By Operator One Editorial — 2 September 2026
Key takeaways
- Galaxus does not operate open self-registration: its own merchant page states it opens its shops to no supplier at all costs and that merchants are handpicked, and applications run through the Partner Portal at partner.galaxus.eu.
- Galaxus charges no basic fee, no setup fee and no subscription on either marketplace; the only Galaxus charge is a variable sales commission calculated on the net sales price excluding VAT.
- German commissions run from 1.5% to 18.0% by assortment group (fee overview effective 27 February 2026) and Swiss commissions from 1.5% to 20.0% (effective 28 April 2026).
- The Swiss commission ceiling is higher than the German one in five of the eleven assortment groups, and the Swiss average rate is higher in all eleven.
- Clause 3.7 of the German marketplace terms restricts registration to businesses with both a registered office and a warehouse inside the European Union, proven by a valid VAT ID.
- Switzerland sits outside the EU: since 1 January 2025 Digitec Galaxus AG is the deemed supplier under Swiss platform taxation and remits 8.1% Swiss VAT in its own name, and Swiss EPR is vRG, VOC and SUISA rather than LUCID.
What Galaxus actually is
Digitec Galaxus AG is Switzerland's largest online retailer and part of the Swiss Migros Group. The Federation of Migros Cooperatives took a 70% majority stake on 1 April 2015, up from 30% at its original 2012 investment and 39.1% after a co-founder's departure; Migros has not restated a percentage since, including in its 2025 annual report, so the current exact shareholding is not public. The group runs digitec.ch and galaxus.ch in Switzerland plus Galaxus own-retail shops in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Belgium. All eight domains returned HTTP 200 on 2 September 2026.
The scale is real. On 7 January 2026 Galaxus reported 2025 platform sales up 17% to CHF 3.764 billion (EUR 4.023 billion), with the six EU markets contributing EUR 418 million, up 15%. Five million people bought at least once, and the catalogue reached 10 million products against 8 million at the end of 2024 and 3 million at the end of 2020. The Migros Annual Report 2025 records Digitec Galaxus Group net revenue of CHF 3,304 million (up 14.4%), international platform sales up 15.3%, 3,559 employees against 3,102 the year before, first clear profitability, and a new logistics centre at Neuenburg in southern Germany.
The marketplace is narrower than the retail footprint, and this is the single most misunderstood thing about Galaxus. As of September 2026 seller terms of use exist for exactly two markets: Marketplace Germany and Marketplace Switzerland. No other country-specific marketplace terms exist in the public contract space. Clause 3.6 of the German terms enables a participant "exclusively on the German market", and a foreign-market Galaxus portal requires a separate participant agreement. A brand seeking DACH-wide Galaxus coverage is therefore signing two contracts, with two legal entities, under two legal systems. Germany and the EU are contracted through Galaxus Deutschland GmbH, Hoheluftchaussee 18, 20253 Hamburg, HRB 156008 at Amtsgericht Hamburg, VAT ID DE312684999, managing directors Florian Teuteberg and Michael Stolle. Switzerland and Liechtenstein are contracted through Digitec Galaxus AG in Zurich (the marketplace terms give the address as Pfingstweidstrasse 60, the galaxus.ch imprint gives 60b).
One quotation caveat applies to everything below. The German terms open with the statement that only the German original is legally binding and that the English translation is provided for information purposes only and has no legal force. Clause references here are to the English version and are navigational, not legal advice.
The access model: handpicked, not open
Galaxus runs a selective merchant programme and says so bluntly. Its own merchant page states that it opens its online shops to no supplier at all costs and describes the merchant base as handpicked. There is no self-service signup that ends in a live listing. Applications are submitted through the Galaxus Partner Portal at partner.galaxus.eu, which tells applicants that its team looks forward to reviewing the enquiry and routes them into an authenticated Jira Service Management form.
Clause 3.1 of the German terms sets four conditions precedent, all of which must be satisfied before a contract exists: successful completion of the onboarding process, conclusion of a payment services framework contract with the payment service provider, registration with a Galaxus-selected parcel service provider for returns, and a positive credit rating. That last one is a genuine filter, not a formality, and it is assessed on the applying entity.
