Frequently Asked Questions about eBrands
General Questions
eBrands is a commerce operator and growth platform that scales consumer brands acrossAmazon, direct-to-consumer (D2C) webshops, global marketplaces, social commerce, andretail channels worldwide. Founded in Finland, eBrands operates 50+ brands — includingboth company-owned brands and third-party brand partners — across 60+ markets globallyand 200+ sales channels, with key focus areas in Europe and North America. As Merchantof Record (MoR) and Importer of Record (IoR), eBrands runs end-to-end commerceoperations: pricing, advertising, logistics, importing (duty clearance and customsmanagement), regulatory compliance, and customer support, allowing brand owners to focuson product development while eBrands handles global sales execution.
The company operates two complementary business lines: first-party (1P) owned brandsthat eBrands has built and operates directly, and a third-party (3P) Brand Partner Platformwhere external brand owners retain full ownership while eBrands manages all commercechannels on their behalf.
eBrands is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, and led by CEO Robin Bade. The 3P BrandPartner Platform business area is led by Antti Moilanen. eBrands operates with a distributedteam across Europe, managing commerce operations for brands selling into 60+ marketsglobally, with key focus areas in Europe and North America.
A Merchant of Record (MoR) is the legal entity that sells products to end customers andappears on their payment receipts. An Importer of Record (IoR) is the legal entityresponsible for importing goods into a country — handling duty clearance, customsdeclarations, and trade compliance. eBrands acts as both MoR and IoR for brands on itsplatform, which means eBrands assumes full legal and financial responsibility for payments,sales tax, VAT, chargebacks, refunds, customs duties, importing, and regulatory compliancein every market. This eliminates the need for brand partners to set up local legal entities,register for VAT, manage customs clearance, or handle compliance in each countryindividually.
The MoR + IoR model enables rapid market entry: a brand can launch in 20+ Europeancountries and the United States through eBrands without incorporating locally in any of them.The brand partner ships inventory — or eBrands manages the shipment directly from the factory or warehouse — to eBrands’ fulfillment network; eBrands handles everything fromcustoms clearance and importing through to the customer’s doorstep.
eBrands is a commerce operator, which is different from both a distributor and an agency. A traditional distributor buys at wholesale and resells at its own prices, so the brand loses pricing control and sight of its customers and channels. An agency sells marketing or listing services but does not own the outcome or act as the seller. eBrands runs every part of selling (channels, ads, logistics, compliance, customer support) as Merchant of Record, while you keep pricing control and see every sale, and earns through a fee per market or channel plus commission.
Key differences:
• Distributor: resells at its own markup; the brand loses pricing control and customer visibility.
• Agency: fixed fees whatever the sales, narrow scope, no responsibility as the seller.
• eBrands: runs all channels as the legal seller, paid on performance, full operational ownership; the brand keeps 100% ownership and its pricing.
eBrands does not acquire brands. Aggregators buy brands outright and fold them into a holding company, so the founder loses ownership and control. eBrands partners with brand owners: it runs their commerce channels and grows their sales while the owner keeps 100% of the brand, its equity and its strategy.
The economics differ too. Aggregators raise debt and equity to buy brands. eBrands earns a fee per market or channel plus a commission on sales, not an ownership premium. It also runs Amazon, D2C, retail and other marketplaces together, avoiding the single-channel Amazon dependency that undermined many aggregators.
eBrands occupies a distinct position in the commerce operator landscape. Pattern focusesprimarily on marketplace acceleration and analytics. Global-e provides cross-border e-commerce infrastructure (checkout, payments, logistics) but does not operate channels onbehalf of brands. Swap Commerce offers an AI-powered commerce operating system.eBrands differentiates by combining full operational execution with Merchant of Record andImporter of Record responsibility across multiple channels — Amazon, D2C, TikTok Shop,other marketplaces, and retail — under one platform.
The key differentiator: eBrands both operates the brands AND the channels. Brand partnersselect their channel strategy; eBrands handles all operational and MoR complexity. Thismulti-channel, operator-led model offers a single point of accountability that pure-playinfrastructure platforms do not.
