Expert tips, guides and best practices for e-commerce automation, invoicing and multichannel selling via Shopify, WooCommerce, bol.com and Amazon.
Selling on bol.com means dealing with two kinds of buyers: consumers who never ask for an invoice, and business customers who want one within a day. These articles show how to turn a bol order into an invoice that holds up — the right VAT on the sale price, the commission accounted for separately, and an invoice number that runs across all your sales channels. Including what goes wrong: a credit note after a return, a wrong VAT rate on a book, or a business customer rejecting your invoice because the company registration number is missing.
The buy box (koopblok) on bol.com is the holy grail for every seller. Whoever has the buy box gets the most sales. But how does it work exactly? And more importantly: how do you make sure you win the buy box? In this comprehensive guide, we explain everything about the bol.com buy box, from basic principles to advanced strategies to beat your competitors.
Are you selling on Shopify and want to expand to bol.com? Or are you already on both platforms but want to automate your processes? In this comprehensive guide, we explain step-by-step how to connect your Shopify store to bol.com, which tools you need, and how to automatically sync inventory, orders, and invoices.
If you manage both a WooCommerce store and a bol.com shop, you know how time-consuming it can be to manually track invoices for both platforms. Discover how Winkel Factuur fully automates invoicing between WooCommerce and bol.com.
Do you sell via bol.com or are you considering starting as a seller? This complete guide helps you manage your bol.com store professionally, from product uploads to automated invoicing and integration with your own webshop. Discover how Winkel Factuur, with direct bol.com API integration, helps you save time and prevent errors.
VAT is where most webshops get stuck — not because the rules are complicated, but because they land differently per country, per product type and per customer type. These are the VAT rules that actually apply to a Dutch webshop: the €10,000 EU turnover threshold for OSS, the margin scheme for second-hand goods, reverse-charged VAT for business customers in the EU, and the small-business scheme. I write them down the way I had to work them out myself while building the VAT engine behind Winkel Factuur.
Once your cross-border B2C sales cross the €10,000 threshold, the OSS scheme requires you to charge the VAT rate of your customer's country — not the Dutch 21%. That means knowing both the standard and reduced rate for every EU member state you sell to. This post is the practical rate reference: why the destination rate applies, when a reduced rate kicks in, and the complete 2026 table for all 27 EU countries.
Once your cross-border B2C sales push you into the One Stop Shop, the quarterly return is no longer a single line on your domestic BTW form. The OSS return demands a split per destination country and per VAT rate applied, on a net basis. This guide is the practical companion to the full OSS overview: it shows exactly which figures go where, with a worked example and the mistakes that trigger corrections.
If you sell to consumers across Europe, you have probably heard about "distance selling VAT thresholds" — the turnover limits that decide where you owe VAT. The trouble is that most online advice still describes a system that was scrapped years ago. Until July 2021, every EU country set its own distance selling threshold, from €35,000 to €100,000. Cross it, and you had to register for VAT locally. Since then, the old per-country limits have been replaced by a single €10,000 EU-wide threshold combined with the One Stop Shop. This guide explains exactly how distance selling VAT thresholds work now, what changed, and what it means for marketplace and webshop sellers.
Selling to consumers across the European Union? Then the OSS (One Stop Shop) VAT scheme almost certainly applies to your business. Once your annual cross-border B2C sales to EU consumers exceed €10,000, you are legally required to charge VAT at the rate of each buyer's country — not your home country rate. The OSS scheme simplifies this enormously: one quarterly return filed in your home country covers all 27 EU member states. This guide explains who needs OSS, how to register, what the deadlines are, and how to prepare for the ViDA reform.
You're selling hundreds of products a month on Bol.com, Amazon or Shopify — but do you know exactly how much you keep from every euro of revenue? Most webshop owners know their gross margin, but the true net margin — after commission, shipping, returns, packaging, ad spend, and VAT remittance — tells a completely different story. In this guide you'll learn how to calculate your actual profit margin, which hidden costs are eroding your business, and how a real-time profit & VAT dashboard replaces your spreadsheets for good.
