Selling on Amazon USA from Italy

Selling on Amazon USA from Italy is no longer just a possibility, but a massive opportunity to grow your business. Online shopping is no longer the future, it is the present, and in this present, your company can go global even without being a large multinational.

The big difference, in terms of advantages for the seller, is that an online selling business is scalable, meaning it is an activity that can grow exponentially without the need for complex operations (e.g., selling in Germany without opening a physical store in Germany).

This is why, when you decide to take your business online, you can choose to make it grow significantly by starting to sell globally. The easiest and most automatic step is selling in the EU, but the most important and profitable market is the USA.

Selling in America, of course, is very complex for a thousand reasons (taxation, customs, etc.) and is not for everyone; your company must have strong shoulders to support the weight of the commitment required to start this new adventure.

The advantages, however, are substantial. The United States is a market of 300 million potential customers with purchasing power and a willingness to spend that is rarely found in any other country. Provided you have good positioning and marketing campaigns to build, this can exponentially multiply your business profits.

Now that we're excited and want to expand our business, what do we need to know to get started?

What to sell in the United States? What do you need to sell in America? 1. Shipping and logistics 2. Taxation and legal constraints 3. Positioning, advertising, and pricing Conclusions

What to sell in the United States?

A question that is impossible to answer briefly, of course. Marketing work must start here. Before starting the journey toward your American Dream, you need to understand what works in the American market, search for untapped market niches, understand competitors' modus operandi, and study pricing. Once an in-depth analysis of these aspects is completed, you can decide if and what to sell.

If your analysis shows that your product is suitable for the American market and you have decided to start this journey, here are the things you need to know.

What do you need to sell in America?

1. Shipping and logistics

The first thing to decide is whether to rely on Amazon FBA (we explain how it works here) for logistics and shipping or to handle it yourself by shipping directly to the end customer in America. Obviously, both solutions have pros and cons.

Shipping independently to the customer offers many advantages regarding customs duties; for many products, there is a value threshold for shipped items below which there are no costs, which also ensures less time wasted on customs clearance.

On the other hand, by shipping independently, you give up the possibility of shipping your products with Amazon Prime, making them less attractive, and you will have to manage return logistics yourself, which can be very complicated.

By using Amazon FBA, however, managing the customs part will be more complex because shipping large quantities of products at once leads to duties that vary significantly depending on the product. Additionally, using Amazon's logistics has costs that should not be underestimated.

Furthermore, Amazon does not act as the importer of record; therefore, to use FBA, it will be necessary to delegate this burden to an intermediary. Today, it is very easy to find American companies that take on the responsibility of importing your goods and then delivering them to Amazon, but this is an additional cost to consider.

On the positive side, thanks to FBA, the products for sale will be more attractive because of the trust that the labels “prime” and “shipped by Amazon” provide to the customer. Moreover, FBA will also handle returns management, freeing you from a difficult task.

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2. Taxation and legal constraints

Finally, let's look at the most complex and treacherous topic: what are the legal constraints and how does taxation work for those selling on Amazon USA.

From a fiscal point of view, it is important to remember that the United States is a federal state, and therefore there is no single tax. Each state has a different sales tax (from 0 to 15%), so the seller will have to pay VAT (Sales Tax) in every state where a sale is made. To simplify this aspect, various tools provided by specialized agencies are available to automatically calculate taxes in each state.

In addition, when using FBA, you must register your business in each of the federal states where Amazon owns a logistics warehouse.

From a legal perspective, you can sell in America as a foreign seller without particular problems. In some situations, however, it may be useful to create an LLC (Limited Liability Company), which is the American equivalent of an Italian s.r.l.

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3. Positioning, advertising, and pricing

As mentioned, competition on Amazon.com will be fierce. In such a large market, virtually any product can be found. After conducting a competitor study, you will need to set up a strategy that works, perhaps making some mistakes but dedicating the necessary time and resources to these operations.

When you are new to a marketplace, it is very difficult to appear at the top of search pages because the Amazon algorithm (which we discuss here) rewards sellers with a significant sales history. For new users, it will always be important to commit to optimizing Amazon SEO by writing complete texts with the right keywords and, above all, in excellent English (do not just translate Italian texts—it will be noticeable; take the time to write, or have someone write, ad hoc texts).

Equally important at the beginning will be creating sponsored ads for your products to ensure greater initial visibility, creating a sales volume that will then be useful for optimization. An initial investment in this sense will be very important because growing organically on Amazon without sponsored content is very, very difficult. In addition to internal advertising on Amazon, you can also work on external advertising, improving the positioning of your social pages and your website as much as possible to then redirect potential customers to the marketplace.

Price management is also part of marketing. Here too, studying the market is fundamental. Offering competitive prices to customers is always a winning strategy, as is creating periodic promotions for specific products; of course, all expenses to be incurred must always be taken into account.

Note that it is not necessary to move to America to create one. As with other services we have mentioned, there are many agencies that help foreigners open an LLC without ever setting foot in the States.

Net of the associated costs, which are not low, the advantages we must consider are:

• By using FBA, it will no longer be necessary to look for a company to act as an importer, because you will have your LLC which can operate in that capacity;

• The fiscal benefits that a USA company has compared to an Italian one;

• Your LLC will be a separate company from your Italian business, which, in case of problems in America, will not suffer repercussions.

Conclusions

Selling in the USA is a great opportunity for small and medium-sized enterprises, and thanks to e-commerce, it has become an increasingly accessible possibility.

As we have seen, however, there are many things to worry about; there is a need for great awareness and study, otherwise you risk just throwing money away. Our advice is to think it over carefully, evaluate, and seek advice from agencies that handle Amazon account management, agencies specialized in export, and accountants with experience in the American field. It will certainly be a lot of work, but if things are done right, the benefits will be exponential.

If you have other questions or want to request a consultation, you can contact us without obligation, otherwise:

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