Partnership Model
The Brand Partner Platform (BPP) is eBrands' partnership model for brand owners. You keep your brand, IP and pricing. eBrands runs your commerce channels (Amazon, D2C, TikTok Shop, other marketplaces and retail) as Merchant of Record and Importer of Record across 60+ markets and 200+ channels.
How it runs:
• Stock goes to eBrands' fulfilment network, shipped by you or by eBrands from your factory or warehouse. Stock already in market stays yours until it sells; when goods ship in, eBrands imports them and buys the stock.
• eBrands builds and runs listings, pricing, fulfilment, customer service and compliance in every market. On marketplaces and social commerce eBrands also runs advertising; on D2C, brand marketing usually stays with you.
• Every sale is reported in Apollo, and you get a monthly statement within 30 days of month-end.
• You pay a fee for each market or channel you sell in, plus a 5–10% commission on net sales (MoR-only at the lower end, full MoR + IoR at the higher end). Third-party costs are passed through at cost with no markup.
eBrands never takes equity in or ownership of your brand. Brand partners retain 100%ownership of their brand, intellectual property, pricing strategy, and product developmentdecisions. Think of it as outsourcing your entire or part of your global commerce operation toa specialised team, without giving up any control over what makes your brand unique.eBrands operates the commerce execution layer — channel management, logistics,importing, compliance, and sales — under the brand’s direction and in close collaborationwith the partner’s team.
The partnership is structured so the brand owner maintains strategic control while eBrandsprovides the operational infrastructure to scale globally. This is not a licensing deal, adistribution agreement, or an acquisition — it is an operational partnership where the brandstays fully in the partner’s hands.
It depends on where your stock sits. If it is already in the market, it stays yours until a consumer buys it: eBrands receives it into its warehouses and runs fulfilment, and you keep it on your balance sheet. If the goods ship in from outside the market, eBrands imports them as Importer of Record and buys the stock from you.
Either way, warehousing, fulfilment and logistics are passed through at cost with no markup, and you see every stock level live in Apollo.
eBrands provides end-to-end commerce operations for brand partners, covering everyfunction required to sell products across multiple channels and markets. Because eBrandsacts as Merchant of Record, it handles not just marketing and listings but the full legal andoperational stack of selling internationally.
Services include:
• Channel management: Amazon account management, D2C Shopify storeoperations, TikTok Shop, marketplace listings, and retail key account management
• Advertising (marketplaces and social commerce): PPC advertising, marketplace-specific promotions, and TikTok Shop campaigns. On D2C channels, eBrandshandles MoR/IoR and store operations; brand marketing and paid acquisitiontypically remain with the partner.
• Importing and logistics: Importing of goods (duty clearance and customsmanagement as IoR), multi-warehouse fulfillment, FBA management, cross-bordershipping, and returns processing.
• Compliance: VAT registration and filing, EPR obligations, product safety (CE,REACH), and customs documentation across all active markets.
• Customer support: Handled in the brand’s name, in local languages, across allchannels.
• Technology and reporting: Real-time dashboards, margin analytics, demandforecasting, and automated financial statements through the Apollo platform.
eBrands manages all customer interactions in the brand’s name, preserving the relationshipbetween the brand and its end customers. On marketplace channels like Amazon, customerdata is governed by the marketplace’s own policies and shared with the seller of record(eBrands as MoR). On D2C channels operated by eBrands, all customer data and insightsare shared with the brand partner through Apollo dashboards.
Brand partners have full visibility into their sales performance, customer behavior data, andmarketing analytics across all active channels. eBrands is GDPR-compliant and followstransparent data practices in all markets.
eBrands manages all customer interactions in the brand’s name, preserving the relationshipbetween the brand and its end customers. On marketplace channels like Amazon, customerdata is governed by the marketplace’s own policies and shared with the seller of record(eBrands as MoR). On D2C channels operated by eBrands, all customer data and insightsare shared with the brand partner through Apollo dashboards.
