What you'll learn here

• Why e-commerce sellers are legally required to have a business address
• Which platforms display the address publicly
• What risks come with using your private address
• Why cease-and-desist letters are a particular issue in online retail
• Which package suits your shop

Why online sellers need a business address

As soon as you sell commercially, the imprint obligation (legal notice requirement) under Section 5 DDG applies. The German Digital Services Act (Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz) replaced the old Telemedia Act (Telemediengesetz) in May 2024, but the core obligations have stayed the same. Your imprint must include a legally valid address, meaning a real address with a street name and house number at which customers and authorities can reach you with legal certainty.

This obligation applies not only to your own shop but explicitly also to commercial profiles and listings on platforms such as:

• Amazon and Amazon Marketplace
• eBay and eBay Kleinanzeigen (commercial)
• Shopify, Etsy and your own online shops
• Social commerce profiles on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook

In addition, as the data controller under the GDPR (DSGVO), you also need a legally valid address in your privacy policy. There's no way around it.

The problem with your private address

In theory, you are allowed to put your home address in your imprint. In practice, that's a bad idea in e-commerce. Your address is then publicly visible on every product page, in every shop and in every marketplace profile. Every customer, competitor and direct mail advertiser can see it.

In concrete terms, this means:

• Advertising mail and unwanted deliveries end up at your home
• Angry customers or competitors know your private address
• Your family and where you live are linked to your business

A rented business address cleanly separates your private and business life. You meet the imprint obligation and keep your home address out of the public eye.

Cease-and-desist letters: why online retail in particular

E-commerce is a hotspot for cease-and-desist letters. A missing or incorrect imprint is one of the most common reasons. Competitors and associations that send out cease-and-desist letters (Abmahnvereine) deliberately search shops for formal errors. If the legally valid address is missing or incomplete, that is a classic point of attack.

Violations of the information obligations can be punished with fines of up to €50,000 under Section 33 DDG, plus possible costs for cease-and-desist letters. A correct, legally valid address removes this point of attack. And because cease-and-desist letters and official mail from the authorities arrive as physical letters, a scan service is worth its weight in gold: You see critical letters right away instead of finding them in your mailbox days later.

Do Amazon, eBay and the like accept a rented address?

For the imprint and the public provider identification, what matters is that the address is legally valid. A rented, legally valid business address meets this requirement and is used in the imprint of your listings. The only important thing is that it is a real address with active mail reception, not just a P.O. box.

Separate from this is the platforms' account verification, where you prove your identity as a seller. For this, an ID document and business documents may also be required. This concerns your identity, not the imprint address.

Your seller address in Berlin

With an address at Pappelallee 64, 10437 Berlin, you get a legally valid business address in Prenzlauer Berg that you can list in the imprint of all your shops and marketplace profiles. More than 1,000 customers already use the address. It's set up in about five minutes, with no setup fee, and you can cancel monthly.

With the Pro and Expert packages, your mail is scanned daily with a date-of-receipt stamp and sent to you by email. That way, you won't miss any cease-and-desist letters or official mail, even if you ship your goods from somewhere else entirely.

Conclusion: Meet your obligations, protect your privacy

As an online seller, there's no way around a legally valid business address. It is mandatory under Section 5 DDG and is publicly visible on every platform. A rented address fulfills this obligation, protects your home address and eliminates one of the most common reasons for cease-and-desist letters. With a scan service, you see important mail right away, wherever you happen to be selling.

Frequently asked questions

Further reading

• Imprint Without Your Private Address: How to Protect Your Privacy as a Founder
• Legally Valid Business Address: What Does It Mean and Why Does It Matter?
• Applying for a VAT ID with a Virtual Office: How It Works