Selling products on Allegro? See when you need to set up an account with BDO

More and more mail order sellers are asking themselves „do I have to have a BDO when selling on Allegro?”. Intuitively, it's easy to think that as long as it's „just a few parcels a month”, the topic can be put off. In the meantime, the regulations look not at Allegro as a platform, but at what products you market and what packages you ship them in. If you run a business, sell on a consignment model and are unsure whether BDO applies to your business, you are in an ideal place. In this article, you'll find out when registering with BDO becomes a responsibility and how you can outsource your BDO account registration and maintenance to a third-party attorney, rather than fighting the system yourself.

Allegro is just a sales channel - a real source of BDO obligation

It is worth sorting out one important misunderstanding at the outset. The fact that you sell on Allegro is not in itself grounds for a BDO listing. The platform is merely a channel to reach customers. The obligation arises because as part of that sale:

In practice, it looks like this:

then you are marketing packaged products. And it is this link - not the mere presence on Allegro - that triggers obligations in BDO.

Allegro sales models: who realistically needs BDO?

To make things easier, it is useful to look at some typical scenarios.

Handicrafts and small scale: a few packages per month

Imagine a person who runs a one-person business and sells handicrafts on Allegro. She packs the products in pretty cardboard boxes, adds decorative paper, sometimes foil packs or tape with her logo.

Formally, such a seller introduces packaged products. In addition, he sells regularly and not occasionally. He is therefore acting as a trader, even if the scale of his activity appears to be small. As a result, BDO may also apply to such a person. Often, this is where the surprise comes in, because the seller believes that he is „too small for registers”.

Standard online shop on Allegro: daily shipments

The second group are sellers who treat Allegro as their main sales channel:

In such a model:

It is for this group that sorting out BDO offers the greatest peace of mind and real security in the event of an audit.

Importer or brand owner: higher level of risk

Another situation is selling private label products or importing goods from abroad. This is because such a seller imports goods from other countries and, in doing so, often puts his company logo on the packaging. They may offer electrical appliances, toys, electronics, batteries or cosmetics.

Then the obligations are often twofold, because he has to create an account in BDO as the introducer of packaged products and as the introducer of certain types of products (e.g. EEE, batteries, accumulators). However, without analysing the regulations, it is easy to miss something. This is why importers and brand owners most often use an external service.

Dropshipping and third-party warehouses: who is actually introducing the product?

The dropshipping model or sales from an external warehouse (fulfilment) can complicate the situation.

In practice, you have to answer several questions:

Sometimes the BDO's responsibilities lie mainly with the brand owner, sometimes with the importer, and other times with you. Here, a specific analysis of contracts and sales model is often needed.

When does an Allegro seller become a „introducer of packaged products”?

It is crucial to understand the point at which an ordinary retailer becomes an entity with environmental responsibilities.

Simple signs that BDO may concern your company

You can assume that BDO applies to your business if:

It doesn't matter if you ship ten packages a month or a hundred a day. What matters is that you are marketing the packages.

„Small scale” and a false sense of security

A common argument is to say: „I have small sales, so BDO does not apply to me”.

Meanwhile, the legislation does not make the obligation solely dependent on large scale. Even a small number of consignments can result in an alert. In addition, in the event of an inspection, the office looks at facts and not at assumptions. It can happen that an entrepreneur operates without an entry for several years and then has to sort things out retrospectively, which is much more costly and stressful.

What are the actual penalties for not having an entry in BDO?

Failure to register with BDO, even though the business requires it, may involve:

In the case of Allegro, the situation is difficult as the scale of your sales is well documented in the system and it is easy to check how long you have been selling and how many parcels you have sent. The sooner you put the subject in order, the lower the risk of severe consequences.

Step-by-step registration with BDO

The decision to register is one thing in itself. The second step is to go through the whole technical procedure.

Step 1: Establishing responsibilities

A few key questions need to be answered first:

This is the basis for determining which BDO sections and categories will apply to you. In practice, many entrepreneurs do not have time to read the regulations and interpretations. Therefore, we often take over this stage, preparing a specific list of obligations and necessary entries for the client.

Step 2: Collection of data for the application

For the registration application, you need, among other things:

The better you prepare this information, the fewer corrections and calls for additions will appear later.

Step 3: Account in BDO, login.gov.pl and Trusted Profile

And this is where the most common technical barrier comes in.

Access to BDO is via login.gov.pl, so you need a Trusted Profile or another form of authentication to log into your account and submit reports.

In turn, establishing a Trusted Profile requires a PESEL number assigned to a person who represents the company (owner of a JDG, member of the company's management board)
or appoint an attorney with a PESEL number and a Trusted Profile to act on behalf of the company.

In practice, this means that even if you are prepared to deal with BDO, without PESEL and a Trusted Profile you simply won't go any further.

What if you don't have a PESEL number?

The problem very often affects companies with foreign management, foreign companies selling on Allegro or entrepreneurs who have not yet produced a PESEL number.

There are then two possible routes: obtaining a PESEL number (a target solution, but usually time-consuming) or appointing an attorney with a PESEL number and a Trusted Profile, he or she will set up an account in BDO, prepare the necessary reports and take care of the ongoing fulfilment of duties.

What is the cooperation in registering and operating BDO for Allegro sellers?

Allegro sellers usually expect a simple process. That is why we structure our cooperation in a few clear steps.

What we take on in practice

On our side can be:

This way, you don't have to keep up to date with all the changes in the regulations, while still being assured that the paperwork is being taken care of.

What you need to do

BDO support - by yourself or with assistance? The true cost to the seller on Allegro

In theory, you could try to go through the process yourself. In practice, it is worth counting the costs of doing so.

Stand-alone path

When you do everything yourself:

On top of that, there is the stress of whether everything has been done correctly and the risk of having to correct documents several years later.

Cooperation with the attorney

With an external service:

The cost of the service is usually less than the sum of time, nerves and potential penalties in the event of errors.

„Do I need a BDO when selling on Allegro”? Quick checklist

Finally, a short checklist. Answer honestly „yes” or „no”.

If you have answered „yes” to several of these questions, it is worth taking the subject seriously.