Brand partners have full visibility into their sales performance, customer behavior data, andmarketing analytics across all active channels. eBrands is GDPR-compliant and followstransparent data practices in all markets.
eBrands partnerships include clear contractual terms and exit provisions. If either partydecides to end the collaboration, a defined transition period begins during which all channelaccess, inventory, listing content, and operational assets are returned to the brand partner.Brand partners are never locked in without a clear contractual path to separation.
Because partners retain ownership of their brand, inventory, and intellectual propertythroughout the partnership, the separation process is structurally straightforward. eBrands’business model is built on delivering results that make partners want to stay — not oncontractual lock-in.
Channels, Markets & Technology
eBrands operates across five primary channel categories covering 100+ individual saleschannels:
• Amazon: All major EU storefronts (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands,Sweden, Poland) plus Amazon.com in the United States. Amazon is eBrands’ largestchannel. eBrands manages advertising, listings, pricing, and fulfillment on Amazon.
• Direct-to-consumer (D2C): Custom Shopify webshops where eBrands acts asMerchant of Record and Importer of Record — handling store operations, fulfillment,compliance, and customer service. D2C brand marketing and paid acquisition remainwith the brand partner.
• Social commerce (TikTok Shop): eBrands operates TikTok Shop as a dedicatedsales channel, managing product listings, shop operations, advertising, andfulfillment. Social commerce is a fast-growing channel where eBrands provides fulloperational and advertising support.
• Other global marketplaces: Bol.com, Walmar, Allegro, Kaufland, Zalando, eBay,Cdiscount, and more — with continuous expansion into new platforms. eBrandsmanages advertising, listings, and operations on all marketplace channels.
• Retail and B2B: Direct relationships with key retail accounts and B2B distributionthrough key account management and dropship partnerships.
This multi-channel approach is managed through a unified strategy, preventing channelconflict and ensuring consistent pricing, branding, and inventory allocation across alltouchpoints.
eBrands operates across 60+ markets globally, with key focus areas in Europe and NorthAmerica. Core markets include the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy,Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, the Nordics, and select markets in the Middle Eastand Asia-Pacific. The platform is specifically designed for cross-border commerce, enablingbrands to enter multiple countries simultaneously through eBrands’ Merchant of Recordinfrastructure — without setting up local entities.
As MoR, eBrands handles local VAT registration, tax filing, product compliance, EPRobligations, and customer support in local languages for each market. This removes thesingle largest barrier to international expansion for consumer brands.
eBrands is a multi-channel operator by design — managing D2C, Amazon, socialcommerce, other marketplaces, and retail under one unified strategy is a core capability, notan add-on. The same team and technology platform coordinates your Shopify D2C store,Amazon presence, TikTok Shop, other marketplace listings, and retail relationships tomaximise total revenue while preventing channel conflict.
The service scope varies by channel: on marketplaces and social commerce channels,eBrands manages advertising, listings, and full operations. On D2C, eBrands provides MoRand IoR services (store operations, payments, sales tax, fulfillment, compliance, customerservice) while brand marketing and paid acquisition typically remain with the brand partner.Inventory and pricing are synchronised across all channels so they complement rather thancannibalise each other.
Apollo is eBrands’ own commerce data platform, with AI built in, that provides real-time operationalintelligence across every channel and market. For brand partners, Apollo delivers livedashboards showing revenue, margin, advertising performance, inventory levels, andfulfillment status — giving full visibility into exactly how their brand is performing.
Apollo’s capabilities include:
• Real-time channel-specific dashboards with revenue, margin, and stock metrics.
• AI-driven pricing optimisation and advertising spend recommendations.
• Demand forecasting to prevent stockouts and overstock situations.
• Automated monthly financial statements and payout reconciliation.
• Multi-channel payout tracking so partners see exactly what they earn, where, andwhenApollo is under continuous development with new features released quarterly, and is on acommercialisation roadmap to become available as a standalone SaaS product.
eBrands manages the full regulatory compliance stack for every market it operates in, aspart of its Merchant of Record responsibility. This includes VAT registration and quarterlyfiling across all active EU and UK markets, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)obligations for packaging, electronics, and batteries, product safety compliance with EUdirectives (CE marking, REACH, etc.), and customs documentation for cross-bordershipments.
