Selling on bol.com: requirements and costs for EU sellers

You already sell on Amazon, eBay, OTTO, Kaufland or in your own store and are checking whether you can also sell on bol.com? bol.com is the online marketplace for the Netherlands and Belgium. There is no separate bol.com store for other countries: as a seller from elsewhere in the EU you sell to customers in the Netherlands and Belgium. That is possible, but only under conditions that not every seller meets. This guide sets them out with bol.com's official information, together with costs, logistics, VAT and a worked example.

As of October 2026. All information comes from official bol.com pages, the European Commission and the Dutch tax authority, retrieved on 2 October 2026. The sources are listed at the end of the article.

bol.com in numbers: customers in the Netherlands and Belgium

According to bol.com, 14 million customers in the Netherlands and Belgium bought there at least once in the past year. The platform offers 73 million items, and bol.com counts 43,095 sales partners. On average over the past twelve months, bol.com counts 24 million active users per month, a figure that includes customers, partners and anonymous visitors to the website and app. All figures refer to 30 June 2026. The seller pages partly show older, undated figures, such as 13 million customers.

What this means for you: you sell abroad, in Dutch, under bol.com's own service standards and with the VAT of the destination country.

Selling on bol.com from another EU country: the requirements

Sellers based in the Netherlands and Belgium create their seller account themselves. For businesses from other EU countries, separate rules apply. To become a bol.com partner from Germany, Poland, France or any other EU country, these points matter:

bol.com only calls the registered EU company mandatory; the other points are listed under “we are looking for partners who …”. The form still asks about them, for example your years of marketplace experience, your annual revenue in bands starting at “Below €500k” and your average delivery time to the Netherlands. On this basis bol.com decides whether you receive an invitation. If you trade as a sole proprietor with an entry in the commercial register, bol.com does not say explicitly whether that is accepted. If in doubt, check with bol.com before you apply.

The integration runs through a bol.com-certified API partner, such as your ERP system or integration. Check in advance whether it supports bol.com. With the invitation you register your company (according to bol.com, the check takes up to 5 working days), set up the seller account for the Netherlands, Belgium or both, and bol.com carries out a final check. bol.com describes the start on its page Start selling via bol as a European partner. Businesses established outside the EU fall under separate rules (for them, for example, bol.com itself pays the VAT on their sales); this guide covers sellers based in the EU.

Dutch for product data and customer service

Besides the invitation, language is the second big hurdle. What bol.com says about it:

• Product data: if you create items via bulk upload, bol.com asks you to fill in everything in Dutch, including title and description. bol.com does not describe a translation from other languages.
• Belgium: for the French-speaking part, bol.com automatically translates product data from Dutch into French. Title and description are translated only once; later changes you make yourself. In Belgium, printed manuals must be included in Dutch and French.
• Customer service: in Dutch, reachable on weekdays between 9:00 and 17:00 according to bol.com. If you do not offer French-language service, bol.com's French-speaking customer service handles the questions of these customers.
• Seller pages and support: the Partner Platform is available in Dutch, English, German and French; the Dutch version prevails. bol.com offers support in Dutch and English and announces changes to its terms of use in Dutch.

What does it cost to sell on bol.com?

bol.com charges no base fee. According to bol.com, offering your range is free, and you only pay commission when you sell. The mechanics:

• Commission: a fixed amount per item plus a percentage of the selling price including VAT, both depending on the item type and partly on the price. According to bol.com, the table is only an estimate; your seller account shows the exact amount for your item.
• Shipping in the price: you may not charge shipping separately; it is part of the selling price. The percentage therefore also applies to your shipping share.
• Returns: when an item is returned, bol.com credits the commission back to you.
• VAT on the commission: if you give bol.com your EU VAT number, it charges the commission without VAT, and you declare it yourself under the reverse-charge mechanism.

Logistics via bol: rates for 2026

If you let bol.com store and ship your goods (Logistics via bol), you pay an amount per item and an amount per delivery for each ordered item, plus storage costs. According to bol.com, the rates include pick & pack, shipping, customer service and returns, but not VAT, commission or surcharges.

Surcharges come on top: in November and December 40% on storage costs, and 100% on the regular storage rate for stock kept longer than 180 days (with exceptions such as clothing and shoes). Having stock returned or destroyed costs EUR 0.45 per item, plus shipping if you have it sent to an address, for Germany for example EUR 8.60 per parcel. XXXS and XXS items cannot be sent to Belgium as letterbox parcels; bol.com then charges the XS rate.

