How to Sell on Amazon.com
This article is no longer relevant today. Read the Updated Article on How To Sell on Amazon.com in 2018

OK. Let’s face it. Large sections of items listed on Amazon.com cannot be purchased by Canadians nor are Canadians allowed to list products on Amazon.com for sale to US customers. Amazon.ca is the only default and Canadian entrepreneurs will find it impossible to sell to US customers on Amazon.ca

There is only one way around this and that is to established and maintained an Amazon.com account which of course comes without any of the previous restrictions. This is highly essential as Amazon.com is the number eight website in the world trailing only behind Google, Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo, baidu.com, Wikipedia and qq.com.

For a Canadian entrepreneur, not selling on Amazon.com is like ignoring almost half of the customers in the world. Amazon.com is more popular than eBay.com.

How to Setup An Amazon.com Account

There are two ways of establishing an Amazon.com account for Canadians.

The inevitable is that a separate account will need to be established on Amazon.com. No sales or transactions will be allowed on that new account until a bank and credit card information is verified. As expected your Canadian credit cards and bank accounts will not be accepted as a part of the verification process. Amazon.com requires a US-based bank account and a US-based credit card. A US dollar account in Canada is also equally not qualified.

One option is to open a RBC Access US account which is an option given to its customers by RBC to open a personal bank account in the US in US funds. You will need to go into your RBC branch and speak to your adviser on opening such an account.

The RBC Access US account will provide you with a US account to use on Amazon.com. The Visa Debit Card which is issued can also be used as part of the verification process as Amazon.com requires a valid credit card to be held on file.

However note that this is a personal account. RBC Access accounts are not business accounts. An accountant should be consulted if the sales and profits are to be processed differently from personal income for tax and other purposes. The RBC Access Accounts for Canadians is simple in that it does not require a trip into the United States, a separate business establishment or visits to a bank as your RBC information in Canada is used for that purpose.

Establish a Business in the US?

However if all sales or business transactions on Amazon.com is to be separate from personal income or finances then a separate business account will need to be established for this purpose.

A business will need to be incorporated in the US, a bank account established, and a separate credit card to be obtained for Amazon.com purposes.

A US Mailing and Shipping Address

For this to effectively work, a US address will need to be provided to Amazon.com. Moneyandbusiness.ca recommends the mailbox services of The UPS Store.