The bank account

Money in this business moves along a fixed path: a customer pays Amazon, Amazon pays you on a schedule, you pay a supplier, and somewhere in there a currency gets converted at least once. Each step has a cost, and the conversion step is the one people leave on autopilot for years. On a business turning over six figures, the difference between a good and a lazy setup is thousands of dollars a year for perhaps an hour of work.

Three jobs, not one account

Before comparing providers, separate what you actually need done. One provider may do all three, but the requirements are different.

Job one: receive what Amazon pays you

Amazon disburses to a bank account, and it is specific about what qualifies. The account must be in a country Amazon supports, and Amazon does not send money to a card or to an online payment system such as PayPal. Disbursements are made in the local currency of the country where the bank account sits — an account in the United States is paid in dollars, even if that account can technically hold other currencies. Adding or changing a bank account triggers a security hold of about three days before it can be used.¹

Job two: hold and spend

An account in the company's name that pays subscriptions, buys inventory, and produces statements your accountant can reconcile. This is the one that needs to be a real business account — in the company's name, not yours — because lesson 2's separation between you and the company is only real if the money is separate.

Job three: pay suppliers

Domestic American suppliers usually want a bank transfer and sometimes still a paper check. Overseas factories want an international wire in their currency. The cost of getting money to them is a cost of goods, and it belongs in the unit economics from lesson 1.

The currency decision, with real numbers

If you sell on Amazon.com and your bank is outside the United States, something has to convert dollars. You have two routes.

Route A: let Amazon do it. Amazon Currency Converter for Sellers pays into your local bank account in your own currency, supporting 20 Amazon stores and more than 20 payout currencies. The fee is volume-based on cross-currency net proceeds over the previous twelve months: 1.50% up to $500,000, 1.25% from $500,000 to $1 million, 1.00% from $1 million to $10 million, and 0.75% above that. Some currencies are charged at a flat rate — AED, CHF, MXN, KRW and TWD at 1.5%, and JPY at 2.0%. Funds generally arrive in one to five business days.²

Route B: be paid in dollars. You hold a U.S.-dollar receiving account, Amazon pays into it without converting anything, and you convert later, in the amount you choose, at a provider's rate. Wise, for example, charges a one-time $31 for a business account with details in 22 currencies, and prices conversion from 0.23% depending on the pair.³ Wise is explicit that it is a money service business registered with FinCEN, not an FDIC-insured bank.⁴ Payoneer offers a comparable arrangement built around marketplace payouts.⁵

Route B is not automatically right. It adds an account to reconcile, the conversion rate is not fixed, and holding dollars is itself a currency position — if your costs are in euros and the dollar falls, you have lost more than you saved. What is certainly wrong is not knowing which route you are on.

Opening a U.S. business account as a non-resident

Nobody can promise you an approval, and any service that does is selling you something. What we can do is show what one provider publishes, because the requirements are typical and they tell you what to prepare.

Mercury states that it supports U.S. companies founded by people around the world, and lists these conditions: the company must be formed and registered in the United States or a U.S. territory, it must have some existing or planned operations in the U.S., and it needs a valid business address — which may be residential, but may not be a registered agent, P.O. box, or UPS box address. Documents required are the company's formation documents, the IRS-issued EIN document, and government ID for at least one person with operating control and any owner with 25% or more. Mercury is not itself a bank: it works with two FDIC-insured banks, Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., with up to $5 million in FDIC insurance through partner banks and sweep networks. It cannot serve money services businesses, adult entertainment, cannabis or internet gambling, or trusts, and it cannot open accounts for founders living in countries on its restricted list — a restriction based on country of residence, not citizenship.⁶

Questions that separate providers

Ask these in writing, before you open anything. The answers differ more than the marketing does.

1. Do you accept a company owned by a resident of my country? The restriction is usually residence, not nationality, and the list changes.
2. Are you a bank, or do you hold funds at partner banks? Neither is wrong, but it determines what insurance means and who you are actually a customer of.
3. Will you accept my business address? Ask before you apply, not after a refusal that leaves a record.
4. Can I receive U.S. dollars with real account and routing numbers? Amazon disburses to a bank account, so a wallet that cannot present those numbers is not a payout destination.
5. What does an international wire cost, in the currency of the country I buy from? The headline fee is not the exchange margin; ask for both.
6. What triggers a review or a freeze, and how do I reach a human? Every provider freezes accounts sometimes. The one that answers this question honestly is worth more than one that is cheap.

Paying suppliers without bleeding

• Domestic transfers inside the U.S. are usually free or nearly so and take a day or two. A wire is faster and costs more. Some American distributors still prefer checks; a provider that can post a check for you saves an argument.
• International wires carry two costs: the stated fee and the exchange margin, which is usually larger. Compare the total amount that lands in the supplier's account, not the fee.
• Pay in the supplier's currency when you can. If you send dollars to a factory that prices in its own currency, somebody converts, and it will not be at a rate you chose.
• Card payments are convenient for small subscriptions and expensive for inventory. Watch for foreign transaction fees on a card issued in one country and used in another.

Mistakes that cost real money

• Accepting the default conversion for years. A percentage point on every payout compounds into a serious number without ever appearing as a line called “fees”.
• Using a personal account for the business. It undermines the separation the company exists to create, and it makes the year-end reconstruction painful and expensive.
• Applying with an address you have not checked. A registered agent or mailbox address may be explicitly excluded.
• Describing the business differently on each application. Providers compare what you write to what they see. Inconsistency reads as risk.
• Changing bank details the week a large payout is due. Adding or changing an account starts a hold, and the money waits.
• Assuming a payment wallet counts as a bank account. Amazon pays to a bank account with real numbers, not to a card or an online payment system.
• Forgetting that dollars are a currency position. Holding payouts in dollars while your life costs euros is a bet, whether or not you meant to place it.

Next

Lesson 5 is tax: why Amazon already collects sales tax for you, why that does not always mean you have nothing to file, and the resale certificate that wholesale suppliers will ask for before they open an account.