Selling into the Netherlands from abroad? Dutch VAT (BTW -- Belasting over de Toegevoegde Waarde) is one of the first hurdles international sellers face. Whether you sell via your own webshop, through marketplaces like bol.com or Amazon.nl, or provide services to Dutch businesses, you need to understand the VAT rates, registration requirements, OSS scheme, and filing obligations. This guide covers everything an international seller needs to know about Dutch VAT in 2026.
Dropshipping is a popular business model: you sell products via your webshop (e.g., Shopify), but the supplier (often in China via AliExpress or Oberlo) ships the package directly to the customer. You don't need inventory and run little risk. But fiscally, dropshipping is complex. What about VAT? Who pays import duties? And how do you create a correct invoice? In this article, we explain it in detail.
Looking for an affordable way to create professional invoices for your webshop or marketplace? Discover how Winkel Factuur helps you with a starter package of just €9/month for 100 invoices – fully automated, VAT-compliant, and ready for integration with bol.com, Amazon, Shopify, and WooCommerce. Try 15 days free!
VAT (Value Added Tax) is one of the most important taxes for businesses. But what exactly is VAT, how does it work, and what are your obligations as an entrepreneur? This comprehensive guide explains everything you need to know about VAT.
Creating an invoice is administratively simple and legally precise: a fixed set of mandatory fields, a sequential invoice number and a date that lines up with your VAT return. These articles walk through what belongs on the invoice per situation — a regular sales invoice, a proforma, a credit note, hours instead of products, or a partial invoice for work billed in stages. Including the Word and Excel templates, and why I stopped using them myself once more than a handful of invoices go out each month.
If you sell on Amazon UK, take payouts in US dollars from a Shopify store, or invoice a client in Swedish kronor, you are already doing multi-currency invoicing — whether you realise it or not. The trouble starts at the back end: your VAT return, your bookkeeping, and your tax authority all expect figures in a single base currency. Getting from a foreign currency invoice to a correct base-currency entry hinges on one thing most sellers get wrong — which exchange rate to use, and at which moment. This guide explains how to issue a compliant multi currency invoice, convert VAT correctly, and report cross-border sales without rounding errors or audit risk.
If you bill the same customers on a regular cycle — a monthly retainer, a quarterly maintenance contract, an annual software licence, or a subscription box — you already know how much time manual invoicing eats. Typing out the same invoice every month invites late billing, missed renewals, and VAT mistakes. Recurring invoices solve this by generating and sending each invoice automatically on a fixed schedule. This guide explains how recurring invoices and subscription billing work, the difference between the two, the VAT rules you must get right, and how to set up automated recurring billing that stays compliant across the EU and UK.
A customer returns a product, you spot a pricing error on an invoice you already sent, or you grant a goodwill discount after the fact. In every one of these cases you cannot simply delete or edit the original invoice — once an invoice is issued it is a fixed accounting document. The correct fix is a credit note: a formal document that reverses or reduces an invoice you have already sent. This guide explains exactly what a credit note means, when to issue one, how it adjusts VAT, how it differs from a debit note, and how to create one that keeps your books and your tax return audit-ready.
A customer asks for a firm price before they commit, a buyer in another country needs paperwork to clear customs, or you want payment up front before shipping a large order. In every one of these situations the right document is not a tax invoice — it is a proforma invoice. Yet many marketplace and webshop sellers confuse the two, issue the wrong one, and run into VAT, payment, and customs headaches as a result. This guide explains exactly what a proforma invoice is, how it differs from a commercial invoice, when to use one, and how to create a compliant proforma invoice in minutes.
A correct invoice is not just a payment request; it's a legal document that must meet specific requirements. Missing or incorrect information can lead to rejected invoices, VAT that cannot be reclaimed, and even fines. In this article, we give you a complete checklist of required invoice data and explain how our free tools help you comply with all regulations.
There are many questions and misunderstandings about invoices. Do I always have a right to an invoice as a consumer? What should I do if a company does not send an invoice? And how long can I wait to pay? In this article, we answer the 15 most frequently asked questions about invoicing, for both entrepreneurs and consumers.
As an entrepreneur, you want to get paid for your work. A correct invoice is the foundation for this. But how do you create an invoice that meets all regulations? In this complete guide, we explain step-by-step how to create a professional invoice, what details are mandatory, and how to automate this process.
