the Buy Box, and when stock turns in 30–60 days. The Prime badge makes a meaningful difference to Buy Box win rate.
FBM for products over 9 kg, where FBA fees climb sharply; for products selling under ten units a month that would accumulate aged-stock surcharges; for fragile or personalised products; and when you already have a warehouse.
Hybrid is the norm among large sellers: segment by velocity, not by account. Over 20 orders a day — FBA. Under five — FBM. In between, decide by what share of the selling price the FBA fees represent.
For a Romanian seller there's one more factor the American guides don't carry: with FBM you ship from Romania into Germany. Cost and transit time put you behind a German competitor. The smaller and faster the product, the more that handicap hurts.
In short
From Romania, FBA isn't only a cost decision — it's a distance decision. The numbers matter, but the real question is whether you can afford to deliver two days slower than whoever sits next to you in the results.
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