You already sell on Amazon, eBay, OTTO or in your own store and are wondering whether selling on Temu as well makes sense? Since 2024, Temu has let businesses based in Europe sell directly on its marketplace. This guide is for companies registered in an EU country. It shows what Temu requires from you as a seller, which costs are publicly documented and which you only see in the Seller Center, and how buyer fees and deductions differ between Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland. At the end you will find how to check after launch whether the new channel pays its way.
In short
Businesses from the EU sell on Temu through the Seller Center for the EU. Registration is free, and your contract partner is Whaleco Technology Limited in Ireland. You ship yourself, bear the shipping costs including returns and have to meet the delivery deadlines per item; otherwise Temu can deduct up to EUR 5 per late order in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, or PLN 23 in Poland. Temu charges service fees whose details, according to the agreement, are set out in the seller rules or in announcements in the Seller Center; the publicly readable rules state no percentage for them. Whether the channel pays its way is therefore only shown by the contribution margin per item from your first orders.
As of 2 October 2026. All information comes from the public rules of the Temu Seller Center for the EU and from other official sources. The links with dates are at the end of the article.
What do you keep per item on Temu? Sales, Temu deductions and returns from your Temu account, purchase prices and shipping from your own inputs.
Try free for 14 daysSelling on Temu: the Seller Center for EU businesses
Temu calls its offer for European sellers the "Temu Local Seller Programme". According to Temu, local businesses in Europe have been able to sell on the platform since 2024, and the programme is now open to businesses of all sizes in more than 35 markets, including much of Europe.
You register through the Temu Seller Center for the EU. Your contract partner is Whaleco Technology Limited, based in Dublin, and the agreement is governed by Irish law. The rules can be read without logging in, in English and in several EU languages, among them German, Dutch and Polish. Changes generally take effect 15 calendar days after they are published in the Seller Center.
For sellers from the EU, the rules describe a single model: you sell, ship and handle customer service and returns yourself. Temu does not act as the seller. Without Temu's consent you may register only one account per region; sub-accounts are allowed.
Whether Temu suits your range is not decided by a user count. Two questions matter more: is there still a contribution margin left at your Temu price after the service fee, your own shipping and returns? And can you reliably meet the delivery deadlines from your warehouse?
Contribution margin, not revenue
Every sales channel in one dashboard: marketplace data and your own costs brought together, per item and per channel.
Temu in numbers: users in the EU and per country
Temu entered the EU market in April 2023 and has been designated a very large online platform under the Digital Services Act (DSA) since May 2024. In its DSA report for the first half of 2026, Temu reports an average of 124.1 million monthly active recipients in the EU. For the four countries in this guide the figures are: Germany 19.1 million, Poland 13.6 million, the Netherlands 4.6 million and Belgium 2.9 million.
Read these figures with caution. Temu calculates them for its obligations under the DSA and states explicitly that the calculation "should not be relied upon for any other purpose". What is counted is active recipients of the service, not buyers. So treat the figure only as an indication of reach, not as the number of your potential customers. We have not found an official number of sellers per country.
Becoming a Temu seller: requirements and registration
Registering as a Temu seller is free. When you sign up, you choose the country in which your company is registered; Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland are all on the list. According to the homepage, registration takes four steps: business details, seller details, setting up your store with name, logo and contact details, then verification. Temu says applications are usually reviewed within one working day.
| Item | What Temu asks for | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Country | The country in which your company is registered | Seller Center, registration |
| Legal form | Companies, partnerships and sole proprietorships; selling for business purposes | Seller Center FAQ, agreement section 13.1 |
| Business details | Company details as requested in the Seller Center and your registered business address; depending on the case, details of beneficial owners and representatives | Seller Center FAQ |
| Proof of address | Bank statement or bank confirmation, a statement from a payment provider, or a water, electricity or gas bill, each showing the company name and address | Seller Center FAQ |
| Identity check | Temu may ask for images of your ID document and of your face; the policy mentions a biometric check before you start selling | Seller privacy policy |
| Payment card | At least one valid credit or debit card; Temu may charge outstanding amounts to it | Agreement section 3.2 |
| VAT | For distance sales to other EU countries, a VAT number for each country or your OSS registration; Temu's VAT calculation does not support the micro-business exception (up to EUR 10,000 of intra-EU distance sales a year) | European VAT Calculation Methodology |
| Producer responsibility (EPR) | Provide your registration numbers or use Temu's EPR service, for which fees may apply | EPR policy |
| Accounts | One account per region, sub-accounts allowed | Agreement section 15.1 |
Which documents Temu requires from your company in detail, for example on its entry in the commercial register, the Seller Center shows you during registration. The publicly readable seller rules contain no obligation to keep stock in a particular country. What counts are the deadlines you set per item and have to meet.
