How to Sell Internationally on Amazon US?

What Is Amazon Global Selling?

An Amazon program that lets sellers have a sourcing list and sell their products on Amazon’s global marketplaces is Amazon Global Selling or AGS. Irrespective of where the sellers physically established their businesses, Amazon allows them to scale their business worldwide. Besides, the Amazon FBA business is very successful in the U.S. and worldwide (learn how to start an amazon fba business). Up to now, there are 21 online websites or marketplaces that Amazon globally operates, including below countries:

Asia:

• Amazon.cn – china
• Amazon.in – India
• Amazon.co.jp – Japan
• Amazon.sg – Singapore
• Amazon.ae – United Arab Emirates
• Amazon.sa – Saudi Arabia

Europe:

• Amazon.fr – France
• Amazon.de – Germany
• Amazon.it – Italy
• Amazon.nl – Netherlands
• Amazon.pl – Poland
• Amazon.es – Spain
• Amazon.se – Sweden
• Amazon.com.tr – Turkey
• Amazon.co.uk – United Kingdom

North America:

• Amazon.com.br – Brazil
• Amazon.ca – Canada
• Amazon.com.mx – Mexico
• Amazon.com – United States

Oceania:

• Amazon.com.au – Australia

How Does Amazon Global Selling Work?

Firstly, you need to have all the below information:

• A valid credit card
• Bank account (You may need to use Amazon’s Currency Converter for sellers if you’re unable to open a U.S. bank account, which will allow you to sell on Amazon without opening a U.S. bank account)
• Tax information (Follow the steps to determine whether or not you need to fill out W-8BEN (non-US. Taxpayer) or W9 (U.S. taxpayer))
• Internationally chargeable credit card
• Phone number (Amazon doesn’t support phone contact, and you should use email or chat instead)
• Proof of residence

Secondly, you should have a seller account for every country individually on sellercentral.amazon.com. But, be aware that creating unified accounts for these regions:

• North America (Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.)

• Europe (UK, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy)

You will automatically get access to all countries in one group after signing up in your unified account of any of these marketplaces. Don’t forget that you should pay a monthly fee for each account on Amazon and an additional referral fee for selling each item, which is different based on the marketplace and product category.

If you are a Canadian citizen or look forward to doing business there, learn how to sell on amazon usa from canada.

Reviewing your application by Amazon usually takes 72 hours. After that, you will have permission to sell on Amazon. Sometimes, Amazon may ask you for additional information. Provide the requirements on time.

The next step would be listing your products on Amazon. You should use product listings in other languages when selling internationally on Amazon. The Build International Listings tool (BIL) could be handy.

After that, it’s time to decide on your fulfillment method between fulfilling international orders yourself (FBM) or getting Amazon to ship your products internationally (FBA).

Don’t forget to provide customer support and returning service in the local country, either through Amazon or yourself.

Can You Sell on Amazon If You Are Not American?

As a non-US resident, you are allowed to sell on Amazon. Obviously, there are some obstacles in front of you, but as you pass them, the benefits are incredible. Amazon U.S. is known as the largest marketplace of Amazon, which has 142 million Prime members. Besides, it has 350 million product listings, which could be very useful for an online arbitrage sourcing list.

It is good to mention that it takes less than three months for about 54% of sellers to run their business in the Amazon U.S.

Moreover, about 64% of them make a profit in less than a year. At the moment, sellers from 102 countries worldwide can sell on Amazon. The accepted countries are listed in the help center of Amazon. As explained above, you need to provide specific information to be permitted to sell on Amazon as a non-American.

Countries Accepted for Seller Registration

Apart from the requirements listed before, you need to be resident in one of the following countries to be eligible to sell on Amazon.

How to Sell on Amazon From Outside the USA?

Today, one of the most visited online stores is Amazon Marketplace, a leader in eCommerce sales.

Briefly, to start selling on Amazon US from outside the USA, follow the below steps:

Step 1: Register to sell globally on Amazon

Step 2: Enter the required details and make a payment

Step 3: Link the regional Amazon seller accounts

Step 4: Create the product listings in the new international marketplace and start selling

Step 5: Keep the language requirements for various countries in mind

More details are as follows:

Although non-Americans can sell on Amazon, as an Amazon seller, you will need to have a defined tax I.D. when you sell 50 or more products on Amazon from outside the USA.

Besides, you have to register a company in the United States while starting your selling through Amazon’s FBA (Fulfillment By Amazon) service.

As a non-citizen of the United States, to sell on Amazon US, you should meet the minimum requirements mentioned under the “How Does Amazon Global Selling Work” topic. It is essential to have FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number). Getting FEIN doesn’t require a corporation to become an individual seller, but registering yourself as a merchant could be cheaper than having a registered business.

