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How to Sell on Amazon as a Non-US Citizen


How to Sell on Amazon as a Non-US Citizen 1

You don’t need to be a United States citizen to sell on Amazon, but once you sell 50 or more items on the marketplace, you’ll need to have a proper tax id. However, if you’re selling through Amazon’s FBA (Fulfillment By Amazon) program then you’ll need to form a company in the United States before you get started. If you plan on selling more than 40 items per month then this is the most cost-efficient way to sell on Amazon. 

Requirements to Sell on Amazon

The Amazon marketplace is one of the most visited sites online today and is the industry leader for e-commerce sales. To sell things on Amazon you’ll be required to set up an Amazon account, provide a product feed to Amazon, or use their FBA program and send your products to an Amazon warehouse. There are legal requirements if you’re going to sell as a merchant that you’ll also need to be made aware of.

Regardless of the type of account you want to open, a non-citizen of the United States will typically have very similar requirements to citizens or residents of the country in order to sell on Amazon. These requirements, listed below, include obtaining your FEIN (Federal Employer Identification number). 

You don’t have to be a corporation to get your FEIN number and sell as an individual seller but it can be cheaper to register as a merchant, where you will need a registered business. If you’re not a resident of the United States then you’ll need the following information in order to register an FBA account, regardless of whether you’re selling as an individual or a business: 

  • Your Home or Business Address: A place where you can receive personal mail. 
  • Email Address: An address Amazon can send important information about your account.
  • Credit Card: An internationally chargeable credit card with a valid billing address. 
  • Phone Number: This will be needed to verify your identification during registration.
  • United States Tax ID: Either a social security number (for individual sellers only) or an FEIN number. 
  • Bank Information: You’ll need a bank that can take an ACH (automated clearing house) payment from Amazon. 

Additionally, if there are states where you have a tax nexus then it’s required for you to include your state tax id in all of those states. If you’re not residing in the country then this will only apply to any business dealings you may have in specific states for the business that will be selling on Amazon. 

If you have all of these pieces of information then you’ll meet the minimum requirements to sell on Amazon. You can move forward with registering your account at Amazon’s Seller Central. During the process, you’ll need to choose to either sell as an individual or as a merchant. Let’s take a look at the comparison. 

Selling as an Individual vs Merchant

If you’re going to be selling on Amazon then you’ll need to make sure you’re maximizing the amount of money you can make. Choosing the type of account you want to have on Amazon is part of this process. You can sell as an Individual and Amazon will charge you $0.99 per item sold plus referral and closing fees. 

You still have to pay those fees with a merchant account but instead of nearly $1 per item sold you’ll just pay $39.99 per month, regardless of how much you sell. So if you’re selling more than 40 items per month then you’ll likely want a merchant account, which requires your FEIN to register. 

Another option is to use Amazon Vendor Central if you’d prefer to be a vendor to Amazon’s products and their listings on the marketplace. As a vendor, you sell to Amazon and not to consumers through Amazon. While Amazon does the heavy sales lifting for their vendors, you’ll lose all control of pricing and placement. 

Fulfillment by Amazon

Another decision you’ll have to make during the registration process is whether or not you’ll want to use Amazon’s FBA option. This might be more difficult for non-U.S. based individuals and businesses. Essentially the program allows you to store your products in one of Amazon’s facilities where they’ll take care of all the order fulfillment and shipping for you. Additionally, the program allows your items to be put on Amazon’s Prime shipping program, which is the most used shipping feature on the Amazon marketplace. 

This is recommended for most businesses that sell a lot because it lowers your business operations and increases the amount of opportunity to get sales. You won’t have to worry about customer service or returns but you’ll have to get all of your products to Amazon in order to take advantage of the program. There are no additional restrictions to the FBA program based on where your business is primarily located. 

Once you’ve made these decisions then you’ll be able to register, either as an individual or business. Now let’s go over the requirements of registering a business in the United States for non-citizens and residents. 

Registering as a Business in the United States

Regardless of where your business is located, we recommend registering your business as a legal U.S. entity before applying to be a seller on Amazon if you plan on selling more than a few items per month. It’s a smoother process and the tax benefits of being a business could be beneficial for you. Plus, not only will registering as a business protect your personal assets but it typically makes the entire setup easier if you’re going to use FBA, and it’s required if you’re going to sign up as a merchant or a vendor. 

