Amazon's 2025 EPR Pay on Behalf Policy Update

In brief: from 27 August 2025 Amazon replaced its three country-by-country EPR Pay on Behalf policies (UK, France, Spain) with a single policy and gave itself more flexibility over when it collects the money. It could keep back money in your account reserve to cover EPR costs (both the recycling contributions and its own service fee), charge extra EPR amounts outside the normal reporting cycle (for example after a regulator recalculates fees), and share the product and sales data that recycling schemes require.

What changed in the 2025 EPR Pay on Behalf policy

Area	From 27 August 2025
Policy	One combined policy covering the UK, Spain and France
Reserves	Money for recycling contributions and Amazon's EPR fee can be held back from your balance
Timing	Additional charges may land outside the reporting cycle, including recalculations
Data	Legally required product and sales data may be passed to environmental organisations

EPR Pay on Behalf is Amazon's service that registers, reports and pays Extended Producer Responsibility fees for enrolled sellers. For the UK it applies automatically to sellers whose business address is outside the UK — see Amazon UK EPR for WEEE and packaging.

Later change: the UK service fee

In September 2026 Amazon stopped reserving the UK service fee and began charging it within 30 days instead — see the 2026 EPR Pay on Behalf fee change. Eco-contributions and recalculations remained subject to the flexible charging described here.

What it means for your bookkeeping

• Expect reserve movements. Money held for EPR shows up as a reserve line in your settlements and is released or used later. Post reserves to a balance-sheet account, not profit and loss, or your payout won't match — see why a payout might not match Xero.
• Charges can relate to earlier periods. A recalculation charged in, say, November may relate to sales months earlier. Record it when charged, and note the period it covers so year-on-year EPR costs are comparable.
• Keep EPR costs in their own account. Separating eco-contributions and service fees from selling fees shows the real cost of selling into each country.
• Take the VAT from Amazon's invoice. Don't assume a rate for EPR charges; use the treatment shown on the invoice for each one.

How TrueBooks helps

TrueBooks posts every settlement line — including reserves and compliance deductions — to the right accounts in Xero, so EPR charges are visible and your payouts still reconcile. See the Amazon Xero integration.