Inventory Management
FBA
Amazon Warehousing and Distribution Is Live in Europe
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13 min read
Amazon Warehousing and Distribution reached Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK on 20 August 2026, offering flat-rate bulk storage that feeds your FBA stock automatically as demand pulls it through. Amazon's announcement lists five benefits and no conditions. The help pages behind it carry a gate that rules out a large share of European sellers: EU AWD only accepts products enrolled in Pan-European FBA, and it requires German VAT registration plus one more country.
Amazon Warehousing and Distribution is bulk storage that sits upstream of FBA and restocks your fulfilment centres automatically. It opened in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK in August 2026. In the European Union it only works for products already enrolled in Pan-European FBA, and it needs German VAT registration plus one more country.
What is Amazon Warehousing and Distribution?
AWD is the warehouse behind the warehouse: bulk storage that sits upstream of FBA. Amazon describes it as "long-term bulk storage in Amazon distribution centers with replenishment to our European Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) fulfillment centers based on demand". You send a container's worth of stock to one place, and Amazon moves units into fulfilment centres as they sell.
The geography is narrower than the five-country launch suggests. Amazon's AWD Europe help page states that the storage facilities are "located in Germany for the Germany, France, Italy, and Spain stores, and in the United Kingdom for the UK store". There are two pools, not five, and the EU one is physically German.
The appeal is capacity. Amazon's launch announcement frames it as "greater flexibility to send more inventory to Amazon without FBA capacity constraints", with automatic replenishment to keep FBA at optimal levels. For a seller who has spent a year rationing shipments to fit FBA capacity limits, that is the pitch.
Do you actually qualify?
Probably not, if you sell in one EU marketplace, though a UK-only seller is in the clear. The eligibility conditions never appear in the announcement, but the help pages are unambiguous.
- A European unified Seller Central account in good standing, and enrolment in FBA.
- Pan-European FBA enrolment for EU AWD. Amazon's product eligibility page states that AWD is available for "products enrolled in the Pan-European FBA program (PanEU FNSKUs)" and that "products listed in a single marketplace only are not eligible at this time".
- VAT registration where the stock sits. For EU AWD that means Germany, the facility location, "plus at least one additional country (France, Italy, Poland, or Spain)". For UK AWD it means UK VAT registration.
- UK-listed products for UK AWD, which is a far lower bar than on the EU side.
- An eligible product type. Oversize, heavy and bulky, meltable and dangerous goods are out, and so are Amazon devices, gift cards, high-value products, jewellery, refrigerated goods and watches.
Pan-EU is the real gate
Pan-European FBA means letting Amazon place your stock in multiple countries, which brings VAT registration and filing obligations in each of them. A seller seeking AWD purely for German storage capacity cannot take the shortcut: on the EU side, AWD is downstream of a Pan-EU decision, not an alternative to one. The UK route has no equivalent requirement.
There is no sign-up. Amazon says plainly that "there's no enrollment process to use AWD" and that the system tells you whether you are eligible when you try to create a shipment. Access is also permission-gated inside your account: AWD appears under User permissions with three levels, None, View only, and View and edit, and it stays invisible to anyone left on None.
What does AWD cost?
Four fees, two of which carry a discount. Amazon charges storage monthly for the space your stock occupies, an inbound processing fee when it arrives, and both an outbound processing fee and a transportation fee when a replenishment order moves to the fulfilment network. Rates apply at SKU level.
| UK fee (GBP) | Base rate | Managed rate |
|---|---|---|
| Storage, per cubic foot per month | 0.36 | 0.32 |
| Inbound processing, per box | 0.63 | 0.63 |
| Outbound processing, per box | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Transportation, per cubic foot | 0.93 | 0.83 |
| EU fee (EUR) | Base rate | Managed rate |
|---|---|---|
| Storage, per cubic metre per month | 12.33 | 11.09 |
| Inbound processing, per box | 0.72 | 0.72 |
| Outbound processing, per box | 1.15 | 1.15 |
| Transportation, per cubic metre | 37.58 | 33.82 |
The managed-service rate only moves on storage and transportation, both at 10% off, while the two processing fees are identical whichever rate you are on. The discount is real but limited, and it applies to the costs that scale with volume and time rather than with the number of boxes.