Luckily, you can easily register a business entity through the help of a third party that will draft and file all of the legal paperwork for you. All you need to determine is what type of business you want to create, as we discuss below, and who your registered agent is going to be. 

Getting a Registered Agent

Part of registering your business means getting a registered agent within the state your business is created. Most states require you to have a registered agent, which is a person or entity that can receive official legal notices and correspondence from the government. This is especially helpful and needed if you’re not a citizen or if you don’t reside within the country. 

Businesses routinely offer registered agent services to help businesses that do not have a physical address, in the event there is a legal notification to the business. Not selecting a registered agent could cause your business to fall out of good standing with your state, resulting in the business entity potentially being disbanded. 

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

There are many questions that you may have in regards to registering your business or selling on Amazon as a non-resident of the United States. Below we’ve collected the most common questions and answered them to help you quickly find the answer you need. 

How do I Open My Amazon Seller Account? 

Go to sellercentral.amazon.com and click the “Register Now” button. On the next landing page you’ll click the “start selling” button, which will prompt you to login to your Amazon account. If you already have an Amazon account of any kind you can use this login to access the seller services. However, we recommend creating a separate account from any personal uses of Amazon. 

You’ll then be taken through the steps of providing the information we discussed above to register your seller account. Once you’re verified you can start creating product listings and selling to the masses. 

Tips for Registering on Amazon

Selling on Amazon, Shopify, Etsy and other vendor platforms has become very popular in recent years. Unfortunately, so has fraud, and these platforms have made their requirements for becoming a seller much
more difficult (and they are frequently changing). That said, here are some basic rules when applying to Amazon, Shopify, Etsy, etc.

  1. Do your preparation and homework (follow this guide). Amazon and others have gotten very picky about their requirements and your chances of being approved are much better if you do it right the first
    time.
  2. From what we can tell, about 50% of the time Amazon (varies with other vendors) will accept your seller application with a US business address and phone number. The other 50% of the time they may additionally require a utility bill, a business license or both. Sometimes they will approve your application, then require a utility bill or business license afterwards (sometimes months later).
  3. We simply don’t know what triggers the utility bill requirement but we believe the best option is to have a well-done initial application. So, as we mentioned above, you will want your business name, personal name, business address and phone number to all match exactly when you apply. Be consistent.
  4. Document best practices:
    a. Provide PDF or PNG format files. No editable documents like Microsoft Word, Excel, RTF, etc.
    b. Do not provide screenshots. Provide proper pictures or scans. We recommend Genius Scan for Android or iPhone.
    c. No zipped files and certainly no files that have been edited.
    d. Do not cut off any edges in your scanned document.
    e. Provide the full document in color. Example: If it’s a passport, provide all pages in one document; if it’s a bank statement don’t just provide the first page, provide all the pages.
  5. If they do require a utility bill, here are bills that are usually accepted:
    a. Gas
    b. Electricity
    c. Internet
    d. Phone (Landline only, no mobile providers)
    e. Sewer
    f. TV
    g. Water
  6. If you don’t have utilities at your current US business address, see if you can get your personal utility account in your business name with statements sent to your US business address. Many US business addresses (like ours) provide mail forwarding and scanning.
  7. If you’ve already applied with bad or rejected information, then log back into your account (even if it’s suspended) and update everything to the correct name, address, provide the correct files, etc. Reach out to the vendor support and mention you have updated your profile and provided correct information to help make your case.

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

You can obtain your FEIN number by filling out Form SS-4, as provided by the IRS (we can do this for you as part of our service). You don’t need to have any legal status in the country in order to get this number. Once you have the number you can sell products on Amazon as an individual instead of registering your business. If you’re registering a business, then you should wait to get your FEIN through that process. 

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

Currently, if you’re not a citizen or a resident of the United States you can only create two types of legal business entities: an LLC (limited liability company) or a C-Corp (or corporation). You can also create an S-Corp if you’re a permanent resident of the country, even if you’re not a citizen. 

There are many factors you’ll want to take into account when choosing between an LLC and a C-Corp. To learn more, check out our article on choosing the right business entity. 

