Selling on French marketplaces from the UK or the US

At a glance: who takes sellers from outside France

Three questions that decide where you can apply

Three answers settle most applications from a business based in the UK or the US, so work them out before you translate a single listing:

1. Where is your company registered? Castorama wants a base in France or the EU, Auchan a European professional, and Leroy Merlin lists registration on the French RCS among its conditions¹²⁷.
2. Where do your parcels start? Castorama’s sellers must ship from France or the EU, while Fnac’s terms set out how goods imported from outside the EU are handled¹³.
3. Can you serve buyers in French? La Redoute requires customer service in French, and Fnac and Darty expect answers to customer emails in French within 2 business days⁵³¹⁴.

Castorama, Auchan, La Redoute and Leroy Merlin

Castorama puts its rule most plainly: it “choisit uniquement des vendeurs professionnels basés et qui expédient depuis la France et l’Union Européenne” (only chooses professional sellers based in, and shipping from, France and the EU)¹. Offers must relate to DIY and home improvement, sellers deliver to the customer’s home, and marketplace returns and refunds are handled online, never in a store¹. Kingfisher launched the marketplace in March 2024 on a platform built with Mirakl, and its 2026 half-year results counted 2.2 million SKUs and more than 1,000 vendors¹⁵¹⁶.

Auchan asks on its seller page for “un professionel Européen” (a European professional) with responsive, good-quality customer service, and cites more than 23 million visits a month². It asks you to send a SIRET number (the French business identification number), an intra-EU VAT number, your head-office address and country, your categories and the marketplaces you already sell on². The page says neither whether a UK company counts as European nor what to give if you have no SIRET, so raise both in your request². ChannelX reported in September 2015 that Auchan would open its marketplace with Mirakl later that year¹⁷.

La Redoute counts “localisation géographique des Vendeurs (Europe)” among selection criteria that need not all be met, in buyer terms updated on 3 June 2026⁵. The application form offers the EU states, the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Monaco as company countries, but no US option⁶. Mirakl, whose platform La Redoute chose in 2021, reported in June 2026 that its more than 500 sellers are exclusively French and European¹⁸¹⁹. Sellers deliver to mainland France, Corsica and Monaco unless their own conditions say otherwise, and bear any customs and import costs⁵.

Leroy Merlin lists five conditions, one of them “Vous êtes inscrit au Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés” (you are registered on the French trade and companies register)⁷. Yet its form’s head-office list runs from the EU states to Monaco, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, South Africa and “Autre” (other)⁷. Ask Leroy Merlin whether a company registered outside France qualifies before you apply. Leroy Merlin selects its sellers itself²⁰, and Mirakl announced the European marketplace, built on its platform, in December 2020²¹.

Kiabi, Maisons du Monde, Fnac, Carrefour and E.Leclerc

Kiabi opens its marketplace to “tout professionnel” (any professional) that subscribes to its services, under platform terms published on kiabi.be and updated on 17 March 2026⁸. You register with your company name, registered office, VAT number, contact details and trade-register entry, and the terms set no rule on where you must be based⁸. Kiabi is also growing beyond France: it launched on kiabi.es in March 2026, is adding Italy, and says it will bring on new sellers progressively²². Mirakl announced the marketplace, built on its platform, in July 2022²³.

Maisons du Monde picked its marketplace brands for style, affordability, quality and responsibility, and for how they complemented its range, Mirakl said when the French marketplace opened on its platform in November 2020¹⁰. Its buyer terms describe the sellers as “vendeurs professionnels”, and Maisons du Monde does not take back or exchange marketplace products⁹. Whether it accepts a business based outside the EU is for Maisons du Monde to confirm, so ask before you apply.

Fnac has the most open terms of those covered here, in the version updated on 2 November 2026³. They accept sellers “situés dans le monde entier” (located worldwide), who may deliver only within France³. For goods imported from outside the EU, orders worth up to €150 excluding tax and transport need an IOSS number and larger orders a VAT number; above €150, you clear the goods through French customs and send one parcel per order³.

In France, Fnac and Darty use the same sign-up page, and the process includes identity checks (KYC); Belgium, Spain and Portugal have their own links¹¹. Fnac Darty’s seller site gives the subscription as €49.99 excluding VAT a month per marketplace, charged only in months with sales¹¹. Fnac’s terms say it is due whatever the state of your orders, so confirm which applies before you sign³.

Carrefour France opened its marketplace in June 2020, food first, with Mirakl as its technology partner¹². Mirakl’s announcement of 4 November 2020 listed the conditions at that time: be a professional vendor, deliver anywhere in France, give customer service in French and follow the quality charter¹². Check Carrefour’s current conditions on its marketplace page before you apply.

