No state for young men

Why won’t US web sites let me buy their crap unless I give them a “state”? As if everybody in the world lives in states just because Americans do. So to be a good consumer, I either have to pretend to live in Alabama, or invent the “state” of Södermanland, which confuses everybody.
So here’s to all American online marketers: Most of the world’s inhabitants live outside of your 50 American states. It would be grand of you to acknowledge that.