Amazon offers online merchants several options to invoice buyers:
1. Amazon VCS: invoices are automatically created by Amazon
Merchants who are participating in Amazon’s VAT Services are able to use a service called Amazon VCS (Amazon VAT Calculation Service).
With this fully-automated service, Amazon creates an invoice incl. VAT which sellers can forward their customers.
2. Amazon VCS Lite: Sellers can upload their own invoice and leave VAT calculations to Amazon
To use Amazon VCS Lite, you’re also required to use VAT Services. If you choose this option, you can upload your own invoices, i.e. from your
webshop or inventory management system to Amazon. Amazon will take care of VAT calculations for you.
Invoice creation and submission via magnalister: Invoices created in your webshop or via the magnalister plugin can be submitted via magnalister’s
upload feature. Find more information here.
3. Amazon IDU: Upload your own invoices without activating VAT Services
Merchants who have not joined VAT Services cannot use Amazon’s VAT Calculation Services (VCS). However, via the Amazon Invoice Document Uploader (IDU),
they can still upload their own invoices, created by them. In this case, the marketplace will not calculate VAT.
Advantages of using Amazon’s VAT Services:
- You’ll have an Amazon Business Seller badge - according to Amazon, this can increase your sales by 50%
- This lets you improve your ranking and chances of your products being listed in the Buy Box are much higher
- Your products will be listed with their net prices for B2B buyers
- Amazon’s fully automated invoicing saves you time and money, also because of reduced customer requests
To use Amazon VAT Services, you have to switch your Amazon seller account to Amazon Business (switch is free). Various other requirements,
e.g. a VAT identification number, and more information can be found on this Amazon page.