Storage is free for the rest of 2026
Amazon is running a free storage promotion: from 1 October to 31 December 2026, AWD storage fees are waived for all eligible inventory stored at its distribution centres in the United Kingdom and Germany, and that explicitly includes stock already sitting in AWD before 1 October. Inbound processing, outbound processing and transportation all still bill at standard published rates, and standard storage rates resume on 1 January 2027.
One detail works in your favour on cash flow: "you're charged only when you send your inventory to AWD facilities". There is no subscription and no minimum commitment, and Amazon describes the storage rate as flat "no matter how long you store". That is the substantive difference from FBA, where long-held stock picks up an aged-inventory surcharge. Our guide to FBA storage fees in 2026 covers the comparison on the FBA side.
How do you get the 10% discount?
By meeting three conditions at once, per SKU. Amazon's fee page says the Amazon Managed Service rate applies when you meet "all of the following criteria", and all three have to hold in the same month.
- Inbound through Amazon. You use Amazon Global Logistics or the Partnered Carrier Program to ship the stock into AWD.
- Auto-replenish most of it. Over the last 90 days, at least seven units in ten of that SKU's inventory moved from AWD to FBA automatically.
- Hold enough cover. The SKU's combined AWD and FBA inventory covers at least 70 days of demand, measured on "the greater value of short-term (past 30 days) and long-term (past 90 days) historical days of supply".
The second and third conditions pull against normal inventory discipline. Amazon is offering a discount for holding more than two months of cover and for handing replenishment decisions over, which is a reasonable trade for a stable seller and an expensive one for anybody managing cash tightly. It is worth weighing the 10% against the capital that seventy days of cover ties up before chasing it.
One of those three conditions pays for itself somewhere else. Amazon states that when you use AWD auto-replenishment to replenish 70% or more of a SKU's FBA inventory over the previous 90 days, "the low-inventory-level fee, storage utilization fee, and FBA aged inventory surcharge for products stored up to 365 days don't apply". That waiver keys off the 70% replenishment on its own rather than the full three-condition test, so it is reachable without chasing the managed rate, and on a slow mover it can be worth more than the 10%.
New SKUs get a grace period. Amazon says a SKU new to AWD "automatically qualifies" for the managed rate if it came in via AGL or the Partnered Carrier Program, where new means its first shipment arrived within 90 days of the assessment. Amazon's own illustration uses a first shipment arriving on 20 August 2026, which happens to be the European launch date: it is assessed on 25 August, pays base rate for the rest of August, and gets managed rates for September, October and November. Those are the three assessments that still fall inside its 90-day new-SKU window; the one on 25 November does not.
Rates are set on the 25th for the month after
Amazon assesses each SKU's rate on the 25th of the month for the following month's charges, and displays the result on AWD Inventory on the 28th. To check what you were given, download the AWD storage and transportation monthly reports and read the Rate type column: AMS means the managed rate applied.
What is the UK import trap?
A 60-day deadline that blocks FBA as well as AWD. If you are not established in the UK, you import goods to store in a UK AWD facility, and those goods need a UK customs declaration at the point of import, Amazon must collect an Import Entry Number from you under the UK's Fulfilment House Due Diligence Scheme.
Amazon's IEN requirements page states the deadline as "within 60 days of shipment receipt at the UK AWD facility" and the penalty as: "Your ability to create new shipments to UK AWD and UK FBA will be blocked." A missed number on a bulk shipment therefore freezes your ordinary FBA restocking too. It runs the other way as well: Amazon says an unresolved FBA block stops you creating AWD shipments, and clearing the number in either queue unblocks both.
The clock starts at receipt, not at import
Amazon is specific that the 60 days run "from the date your shipment is received at the AWD facility, not from the date of import". For freight that clears customs weeks before it reaches the distribution centre, that is a later start than you might assume, which is good news. The bad news is that the broker who has your IEN has usually stopped thinking about the consignment by then. Ask for it at clearance and file it against the shipment.