While creating an account in Amazon’s Seller Central, you should choose to be a seller as an individual or as a merchant. Also, you should select the fulfillment method, whether you want to do the fulfillment process by yourself (FBM) or use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBM).

Here there is a comparison of these:

Selling as an Individual vs. Merchant

amazon selling fees are a thing you need to consider before starting the business. The type of account you choose to sell on Amazon directly affects the amount of money you can make. Your cost will be $0.99 per selling each item, plus the closing fee and referral fee in individual type.

In addition to these three fees, you need to pay $39.99 monthly in merchant type, regardless of how much you sell. It is more beneficial to have a merchant account if you sell more than 40 products monthly, but you will require FEIN to register.

If you prefer to be a vendor of Amazon’s products, using Amazon Vendor Central is another option. In this option, you sell your products to Amazon and not to customers through Amazon. You will lose all control of placement and pricing because Amazon does the heavy sales lifting for their vendors.

Fulfillment by Amazon

If you want to increase the chance of your sale, using FBA is highly recommended because it decreases your business operations. By using the FBA service, Amazon lets you store your products in Amazon warehouses and is responsible for order fulfillment and shipping. Prime shipping program is the most popular service in the Amazon marketplace. Besides, you also delegate returns and customer service to Amazon, but you have to get all of your products to Amazon to benefit from this program. Basically, Amazon FBA doesn’t have any restrictions because of the primary location of your business.

For non-citizens and residents, after deciding to continue as an individual or a business, you can go over the requirements of registering a business in the United States.

How to Register as a Business in the United States

Before applying to be a seller on Amazon as a seller who has a plan to sell more than a few items per month, it would be great to register your business as a legal U.S. entity, regardless of where your business is based. Being a business would provide you the tax benefits. Typically, FBA makes the process much more manageable to register as a vendor or merchant.

Determining the type of business you want to create is all you need; Amazon FBA will do the rest. So, register your business as below:

Getting a Registered Agent

You need to register your agent in the state where you run your business as a part of the business registration process. A registered agent, a person or entity that can receive official legal notices and correspondence from the government, is what most States ask you to have as a non-American who wants to sell on Amazon from outside the USA.

In some cases, your business could fall out of good standing with your state; not having a registered business is one of them. Your business entity can potentially be disbanded because of that.

Tips to Sell Internationally on Amazon

There are some challenges for sellers who want to expand their business internationally. It is critical to know which products can be imported. You have to consider each country’s taxes, local laws, and shipping regulations.

To sell internationally on Amazon successfully, notice the below tips:

1) Drop Ship Internationally

Dropshipping is one of the methods that you can sell on Amazon. It is essential to follow Amazon dropshipping policies for your international business. Your supplier or manufacturer should not be mentioned in any case. The seller who is identified on all packing slips, invoices, external packaging, and all information involving the product should be you. Besides, the one who is responsible for processing returns is you.

2) Ship Internationally Using a Third-Party Service

If you can afford to spend a few dollars a month to work with a third party, there are several options available to ship internationally, such as Amazon FBA. In this service, Amazon has preparation centers where you can send your products for sale on Amazon.

3) Support International Payment Methods

The payment method is different in each part of the world. Bank transfer is the preferred payment method for online transactions in Germany. JCB credit cards hold more than a 40 percent market share in the Japanese market. eWallets are growing in the Nordic region. So, choosing your payment method based on each target market for your business is essential.

However, Amazon accepts the following payment methods:

• Visa (including the Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card)
• MasterCard or American Express prepaid credit or gift cards
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• MasterCard/EuroCard
• Discover Network
• American Express
• Diner’s Club (U.S. billing addresses only)
• JCB
• NYCE
• STAR
• China UnionPay (credit card only)

4) Support International Currencies

It would be great to provide the price in different currencies based on your customer’s country. You can create a manual price exchange for the associated currency.

5) Offer Local Customer Service

customers spend more money in businesses that offer intimate customer relations and value services. improve your popularity by offering local customers small gifts, fast problem solving, or even free returns. little things like this go a long way and make your customers loyal.

6) Plan for Advertising and Marketing to Boost Your Sale

When you are selling internationally, you would have customers in different languages. So to give good customer service, you require to hire native speakers. As it is expensive, it is critical to identify which markets need it. In other smaller markets, a suitable solution is to give as much information as possible in the local language on a customer service knowledge base and FAQ pages.

