The bol international sellers program: requirements, application and timeline (2026)
Written byLeon · Founder, CEO
Yes, a brand outside the Netherlands and Belgium can sell on bol, but not through the ordinary sign-up route. The bol international sellers program is a screened, invitation-only funnel with five published requirements, and the two hardest are a registered EU company and €500,000 of sales potential in the first twelve months.
Below: the three doors, the requirements as bol writes them, the timeline, the quality score you must hold once live, the fees, fulfilment and 2026 compliance.
bol in 2026: size and the international growth signal
bol (formerly bol.com) is the Dutch-Belgian online retail platform owned by Ahold Delhaize, which reported €6.3 bn in net consumer online sales for bol in FY2025, up 8.4%. bol itself counts 14 million customers in the two countries and 63 million articles for sale, both on 31 March 2026.
Third-party partners are about half of that volume: Ahold Delhaize's 2025 annual report puts European third-party online sales at €3,125 m. bol counts 43,300 selling partners with at least one sale in the past year, down from around 52,000 in mid-2023.
The international side is the growth story, and it is why bol recruits abroad. Ahold Delhaize said in both its Q1 2025 and Q4 2025 results that bol "continues to scale up its international partners network, doubling the amount of net consumer online sales from this channel during the quarter". The count itself has never been published.
The three doors: how the bol international sellers program sorts applicants
bol's "Start selling via bol" page splits applicants into three doors, decided purely by where the company is registered.
- Netherlands or Belgium. Direct sign-up for a free professional seller account: KvK or KBO number, VAT ID, SEPA account and e-learning, within five business days.
- Europe, excluding the Netherlands and Belgium. The International Prospects form, a screened application against five published requirements.
- Outside Europe. The same form, the same screening, the same five requirements.
That third route is the detail most guides miss. The "Are you based outside Europe?" link points at exactly the same form URL as the EU route: no separate non-EU landing page, no separate form, no softer requirement set.
The country dropdown confirms the scope: EU27 minus the Netherlands and Belgium, plus exactly three non-EU countries, China, Türkiye and the United Kingdom. The form asks one question that decides a lot: do you have a warehouse based in the EU, and if not, where. The form itself is English only; bol does publish country landing pages for Germany (in German) and Poland.
For companies outside the EU, the VAT and stock consequences are their own subject: see our guides on selling on bol from outside the EU and selling on bol from China.
The five published requirements
bol's EU-partner page lists five conditions, and they are what the bol international sellers program screens against. Read them literally: nothing softer is published.
- Have a registered EU company. bol adds "this is mandatory" in brackets. Not an EU VAT registration, not an EU warehouse: a registered EU company.
- Have a minimum of €500,000 sales potential in the first 12 months. Potential rather than history, but you have to make the case.
- Have strong experience in international marketplaces. A first marketplace is not the profile bol recruits here.
- Provide customer service in Dutch and always put the customer first. Dutch, not English. French matters too for French-speaking Belgium.
- Want to integrate via a bol-certified API partner. You pick the integrator on the form, from a dropdown of integrators.
No published exception applies to any of the five for applicants outside the EU. For a Chinese, Turkish or British company the door exists but the five criteria do not move, and the form's warehouse question adds EU stock in practice.
Rejected? bol's wording on the form page is "You are always welcome to try again next year", so a thin application is not something you resubmit next week.
What happens after you apply to the bol international sellers program
bol answers fast or not at all: "If we see a good match? We will contact you directly", then "If you don't hear anything within 5 working days? Then we will not proceed this time". Silence is the rejection.
A match produces a one-time invitation link by email. Registration is by invitation only, issued by bol directly or through selected integrators and agencies.
Registration, step by step, once you are invited
- A bol user account. Unique email address and two-step verification. One bol account can own only one seller account.
- Company verification by Duna, bol's external partner. Trade register entry, a valid VAT number from the country of establishment, an e-commerce NACE code, an online presence, UBO details, a valid passport or ID, and an active SEPA account in the company's name.
- Background screening under the Sanctions Act and the Digital Services Act. bol says this takes several weeks, and a fraud or forgery conviction in the past five years is a rejection.
- Shop profile and final check. Contact details, return policy and address, the e-learning, then bol's last review before go-live.
Two legal forms are explicitly not supported: the German Einzelunternehmen and the Polish JDG, both sole proprietorships.
On timing, bol's EU-partner page says onboarding takes "in less than 3 weeks" once invited, while its registration page describes the background screening alone as several weeks. Three weeks is the best case, not the schedule.
What bol expects once you are live: the quality score
bol has replaced the performance score with the quality score, so any guide still discussing a "prestatiescore" describes a system that no longer exists. The score runs 0 to 100, is measured over 22 weeks and is a weighted average of five service standards.
