Selling to US Customers From Outside the US? The ADA Can Reach You Too

Short answer. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is, much like the European EAA, market-driven in practice: the lawyers who sue websites look at who sells to American consumers, not at where the company is based. If you sell to US customers from outside the United States (a US checkout, prices in dollars, shipping to American addresses), you can receive the same demand letters and lawsuits as an American business. The honest nuance: without a US entity or US assets, a judgment against you is harder to enforce, but the settlement model this industry runs on works across borders just fine. The good news: the benchmark is the same WCAG you already need to meet for the EAA. One structural approach covers both continents.

How big is the American risk really?

Big, and documented. In 2025, 8,667 lawsuits were filed under Title III of the ADA (ADA Title III blog, Seyfarth Shaw), of which 3,117 specifically concerned websites, an increase of 27% over 2024. And lawsuits are only the tip: the vast majority of cases begin and end with a demand letter and a settlement that never sees a courtroom, by American Bar Association estimates, tens of thousands of such letters go out every year (ABA). The full figures are in our overview ADA website lawsuits: the numbers.

Does the ADA apply to a company outside the US?

The ADA contains no explicit territorial provision for websites, and American courts are divided on its precise reach. But practice is simpler than legal doctrine: plaintiffs and their lawyers target webshops that demonstrably serve the American market. Relevant signals include an English-language shop with dollar pricing, delivery to American addresses, a US phone number or return address, and marketing aimed at American customers. California adds the Unruh Civil Rights Act on top: $4,000 in statutory damages per violation, plus attorney's fees, the mechanism that makes California the epicentre of these cases. What each law requires is on our page the law in the United States.

Can they actually enforce that abroad?

This deserves an honest answer: enforcing an American judgment against a company with no US entity, subsidiary, or assets is legally cumbersome, and many non-US businesses will never see it happen. But against that stands the fact that the American model doesn't run on judgments, it runs on settlements: a demand letter with a settlement offer that's cheaper than mounting a defence. If you have US revenue, use American payment providers, or ever want a US entity or marketplace presence, you do have something to lose. And there's a second route that's often forgotten: American business partners. More and more US companies contractually require WCAG conformance from their suppliers, at which point the question is no longer "can a court compel me?" but "can I sign this contract?".

What should I do now?

The key insight: ADA practice and the EAA use the same technical benchmark, WCAG. There is no separate "American standard" for private websites (and no official "ADA certification" either; distrust anyone selling one). A website that works structurally towards WCAG 2.1 & 2.2 AA and can demonstrate it stands on solid ground on both sides of the ocean. In concrete terms:

• Scan your website for free and see where you stand, the same scan covers both EAA- and ADA-relevant issues.
• Fix things in your own code; an overlay widget demonstrably does not protect you in the US (in 2024, well over a thousand websites with a widget were sued anyway, see sued despite an accessibility widget).
• Build a compliance file. Already received a demand letter? Then start with our guide you got an ADA demand letter, and engage a US attorney; this article is information, not legal advice.