Creating invoices manually is time-consuming, error-prone, and frankly: a waste of your time. Yet many webshop entrepreneurs still do it themselves. In this article, we explain why automatic invoicing is a game-changer for your e-commerce business, how much time you can save, and how you can start automating today.
An invoice is one of the most important documents for any business. But what exactly is an invoice, what must be on it, and when should you issue one? This complete guide explains everything you need to know about invoices.
Shopify and WooCommerce both send an order confirmation, and in neither case is that an invoice. These articles set out what is missing — the VAT breakdown, a sequential invoice number, your company and VAT registration numbers — and how to fill that in without touching every order by hand. Plus an honest comparison of the WooCommerce invoice plugins and what a Shopify plan really costs per month once you count transaction fees.
WooCommerce is a fantastic platform, but the default invoicing options are limited. You want professional PDF invoices that meet tax authority requirements, are sent automatically, and land directly in your accounting. In this article, we compare the options and show why Winkel Factuur is the smartest choice for serious webshops.
Shopify is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms in the world, but what does it really cost to run a Shopify webshop? Besides the monthly subscription costs, there are transaction fees, app costs, and costs for themes. In this article, we list all the costs so you won't face any surprises.
Manually creating invoices for your Shopify store takes an unnecessary amount of time and increases the risk of errors. Discover how to generate, upload, and archive VAT-compliant invoices for Shopify, bol.com, Amazon Seller, and WooCommerce automatically with Winkel Factuur – all from one platform.
You want to start a webshop, but doubt between Shopify and WooCommerce? Both platforms are popular, but fundamentally different. In this guide we compare both options on ease of use, costs, scalability, and integration possibilities – so you can make an informed choice.
UBL and Peppol are no longer a future concern: anyone supplying the Dutch government has been sending e-invoices for years, and Europe is moving the same way through ViDA. These articles explain what a UBL file actually is, the order the elements have to appear in before a recipient accepts it, and how to send a Peppol invoice without running an access point yourself. I also describe the rejections we saw in production: a technically valid file that came back anyway.
If you sell to government bodies, large retailers, or B2B customers in Europe, you have probably been asked to "send your invoice via Peppol". For most online sellers this is the first encounter with structured e-invoicing — and it can feel like a wall of jargon: access points, the 4-corner model, Peppol IDs, BIS Billing 3.0. In reality Peppol is simply a secure, standardised network for exchanging electronic documents between businesses and governments. This guide explains what the Peppol network is, how it works, what a Peppol ID is, and how marketplace and webshop sellers can connect to it without becoming a tax-technology expert.
Still sending invoices as PDF attachments? Across the European Union, e-invoicing mandates are accelerating fast. UBL (Universal Business Language) is the structured XML format that governments and large enterprises now require. This guide walks you through everything: what UBL is, why it matters, how the EU e-invoicing landscape is evolving, and exactly how to convert your existing PDF invoices to UBL format -- including a free converter tool you can use right now.
E-invoicing is becoming increasingly important in business. UBL (Universal Business Language) is THE standard for electronic invoices. In this guide, we explain what UBL is, how to convert PDF invoices to UBL, how to convert UBL files to readable PDFs, and how to validate UBL invoices. With our free tools, you can get started quickly.
Creating professional invoices doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. With the right online tools, you can generate a correct, legally compliant invoice within minutes. In this guide, we explain step by step how to create free invoices online, what information is required, and how our free tools can help you.
Looking for the best invoicing software for your webshop or marketplace? This complete comparison guide helps you make the right choice between free tools, paid solutions, and enterprise platforms – with a focus on e-commerce integrations.
UBL (Universal Business Language) is an international standard for electronic invoices. More and more companies and governments require UBL invoices. But what exactly is UBL, when is it mandatory, and how do you create a UBL invoice? This complete guide explains everything.
Amazon handles the invoice for you through VCS — until it doesn't, and you as a seller still have to upload one within the deadline. These articles cover the difference between VCS and invoicing yourself, the format and deadline Amazon expects on an upload, and VAT registration per EU country once FBA puts your stock in a German or Polish warehouse.