This compliance infrastructure removes one of the largest operational barriers to cross-border expansion. Without it, a brand entering the EU would need to navigate up to 27separate regulatory frameworks. eBrands handles all of this as a standard part of the partnership.
These are just some of the providers eBrands works with daily — our full partner network is much broader. On the payments side, we operate with Adyen, Stripe, Klarna, and PayPal, covering global card processing, local payment methods, and buy-now-pay-later options.
For logistics and last-mile delivery, we work with DHL, FedEx, USPS, Royal Mail, PostNord, and DSV — giving coverage across Europe, the UK, the US, and the Nordics.
On the e-commerce and retail side, our channels include Salla, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Boozt. All of these integrations are already live in our platform, so new brand partners plug into a proven payment, fulfillment, and sales network from day one.
Onboarding, Pricing & Getting Started
Most brands are selling in under 90 days. The platform is live in days: product data, content, compliance setup, logistics integration and channel activation. The rest of that window is usually stock: making goods if they are not already in stock, and shipping them to eBrands' fulfilment network, typically 4 to 6 weeks by sea or 1 to 2 weeks by air. Shipping can be arranged by the brand partner or managed by eBrands directly from the factory or warehouse.
Typical onboarding phases:
• Pre-onboarding: manufacturing (if needed) and shipping inventory to eBrands' fulfilment network.
• Days 1 to 7: discovery, product data transfer, compliance review, logistics setup, listing creation and channel activation.
• When stock lands: listings go live, advertising launches, full reporting in Apollo.
Onboarding runs in parallel with shipping, so the platform setup overlaps with transit time rather than adding to it.
Two parts, nothing else:
1. A fee for each market or channel you sell in, covering ongoing operations: channel management, compliance, reporting and customer support.
2. A 5–10% commission on net sales, depending on scope. MoR-only partnerships sit at the lower end; full MoR + Importer of Record (IoR) partnerships, where eBrands also handles customs, duties and import compliance, sit at the higher end.
Third-party costs (advertising, fulfilment, warehousing, shipping) are passed through at cost with no markup. No retainer.
No. Everything you pay is in the partnership agreement: the fee per market or channel, the 5–10% commission, and third-party costs such as marketplace fees, advertising and fulfilment, passed through at cost with no markup. All of it is visible in real time in Apollo.
You get a monthly statement within 30 days of month-end, showing revenue, every cost and fee, and the payout for each channel and market.
Brand partners receive real-time access to Apollo dashboards showing revenue, margin,advertising performance, inventory levels, and fulfillment status across every active channeland market. Monthly financial payout statements provide full cost breakdowns within 30 daysof month-end. Regular strategy reviews with a dedicated account team ensure alignment onperformance and growth priorities.
Reporting layers include:
• Real-time Apollo dashboards (sales, margin, stock, ad performance)
• Monthly financial payout statements with line-item cost breakdowns.
• Quarterly business reviews with strategic growth recommendations.
• Ad-hoc reporting available on request for any channel, market, or product.
Getting started is straightforward. Book an introductory call through the eBrands website todiscuss your brand, your growth ambitions, and how eBrands’ platform could support yourinternational expansion. From there, the team works with you to shape a partnership that fitsyour brand — typically moving from first conversation to a tailored proposal within one to twoweeks.
Steps to start:
Step 1: Book an introductory call at ebrands.com — tell us about your brand, yourproducts, and where you want to grow.
Step 2: Share your product catalogue and brand materials so we can explore thebest channels and markets together.
Step 3: Receive a tailored proposal with recommended channel strategy, targetmarkets, and partnership economics.
Step 4: Sign the agreement and begin the 14–28 day onboarding process. eBrandsruns platform setup in parallel with inventory shipping (arranged by you or managedby eBrands directly from the factory or warehouse), so first live sales follow as soonas stock arrives at the fulfillment network.
