Terminology
Cross-Border E-Commerce Glossary
The terms you'll meet across Amazon, Etsy, logistics, US company setup and advertising — plain one-line definitions with links to in-depth guides.
Amazon
- FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon)
- The model where you send inventory to Amazon's warehouse and Amazon handles fulfillment from order to return, making the product eligible for Prime delivery. In the US, prep and labeling before inbound shipping are the seller's job since January 1, 2026.learn more
- FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant)
- The model where the seller ships orders themselves (own stock or a 3PL); preferred for personalized or oversized products.learn more
- ACOS
- Advertising Cost of Sales — ad spend divided by ad revenue. 25% ACOS means $4 of ad revenue per $1 spent.learn more
- TACOS
- Total ACOS — ad spend divided by total revenue (organic included). Measures ad impact on the whole business; more strategic than ACOS.learn more
- Brand Registry
- Amazon's free brand registration program; requires a registered or pending trademark from an eligible office in a country with an Amazon store, and unlocks A+ content, a brand Store, Sponsored Brands and listing protection.learn more
- A+ Content
- Enhanced content adding visual modules, brand story and comparison tables to the product page. Requires Brand Registry.learn more
- Buy Box
- The featured offer tied to the 'Add to Cart' button. When multiple sellers offer the same product, a shopper who clicks it buys that offer.
- ASIN
- Amazon Standard Identification Number — the unique 10-character ID Amazon assigns to each product.
- Vine Program
- Amazon's program that gives products to selected reviewers to earn new listings their first reviews. Requires Brand Registry and carries a fee; Amazon bans incentivized reviews outside Vine.
Etsy
- Etsy Ads
- Etsy's on-platform advertising system with a daily budget; promotes listings across search and category pages.learn more
- Offsite Ads
- Etsy's program that advertises your products off-platform (Google, social) and charges a fee on sales attributed to those ads.
- Star Seller
- Etsy's monthly badge based on the past 3 months: replying to 95% of first messages within 24 hours, 95% of orders dispatched on time with tracking, a 4.8+ average rating, and at least 5 orders and $300 in sales.
- Artisan Tax Exemption (Turkey)
- A Turkey-specific rule letting people who make listed products at home and sell only online trade without a company, with a 4% withholding on deposits to a commercial account (2026 revenue cap TRY 1,900,000).learn more
Logistics & Customs
- ETGB (Turkey)
- Turkey's simplified e-commerce customs declaration for shipments up to 600 kg gross / €30,000, also used as the document for the export VAT exemption.learn more
- Micro-Export
- Export of low-value/small shipments via simplified customs (ETGB) — the de-facto standard shipping method for cross-border e-commerce.learn more
- Dimensional Weight
- A parcel's volumetric weight — with international express carriers usually L×W×H (cm) / 5000; you're charged on the greater of actual and dimensional weight. Confirm the divisor with your carrier.learn more
- DDP / DAP
- Delivery terms: under DDP the seller pays duties/taxes (buyer gets no surprise), under DAP that burden falls on the buyer.learn more
- 3PL
- Third-Party Logistics — an external provider that handles warehousing, packing and fulfillment on your behalf.
- IOSS / OSS (EU VAT)
- IOSS: the EU system for collecting VAT at the point of sale on imported consignments up to €150 and paying it in one monthly return (non-EU sellers appoint an EU intermediary); spares the buyer a surprise at the door. OSS: the one-return scheme for intra-EU distance sales.
US Company & Finance
- LLC
- Limited Liability Company — a common choice for cross-border sellers forming in the US, offering limited liability and a flexible tax structure. A single-member LLC is a 'disregarded entity' by default for the IRS.learn more
- EIN
- Employer Identification Number — a US company's tax ID with the IRS; needed for banking, Amazon and payments, free, and obtainable without an SSN. International applicants apply by phone, fax or mail.learn more
- ITIN
- Individual Taxpayer Identification Number — a personal US tax ID. Different from an EIN, and not required to get one.learn more
- Form 5472
- The mandatory annual information return a foreign-owned single-member US LLC files with the IRS alongside a pro-forma Form 1120; penalties start at $25,000.learn more
- Franchise Tax
- An annual tax some states levy. Delaware LLCs pay a $400 annual tax by June 1 (no annual report); Wyoming charges a license tax of at least $60 with the annual report.learn more
- Registered Agent
- The mandatory agent that receives official mail in the LLC's state; for non-residents it's an annual subscription service.
- Sales Tax / Nexus
- US state sales tax and the physical/economic connection (nexus) that triggers it. On Amazon FBA, marketplace-facilitator laws shift most of it onto Amazon.
Advertising & Metrics
- ROAS
- Return on Ad Spend — ad revenue divided by spend. 4 ROAS means $4 revenue per $1 spent; it measures revenue, not profit.learn more
- POAS
- Profit on Ad Spend — ad profit divided by spend. A truer target than ROAS; the same ROAS can lose money on a low-margin product.learn more
- PPC
- Pay Per Click — advertising billed per click (Amazon Sponsored Ads, Google Ads); the main visibility engine in e-commerce.learn more
- Conversion Rate
- The share of visitors who buy. The most direct signal of listing/page quality — and the ceiling on ad efficiency.
- AOV (Average Order Value)
- Average Order Value — the mean spend per order. Raised via upsells, bundles and free-shipping thresholds; directly affects ad profitability.
General E-Commerce
- Cross-Border E-Commerce
- Selling online to consumers abroad — via Amazon, Etsy or your own store; producing in local currency and earning in foreign currency.learn more
- Private Label
- Selling a manufacturer's product under your own brand. The most common brand-building model on Amazon; differentiation comes from brand and content.
- D2C / DTC
- Direct-to-Consumer — a brand selling straight to the end customer (usually via its own store), keeping margin and customer data in-house.learn more
- UGC
- User-Generated Content — authentic, user-style content; a widely used format in Meta and TikTok ads.learn more
- MOQ
- Minimum Order Quantity — the smallest order a supplier accepts; directly shapes your first-batch capital plan.
- Omnichannel
- Running the same brand across Amazon, Etsy, your own store and other marketplaces together; a natural growth step once operations can carry it.learn more
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