Clause 3.5 lists the onboarding data required: contact person details, company name, registered office, legal form, sector, website, commercial register number, registration court, business purpose, articles of association, legal representatives, beneficial owners and their shareholdings, and the merchant's own privacy policy. Beneficial-ownership disclosure at application stage is heavier than most EU marketplaces demand and is where thinly documented holding structures stall.
The establishment test is the hard gate. Galaxus describes the German marketplace as open to merchants from the EU, Norway, Switzerland and the UK, with a third-country business needing an EU VAT registration and an EU warehouse. Clause 3.7 is stricter still: only persons and entities with their registered office and warehouse in the European Union may register, proven by a valid VAT ID. The same clause requires a German VAT ID from the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern unless all German sales are declared via One Stop Shop under Section 18j UStG. Clause 6.7 then makes the merchant liable for Galaxus' VAT damage and the cost of any necessary VAT registration if goods do not commence transport in an EU member state, and forbids contract conclusion by a non-EU-established affiliate. A UK or Swiss brand cannot contract from its home entity.
Six product-data fields are mandatory for German admission: GTIN, price, country of origin, weight, WEEE number and LUCID ID. Switzerland requires three (GTIN, country of origin, weight) plus a Swiss returns address, and Swiss businesses need a commercial register entry. Finally, Galaxus states plainly that manual product entry is excluded and that the programme targets professional merchants with solid IT infrastructure in the form of a shop system or ERP. A brand with a spreadsheet and no feed is not a candidate.
Commission and fees
Galaxus charges no basic fee and no initial costs on either marketplace: no setup fee, no monthly subscription and no per-listing fee. The only Galaxus charge is a variable sales commission on the net sales price excluding VAT, quoted net with VAT added on top (15.2 German terms, 16.2 Swiss terms). Galaxus labels the published ranges a purely informational and non-binding overview: the binding rate is set at product-type level and only the downloadable fee list is contractual.
| Assortment group | DE min | DE avg | DE max | CH min | CH avg | CH max |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apparel & Baby | 7.0% | 12.9% | 18.0% | 7.0% | 13.7% | 20.0% |
| Beauty & Supermarket | 4.0% | 11.0% | 15.0% | 4.0% | 11.4% | 15.0% |
| Computing | 7.0% | 10.3% | 14.0% | 7.0% | 11.6% | 15.0% |
| Consumer Electronics | 5.0% | 10.5% | 15.0% | 5.0% | 11.3% | 15.0% |
| Do It & Garden | 1.5% | 11.3% | 15.0% | 1.5% | 12.0% | 15.0% |
| Domestic Appliances (SDA/MDA) | 7.0% | 9.8% | 15.0% | 7.0% | 12.3% | 15.0% |
| Furniture | 9.0% | 11.7% | 14.0% | 10.0% | 12.7% | 15.0% |
| Household | 5.0% | 12.0% | 18.0% | 5.0% | 12.8% | 20.0% |
| Mobiles | 6.0% | 11.8% | 15.0% | 6.0% | 13.3% | 20.0% |
| Office & Gaming | 7.0% | 10.0% | 15.0% | 7.0% | 11.3% | 15.0% |
| Sport & Toys | 7.0% | 12.0% | 15.0% | 7.0% | 12.5% | 15.0% |
| Source: Galaxus Annex 15.1 Fee Overview Marketplace Germany, effective 27 February 2026, and the Galaxus Sales Fee Table Marketplace Switzerland, effective 28 April 2026. Galaxus states no further changes are currently planned for either market. Rates are indicative; the binding rate is per product type. | ||||||
Read the table sideways and the pattern is clear. The Swiss ceiling exceeds the German one in five of the eleven groups: Apparel & Baby (20.0% against 18.0%), Household (20.0% against 18.0%), Mobiles (20.0% against 15.0%), Computing (15.0% against 14.0%) and Furniture (15.0% against 14.0%). The Swiss average is higher in all eleven, with the widest gap in Domestic Appliances at 12.3% against 9.8%. Switzerland is the more expensive venue on commission alone, before customs and before EU Hub fees.