E.Leclerc describes, in its help pages, “Vendeur Marketplace” shop pages that show each seller’s terms of sale, delivery options and ratings, with a “Contacter le vendeur” link for buyers¹³. E.Leclerc sets its own seller conditions, so ask its marketplace team what it expects from a business based outside France.

VAT when your goods start outside the EU

The EU’s One Stop Shop (OSS), in place since 1 July 2021, has three optional schemes, and two of them matter to a seller of goods based outside the EU²⁴. The Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) covers goods shipped from outside the EU in consignments with an intrinsic value of €150 or less, excise goods excepted; you need an EU intermediary to use it, and returns are monthly²⁴. The quarterly Union scheme is mainly for businesses established in the EU, though non-EU businesses can use it for certain supplies of goods²⁴. The Non-Union scheme is for services²⁴.

On a marketplace, much of the VAT moves to the platform. Where a marketplace facilitates the sale of imported goods worth €150 or less to a consumer, it counts as the supplier for VAT purposes and can account for the tax through the IOSS²⁴. It also counts as the supplier when a seller established outside the EU sells goods already inside the EU to consumers, and can declare that VAT under the Union scheme²⁴. The €10,000 threshold for charging home-country VAT is not open to you: it is for suppliers established in a single EU country, and it never covers imported distance sales²⁴.

On the UK side, GOV.UK guidance last updated on 10 October 2024 says you “do not normally need to charge VAT” on goods you sell to customers outside the UK, and can zero-rate those sales²⁵. Goods sent from Northern Ireland differ: above the £8,818 distance-selling threshold, VAT is due in the countries of delivery, through the Union OSS or registration in each country²⁵.

Parcels from the UK or the US: the new duty and handling fee

The customs duty exemption for low-value parcels applied until 30 June 2026²⁶. From 1 July 2026, parcels under €150 sent to EU consumers have carried a flat €3 duty for each tariff category inside them, an interim rule due to last until 1 July 2028 unless extended²⁷. Quantity does not matter, only classification: the Commission’s guidance prices five T-shirts at €3, and a T-shirt with a watch at €6²⁶. The duty applies under every VAT route, IOSS included, but goods benefiting from preferential trade agreements or Customs Union measures are excluded²⁶.

A second charge, the €2 Union handling fee per item, started on 1 November 2026²⁸²⁹. According to the Commission’s guidance for traders, it is not limited to cheap parcels: it applies to distance sales above €150 too, carries VAT, has no end date and is not refunded once the declaration is accepted²⁹. On the same day, product identifiers became compulsory in these customs declarations²⁶.

Whoever lodges the declaration, the declarant, owes the charges²⁶²⁹. For the €3 duty, the guidance points to whoever holds the IOSS number, uses the special arrangements or acts as indirect representative; the consumer pays only in very limited cases²⁶. Marketplaces can pass charges on too: Fnac’s terms pass on to sellers, in full, a “taxe sur les petits colis” (small-parcel tax) of €2 per item from 1 March 2026³. Ask any marketplace that takes your parcels how it declares them and who pays.

Further ahead, under customs reform regulation (EU) 2026/2108, online platforms become “importers for distance sales”, and platforms and sellers based outside the EU are responsible for customs formalities and duty payments²⁸. The Commission’s page gives no start date for this and links it to its new Customs Data Hub, which e-commerce must use from 1 July 2028²⁸. Our guide to EU rules for marketplace sellers explains each change.

Product safety: a responsible person in the EU

The EU General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) has applied since 13 December 2024³⁰. For a brand based outside the EU, its Article 16(1) comes first: a product “shall not be placed on the market unless there is an economic operator established in the Union” who is responsible for specific compliance tasks for it³¹.

Article 19 then shapes every French product page you publish³¹. The offer must identify the manufacturer by name, registered trade name or trademark, with a postal and an electronic address; for a manufacturer outside the EU, it must give the same contact points for the EU responsible person³¹. It must identify the product with a picture, its type and any other identifier, and carry any warnings or safety information in a language that consumers in the country of sale can easily understand, as that country decides³¹.

Marketplaces, for their part, must build their sites so that you can enter this information for each product³¹. When a market surveillance authority orders a dangerous listing removed, they must act “within two working days”³¹.

French EPR: your IDU and a French representative

France’s extended producer responsibility (EPR) rules sit in the Code de l’environnement. A producer subject to EPR registers with the administration, receives an “identifiant unique” (unique identifier, the IDU) and appears on a published list of registered producers³². Every year it proves, category by category, that it belongs to an eco-organisation or runs its own system, and reports market and waste data, which its eco-organisation can do for it³². A seller must give a buyer who asks the IDU of the producer that meets the EPR obligations for the product³³.

