{"id":991870,"date":"2026-10-05T08:00:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T08:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxdesk.com\/?p=991870"},"modified":"2026-10-14T10:43:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T10:43:01","slug":"expanding-to-the-us-market-how-overseas-sellers-can-trade-into-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxdesk.com\/fr\/expanding-to-the-us-market-how-overseas-sellers-can-trade-into-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Expanding to the US market: How overseas sellers can trade into the US"},"content":{"rendered":"
The US is the world\u2019s second-largest e-commerce market, worth over $1.38 trillion in 2025, with approximately 84% of its 340 million+ population shopping online. It is a high-income market with English as the de facto national language, offering overseas sellers a massive direct expansion opportunity. Major cities are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami, and the currency is USD.<\/p>\n

Sales channels <\/strong><\/h4>\n

Sellers can reach US shoppers through global marketplaces such as Amazon.com and eBay.com, local marketplaces including Walmart and Target Plus, or a direct-to-consumer (DTC) webshop. While Amazon dominates reach and customer trust, adding a Walmart or Target listing alongside a DTC webshop is vital for protecting profit margins and reducing platform dependency. US shoppers\u2019 default to debit and credit cards alongside digital wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal. Buy now pay later (BNPL) options such as Affirm, Klarna, Afterpay and PayPal Pay in 4 are now mainstream across major retailers; offering them boosts conversion in fashion, electronics and higher-ticket categories, and skipping them directly costs sales.<\/p>\n

Choosing a fulfilment model <\/strong><\/h4>\n

Most sellers evaluate four main fulfilment routes as they expand in the US market. An in-country warehouse, whether operated directly or via a 3PL, delivers the best customer experience and greatest control, but comes at the highest cost and creates sales tax nexus (physical presence) in that state immediately. Exporting from your home country keeps set-up costs low but results in a weaker delivery experience; furthermore, following the suspension of the $800 duty-free de minimis exemption, every import consignment now requires formal or informal customs entry and duty payment. Drop shipping keeps fixed costs minimal with thin margins, but quality, delivery speed and returns depend entirely on your supplier, while import duty liability falls on the importer of record. Selling through marketplace fulfilment, such as Amazon FBA, provides the fastest route to market with built-in trust and logistics, though commission costs apply and stock held in fulfilment centers creates nexus in every state where it sits.<\/p>\n

Most sellers progress from export to marketplace or US-based stock as sales volume grows, though the end of duty-free de minimis in 2025\u20132026 has prompted many sellers to hold stock in the US earlier than planned. It is essential to note that holding stock in the US\u2014whether in your own warehouse, a 3PL, or Amazon FBA\u2014creates physical sales tax nexus from day one. State revenue thresholds (typically $100,000) only apply to remote sellers with no physical presence. Key distribution hubs to plan logistics around include Los Angeles\/Long Beach for sea freight, Louisville and Memphis for air and parcel freight, and Chicago for inland rail and trucking.<\/p>\n

Legal considerations <\/strong><\/h4>\n

No US company formation is required to trade in the country; overseas businesses can register directly as remote sellers with each state’s tax department. Unlike the EU or UK, there is no federal statutory cooling-off or withdrawal right for online purchases, meaning returns are governed strictly by the retailer’s published policy. Product compliance is regulated at the category level rather than through a single national mark: electronics generally require FCC certification, electrical goods often require UL or ETL listing, and consumer or children’s products must comply with CPSC regulations. Privacy rules are similarly decentralized; there is no single comprehensive federal privacy law, but over 20 states\u2014led by California’s CCPA\/CPRA\u2014enforce their own state-level privacy regimes with individual thresholds and consumer rights.<\/p>\n

Finance considerations <\/strong><\/h4>\n

Card and digital wallet checkout forms the baseline expectation for US buyers, but integrating BNPL options (Affirm, Klarna, Afterpay, PayPal Pay in 4) is now close to standard for fashion and higher-ticket items. These BNPL providers typically absorb the credit risk on deferred payments for a fee, which works out cheaper than underwriting customer credit internally. Prices should be displayed in USD; with customs duty now applying to virtually all imports regardless of parcel value, sellers must incorporate total landed costs (duty plus entry fees) into pricing rather than just freight costs. Because there is no statutory right of return, published return policies directly influence customer trust and repeat purchases, making reverse logistics a key cost centre to account for in working capital forecasts.<\/p>\n

Sales tax and other taxes <\/strong><\/h4>\n

The US has no national VAT or GST regime; instead, sales tax is managed state by state. Remote sellers trigger sales tax obligations either through physical presence (storing stock in a 3PL or FBA warehouse creates immediate nexus with no threshold) or economic nexus, which is most commonly triggered once sales into a state exceed $100,000. Combined state and local sales tax rates range from 0% (five states levy no statewide sales tax) to over 11% in certain jurisdictions, and item taxability (e.g., clothing or groceries) varies widely by state.<\/p>\n

There is no single OSS-style simplification scheme, meaning sellers must register and file returns in every individual state where nexus exists. However, marketplace facilitator laws require platforms like Amazon, Walmart and eBay to collect and remit sales tax on behalf of third-party sellers in nearly all states. For cross-border shipments, the $800 de minimis duty exemption was suspended for all countries in August 2025 and made indefinite in mid-2026, meaning virtually all parcels require customs entry and duty payment. Filing frequencies and deadlines are set by each state (monthly, quarterly, or annually based on volume), with due dates commonly falling on the 20th of the month following the period. Additionally, seven states (Oregon, Colorado, California, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Washington) operate packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes, primarily managed through the Circular Action Alliance, each carrying its own registration, reporting, and fee requirements.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read our US country guide <\/a>and talk to the Tax Desk team about how you can expand to the US market.<\/div>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US is the world\u2019s second-largest e-commerce market, worth over $1.38 trillion in 2025, with approximately 84% of its 340…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":991873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,2],"tags":[57,92],"media-type":[],"services":[],"solutions-for":[],"class_list":["post-991870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-insight","tag-blog","tag-insight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxdesk.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxdesk.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxdesk.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxdesk.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxdesk.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=991870"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxdesk.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":992009,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxdesk.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991870\/revisions\/992009"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxdesk.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/991873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxdesk.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=991870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxdesk.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=991870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxdesk.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=991870"},{"taxonomy":"media-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxdesk.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-type?post=991870"},{"taxonomy":"services","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxdesk.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/services?post=991870"},{"taxonomy":"solutions-for","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxdesk.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/solutions-for?post=991870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}