How to start selling in the USA from the UK and Europe

Shipping each order from the UK works for testing demand. Once US orders are regular, holding stock in the US gets them to customers sooner and without charges at the door, because since 29 August 2025 every parcel from the UK or Europe clears US customs and pays duty, whatever its value.

When you ship parcels, the duty and the carrier’s clearance fee are either paid by you upfront (delivered duty paid) or collected from your customer before delivery. With stock in the US, duty is paid once on the bulk shipment, and each order after that is a domestic delivery.

• USA fulfilment from New York →

Every commercial shipment into the US needs an importer of record, who is responsible for the customs entry and the duty. Most importers use a licensed customs broker to file the entry, and formal entries need a customs bond.

In June 2026 a US executive order tightened the rules for importers of record based outside the US: formal entries only, limits on continuous bonds, and either their own validation under CBP’s CTPAT programme or a broker that has it. The changes are being phased in over six months, so decide before your first shipment whether to import through your own company, a US company or a US importer.

Check each product’s tariff classification and duty rate with your broker before you set US prices. Rates depend on the product and where it was made, not where it ships from, and they changed often in 2025 and 2026. Some products have their own US rules too: food and supplements, cosmetics, children’s products and electrical goods among them.

For stock coming to our New York base, customs clearance is handled by specialist partners we introduce you to.

Start where your US customers already buy: your own store priced in US dollars, Amazon.com, TikTok Shop, or US retailers and wholesalers.

Each has its own rules. Since 1 January 2026 Amazon no longer preps or labels items for sellers in the US, so FBA stock must arrive bagged, labelled and in cartons that meet its requirements. Retailers set out their label, carton and delivery appointment rules in their own supplier guides.

We connect to Shopify, Amazon Seller Central, TikTok Shop, WooCommerce and other platforms, and confirm each connection for New York before your first order ships.

The US has no VAT. Most states charge sales tax instead, and you register in a state once you have enough presence or sales there.

Marketplaces such as Amazon collect and pay sales tax on the orders they facilitate. For sales through your own store, each state sets its own threshold; New York’s is more than $500,000 of sales and more than 100 sales delivered into the state over the previous four quarters.

Holding stock in a state can count as presence there. New York’s rules say stock held at an unaffiliated fulfilment centre does not create that presence on its own, as long as the centre’s services are limited to fulfilment. Confirm your position with a US sales tax adviser before you launch.

Size the first shipment to a few weeks or months of expected sales, by sea for cost or by air for speed, and keep a buffer in the UK while US demand settles.

We can arrange or book the freight from our warehouse in the UK or Poland, your warehouse or your supplier. Before it ships, send us the product list with barcodes, carton contents and quantities, so we can book it in, count it and check it against your paperwork when it arrives.

Connect your store, then check your stock in and your first orders out before fulfilment becomes routine.

For the first months, watch delivery times, returns and stock levels, and plan reorders around freight time: sea freight takes weeks, so reorder before the New York stock runs low.