Advertising is optional. With Sponsored Products you pay per click and set a daily or account budget; bol.com bills the costs on a separate invoice. You decide yourself how much you pay at most per click. bol.com does not publish fixed click prices.

Shipping from your country, Logistics via bol and returns

To ship to customers in the Netherlands and Belgium, you have three options:

1. Your own shipping from your country: you ship with your own carrier. According to bol.com, its shipping labels (“Shipping via bol”) are only available if you ship from the Netherlands.
2. Logistics via bol: you deliver goods to a bol.com warehouse in the Netherlands; bol.com stores and ships them and handles customer service and returns for these orders. Regular items are new goods under 72 × 50 × 41 cm, 15 kg and 70 litres. They must already be imported into the EU for VAT and customs.
3. A certified logistics provider (3PL): bol.com names this option next to Logistics via bol if your delivery time is too long.

Which option fits depends on your delivery time. If you select “5 - 7 Days” or “7 Days +” as your average delivery time to the Netherlands in the form, bol.com says your delivery promise does not meet its standards and points you to Logistics via bol or a certified 3PL partner. Once you sell, bol.com measures your service levels: for “delivered on time” the minimum is 90% and the target 93%. If you are below the target and at least 3 shipments arrive late in a measurement week, you receive a strike. You answer 90% of customer questions within 24 hours; weekends and public holidays do not count.

Returns: bol.com customers have a 30-day cooling-off period, and returns are free for them, even for large items. bol.com's return label for the Netherlands and Belgium requires a return address in one of the two countries. For partners from other EU countries, bol.com offers a separate EU return label: the customer sends the item to your address in your home country. According to the 2026 rate table, the label costs between EUR 5.20 and EUR 8.61 excluding VAT depending on the destination country (Germany and France EUR 5.20, Poland, Spain and Austria EUR 7.23), and parcels travel uninsured. bol.com charges you a contribution for each label used. With your own returns process you buy labels from your carrier, and the return address may then be outside the Netherlands and Belgium. You get the commission back; with your own shipping, return postage and any loss in value of the goods are yours. How to calculate the return rate and compare it per channel is explained in the glossary.

VAT when selling to the Netherlands and Belgium

This section only reflects EU rules and statements by bol.com; it is not tax advice. Clarify your situation with your tax adviser before you start.

• Distance sales from your country: if you ship to consumers in the Netherlands or Belgium, the place of supply is where the goods arrive. According to the European Commission, this does not apply as long as you are established in only one EU country and your distance sales to other EU countries together stay at or below EUR 10,000 (excluding VAT) in the current and the preceding calendar year. With the volume bol.com expects, you will be above that. Then the VAT of the destination country applies, in the Netherlands the standard rate of 21%.
• One-Stop-Shop: you can declare these sales through the OSS Union scheme in your home country, with one return per quarter, instead of registering in every country.
• You are the seller: as a business established in the EU, you are responsible, according to bol.com, for the VAT rates, the VAT numbers on your invoices and the reporting. For cross-border sales you send the customer an invoice.
• With Logistics via bol: because the warehouse is in the Netherlands, bol.com requires your own Dutch VAT number; an OSS number from another country is not enough. Companies established outside the Netherlands apply for it with the Dutch tax authority's form “Aanmelding Onderneming buitenland”. Moving stock from your country to the warehouse is an intra-Community transfer of your own goods. According to bol.com, you report it in the VAT returns of both countries and, in the country of departure, also in the recapitulative statement, including goods that go back to your country. Sales from the warehouse to Dutch consumers carry Dutch VAT, according to bol.com.
• Belgium: if the Belgian tax authority seriously suspects that you do not meet your Belgian VAT obligations, it can involve bol.com since 1 January 2024. After the third letter, bol.com must close your seller account within one month.

When does bol.com pay out?

bol.com handles payment with customers and settles with you through a sales invoice. Since 1 January 2024, new partners are paid twice a month by default:

• Twice a month (default): on the first working day after the 1st and after the 15th of the month, with a 7-day reserve. Orders processed at least 7 days before the invoice date are paid out.
• Once a month: on the first working day after the 1st, for the whole previous month and without a reserve.
• Switching: once per quarter, effective from the first day of the next quarter. As a new partner, at the earliest from the quarter after your first order.

