Ship to Germany without a warehouse: 6 steps for shops

How do you ship to Germany without a German warehouse? #

Send 1 replenishment batch, not every customer parcel, across the border. A verified sender in Germany then handles each paid order locally. For weight-based rates use how much to send a parcel to Germany; this guide covers the operating setup.

A domestic German parcel cost the same €4.70 at 2 and 5 kg and €6.95 at 10 kg. Every other country is in the European shipping rates index. The carriers on our German rate card are DPD, UPS, DHL and GLS; GLS lists next-day delivery, the others two working days. UPS also delivers to an Access Point. Live services per size are on /en/shipping-options.

Route A: every parcel crosses the border #

You pack in your own country and buy a label to Germany. From the Netherlands that was €8.90 for 2 kg: no customs, a higher rate than domestic, usually a day longer. From the UK it is an import.

An import since July 2026 means three things per parcel: German VAT (collected via IOSS or at the door), a customs handling fee from the carrier, and customs duty of €3 per product type in the parcel. A two-item order is €6 of duty before the goods have been looked at. The full sum is in the €3 EU customs duty explained.

Route A is right at low volume. One stock, one place, one set of books. Its cost is that every one of those charges sits on every parcel, and that your delivery time is what a German customer compares against a German shop.

Route B: one batch in Germany, domestic parcels after #

You send one shipment — fifty units of your best seller, say — to a verified sender in Germany. They hold it at home, pack each order, buy a German domestic label and drop the parcel at a carrier’s parcel shop. The parcel starts in Germany, so it is a German parcel: domestic rate, domestic transit, no customs step.

What you pay is the sender’s fee plus our €0.85 platform fee — about €3.10 together for a small parcel — and the domestic label. Storage, set-up, minimum: none, because there is no building. The model is defined in what is peer-to-peer fulfilment; the comparison across countries is in how to ship domestically in Europe without a warehouse.

The sum: when does German stock pay off? #

From the Netherlands, route B saves €4.20 on a 2 kg label. About €3.10 of fulfilment cost comes off that, which leaves roughly €1.10 per order before the bulk shipment in. On carrier rate alone that is thin.

So for a Dutch or Belgian shop the case for German stock is mostly not the label. It is a day less in transit, returns that stay inside Germany, and not packing those orders yourself. For a UK shop the case is the customs line: the duty, VAT collection and handling fee on every parcel become one customs event on the batch. The general version of this sum is in parcel shipping costs in Europe in 2026.

The two routes side by side #

What German customers expect #

Home delivery. Germany is the market where a pick-up point as the default option is most likely to be read as second-rate. DHL is the name customers know best, and its Packstation parcel lockers are the one alternative to the door that many German customers actively choose.

On our rate card today, DHL is available as home delivery; Packstation delivery is not a service there. If your customers want a pick-up option, UPS delivers to an Access Point. Which carriers your sender uses depends on what they have ticked; check the profile before you send stock. The general trade-off between point, locker and door is in pickup point vs home delivery in Europe.

Two smaller expectations: an invoice in the parcel or by e-mail, in German, and a clear returns address in Germany. The second is where route B quietly helps — the return goes to your sender, not across a border.

Two laws that apply whichever route you take #

VAT once stock sits in Germany

Moving your own goods to Germany is a transfer of own goods, and selling from that stock is a German domestic supply. That generally requires a German VAT number and German returns, and the OSS scheme does not cover it. It is administration, not a barrier — but do it before the first batch, not after a letter from the Finanzamt. The detail is in VAT when you store stock in another EU country. General information, not tax advice.

The Verpackungsgesetz

How it works with AirPost #

With local fulfilment through AirPost you do not rent anything in Germany. No contract, no minimum. Then:

1. 1

   Find a sender in Germany

   On /en/senders, filter by price and parcel size. Every sender is checked on identity and payout account, with reviews from other shops alongside. Look at which carriers they have ticked.

2. 2

   Sort out VAT and LUCID first

   Talk to your accountant about the German VAT position before the batch moves. Register in LUCID regardless — you should already have.

3. 3

   Send a test batch

   One box of your best seller by German orders, with your own boxes, tape and inserts. Keep the rest of your stock yourself. If you want it back, it is returned within 14 days. From the UK, the batch is one customs event on a commercial import.

4. 4

   Put your German orders through

   In the chat, with address and size, or automatically through your Shopify connection. To one sender, or to several of your senders at once: the first to accept ships it. The sender only sees your customer’s address after accepting the order.

5. 5

   We sort out the label

   We find the cheapest rate within the service level you choose — home delivery, or an Access Point where your customer prefers one. The label leaves from your sender’s address.

6. 6

   Follow the parcel, then compare

   Tracking reaches you both in the same conversation. If a parcel is lost or damaged in transit, we file the claim with the carrier. After a month, compare cost per order, transit time, support tickets and return rate.

Stock held by a sender is not insured; start with a batch you can afford to lose. Selling in the neighbouring countries too? Read how to ship to France without a French warehouse, how to ship to Austria without an Austrian warehouse and how to ship to Poland without a Polish warehouse. British shops should start with how to ship to EU customers from the UK.

More on shipping to Germany #

• How much it costs to send a parcel to Germany, from seven countries.
• Pickup point vs home delivery in Germany.
• DHL vs DPD vs GLS, compared per country.

A German customer does not compare you to other foreign shops. They compare you to German shops. The only way to be in that comparison is for the parcel to start in Germany.