Fees for sellers: what Temu charges
Service fees apply for using the marketplace. According to the agreement, the details are set out in the seller rules or in announcements in the Seller Center; they are calculated from the transaction data and deducted directly from your account. None of the publicly readable rule documents states a percentage for these service fees. The annual report of Temu's parent company PDD Holdings (Form 20-F of 29 April 2026) says in general terms that fee rates are not necessarily fixed and may vary with, among other things, the type of service, the product category and the seller's transaction performance.
Percentages from other sources therefore cannot be checked against an official Temu figure. What counts is what your Seller Center and your first statements show. The publicly readable seller rules contain no monthly base fee. These amounts and rules are publicly documented:
| Item | Amount or rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Service fees | Rates in the Seller Center, deducted from your account | Agreement section 3.1 |
| Shipping and returns | Borne by you, unless the Seller Center provides otherwise | Fulfillment policy section 6.1 |
| Buyer shipping fee | Below a minimum order value per country, credited to you; amounts in the country table below | Shipping fee charts, chart I |
| Buyer return fee | For every return except the first (for selected buyers, except the first two), credited to you; amounts in the country table below | Shipping fee charts, chart II |
| Late delivery, out of stock | Up to a fixed amount per order, see the country table below | Fulfillment policy sections 3 and 4 with violation fee chart |
| Abnormal fulfilment, e.g. invalid tracking number | EUR 10 or 60% of the disbursement price, whichever is higher, at most EUR 200 per order (Polish site: PLN 46 or 60%, at most PLN 920) | Fulfillment policy section 5.6 with violation fee chart |
| Fraudulent fulfilment, e.g. empty parcel | EUR 10 or 100% of the disbursement price, whichever is higher, at most EUR 500 per order (Polish site: PLN 46 or 100%, at most PLN 2,300) | Fulfillment policy section 5.7 with violation fee chart |
| Payment processing | Via Stripe and Hyperwallet, both listed for the German, Dutch, Belgian and Polish sites; Temu may charge fees for technical services, amounts not public | Agreement section 10.1, third-party payment service providers |
| Advertising | Via ads.temu.com with a daily budget, a target such as ROAS and an advertising reserve in your account; the fees are shown in the advertising portal | Advertising services terms |
| Deposit | Possible, amount based on your behaviour and risk, no interest | Agreement section 6.1 |
Buyer fees and deductions by country
The amounts depend on the Temu site on which the order is placed, not on where your company is registered. A Dutch seller selling to a customer in Germany is therefore covered by the German column.
| Temu site | Germany | Netherlands | Belgium | Poland |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buyer pays shipping for orders under | EUR 30 | EUR 20 | EUR 20 | PLN 49.90 |
| Buyer shipping fee per the chart, incl. VAT | EUR 2.99 | EUR 2.99 | EUR 2.49 | PLN 9.99 |
| Buyer return fee from the second return, up to, incl. VAT | EUR 3.00 | EUR 3.50 | EUR 3.50 | PLN 15 |
| Deduction per late order, up to | EUR 5 | EUR 5 | EUR 5 | PLN 23 |
| Deduction per out-of-stock order, up to | EUR 5 | EUR 5 | EUR 5 | PLN 23 |
For the buyer shipping fee, the chart also allows "such other amount as determined by" Temu. Buyer fees are credited to you. The deductions are maximum amounts that Temu can take from your account as liquidated damages. What other channels charge is covered in our guides to OTTO marketplace fees, Kaufland marketplace fees, Amazon seller fees in Germany and eBay fees for business sellers.
Shipping, deadlines and returns: what you handle yourself
You are solely responsible for shipping and delivering your products. You choose the carrier from a list in the Seller Center, and Temu can then have these carriers issue the shipping labels for you. You may use a carrier outside the list with Temu's prior approval. You must not charge buyers any additional shipping fees.