Rate changes work differently in each market. In Germany, Galaxus may cut a product type's commission at any time but may raise it only at the start of a calendar quarter with four weeks' notice; silence is consent, and a merchant who refuses may terminate without notice and free of charge (clause 15.4). In Switzerland, Galaxus may adjust commission at any time with 60 days' notice and may reassign a product to a different assortment group without prior notice (16.5, 16.6).
Payment processing is bundled. German clause 14.7 states that PSP, acquirer, other payment-method and FX fees are included in the sales commission and not billed separately, although chargeback costs may be passed on. On the Swiss marketplace Galaxus assumes the del credere risk on invoice purchases and takes 0.1% (10 basis points) of the nominal claim as compensation, already contained within the sales fee (17.5). German merchants may not charge the end customer shipping costs or price surcharges and must bear return shipping on consumer withdrawal (11.7). Swiss clause 4.4 requires the submitted price to be a final price already including vRG, packaging, delivery and all other charges, with VAT the only element Galaxus adds.
The one genuinely unpublished fee block is the EU Hub. Swiss EU Hub shipments carry three additional charges (a per-parcel handling fee, a six-monthly warranty compensation fee invoiced at the start of July and the start of January, and a returns handling fee). The amounts are not published: the terms say they shall be agreed between Galaxus and the merchant, and clause 6.5 allows Galaxus to adjust the handling and return handling fees at any time with 60 days' notice. Anyone quoting you a number for these has invented it.
Payouts and the two payment models
The German and Swiss money flows are structurally different, not merely differently scheduled. On the German marketplace payments run through Stripe, Inc.: the merchant must conclude a separate payment services framework contract with Stripe and hold a Stripe Connected Account, and there is no contract with Galaxus without it (14.3, 14.4). Funds are usually available on Stripe Connect three days after customer payment, released on a monthly rolling payout covering only dispatch-notified orders, and Galaxus states that individual payouts are not possible in the EU marketplace. The consolidated commission invoice is issued between the 1st and the 5th of the following month.
Switzerland is an assignment of receivables. On signing, the merchant assigns all purchase price claims to Digitec Galaxus AG, and Galaxus pays the nominal claim excluding VAT after offsetting the sales fee (17.2, 17.3). The merchant chooses a daily, weekly or monthly payout; the payout equals net sales price less sales fee less return costs less EU Hub fees, for shipped orders with a positive balance. The Swiss statement is emailed on the 5th and the merchant has seven working days to object (17.8).
Fulfilment: there is no FBA equivalent
Galaxus operates no warehouse-and-ship fulfilment service for marketplace merchants selling domestically in Germany or Switzerland. The merchant ships directly to the end customer, the purchase contract is concluded directly between merchant and customer, and Galaxus acts as intermediary handling product data, order administration and the payment process.
The exception is the EU Hub, for EU-based merchants selling into Switzerland. The merchant ships at its own cost to Galaxus Deutschland GmbH c/o Acito Logistics GmbH, Im Schlöttle 6, DE-79588 Efringen-Kirchen. Galaxus or its processor then handles the German export declaration in the merchant's name, Swiss import clearance on Galaxus' own behalf, and final delivery. Access requires an EU registered business address, a TARIC number per item, an active EORI number, a scannable carrier tracking barcode per parcel, an electronic export commercial invoice, and acceptance of a warranty-case settlement agreement. This is also the route that removes the need for Swiss fiscal representation, because Digitec Galaxus assumes the importer role. A merchant importing in its own name (for example under an Unterstellungserklärung Ausland, per Swiss clause 3.4) remains the importer, pays Swiss import VAT and needs a Swiss fiscal representative to reclaim it.
Returns
galaxus.de's headline policy gives customers a 30-day right of return with free returns, stated to apply equally to Galaxus' own products and to third-party seller products, on top of the statutory withdrawal right. The applicable period and returnability are shown per product, some categories are returnable only with unopened packaging, and since 19 January 2026 an exclusion list applies across galaxus.de and its AT, FR, NL, BE and IT sites covering damaged products, missing or damaged original packaging, missing accessories, ESD software licences, plants and food, cars and motorcycles, and private-seller resale offers (as of September 2026).