Few topics cause more confusion for Amazon sellers than VAT registration. The moment you store inventory in another country, cross a distance-selling threshold, or enrol in pan-EU FBA, you can suddenly owe VAT in places you have never visited. Add Amazon's own VAT Calculation Service, the dreaded "VAT number mismatch" warning, and a "verified — pending action" status that blocks your account, and it is easy to feel out of your depth. This guide explains when Amazon VAT registration is required, how to obtain and verify your VAT numbers, and how to resolve the most common registration errors.
Selling across Europe through Amazon is a powerful growth strategy — but it comes with a complex VAT puzzle. The moment Amazon stores your inventory in fulfilment centers across Germany, France, Poland or Italy, you acquire VAT obligations in each of those countries. Which Amazon programme are you using — EFN, Pan-EU or CEE? And what exactly does that mean for your registration requirements, invoice obligations and interaction with OSS? This guide covers everything Amazon sellers need to know about multi-country EU VAT: from registration triggers to invoice requirements, from VCS limitations to ViDA 2026 — and how to automate compliance entirely.
The buy box — the prominent 'Add to Cart' button on Bol.com and Amazon product pages — determines who gets the sale. Research consistently shows that 80 to 90% of all purchases go through the buy box winner. Lose it without knowing, and your revenue quietly bleeds away while a competitor collects the orders. Manual monitoring is impossible: prices on competitive listings change every few minutes. This guide explains how to monitor your buy box position continuously, set up real-time alerts, and use automated repricing to protect your position — without sacrificing margin.
Customer reviews are the single most powerful trust signal in e-commerce — and on marketplaces like Bol.com and Amazon, they directly determine whether you win or lose the buy box. Yet most satisfied customers never leave a review unless asked. The solution is a structured, automated review request strategy: the right message, on the right platform, at the right moment. This guide covers everything you need to know about requesting reviews compliantly and automatically across Bol.com, Amazon, Shopify and WooCommerce.
Selling via Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) is a great way to reach all of Europe. You send your stock to Amazon and they handle the rest. But fiscally, it is a minefield. As soon as your stock is abroad, you immediately have to deal with local VAT rules. In this guide, we explain what you need to look out for.
As an Amazon Seller in Europe, you know how time-consuming and error-prone manual invoicing can be. Discover how Winkel Factuur fully automates your Amazon Seller invoices – from VAT calculation to upload to Seller Central – so you can focus on growth.
Beyond bol.com and Amazon, a growing share of Dutch webshops sell through Zalando, Kaufland and the DIY marketplaces on Mirakl — Praxis, Hornbach, Leroy Merlin, Brico. Each platform sets its own requirements for the invoice document: a different file format, its own order number notation, and sometimes a document type the operator has not enabled yet. These articles describe per platform what is asked for and where delivery actually breaks down.
Bunnings is the dominant home improvement retailer in Australia and New Zealand, and its marketplace opens that audience to third-party sellers of tools, garden, outdoor, storage and hardware products. For a supplier already running Amazon, Shopify or WooCommerce, it is a way into a large and highly engaged DIY market. What it does not change is who is responsible for the paperwork: you are the seller, so tax invoices and GST are yours to handle. This guide covers what a valid tax invoice looks like in Australia, when GST applies, what overseas sellers need to know about low value imported goods, and how to invoice every channel you run in a single batch.
B&Q is one of the best-known home improvement retailers in the UK, and its marketplace lets third-party sellers extend the range with tools, garden, bathroom, lighting and building products. For a supplier already active on Amazon, bol.com, Shopify or WooCommerce, it is a route into a large DIY audience without building brand awareness from scratch. What the platform does not do, however, is produce your sales invoices. You are the seller, so invoicing and tax remain your responsibility. This guide covers when an invoice is required, how UK VAT works for sellers based inside and outside the UK, and how to invoice every channel in a single batch.
