Do I give Wayfair a W-9 or a W-8?

U.S. persons, U.S. companies, multi-member LLCs and LLCs taxed as corporations give a W-9; foreign companies give a W-8BEN-E, or a W-8ECI with effectively connected income. A single-member LLC owned by a foreign person with no corporate election is disregarded, so the foreign owner gives a W-8 rather than a W-9 under the LLC's EIN.

When does Wayfair pay, and why is the payment less than my invoice?

The supplier agreement pays undisputed invoices within 60 days of receipt; Quick Pay pays within 30 days for 2%. Payments are net of the 5% damage and defect allowance, advertising, CastleGate fees, returns and the monthly platform fee, so book revenue at gross invoice amounts and classify each deduction.

Do I apply separately to sell on AllModern or Birch Lane?

We found no public, separate application. They are Wayfair's brand sites; suppliers use the same Partner Home account and catalog, the supplier agreement lets Wayfair sell across its family of websites, and Wayfair picks which products appear on each brand site by style. Your account manager is the place to ask.

Can I supply Wayfair without a U.S. warehouse?

CastleGate is the usual route. Wayfair requires shipping from a North American warehouse or 3PL; without one, once you've onboarded and started selling you can place goods in CastleGate warehouses and consolidate freight from China through CastleGate Forwarding. Inventory in a state brings that state's taxes into play.

Wayfair Supplier Checklist 2026: Insurance, Compliance, W-9/W-8

To supply Wayfair, get seven things ready: a registered business with tax registration, a bank account in the selling currency, a North American warehouse or Wayfair's CastleGate, complete product content and images, liability insurance ($1,000,000 per occurrence, $2,000,000 per year), product compliance documents, and an integration method. Once the supplier agreement is signed, Wayfair pays 60 days after your invoice, net of a 5% damage allowance, advertising and a monthly platform fee. AllModern, Joss & Main and Birch Lane have no public, separate application; they draw on the same account and catalog.

First, understand that you're a supplier

Wayfair buys from you and resells to customers. In Partner Home you set each product's base cost, your price to Wayfair, and Wayfair sets the retail price. That's nothing like third-party selling on Amazon or Walmart: you don't take the customer's money, you don't collect retail sales tax, and you generally won't get a 1099-K. Run your margins off the base cost, not the retail price.

Wayfair recruits manufacturers, brands and wholesalers of home goods and furniture worldwide, and its supplier site has a Chinese version. Exercise machines, medical devices, bicycles, power tools and computer hardware and software are among the excluded categories.

Four steps to onboard

Per Wayfair's supplier site: first, prepare your catalog, product content and images and confirm compliance with the Supplier Code of Conduct; second, set up your Partner Home account; third, sign the drop-ship agreement, configure your inventory feed and upload proof of insurance; fourth, upload your catalog and start selling. Before go-live, Wayfair runs an account review that verifies your business information. It publishes no fixed timeline.

The checklist, item by item

Business and tax registration

Have your business registration number and legal details ready for verification. The entity you supply through decides where profit is taxed, whether that's a Chinese factory directly, a foreign-owned single-member LLC or a U.S. C corporation, so settle it before onboarding; switching later means new agreements and new accounts.

Wayfair's checklist asks for tax registrations tied to your shipping locations. Payers generally ask for a tax form: U.S. persons, U.S. companies, multi-member LLCs and LLCs taxed as corporations give a W-9; foreign companies give a W-8BEN-E (or a W-8ECI with effectively connected income). An LLC owned by one foreign person with no corporate election is disregarded for tax, so the foreign owner gives a W-8, not a W-9 under the LLC's EIN. This one is often done wrong.

Bank account

An account that receives the selling currency: U.S. dollars for the U.S. site, Canadian dollars for Canada, pounds for the U.K. The account name should match the supplying entity.

Warehouse

At least one warehouse or 3PL address in the selling region. Wayfair says you need a warehouse or third-party logistics partner in North America to deliver orders. Without one, you can place goods in Wayfair's CastleGate warehouses (available once you've onboarded and started selling) and consolidate freight from China or Southeast Asia through CastleGate Forwarding. Keep in mind that inventory in a state gives you physical presence there for state tax.