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

No, you don’t need a visa to register a business, however, the registration process doesn’t give you a right to travel to the country. This is why many foreign business owners choose to apply for a visa when they register for their business. The E-2 Visa is a common one applied to by startup business owners registering in the country for the first time. 

Register Your Company Today

You can get started with registering a business today so that you can sell on Amazon under an official business. The process only takes three steps and MyCompanyWorks will do all of the legwork to get your business registered and obtain your FEIN. Select the company type and state that you want to register in and get your the process of creating a business entity started immediately!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 5th, 2020 at 12:50 pm and is filed under New Business Ideas, Incorporation, Limited Liability Company, Starting A Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

14 responses on “How to Sell on Amazon as a Non-US Citizen”

  1. Patricia Oremosu says:
    January 18, 2021 at 4:09 pm

    I need to know how to apply for the FEIN – federal identification number for the purpose of becoming an amazon seller . I live in the UK and I understand that I will be needing this number to become an amazon seller . Please reply back .

    Reply
    1. Matt says:
      January 20, 2021 at 11:57 am

      Hi Patricia,

      You need to first form a business entity like a Corporation or LLC, then submit IRS Form SS4 to the IRS (making sure to use the correct procedure for those without a social security number). Note that we handle this process from entity to FEIN for you if you use our service.

      Thanks

      Reply
  2. Queen says:
    March 8, 2021 at 1:10 pm

    Hi how can you help me and what will it cost me? I’ve registered for Amazon seller account but have no tax document with my name or business. Can you help?

    Reply
    1. Matt says:
      April 21, 2021 at 3:37 pm

      Hi, Sure we can help. Follow this guide and let us know any questions: https://www.mycompanyworks.com/international.htm

      Reply
  3. Toyin says:
    March 9, 2021 at 12:37 am

    Hello, I live abroad and would like to sell on Amazon. From your article above, I see that a Bank account is required. How do I open a business account? Grateful for a response. Thanks

    Reply
    1. Matt says:
      April 21, 2021 at 3:37 pm

      Hi Toyin, Follow our guide here to open a bank account: https://www.mycompanyworks.com/international.htm

      Reply
  4. Juan Palacio says:
    March 11, 2021 at 7:47 am

    Hey I am currently considering exporting goods from Guatemala.

    I tried to register on the Amazon Seller website, but Guatemalan residents do not have the option of registering as a seller.

    I believe that there could be a workaround this by registering a C-Corp in the USA, which I am currently doing via Stripe Atlas.

    I am only learning about you guys service now, and would love to get on a first call to see if there’s a good fit for us to work together.

    Thank you very much in advance,

    Juan J. Palacio D.

    Reply
    1. Matt says:
      April 21, 2021 at 3:36 pm

      Hi Juan, sure feel free to reach out here: https://www.mycompanyworks.com/help/

      Reply
  5. Antonella BARBERINI says:
    March 13, 2021 at 4:52 pm

    hi there do I need a FEIN to sell as book author? thank you

    Reply
    1. Matt says:
      April 21, 2021 at 3:36 pm

      Hi, not sure so I would ask Amazon directly: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200620010

      Reply
  6. Adam Osman says:
    March 23, 2021 at 1:53 pm

    Hello, I have registered my seller account on amazon using a bank account in the UK, however I do not live in the UK anymore as it was an account I opened as a student so I cannot use that bank account anymore. And I am a seller outside the US. However my country does not allow its banks to be ACH (Automated clearing house) enabled. Would registering a business in the US and opening a bank account there be an ideal solution for me ? Or is there another way ? Please advise me. Thank you.

    Reply
    1. Matt says:
      April 21, 2021 at 3:34 pm

      Hi Adam, it’s hard to know what is ideal for your situation. You may want to consider an Amazon advisor like https://www.amazonsellers.attorney/

      Reply
  7. Simon says:
    April 1, 2021 at 1:49 pm

    If I am on L1B visa, can I register a business?

    Reply
    1. Matt says:
      April 21, 2021 at 3:33 pm

      Hi, yes, anyone can register a C-Corporation or LLC. We have a guide you can view here: https://www.mycompanyworks.com/international.htm

      Reply

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