German merchants must use the DHL returns portal configured through the Partner Portal, process returns within 24 hours of arrival, may reject only in justified exceptional cases such as damage or incompleteness, and must have returns shipped to the RMA address given at onboarding, never to Galaxus. In the Swiss EU Hub model Galaxus takes over the return process entirely: customer correspondence, receipt and inspection in Switzerland, customer refund, export from Switzerland, import into Germany, and transport to a German address nominated by the merchant. Swiss return postage is normally borne by the customer, except for clothing and shoes.
Listings, languages and product data
Offers merge automatically when EAN and brand match, and the first offer's product data is used, so the first seller to list a product effectively writes the page. Competing sellers are ordered by an algorithm considering price, availability and minimum order quantity, and merchants cannot buy better placement. Each merchant gets a shop-in-shop page requiring a 300 x 100 pixel JPEG or PNG logo, an imprint, a privacy policy and a marketing text of 50 to 70 words; offers are labelled as an offer from the named merchant.
Product titles and long descriptions are accepted in German, English, French or Italian with ISO 639-1 suffixes. For specification key and value pairs, German and English are preferred and other languages require agreement with a Digitec Galaxus representative. All Swiss marketplace prices are published and all purchase contracts concluded in Swiss francs; EUR prices are converted at the ECB rate imported daily at 15:00 and valid until 14:59 the following day.
Assortment restrictions are broad. Annex 9.6 to the German terms excludes prescription medicines, alcohol, tobacco and e-cigarettes, CBD, REACH Group I chemicals, CITES products, fireworks, weapons and imitation weapons, pornography, real fur, GM food, products containing peat, and cryptocurrencies and NFTs, among others. The same annex (Annex 3 for Switzerland) imposes sustainability requirements: down only from dead plucking, egg components at a minimum standard of barn rearing or a ban on cage rearing, no sale of endangered fish species, sheep's wool with mulesing-free certification, and flowers and plants with a GlobalGAP certificate. Foie gras, frog legs and real fur are excluded outright with no exception. Galaxus notes on its merchant compliance pages that these restrictions follow from Migros Group requirements. Usefully for challenger brands, Annex 9.7 states that as of 28 July 2022 no brands are excluded from marketplace distribution, so Galaxus operates no brand blacklist.
Refurbished and used goods are permitted on the Swiss marketplace under Annex 4, subject to professional inspection and cleaning, deletion of previous customer data, valid software licences, and batteries at 80% or more of original capacity or replaced. Used or non-original-packaged goods are banned in plants and foodstuffs, ESD licences, consumables such as toner and ink, and hygiene articles.
Integration routes and the test order
Product data can be delivered by SFTP or by webservice over HTTPS, or uploaded manually as an XLSX or CSV feed through the Partner Portal. Galaxus states it aims for a transmission frequency of at least every 15 minutes for master data, price and stock, and stock can be sent separately and more frequently than the rest. There are two automation levels: partial automation, meaning at least a daily CSV product-data export to a Galaxus FTP server with orders handled manually in the Partner Portal, and full automation, meaning the webshop or ERP is connected directly and orders are imported with statuses returned as XML. Galaxus documents a full EDI message set of nine messages: ORDP, ORDR, DELR, EXPINV, EOLN, CANP, CANR, RETP and SURN.
Supported plugins and middlewares publicly listed by Galaxus include Channable, ChannelEngine, Tradebyte, Rithum, Shoppingfeed, PlentyONE, brickfox, Xentral Connect, JTL, Magento 2, Shopware 6, Shopify (via Smart Software Solutions), WooCommerce (via webage), OXID, Descartes, Seeburger, Ecosio, Procuros and Transus, and Galaxus states any other route is possible if the requirements are met.
Before go-live there is a mandatory live-system test order. The merchant lists a test product worth EUR 30 to 100 with at least 2 units in stock. Galaxus orders 2 units, cancels one, has the other shipped, then returns it. Only if every criterion passes is the merchant activated on an agreed go-live date.