Product content

At least 3 images per product at 1000×1000 px or larger; name, model number, supplier part number, classification, materials, options, product and carton dimensions, weight, care instructions, wholesale cost and warnings. Start with one in-stock bestseller and expand from there.

Insurance

Section 12.1 of Wayfair's supplier agreement (updated November 14, 2025) requires liability insurance of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 per calendar year, with Wayfair Inc., Wayfair LLC and Wayfair Stores Limited as additional insureds. Provide a certificate of insurance soon after onboarding and update it on request; tell Wayfair if coverage lapses or changes. Installation services carry higher requirements. Premiums are an operating expense.

Product compliance

Wayfair requires products to meet the rules where they're sold. For furniture and home goods the usual ones are the tip-over standard for dressers and other clothing storage units (STURDY Act, 16 CFR 1261); TSCA Title VI formaldehyde standards for composite wood in furniture with plywood, MDF or particleboard; flammability standards for upholstered furniture (16 CFR 1640) and mattresses (16 CFR 1632 and 1633); Prop 65 warnings for California; and children's product certificates. Since July 8, 2026, certificate data for CPSC-regulated imported consumer products is filed electronically at import. Labs issue the reports and certificates; compliance calls belong to lawyers.

Integration and returns

Orders, inventory and tracking can be handled by hand in Partner Home or automated over EDI or API; multiple warehouses are managed separately. For returns, give a return address or enroll in Wayfair-managed returns.

How you get paid: Net 60 and deductions

Payment terms. Supplier agreement Section 4.1: undisputed invoices are paid within 60 days of receipt. Quick Pay pays within 30 days for a 2% fee.

Damage and defect allowance, 5%. Wayfair's published policy deducts 5% from each product's wholesale cost in exchange for handling freight damage and one-off manufacturing defects reported within 30 days of delivery; replacement parts ship at your expense, and packaging failures and other incidents stay with you.

Monthly platform fee. Supplier agreement Section 4.2: unless an exclusion applies, each parent supplier ID (SUID) pays a monthly Platform Access Pass fee under the program terms.

Ads and logistics. Sponsored Products (pay per click) and other ads, and CastleGate storage and fulfillment fees, can be set off against payments; CastleGate services are invoiced separately and due in 30 days.

Bookkeeping. Record revenue at the gross amount invoiced to Wayfair, reduce sales for allowances and returns, and book ads, platform fees and logistics as expenses. Booking only deposits gets the books and the return wrong.

How do AllModern, Joss & Main and Birch Lane listings work?

Wayfair runs six brands: Wayfair, AllModern (modern and simple), Birch Lane (classic and traditional), Joss & Main (a curated, trend-led edit), Perigold (luxury) and Wayfair Professional (business buyers). We found no public, separate application for AllModern, Joss & Main or Birch Lane: Section 3 of the supplier agreement lets Wayfair sell your products across its family of websites and other channels, and Wayfair picks which products appear on each brand site by style and price point. If you want a particular brand site, get the imagery and style attributes right and talk to your account manager. Wayfair Professional needs no separate catalog; you can add commercial-use tags and pro pricing. Perigold has its own rules: Section 3.1 lets Perigold suppliers ask to sell only through Perigold channels.

Three decisions to make before you onboard

Which entity. It decides W-9 or W-8, which returns you file each year and where profit is taxed. A foreign-owned company that misses Form 5472 faces $25,000 per form.

Who imports. Wayfair's CastleGate terms put customs documents and classification and valuation risk on the supplier. Decide before the first shipment whether the factory is a nonresident importer or a U.S. company imports.

The price between the factory and the U.S. company. With a U.S. subsidiary, the purchase price must be arm's length, and the customs value must match inventory cost for income tax.

The full order flow, a five-platform comparison, an entity decision table and a $2,000,000 worked example are in the Wayfair supplier guide; how to complete W-8 and W-9 forms is in the W-8BEN / W-9 guide. Book a free 15-minute call or add WeChat YCLUSA.