Are you ready to sign up and join thousands of Amazon Sellers in Mexico and bring your goods to millions of customers in this growing economy?
If you already sell products through the U.S.-based amazon.com platform, selling to Mexico may be as easy as flipping a switch to enable international shipping. However, if you want to sell from Mexico or if this will be your first incursion into the North American online market, then getting everything setup will take a bit of work. Through this article, you will learn how to put your products in Amazon Mexico’s online storefront, how to use Amazon Mexico’s logistics system and how to get everything up and going, legally speaking.
How to become and Amazon seller in Mexico as a U.S. or Canada-based company
Chances are, your brand is already set up to sell and ship with Amazon in the United States or Canada. In this case, you have what is known as a North American Unified Account. The entire North American market uses the same platform, so making your products available to Mexican customers is as trivial as flipping a switch. Through your Amazon seller account, you can easily switch between all three marketplaces and mark your products for international availability, creating marketplace-specific listings. This means you sell internationally to Mexican users who visit Amazon.com as well as those who use the local Amazon.com.mx platform. However, you should know that, even if the seller’s platform works is unified thorough North America, Amazon fulfillment centers work independently in each country, as they are not connected. Fulfillment centers in Mexico will not take products directly from foreign companies.
If you do not use Fulfillment by Amazon, you should also know that importing, storing and selling products from within Mexico cannot be carried out directly by foreign companies either. This means that you will be limited to international shipping. Furthermore, Mexican users prefer buying products that ship from within Mexico rather than using international shipping, as the latter is clunkier, slower and overall less reliable.
Pros and cons of selling internationally to Mexico
● Pro: Less paperwork
● Con: Higher shipping costs
● Con: Longer shipping time
● Con: Less customer trust
● Con: More difficult support and returns
As you can tell, making your products available internationally is a great way of having your Amazon Mexico activities up and running fast and easy. However, when compared with the possibility of becoming an Amazon seller operating out of Mexico, things start to become clear.
Selling to Mexico from the U.S. or Canada is best used as an opportunity to dabble in the Mexican market in order to gauge market potential. We recommend using it only in the meantime while you get your company setup to import to and sell from Mexico.
How to become and Amazon seller in Mexico from within Mexico
By now, it should be clear that the best way to become an Amazon seller in Mexico is to do so from within the country. Doing this allows you to sell from within the country, as well as make use of Amazon Logistics Mexico or hire a Mexico-based storage and shipping company.
Either way, you also need to have an Amazon seller account in Mexico. Then, in order to import and sell products in Mexico, you need an RFC, which is the Mexican Tax ID and stands for Registro Federal de Contribuyentes.
How to sign up for Amazon Sellers in Mexico
In order to register, you only need a few details. These are the following:
● Name, address and contact information for your business
● A valid international credit card
● A phone number
● Identification information
As mentioned before, seller accounts are unified thorough North America. If you already operate in the United States or Canada, your existing account will work just fine for selling in Mexico.
How to get an RFC
Importing and selling goods in Mexico can only be done by those who carry an RFC, which is the Mexican tax ID. This means that in order to do so, you need to do one of the following:
● Be a Mexican citizen or business
● Hire a third party in Mexico
● Set up a Mexican corporation
At MEXTAX, we can help you start selling through Amazon in Mexico as soon as possible, by making the process of incorporating a business or hiring a third party easy and worry-free. Our highly experienced team will have you selling in no time.
Additional taxes and fees
After a 2020 tax reform, sellers in Mexico are subject to special taxes, and Amazon is required to make sure the sellers on its platform take them into account. This, too, can be handled by our accounting team. Get in contact with us and join the many international businesses operating digital storefronts in Amazon Mexico!