After go-live, seven contractual service levels apply in Germany on a rolling 30-day average (as of October 2025): cancellation rate at or below 2%; order processing within 1 business day at 98%; cancellation requests within 1 business day at 98%; returns processed within 1 business day of arrival at 98%; dispatch confirmation within 4 business days (5 after cut-off) at 90%; tracking numbers for all above-letter-size shipments at 95%; and customer enquiries answered within 1 business day at 98%. The Swiss service levels (as of January 2025) mirror these but are measured per calendar month and add an eighth level on customer satisfaction. Breaching a level twice in consecutive months entitles Galaxus to demand improvements or to exclude the merchant temporarily or permanently. Merchants must name a contact person answering by phone and email within 24 hours on working days, in any official language of the destination market (13.3), must not enclose advertising material with deliveries and must make the parcel recognisable as their own delivery (12.5), and may not contact the end customer bypassing Galaxus, with Galaxus declining to supply customer email addresses except for purely digital content (4.6).
Compliance: German EPR against the Swiss regime
This is where the DE and CH split stops being an administrative detail. For galaxus.de the stack is German and EU law. Under ElektroG a WEEE number is required from Stiftung EAR per category and brand combination, and it must be transmitted in the format DE12345678 and stopped on EAR deregistration. Battery registration with Stiftung EAR under the Batteriegesetz (Galaxus labels this BattVO in its own documentation) must be paired with an approved take-back system such as GRS Batterien. Packaging requires a LUCID ID in the ZSVR register under VerpackG plus a contract with a dual system such as Der Grüne Punkt, Reclay or Landbell. Clause 6.8 obliges an ElektroG-scope participant to take back old equipment under Section 3(1) ElektroG and lets Galaxus act and pass on the cost if the merchant does not. Levy-liable devices including PCs, smartphones, printers, scanners and USB sticks additionally owe copyright remuneration under UrhG to ZPÜ for audiovisual and to VG Wort for text and images, and these tariffs can be claimed retroactively. The EU product feed also requires GPSR fields: GPSRNameAddress up to 300 characters and GPSREmailUrl up to 200 characters, naming the EU responsible person under the General Product Safety Regulation.
Switzerland is a different legal universe. It is outside the EU, outside OSS and IOSS, and outside EU EPR schemes entirely. Since 1 January 2025 Swiss platform taxation applies: Digitec Galaxus AG is deemed the supplier, pays 8.1% VAT to the Federal Tax Administration in its own name, and the merchant's supply becomes a fictitious domestic supply at 0%. Because the FTA does not allow input-tax recovery under this arrangement, merchants using the net tax rate method (Saldobesteuerung) cannot apply the flat rate and are advised to switch to effective settlement. Swiss levies run through SENS (advance recycling fee for household appliances, tools and lighting, under VREG), Swico (IT, consumer electronics and office telecoms, under VREG), INOBAT (batteries, under the UVEK ordinance to the USG) and SUISA (copyright on blank storage media, under URG). Swiss clause 5.7 requires all domestic and foreign merchants to pay advance disposal fees and other duties including vRG, VOC emission taxes and copyright fees, and obliges a foreign-domiciled merchant to designate a Swiss representative where necessary. Product compliance adds a physical requirement: mains-powered appliances originating in the EU must be supplied with a Swiss-suitable fixed adapter (type 11, contour plug CEE 7/17, or type 12, Schuko CEE 7/7) or a suitable Swiss mains cable. Products with British or other non-European connectors and devices with mechanically polarised plugs cannot be offered because no suitable fixed adapter exists, supplying a travel adapter instead of a fixed adapter is prohibited, and products drawing over 2,300 watts may not be offered with a fixed adapter. Swiss disputes are governed by Swiss substantive law with exclusive jurisdiction in Zurich 1, and Swiss VAT-related merchant obligations survive for 15 years after termination (22.2, 22.3, 26.5). If the acronyms are unfamiliar, our compliance glossary defines each of them.
One footnote on regulatory status: the galaxus.de imprint declares approximately 1.76 million average monthly active recipients under Article 24(2) of the Digital Services Act for November 2025 to March 2026, comfortably below the 45 million threshold that would make it a Very Large Online Platform. Galaxus is a mid-sized venue by DSA measurement, not a gatekeeper.
Frequently asked questions
Can I just sign up and start selling on Galaxus?
No. Galaxus does not operate open self-registration: its own merchant page states it opens its shops to no supplier at all costs and that merchants are handpicked. Applications go through the Partner Portal at partner.galaxus.eu into a reviewed queue, and four conditions must be met before a contract exists: completed onboarding, a payment services contract, returns carrier registration, and a positive credit rating.