For each item you set a handling time and a transit time. From these, Temu calculates a ship date and a delivery date for every order. If you set nothing, one operating day of handling and two operating days of transit apply. An order counts as shipped once its tracking number has been uploaded by 23:59:59 on the ship date. It has to be delivered by 23:59:59 on the delivery date. Temu calculates all deadlines in the time zone of the delivery address. If you miss them, these rules apply:
- Late delivery: Temu can deduct up to EUR 5 per order (PLN 23 on the Polish site).
- Not shipped within seven operating days: the order counts as out of stock. Depending on the severity, Temu can cancel it, deduct up to EUR 5 (PLN 23), remove your listings, fulfil the order at your expense with the same products from other sellers, or suspend payouts.
- Tracking number: if it is not visible at the carrier 48 hours after upload, or the parcel has not been picked up, it counts as invalid. If an order is not delivered within 20 calendar days, Temu can cancel it and refund the buyer.
Customer service, cancellations, returns, exchanges and refunds are your responsibility, and so is the statutory right of withdrawal. Temu may nevertheless decide on buyers' requests itself. According to the agreement you have to accept its resolution, and Temu deducts any refund from your account. You bear the return shipping costs. For every return except the first, the buyer may pay a fee that is credited to you: up to EUR 3.00 in Germany, EUR 3.50 in the Netherlands and Belgium and PLN 15 in Poland. How to calculate the return rate and compare it across channels is explained in the glossary.
Payment processing: how the money reaches you
Temu processes payments through third-party payment service providers. For the German, Dutch, Belgian and Polish sites, Stripe and Hyperwallet are listed, each with its own agreements that you accept. Settlement is made in the customer's local currency: euros on the German, Dutch and Belgian sites, złoty on the Polish site, even if a Polish customer pays in euros. Where the currencies differ, the agreed exchange rate on the date of the order applies, as shown on the account statement page in the Seller Center. Withdrawals can be made in another currency; the rate at the time of processing then applies. According to the agreement, sellers registered on an EU site can also sell on the UK, Swiss, Icelandic, Bosnian and Albanian sites, settled in their local currencies, and on the Ukrainian site in US dollars.
Temu deducts service fees, refunds, advertising costs and deductions for violations from your balance. If the balance is insufficient, you have to make up the difference; otherwise Temu can charge your card. Temu can also require a deposit in your account, its amount depending on your behaviour and the risk, without interest. In the event of violations, Temu can suspend payouts. The publicly readable seller rules state neither a fixed payout schedule nor a minimum payout amount. According to the agreement, you request the withdrawal in the Seller Center and track its progress there. A payout is neither revenue nor profit, but the balance of a period after all deductions.
Who sets the price? Discounts and the German competition authority
According to the agreement, your prices include VAT. However, Temu may launch promotions that apply discounts directly to the retail price of your products. Temu may, at its own discretion, compensate you for costs such as discounts or coupons for buyers, or waive deducting them from your account. The Seller Center shows such amounts as "Platform Incentives".
In the fulfilment policy, for example for the level of deductions, Temu refers to the disbursement price: the base prices of your products in the order as shown on the transaction details page. The public rules do not explain how the base price relates to the price the customer sees. So for your first orders, compare the price in the store with the amount Temu credits to you.
In Germany, the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office) opened proceedings against Whaleco Technology Limited (Temu) on 8 October 2025. It is examining whether Temu sets illegal requirements for sellers' pricing on its German marketplace, possibly including by setting the final selling prices itself. The German retail association HDE has also filed a complaint with the authority. This is a suspicion, not a finding. According to our research, the authority had not published an outcome by 2 October 2026.
When does selling on Temu pay off?