If you buy advertising from Google, pay seller fees to Amazon, or purchase stock from a supplier in another EU country, you have almost certainly received an invoice with €0 VAT and the words "VAT reverse charged". The reverse charge mechanism is one of the most misunderstood parts of EU VAT — yet it affects nearly every online seller trading across borders. This guide explains exactly what reverse charge VAT is, when it applies, how to issue a compliant reverse charge invoice, and how to report it correctly so you never overpay or trigger a tax audit.
Paper PDFs sent by email are quietly becoming a thing of the past. Across the European Union, tax authorities are moving towards structured electronic invoices and near real-time reporting, and the ViDA package — VAT in the Digital Age — is the legal engine driving the change. For online and marketplace sellers, this is not abstract policy: it touches the format of every invoice you issue, how VAT is reported, and even who is responsible for collecting it. This guide explains e-invoicing in the EU, the three pillars of ViDA, the phased roadmap, and the practical steps to prepare without panic.
If you sell on Amazon, bol.com, or take payouts from a delivery platform, you may have noticed that you never actually wrote an invoice for some of your sales — yet a tax document exists with your name on it as the supplier. That document is a self-billing invoice: one the customer raised on your behalf. Self-billing is perfectly legal across the EU and the UK, but only under specific conditions. This guide explains what a self billing invoice is, when it is allowed, the agreement and VAT rules that apply, and why marketplaces rely on it so heavily.
Creating invoices is half the work; getting them into your bookkeeping is the other half. These articles cover the integrations with e-Boekhouden, SnelStart, Yuki, Twinfield, Exact Online and AFAS: what exactly gets pushed across, which ledger account it lands on, and what happens with a credit note or a correction after the fact. Plus what to automate once you invoice across several sales channels at once.
Selling on Bol.com, Amazon and your own Shopify store at the same time? Then you know the frustration: three sets of invoices, three VAT summaries, three export files for your accountant. Every month you spend hours on reconciliation that should really be automatic. The solution is a central accounting integration that merges all your sales channels into one dashboard — automatically converting orders into correct invoices that flow directly into Exact Online, AFAS, Twinfield or Snelstart. In this practical guide you'll learn how it works, which platforms you can connect and how to go from manual to fully automated.
Successful e-commerce entrepreneurs have one thing in common: they automate everything they can. While you're manually processing orders, creating invoices, and tracking inventory, your competitors are scaling effortlessly. In this comprehensive guide, you'll learn which e-commerce processes you can automate, which tools you need, and how to start automating today.
As an e-commerce entrepreneur, you know how time-consuming manual accounting can be. Entering each order separately, checking VAT percentages, matching invoices with payments... it costs hours per week. Fortunately, accounting integrations exist that automate this. In this comprehensive guide, we explain which integrations are available, how to set them up, and which one best fits your situation.
Anyone comparing invoicing software is really looking at three things: whether your sales channels are genuinely supported, what happens the moment something goes wrong, and what it costs as your volume grows. These articles compare the options on exactly those points — including the situations where I would not pick Winkel Factuur myself.
An incorrect IBAN number on your invoice can lead to failed payments, delays, and frustration. With an IBAN validator, you can quickly check whether an account number is correct. In this article, we explain how IBAN works, what can go wrong, and how to use our free IBAN checker to prevent problems.
A webshop runs on more rules than VAT alone. Packaging falls under extended producer responsibility — in the Netherlands through Verpact, in Germany through the LUCID register, and Europe-wide through the PPWR. On top of that, terms and conditions, trustmarks and return rights all feed into how trustworthy your shop looks. These articles set out per topic what applies to a Dutch webshop and from which threshold a reporting or registration duty kicks in.
Many Dutch and EU web sellers know their home rules: in the Netherlands, below 50,000 kilograms of packaging per year there is nothing to declare to Verpact. Sellers who conclude that packaging rules 'therefore do not apply to small shops' run straight into a wall in Germany. The German packaging act has no lower threshold: one parcel to a German consumer is enough to trigger the registration duty. And unlike most legislation, enforcement is not a distant regulator — it is the marketplace itself. Amazon.de, Kaufland and OTTO are legally required to exclude sellers without a valid EPR number.
Try Winkel Factuur free for 15 days and connect your Shopify, WooCommerce, bol.com or Amazon store in minutes. After that from €9 per month for 100 invoices.
Start free trial