Selling cosmetics on Amazon Europe and Amazon UK with your own brand

Why private label works on Amazon

If you resell other brands on Amazon, you compete with many sellers on the same listing, and the lowest price often wins. With your own brand you have your own product page and control price, images and description.

Private label lets you start without a lab or a factory: choose from 300+ ready formulas or develop a custom formula, and we manufacture under your brand. A minimum of 500 units per SKU (one product in one format) lets you test the market with a limited investment and reorder as sales grow: our capacity goes up to 40,000 units per day.

Amazon’s European marketplaces and Amazon UK

Amazon runs separate marketplaces in several EU countries and in the United Kingdom. For a cosmetic brand this means two regulatory areas:

• EU marketplaces: one CPNP notification and one EU Responsible Person cover all Member States, but the label must carry the particulars in the languages each country requires.
• Amazon UK: Great Britain has its own rules, with SCPN notification and a UK Responsible Person whose address appears on the label.

Many sellers start with one or two marketplaces and expand once the product has reviews and steady sales. Plan the label languages and Responsible Person details for every market you might reach, so you do not need to reprint later.

How to make your product stand out

On Amazon, shoppers compare dozens of similar products in seconds. To avoid a price war, you need real differences:

• Formula: a custom formula, or exclusivity on an existing one, stops the same product appearing under another brand at a lower price.
• Proven claims: wording such as “dermatologically tested” or “nickel tested” is information shoppers look for. It must be backed by tests, as explained in our guide to cosmetic claims and testing.
• Format: a size that differs from the rest (larger, travel size, in a kit) changes the comparison.
• Kits and multipacks: a kit with two or three complementary products is hard to copy and raises the average order value.
• A clear niche: a product designed for a specific need, such as sensitive skin, ranks better than a generic one.

Custom formulas can be exclusive to one client, and exclusivity is also available on request for ready formulas. The two routes are compared in our guide to private label vs contract manufacturing.

Documents marketplaces usually ask for

Amazon and other marketplaces may ask for documents before publishing a cosmetic listing or keeping it active. Requirements change over time, by category and by country, so always check the current instructions in your seller account. Typically they include:

• Safety Data Sheet (SDS) or an equivalent document, used by the marketplace to decide whether the product counts as dangerous goods for transport and storage, for example if it contains alcohol or is an aerosol.
• CPNP or SCPN reference: proof that the product has been notified in the EU (CPNP) or in Great Britain (SCPN). See how it works in our guide to CPNP notification.
• Label images: legible photos showing the mandatory particulars in the right languages, the INCI list and the Responsible Person.
• Responsible Person details for the EU and, if you sell on Amazon UK, for the UK, to be entered in the listing.

When you manufacture with us, we prepare the EU documentation and submit the CPNP notification. For the UK, SCPN notification and the UK Responsible Person are available through our partners; for non-EU brands, so is an EU Responsible Person. More on our EU and UK compliance page.

Images and packaging designed for online sales

On Amazon the shopper cannot touch the product: they see a thumbnail. Packaging must also be designed for the photo.

• Legible when small: brand and product name must be readable in a thumbnail on a phone.
• Simple shapes: cylindrical bottles and tubes, the formats we know best, photograph well on a white background, as usually required for the main image.
• Secondary images: key ingredients, how to use, real size, kit contents.
• Consistency: claims in images and description must match the label.

Shipping matters too. Packaging must survive transport and handling: leak-proof caps, flip-tops that stay closed, cartons that protect. Our in-house designers create labels and cartons and follow them through to print. See the packaging options.

Logistics: FBA and our warehouse

With FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) you send stock to Amazon’s fulfilment centres, which store it and deliver it to customers. In the EU, Amazon also offers programmes that distribute stock across fulfilment centres in several countries. Amazon has precise rules for preparing shipments: identification labels, packaging, units per carton.

The typical problem for new sellers is where to keep the rest of the stock. Sending everything to Amazon at once can be expensive in storage fees; keeping it at home takes space and time.

By agreement, we also handle logistics:

1. We produce the batch under your brand.
2. We store the goods in our warehouse in Pomezia, near Rome, Italy.
3. On your request, we ship to Amazon fulfilment centres, to your own warehouse or to stores.

You send Amazon only the quantities you need and save on logistics. Shipments from Italy to other EU countries involve no customs; shipments to the UK go through customs, with documents and costs assessed case by case. Details are in our logistics and storage service.

Do the maths before you produce

On Amazon, the selling price is not what you keep. Before choosing formula and packaging, build a simple calculation with every cost:

• Product cost: formula, packaging, artwork, any claim tests.
• Marketplace fees: a percentage of the selling price, varying by category.
• FBA costs: preparation, shipping to fulfilment centres, storage and delivery to the customer.
• Advertising: almost always needed in the first weeks to get found.
• Shipping and customs if you sell on Amazon UK from stock made in the EU.
• Returns and damaged goods.

If the margin only works at the lowest price in the category, rethink the product: a different format, a kit or an exclusive formula is often worth more than a discount. For the production side, see our guide to the cost of a cosmetic line.

Time to get online

Once samples, packaging and artwork are approved, delivery takes 4–6 weeks from order confirmation. Samples of ready formulas are available immediately; custom formula samples take about 2 weeks. Also allow for transport and for Amazon’s time to receive goods at its fulfilment centres.

Common mistakes when selling cosmetics on Amazon

• Choosing on price alone: a product identical to many others only sells by cutting the price.
• Unproven claims: wording without evidence can get a listing suspended and is not allowed by law.
• Non-compliant labels: missing particulars or missing languages can block sales in a country.
• Forgetting the UK is separate: a CPNP notification does not cover Amazon UK; you also need SCPN and a UK Responsible Person.
• Too much stock at once: better to start with a few SKUs and reorder.
• Fragile packaging: returns and bad reviews for products that arrive open.

Frequently asked questions