With no publicly stated base fee, Temu does not raise the question of how many orders a month it takes to cover a base fee. On OTTO it is around six in the garden item example below (EUR 99.90 ÷ EUR 17.07). On Temu, everything is decided per order. These components determine what is left:
| Component | Where the amount comes from |
|---|---|
| Selling price including VAT | Your price; whether discounts from Temu promotions reduce your credit is shown in the transaction details |
| + Buyer shipping fee | Only below the minimum order value, for example EUR 2.99 per the chart for orders under EUR 30 in Germany |
| − VAT | The rate of the country of delivery, for example 19% in Germany |
| − Service fee | Seller Center and statement |
| − Purchase cost | Your purchase prices |
| − Shipping and packaging | Your shipping costs per parcel |
| − Returns | Refund, return shipping and loss in value, less return fees credited to you |
| − Deductions for violations | For example up to EUR 5 per late order |
| = Contribution margin per order | before advertising and fixed costs |
What this means is shown by the garden item from our comparison of German online marketplaces: EUR 59.50 including 19% VAT, i.e. EUR 50.00 net, a purchase price of EUR 20.00 and your own shipping with packaging of EUR 4.00, both net. Before the marketplace's deductions, EUR 26.00 is left. At this order value, the buyer pays no shipping fee on the German site. On OTTO, Amazon, Kaufland and eBay, the fees in this example came to between EUR 8.19 and EUR 8.93, leaving EUR 17.07 to EUR 17.81 of contribution margin.
This gives a simple threshold: if all Temu deductions for this item stay below EUR 8.19, that is below around 13.8% of the selling price, you keep more on Temu than on any of the four marketplaces in the example. This holds at the same selling price and without a return; as in the comparison, the VAT on fees counts as input tax. A single late order costs up to EUR 5, almost a fifth of the EUR 26.00. For sales to the Netherlands, Belgium or Poland, run the same calculation with your price, the VAT rate of that country and your shipping costs there; buyer fees and deductions are in the country table above.
How high the service fee is for your category is first shown by your Seller Center and, bindingly, by your first statement. So measure what is left per item from the first order instead of planning with an estimated rate. A deposit and the advertising reserve are not costs, but they tie up money in your Temu account.
After launch: what to measure in the first weeks
In the Seller Center you see orders, transaction details and deductions. What is left per item after purchase cost, your own shipping and returns is not shown there, because Temu does not know these costs. And every channel calculates differently; Temu, for example, works with a disbursement price and platform incentives. In the first weeks, five values are worth watching:
- Credit per order: how much of the selling price reaches you after the service fee and discounts?
- Contribution margin per item: what is left after purchase cost, shipping and packaging?
- Return rate and return shipping: you pay outbound and return shipping, plus any loss in value of the goods.
- On-time delivery: how many orders arrived late? Adjust handling and transit times to your warehouse.
- Advertising relative to revenue: if you run Temu ads, compare their cost with the revenue of the whole channel using the TACOS.
profitkonsole for Temu does the calculation per item for you. You connect your Temu account, and sales, Temu deductions and returns flow into the calculation per item. You add purchase prices, your own shipping and packaging costs and the residual value of returned goods yourself. This shows you the contribution margin per item, and Temu next to your other channels, each analysed by its own rules. How this looks across all channels is shown by profitkonsole's profit analytics. The contribution margin is not your company's profit: software, storage and staff still have to be paid from it.
Familiar with profit tracking from Amazon? The comparison Sellerboard for Temu? shows what matters when you analyse Temu data.
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Connect your Temu account, add purchase prices and shipping, and see what you keep per item on Temu.
Sources & notes
As of 2 October 2026; all sources were retrieved on that day. Rules and amounts can change; what counts is your Temu Seller Center and your statements. The date of each version is given in brackets. The worked example comes from our comparison of German online marketplaces (as of 25 September 2026).
Temu Seller Center (EU): Homepage and FAQ · Temu Seller EU Services Agreement (3 Sep 2026) · Summary of Temu's Seller Agreements (25 Jun 2026) · EU Seller Fulfillment Policy (28 May 2026) · EU Seller Shipping Fee Charts (23 Jul 2026) · EU Seller Fulfillment Violation Fee Chart (28 May 2026) · EU Third Party Payment Service Providers (29 Dec 2025) · European VAT Calculation Methodology (23 Jul 2026) · Temu EU Seller Advertising Services Terms (28 May 2026) · EU Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Policy (22 Jan 2026) · Seller Privacy Policy (21 May 2026)
Figures: Temu: DSA transparency information (period to 30 Jun 2026) · Temu: DSA transparency reports (H1 2026, published 31 Aug 2026) · Temu: Small Business Insights Report 2026 (27 Aug 2026)
Authorities and filings: Bundeskartellamt: proceedings against Temu (8 Oct 2025) · PDD Holdings: Form 20-F for 2025 (29 Apr 2026)
Temu in profitkonsole · German online marketplaces compared · Contribution margin explained