According to bol.com, it can take up to 3 days until the money is in your account. If your costs exceed the revenue of the period, bol.com holds back the payout until revenue is higher again or you transfer the amount. Every invoice comes with a specification listing sales revenue including VAT, commission, pick & pack, shipping, storage costs, contributions to return labels and corrections. Advertising comes on a separate invoice. The payout is neither your revenue nor your profit, but the balance of a period.

When does selling on bol.com pay off?

There is no base fee that you first have to cover with orders. The hurdle lies elsewhere: in the EUR 500,000 of sales potential in the first year. For the garden item from our comparison of German online marketplaces at EUR 59.50, that is EUR 500,000 ÷ EUR 59.50 = around 8,400 orders a year, roughly 700 a month or 23 a day. bol.com does not say whether the sales potential is meant gross or net; we calculate with the selling price including VAT. Put that number next to what you sell of comparable items on your other channels today.

What each order leaves you

The assumptions from the comparison stay: purchase price EUR 20.00, your own shipping with packaging EUR 4.00, both net, no advertising, no return. The EUR 4.00 come from the domestic example; use your own rate for parcels to the Netherlands. What is new: the Netherlands applies 21% VAT, we calculate the commission at the upper end of the range for Lawn/Garden Supplies, and for Logistics via bol we assume size S and one month of storage.

At the lower end of the range (4.1% plus EUR 0.25), the commission would be EUR 2.69 and the contribution margin EUR 22.48 or EUR 19.97. Your seller account shows which rate applies to your item. For comparison: on Kaufland in Germany the same item leaves EUR 17.67. Compared with the German example at 19% VAT, the higher Dutch VAT alone costs 83 cents of net revenue at the same gross price (EUR 49.17 instead of EUR 50.00). With Logistics via bol, the transport to the warehouse and the November and December surcharges are still missing. With your own shipping, returns reduce the amount: the commission comes back, return postage and loss in value do not.

If the hurdle is too high: Kaufland.nl

If you do not reach the EUR 500,000 or your legal form is not accepted, there is another route into the Dutch market: Kaufland has been live with Kaufland.nl since 8 September 2026. There you register online yourself, and Kaufland also lists the documents for sole proprietorships. With complete data, Kaufland activates your seller account within three working days, according to Seller University. Unlike bol.com, you pay a monthly base fee there, which covers all Kaufland marketplaces together. You need Dutch there as well, but according to Kaufland it offers the translation of product data free of charge. What Kaufland requires and costs is covered in our guide Selling on Kaufland.

After launch: what to measure in the first weeks

Your seller account shows you revenue, invoices and payouts. What you keep per item it does not show, because bol.com does not know your purchase price or your own shipping costs. On top of that, every channel calculates differently: bol.com takes commission on the gross price including shipping and credits it back on returns, OTTO charges 16% on the shipping your customers pay. Figures from different portals therefore cannot simply be put side by side. In the first weeks, check these five values above all:

1. Contribution margin per item: after Dutch or Belgian VAT, commission, purchase price and shipping, not revenue.
2. Return rate per item: with 30 days of free returns, it often matters more than the commission.
3. Logistics via bol against your own shipping: keep an eye on storage costs and surcharges, especially for slow-moving stock.
4. Advertising costs relative to revenue: that is the channel's TACOS, not just the metrics of a single campaign.
5. Result of the channel: the contribution margin of all items minus costs that are not tied to any single item. If it stays negative for months, the channel does not pay its way.

This is what profitkonsole for bol.com is built for. You connect your seller account with your own API credentials (client ID and client secret). Orders from the Netherlands and Belgium in your seller account come together in one analysis. profitkonsole takes the commission per item from your invoice specification and calculates VAT with the rate per item from the specification. If you use Logistics via bol, storage, pick & pack and shipping appear as separate cost lines in your channel result. For orders you ship yourself, profitkonsole uses the shipping costs you have configured. You enter purchase prices and the residual value of returned goods yourself. Sponsored Products come in daily per campaign with cost, clicks and sales via separate credentials for the advertising API.

If you already sell on other channels, profitkonsole's profit analytics calculates every channel by its own fees and shows the same metrics everywhere: contribution margin per item, margin and return rate, under one login. So after the start you can see whether bol.com pays its way next to your other channels. The contribution margin is not your company's profit: software, storage and staff still come off it.

Familiar with profit tracking from Amazon? The comparison Sellerboard for bol.com? shows what is different when you analyse bol.com invoices.