Websites and stores built for US buyers and US rules

The Census Bureau estimates that e-commerce made up 17.1 percent of US retail sales in the second quarter of 2026, with online sales up 3.8 percent on the previous quarter. Selling across state lines brings checkout, tax, and disclosure details that have to be right before launch, not fixed after the first complaint.

Payments are card-led. Credit and debit cards accounted for two-thirds of consumer payments in the Federal Reserve's 2026 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice, and the CFPB reports that buy now, pay later, typically a four-payment loan with no interest, kept expanding through 2023. We design the checkout around the payment gateway you choose, then test the card form, wallet buttons, and any installment option on phones before launch.

Tax needs planning, not a plugin added at the end. Since the Supreme Court's 2018 Wayfair decision, states can require out-of-state sellers to collect sales tax without a physical presence, and the GAO describes the result as a complex patchwork of requirements, with thresholds that vary from state to state. There is no national e-invoicing mandate to build for, so the work sits at checkout: tax calculated from the delivery address for the states your accountant confirms, and shown clearly with shipping before payment.

Claims and subscriptions need the same care. The FTC applies its Made in USA standard to online marketing, and an unqualified Made in USA label on a product that is not all or virtually all made in the US can bring civil penalties, online included. California's automatic renewal law amendments, in effect since July 1, 2025, require express affirmative consent and let customers who signed up online cancel online. The storefront we rebuilt for The Closet, a fashion retailer in Qatar, dealt with a problem US apparel brands also face: a broad catalog that has to stay easy to browse and buy from on a phone.

The Department of Justice's position is that the ADA covers the goods and services that businesses open to the public offer on the web. It has no regulation setting detailed technical standards for those businesses, and its guidance points to WCAG as a helpful reference. State and local governments now have a specific rule, WCAG 2.1 Level AA, with compliance dates in April 2027 and April 2028. It also covers content others provide for them, which matters if you build websites or apps for public bodies.

Private litigation keeps the issue live. Seyfarth Shaw counted 3,117 federal website accessibility lawsuits in 2025, 27 percent more than in 2024, with New York, Florida, and Illinois the busiest states. A widget is not a shortcut: in 2025 the FTC ordered accessiBe to pay $1 million over claims that its accessWidget plug-in could make any website WCAG-compliant.

We treat WCAG 2.1 AA as a design and build requirement: semantic markup, full keyboard operation, visible focus, contrast checked in the design system, labeled form fields with clear errors, and alternative text planned with the content. Before launch we run automated and manual checks and hand over a written list of anything outstanding. No agency can promise you will never receive a demand letter. We can show how the site was built against WCAG, the standard DOJ guidance points to.

The US has no comprehensive federal privacy law. Twenty states had comprehensive consumer privacy laws on the books in early 2026, and Louisiana, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Vermont have since passed laws that take effect in 2027 and 2028. Thresholds differ. California's CCPA covers for-profit businesses doing business in California that have gross annual revenue of $26.625 million or more, that buy, sell, or share the personal information of 100,000 or more California residents or households, or that earn half their revenue from selling or sharing it.

Where a law applies, much of the obligation shows up on the website. California requires a clear opt-out link, labeled "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" or an approved alternative such as "Your Privacy Choices", and requires businesses to honor opt-out preference signals such as Global Privacy Control. Before launch we list every tag and pixel on the site, configure the consent tool so a GPC signal actually stops the tags it should, and cut forms down to the fields you use. Your lawyer decides which laws apply and writes the policy; we make the site behave the way the policy says.

Marketing rules reach the site as well. CAN-SPAM requires commercial email to carry a valid postal address and an opt-out honored within 10 business days, which shapes email templates and the unsubscribe flow. The FTC's 2024 rule on fake reviews and testimonials bans reviews attributed to people who do not exist, including AI-generated fakes, and certain insider reviews that do not disclose the reviewer's connection to the business, and it allows civil penalties against knowing violators. Review sections we build show genuine customer reviews only, which is also why this page shows project work rather than client quotes.

Islamabad is on UTC+5 all year, so the gap to the US moves only when American clocks change, on March 8 and November 1 in 2026. During daylight time a 9 a.m. call in New York is 6 p.m. in Islamabad, and 9 a.m. in Los Angeles is 9 p.m. Review sessions go in your morning. Between calls, decisions, open questions, and the next deliverable are written down in one place. Feedback sent by the end of your day reaches the team at the start of the Islamabad working day, hours before your next morning.

Copy, forms, dates, and units are set for US English. Spanish is by far the most common language other than English spoken in US homes, according to the Census Bureau, so for many consumer brands a second language is a real decision. We already deliver multilingual sites, including right-to-left Arabic builds, and can plan a Spanish version into the structure from the start: its own URLs, hreflang tags, and a switcher that keeps visitors on the matching page. The Spanish copy should come from a fluent translator you approve.

We do not present any of our portfolio as US client work. The closest evidence is The Closet's storefront, the GWC Directory logistics platform, and the BEAT fitness site, all for clients in Qatar; launch websites for Pakistani property developers, including Serene Tower in DHA Multan; and corporate technology and architecture sites. Packages are priced in US dollars, starting at USD 1,490, and we will walk you through exactly what we did on any project you want to discuss.