7) Consider the Fulfillment Costs and Fees

Costs & Fees of Selling on Amazon U.S. Marketplace

Amazon charges sellers monthly for every active account they have. The cost varies in different marketplaces as below:

• Australia: 49.95 AUS
• Brazil: 19 R$
• Canada: 29.99 CAD
• France: 39 EUR
• Germany: 39 EUR
• Italy: 39 EUR
• Japan: 4,900 JPY
• Mexico: 600 MXN
• Spain: 39 EUR
• United Kingdom: 25 GBP
• United States: 39.99 USD

In addition, the Amazon FBA International shipping rates differ in each country:

1) Global shipping rates: Canada

a) Standard Shipping:

b) Expedited shipping:

c) Priority courier shipping:

2) Global shipping rates: Latin America

a)Standard Shipping:

b) Expedited shipping:

c) Priority courier shipping:

Read More: Amazon FBA Fees for Sellers

Frequently Asked Questions About Selling on Amazon as a Non-US Citizen

The non-residents of the United States ask many questions regarding selling on U.S. Amazon from the outside USA and the business registration process. The most common questions are listed below:

Do I need a Visa to Register a Business in the U.S.? 

The answer is “NO”; it doesn’t require having Visa to register a business there. Moreover, you will not give the right to travel to the United States by registration process. Generally, startup business owners apply for E-2 Visa for the first time.

What Types of Businesses Can Non-US Citizens Register When Selling on Amazon?

At the moment, as a non-resident and non-citizen of the United States, you are only allowed to create two types of legal business entities:

• C-Corp (corporation)
• LLC (limited liability company)

However, if you are a permanent resident of the country, you can create an S-Corp, although you are not a citizen.

How do I Get a FEIN Number if I Don’t Register a Business?

Getting this number doesn’t require having any legal status in the USA. By filling out Form SS-4, you can obtain your FEIN number. It is an alternative option to register your business. You can start selling on Amazon as an individual as you receive this number. But, if you are between the business registration, you will get your FEIN number through that process.

How do I Open My Amazon Seller Account?

In  sellercentral.amazon.com, click on the “Register Now” button. You can see the “start selling” button on the following landing page. The result is to log in to the Amazon account. Access the seller services is possible after login if you already have an Amazon account. But, it is recommended not to use your personal Amazon account for this purpose. To continue, you should follow the steps mentioned above to register your seller account. After Amazon verification, it is time to create product listings. Then sell them to buyers. Knowing how to use amazon seller central, will make you faster in sales and more professional in business.

Tips for Registering on Amazon

In recent years, selling on the Amazon platform has become very popular. At the same time, fraud has increased, unfortunately. Because of that, Amazon has some restrictive requirements for becoming a seller, which is frequently changing. But, by following the below tips, you will raise the chance of your business succeeding:

• Do your preparation and homework. To be approved as a seller, it is vital to provide Amazon’s requirements. Your chance of approval is higher in the first assessment.
• About 50% of the time, Amazon will accept your seller application with a phone number and U.S. business address. However, the other 50% of the time, Amazon may ask you for an additional business license, utility bill, or both. It is also possible that after approving your application, Amazon will ask for these documents.
• Usually, the below bills are accepted when Amazon does require a utility bill:

a. Gas

b. Electricity

c. Internet

d. Phone (Landline only, no mobile providers)

e. Sewer

f. T.V.

g. Water

• Try to get your utility account in your business name if you don’t have utilities at your current U.S. business address and with a statement sent to your U.S. business address. Mail forwarding and scanning are common in U.S. business addresses.
• It is unclear what condition Amazon will ask for the utility bill. But, try to well-done your initial application. As mentioned before, for your application, you need a personal name, phone number, business name, and business address.
• Document best practices:

1. Provide good pictures or scans. Do not provide screenshots. We recommend Genius Scan for Android or iPhone.
2. Never cut off any edges in your scanned document.
3. Provide PDF or PNG format files. No editable documents like Microsoft Word, Excel, RTF, etc.
4. Don’t send any zipped files. Indeed, you should not send any files that have been edited.
5. Provide the entire document in color. Example: If it’s a bank statement, don’t just provide the first page; provide all the pages; if it’s a passport, deliver all pages in one document.

• Your application could be rejected. Your account is accessible, even if it is suspended. So, log back into your account, and update all information like name, address, etc. Also, provide the correct files, and apply again.

How to Use OABeans Service to Start Selling on Amazon

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Final Thought

One of the best ways to grow your online business is by selling internationally on Amazon. This post is to help you prepare to have a successful journey. You will learn from which countries outside the USA you are allowed to sell on Amazon. Besides, you will get familiar with the requirements for Amazon global selling. To grow your international sales and scale your business globally, use Amazon’s recommendations and tools. Moreover, companies like OABeans provide online arbitrage leads to improve you’re Amazon FBA business on Amazon U.S.