Selling goods made in China on a European marketplace is a well-trodden path with a predictable failure mode: everything works until the account is suspended for a reason that has nothing to do with the product. Four obligations cause almost all of it, and all four can be settled before the first shipment.
One: VAT registration where the stock sits
Holding stock in a country generally creates a registration obligation there, independently of where you are established. Marketplace logistics programmes routinely move inventory between countries to shorten delivery, which quietly creates obligations you did not choose. Read what the programme you enrolled in is allowed to do with your stock, before it does it.
Two: producer responsibility numbers
Marketplaces must verify that their sellers are registered for packaging, electrical equipment, batteries and the other applicable streams, in each country of sale. They enforce it by delisting, quickly and without negotiation. This is now the single most common cause of a European account going dark, and it is entirely preventable.
Three: the responsible person on the listing
For many product categories, European rules require that a person or company established in the Union be identified as responsible for the product's compliance, with their details visible. A seller established outside the Union has to appoint one. Marketplaces check this field and suppress listings that lack it.
Four: who is liable when a customer is hurt
European product liability designates a defendant by working down a chain that starts with the importer and can reach the fulfilment provider and, in defined circumstances, the platform. If you are the importer of your own goods, that is you. Product liability insurance valid in Europe is not an optional refinement here; several marketplaces require evidence of it above a sales threshold.
Settle all four before the first container, not after the first suspension. Reinstating a suspended account takes weeks during which you hold stock you cannot sell and continue to pay storage on it — the expensive part is rarely the fine.
Where to read it yourself
Official pages, opened and checked on 15 October 2026. Where a rule changes, these are the addresses that change with it — this article does not.