65 is the minimum. From 70 the benefits start: Select Deals always on, lower strike risk (from 75 with the right performance), Growth Reward eligibility and a better buy box position. Below the minimum on any single standard, 70 stays out of reach.
| Service standard | Target | Minimum or strike trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Items on time | 93% delivered on time, 95% handed over on time | Minimum 90% |
| Cancellations | No more than 2% | Strike at 3 or more cancelled items in a week plus over 2% |
| Track and trace | 98% | Minimum 90% |
| Customer questions | 90% answered within 24 hours | Strike at 10 or more new questions in a week without a first reply inside 24 hours, plus under 90% |
| Returns | Dynamic per product group | Not currently counted in the quality score or strike system |
Values are dynamic by category, Logistiek via bol shipments are excluded from the strike system on items on time, and weekends and Dutch and Belgian public holidays fall outside the 24-hour window.
With a persistently low quality score of 64 or lower bol may terminate the seller account, after four months to improve. Separately, orders must reach the customer within three working days, enforced as an onboarding requirement since July 2026, from Dutch stock, Logistiek via bol or a certified third-party logistics provider.
What selling on bol costs
There is no subscription and no per-listing fee, as our bol integration page sets out. A professional seller account is free and you pay commission only on the items you sell.
Commission has two parts: a fixed amount per item, by item type and selling price including VAT, and a variable percentage of that price, by category. bol's published example for Kitchen Merchandise is 5% to 12.5% variable plus €0 to €0.85 fixed.
Across categories our integration page lists a typical fixed fee of €0.20 to €2.48 per item sold (VAT included), with some items at €0, and commission usually between 5% and 17%. bol calls its own amounts an estimate, so check the current table on the bol partner platform and the exact rate in your seller account.
VAT on commission follows your establishment: a Dutch company pays 21%, an EU company outside the Netherlands gets the reverse charge, and a non-EU company is charged without VAT. Our full bol guide goes deeper on pricing and assortment.
Fulfilment options for international partners
bol names three fulfilment options, Logistiek via bol, shipping via bol and your own shipping, plus a shortlist of third-party logistics providers aimed at sellers outside the Netherlands and Belgium. Whichever you pick, the order has to reach the customer within three working days, so the stock has to sit inside the EU.
One of the three is closed to companies established outside the EU: Logistiek via bol is open only to partners registered with the chamber of commerce of an EU member state, and it needs your own Dutch VAT number. Our guide to Logistiek via bol covers the service itself, and the stock question for non-EU applicants, including the provider shortlist, is worked out in the outside-EU guide.
The compliance rules that catch foreign sellers in 2026
Four regimes decide whether your items may go online: GPSR (manufacturer details per item plus a responsible economic operator in the EU, with bol's dates of 5 March 2026 and 1 April 2026), the DSA (the same operator data, registered in your seller account), EPR (the producer is whoever first places an article on the Dutch or Belgian market, so importing makes you one) and PPWR (first packaging obligations from 12 August 2026). GPSR and EPR in particular land harder on imported goods, and the full set, including what bol has postponed, is in the outside-EU guide.
Meeting the certified-integrator requirement
One of the five requirements is not something you can satisfy alone: integration via a bol-certified API partner. bol publishes that list with tiers and badges, and e-tailize is on it as a Silver Partner with the "Internationally Certified" badge. bol's own description reads: "e-tailize helps brands and partners grow via 200+ European marketplaces. We arrange admission and onboarding to new channels, and our software automates listings, stock, prices, and orders."
The same name sits in the integrator dropdown on the International Prospects form, and one of bol's English on-demand webinars for international partners, has a chapter on that integration. For a brand running the bol international sellers program from abroad, that settles the certified-integrator requirement on the form and puts the admission work with people who have done it before. The first question is whether the assortment clears the €500,000 bar, and that is where a free exploration call starts.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I sell on bol from outside the Netherlands?
- Yes. bol runs a separate international sellers route for companies outside the Netherlands and Belgium, based on an application form rather than direct sign-up. Applications are screened against five published requirements, and registration afterwards is by invitation only.
- Which legal forms does bol not accept on the international route?
- German Einzelunternehmen and Polish JDG sole proprietorships are explicitly not supported. bol requires a registered EU company and marks that mandatory, and it is not satisfied by an EU VAT registration or an EU warehouse on their own.
- Is there a minimum turnover for the bol international sellers program?
- bol asks for a minimum of €500,000 in sales potential over the first 12 months. That is potential rather than proven history, but you have to make the case in the application. Alongside it, bol expects strong existing experience on international marketplaces.
- How long does approval take?
- You hear back within five working days, and silence is the rejection: bol states that if you have not heard anything in that time it will not proceed. Once invited, bol puts onboarding at under three weeks, while its registration page describes the background screening alone as several weeks. After a rejection, you are welcome to try again next year.
- Can non-EU companies apply?
- Only from China, Türkiye and the United Kingdom: those are the three non-EU countries in the form's dropdown. The link for sellers based outside Europe leads to the same International Prospects form as the EU route, and bol publishes no softer requirement set for them.
- Does bol charge a monthly fee?
- No. A professional seller account is free, there is no per-listing fee, and you pay commission only on the items you sell. Commission is a fixed amount per item plus a percentage of the selling price including VAT. bol's partner page states payouts on the 1st and the 15th of the month.
- What quality score do I need on bol?
- The minimum is 65 out of 100 and the extra benefits start at 70. The score is a weighted average of five service standards over a 22-week period, and sitting below the minimum on any single standard keeps you under 70. At 64 or lower bol may terminate the account, after four months to improve.