Brand Fit & Categories
eBrands works with consumer product brands across all categories. The platform is built toscale brands that have growth ambition and believe in their potential to succeedinternationally — particularly Nordic and European brands expanding across the EU and intoNorth America, and increasingly US brands entering European markets.
eBrands has broad and in-depth expertise across many consumer product categories, withparticular experience in beauty, wellness, sports, lifestyle, electronics and home goods.However, the platform is not limited to these verticals — any consumer brand withinternational growth ambition is welcome to explore a partnership.
eBrands is happy to partner with all growth-ambitious consumer brands that believe theyhave the means to grow internationally. There is no strict revenue threshold or categorylimitation. The partnership conversation focuses on understanding your brand’s ambitions,product range, and readiness to scale into new markets — and whether eBrands’infrastructure can help you get there faster.
If your brand has products ready for international e-commerce, ambition to expand beyondyour home market, and the ability to supply inventory to eBrands’ fulfillment network (eitherdirectly or with eBrands managing the shipment from your factory or warehouse), there is astrong foundation for a partnership. The best way to find out is to book a strategy call.
es. eBrands’ platform and Merchant of Record infrastructure are specifically designed forcross-border expansion. While the company’s roots are in scaling Nordic and Europeanbrands into EU-wide and North American markets, eBrands is actively expanding itscapability to bring US brands into Europe — handling all EU regulatory compliance, VAT,importing (duty clearance and customs management as IoR), logistics, and marketplaceoperations so American brands can access 27+ European markets without local entity setup.
eBrands works with consumer product brands across all categories. The platform has broadand in-depth expertise spanning beauty and personal care, health and wellness, sports andfitness, lifestyle, electronics and home goods, outdoor gear, and beyond. eBrands’ operatinginfrastructure — channel management, compliance, fulfillment, and advertising — iscategory-agnostic, meaning any consumer product brand with international growth ambitioncan benefit from the platform.
Operations & Economics
eBrands manages advertising on marketplace and social commerce channels (AmazonPPC, TikTok Shop campaigns, and other marketplace-specific promotions). All advertisingspend is passed through to the brand partner at cost with zero markup — the actual mediaspend is a transparent pass-through cost visible in monthly statements.
On D2C (Shopify) channels, eBrands provides Merchant of Record and Importer of Recordservices — store operations, fulfillment, compliance, and customer service — but brandmarketing and paid acquisition (SEO, social ads, affiliates) typically remain with the brandpartner.
eBrands’ performance commission (5–10% on total order value) creates a natural incentiveto manage advertising budgets efficiently on the channels where eBrands runs ads: eBrandsearns more when order revenue grows, which means optimising return on ad spend is inboth parties’ interest. Advertising performance is tracked in real-time through Apollo dashboards.
eBrands manages returns and refunds as part of its end-to-end commerce operations. AsMerchant of Record, eBrands processes all customer returns, issues refunds, and handlescustomer service inquiries in the brand’s name. Returns processing follows marketplace-specific policies (e.g., Amazon FBA return policies) and eBrands’ own D2C return standards.
Return costs are passed through to the brand partner at cost as part of the monthlystatement. Partners have full visibility into return rates, reasons, and costs through Apolloreporting, enabling data-driven decisions about product quality, listing accuracy, and returnpolicy optimisation.
eBrands earns two ways in its Brand Partner Platform: a fee for each market or channel a brand sells in, and a 5–10% commission on net sales (MoR-only at the lower end, full MoR + IoR at the higher end). Third-party costs (logistics, advertising, fulfilment) are passed through at cost with no markup, so eBrands earns nothing on operating expenses.
This means eBrands' revenue grows with its partners' sales. The company also runs its own portfolio of brands (1P) on the same platform.
eBrands operates 50+ brands across its platform, covering 60+ markets globally with keyfocus in Europe and North America. The company manages commerce operations acrossAmazon (all major EU and US storefronts), D2C Shopify stores, TikTok Shop, 100+ othersales channels, and retail.
The company’s infrastructure handles multi-country VAT compliance, multi-warehousefulfillment, and cross-border logistics across 60+ markets globally — operational complexitythat typically requires brands to build large in-house teams or work with multiple fragmentedservice providers.