Establishment is decided by company registration, not residence: Amazon says your location "is determined by where your business is legally registered, not where you personally reside". UK-established sellers, sellers who bought the stock domestically, and sellers whose goods were imported by a third party acting as importer of record are all outside the requirement. Amazon Global Logistics sits differently: the obligation still exists, but Amazon's customs brokerage service files with HMRC and uploads the number on your behalf, so no manual submission is needed.
How to decide whether AWD is worth it
- Check the Pan-EU question first - If you sell in the EU and your products are not enrolled in Pan-European FBA, EU AWD is closed to you today and the rest of this does not apply. If you sell in the UK store, this condition does not exist and you can move straight on.
- Confirm your VAT footprint - EU AWD needs German VAT registration plus at least one of France, Italy, Poland or Spain. UK AWD needs UK VAT registration. Both are decided by where the stock physically sits, not by where you sell most.
- Check the product type before the price - Oversize, heavy and bulky, meltable and dangerous goods are excluded, and dangerous goods explicitly includes battery items. Amazon validates the ASINs when you build the shipment, but finding out at that point has already cost you the planning.
- Price your own cubic metres - Storage lists at EUR 12.33 per cubic metre per month in the EU and GBP 0.36 per cubic foot per month in the UK at base rates. Multiply by the volume you would actually park there and the months you would park it, then add inbound and outbound processing per box and the transportation fee per unit of volume moved. Run the sum twice, because storage is free from October to December 2026 and a January month looks different.
- Decide whether the managed rate is reachable - The 10% discount needs Amazon-managed inbound, at least 70% auto-replenishment over 90 days, and at least 70 days of combined cover. If you would not hold 70 days of stock anyway, price the whole thing at base rate and treat the discount as upside.
- If you are a non-UK seller shipping into the UK, plan the IEN - Get the Import Entry Number from your customs broker or freight forwarder at clearance, then submit it against the shipment in the AWD Shipping Queue under Track shipment. You have 60 days from receipt, and missing it blocks new UK FBA shipments as well.
Where AWD earns its place
The clean case is a seller with steady, forecastable demand on a Pan-EU catalogue who imports in container quantities and keeps running into capacity limits before peak. Bulk in once, flat storage while it waits, automatic top-ups into FBA. The case that does not work is a seller using AWD as a cheap parking space for slow stock: the storage rate is flat, but the outbound processing and transportation fees mean every box and every cubic metre pays again on the way to FBA.
Timing matters right now, and it favours moving. AWD storage is free in the UK and Germany from 1 October to 31 December, while the FBA holiday peak fulfilment surcharge runs from 15 October 2026 to 14 January 2027, so stock placed for Q4 already carries peak fulfilment fees. AWD changes where that stock waits rather than what fulfilment costs once it sells. Knowing which SKUs genuinely turn fast enough to justify bulk placement is a question your own numbers answer, and a seller analytics dashboard that shows sell-through per ASIN answers it faster than a shipment planner will.
Is AWD available in every European marketplace?
It launched for the Germany, France, Italy, Spain and UK stores on 20 August 2026. The physical facilities are in Germany for the four EU stores and in the UK for the UK store.
Do I need Pan-European FBA to use AWD?
For EU AWD, yes. Amazon states that AWD is available for products enrolled in Pan-European FBA and that products listed in a single marketplace only are not eligible at this time. UK AWD has no such requirement.
How much does AWD storage cost?
EUR 12.33 per cubic metre per month in the EU and GBP 0.36 per cubic foot per month in the UK at base rates, dropping to EUR 11.09 and GBP 0.32 for SKUs on the Amazon Managed Service rate.
Is there a minimum commitment or a sign-up?
No. Amazon says there is no enrolment process, no long-term commitment, and that you are charged only when you send inventory to AWD facilities.
Which products cannot go into AWD?
Oversize, heavy and bulky, meltable and dangerous goods including battery items, plus Amazon devices, gift cards, high-value products, jewellery, refrigerated goods and watches. Amazon says it is working to make more product types eligible.
What happens if I miss the UK Import Entry Number deadline?
Amazon blocks your ability to create new shipments to both UK AWD and UK FBA. You resolve it by submitting the missing numbers through the Shipping Queue, deleting the shipment workflow that failed and creating a new one.
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