Marketplaces share the load. Since 1 January 2022, a platform facilitating distance sales of EPR products for a third party has had to take on, or contribute to, the prevention and management of the waste those products create, unless it has proof that the seller already complies³³³⁴. Your IDU for the products counts as that proof, and the platform keeps it in a register the authorities can inspect³³.

From 10 July 2026, a new article, L541-10-9-1, requires a person not established in France but subject to EPR to appoint a natural or legal person established in France as its EPR representative (“mandataire”), by written mandate³³. The representative is subrogated to all the EPR obligations in the mandate it accepts³³. The duty is treated as met for products whose EPR obligations a platform established in France already ensures³³.

Missing identifiers cost money. Fnac’s terms expect sellers to join an approved eco-organisation and give each IDU; without one, FNAC DIRECT pays the eco-contribution, and it adds 1% to the commission rate on products for which no IDU was provided by 20 January 2025³. Darty’s terms add the same 1%¹⁴. La Redoute’s June 2026 terms go further: sellers in eight listed categories, from electrical equipment and furniture to batteries, lamps and single-use gas cartridges, must take back used products of the same type free of charge, or have them taken back, and Triman logo and repairability-index rules apply on top⁵.

What must be in French

France’s language law, Loi n° 94-665 of 4 August 1994 (the Toubon law), requires French in all of the following³⁵:

• the designation of a product and the offer made to buyers
• its presentation and instructions for use
• the description of the extent and conditions of its guarantee
• invoices and receipts
• written, spoken and audiovisual advertising

Other languages can sit alongside, as long as the French is as legible, audible or intelligible as the translation³⁵. Names of typical products and specialities with foreign names known to the widest public are exempt, but wording registered with a trademark is not³⁵. Separately, the GPSR lets the country of sale decide which language counts as easily understood for warnings and safety information³¹.

Returns and guarantees on French marketplaces

Across the EU, a consumer who buys at a distance can withdraw within 14 days of delivery without giving a reason, and the period runs up to a year longer if you left out required information³⁶. You then refund within 14 days, including the original standard delivery charge, though you may wait until the goods are back or the buyer shows they were sent³⁶. Return postage falls on the buyer only if you said so in advance³⁶.

Three dated changes now apply³⁷³⁸³⁹:

• 19 June 2026: an online “withdraw from contract here” function, or one with clearly equivalent wording, with a confirmation step and an acknowledgement on a durable medium³⁷.
• 31 July 2026: a repair under the legal guarantee extends the seller’s liability once, by 12 months, for contracts concluded from that date³⁸.
• 27 September 2026: the EU’s harmonised notice of the legal guarantee of at least 2 years, which online can take the form of a general reminder on the website³⁹⁴⁰.

The marketplaces add their own rules on returns. Leroy Merlin and Castorama refuse marketplace returns in their stores, and Maisons du Monde neither takes back nor exchanges marketplace items²⁰¹⁹. On Leroy Merlin and La Redoute, the buyer pays the return postage unless your listing or terms say otherwise, and you may allow longer than 14 days²⁰⁵.

What marketplaces ask for when you apply

Under the Digital Services Act, marketplaces must verify their sellers’ contact details and display them, so buyers know who they are dealing with⁴¹. Beyond the company and VAT details covered above, expect requests like these:

• Fnac Darty asks you to upload supporting documents for its identity checks (KYC)¹¹.
• Fnac’s terms also require the tax data that DAC7 calls for³.
• La Redoute asks whether you hold EAN or GTIN codes and whether you are authorised to sell the products⁶.
• Leroy Merlin asks whether your products carry a valid GS1 EAN and how you will load your catalogue⁷.

Running several French marketplaces from one place

Most marketplaces in this guide have worked with Mirakl, as the dated announcements cited above show: Leroy Merlin, Kiabi, Castorama, Maisons du Monde and Carrefour launched on it, La Redoute chose it in 2021, and ChannelX reported in 2015 that Auchan was opening with it^{21231510121817}. Fnac and Darty work differently: Fnac Darty’s seller site points its sellers to its own back offices and APIs⁴². If you are approved on more than one that runs on Mirakl, invtri’s Mirakl channel holds them as storefronts under a single channel.

You connect each storefront with the shop API key from its seller back office, then set its fee percentage. All your Mirakl storefronts are priced from the same margin rules, with a fee percentage set for each storefront. invtri lists your offers by EAN against that marketplace’s catalogue and imports the offers you already have live. Orders arrive for you to accept or refuse, with optional auto-accept per storefront that applies only when stock covers the whole order, and a tracking number you add once goes back to the marketplace.

Each retailer decides whom it approves and what it charges. Our Mirakl marketplaces pages include Castorama, Auchan, La Redoute, Leroy Merlin and Kiabi.