How much commission does Galaxus charge?
Galaxus publishes indicative ranges by assortment group. On galaxus.de they run from 1.5% to 18.0% (fee overview effective 27 February 2026); on galaxus.ch from 1.5% to 20.0% (effective 28 April 2026). Galaxus states these are informational and non-binding: the binding rate is set per product type in the downloadable fee list, calculated on the net sales price excluding VAT.
Does Galaxus charge a monthly fee or a listing fee?
No. Galaxus states that merchants bear no basic fees and no initial costs on either the German or the Swiss marketplace, meaning no setup fee, no monthly subscription and no per-listing fee. The only Galaxus charge is the variable sales commission, quoted net with VAT added on top. The merchant's own integration and feed costs sit outside that.
Do I need a German VAT number to sell on galaxus.de?
Yes, unless you use OSS. Clause 3.7 of the Galaxus Germany terms requires a German VAT ID from the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern unless all German sales are declared through the One Stop Shop under Section 18j UStG. The same clause restricts registration to businesses holding both a registered office and a warehouse inside the European Union.
Do I need Swiss VAT registration and a fiscal representative for galaxus.ch?
It depends on the route. If an EU merchant sells into Switzerland only through the Galaxus EU Hub, Digitec Galaxus AG assumes the importer role and no Swiss fiscal representation is needed. A merchant importing in its own name remains the importer, pays Swiss import VAT and needs a Swiss fiscal representative to reclaim it. Since 1 January 2025 Galaxus remits 8.1% Swiss VAT as deemed supplier.
Does Galaxus offer fulfilment like Amazon FBA?
Not for domestic selling. Galaxus operates no warehouse-and-ship service for merchants selling inside Germany or Switzerland: you ship direct to the customer while Galaxus handles product data, order administration and payment. The one exception is the EU Hub, where an EU merchant ships to a German consolidation address and Galaxus runs export, Swiss import clearance, final-mile delivery and the whole return cycle.
When does Galaxus pay out?
Differently in each market. On galaxus.de payments run through Stripe: funds are usually available on the Stripe Connect account three days after customer payment, released on a monthly rolling payout, and Galaxus states individual payouts are not possible in the EU marketplace. On galaxus.ch the merchant chooses a daily, weekly or monthly payout cycle, with statements emailed on the 5th.
Which EPR registrations does galaxus.de require before listing?
Three registers. Galaxus requires a WEEE number under ElektroG per category and brand combination from Stiftung EAR, a battery registration under the Batteriegesetz plus an approved take-back system such as GRS Batterien, and a LUCID packaging ID under VerpackG with a dual system contract. Both the WEEE number and the LUCID ID are mandatory product-data fields for German admission.
Where Operator One fits
Selling on a marketplace without being the seller is a fiction. Every EU marketplace is a legal venue, not a software product, and Galaxus proves it twice over: clause 3.7 wants an EU registered office and an EU warehouse, clause 6.7 puts the VAT damage on you, and Switzerland adds a customs border, a 15-year record obligation and a levy regime that no EU registration covers. Operator One is the Merchant of Record and Importer of Record: we hold the entity, the VAT registrations and the EPR registrations, we are the legal seller on the invoice, and we can act as your GPSR Responsible Person for the EU. That means a brand outside the EU can reach galaxus.de without incorporating, and can reach galaxus.ch without building a Swiss import function. See the venues we operate on our marketplaces page, or contact us to talk through whether Galaxus is a fit for your category.
Sources: Galaxus, Werden Sie Partner; Galaxus, Werden Sie Händler; Terms of use Marketplace Germany; Annex 15.1 Fee Overview Marketplace Germany (effective 27 February 2026); Sales Fee Table Marketplace Switzerland (effective 28 April 2026); Annex 9.6 Excluded and restricted products, Germany; Galaxus Partner Help Center, product compliance requirements (Switzerland); Galaxus Partner Portal; Galaxus 2025 results release, 7 January 2026; Galaxus, over 1,000 merchants, 5 December 2024; Migros Annual Report 2025, Non-Food Retail; Migros Annual Report 2015, acquisitions and disposals; Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety (GPSR); Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act).