Which Countries are Easiest to Sell Internationally to?

Based on an analysis of ShippingEasy clients, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia are far and away the most common international destinations for eCommerce SMBs.

Localization Requirements to Canada, UK, and Australia

This is no doubt because these countries do well on our destination targeting criteria:

They have few import restrictions.
Their consumers are very comfortable shopping online.
In each country credit card penetration is high (1) and credit cards are used for nearly all online payments(2).
Risk levels are similar to the US, both in terms of levels of online fraud and reliability of postal services.
Customs duties, taxes, and fees are relatively low(3):
- Australia charges 0-10% duty and 0-10% GST, but shipments of FOB* less than AU$1000 are exempt.
  - *FOB: (Freight On Board): The value of the product being shipped
- The UK charges 0-17% duty and 0-20% VAT, but shipment FOB values below £135 are exempt from duty and below £15 are exempt from VAT.
- For US-based sellers shipping to Canada, most items are exempt from import duties under NAFTA.
  - Sales-related taxes apply to items of greater than CAD$20 FOB and can range from 5% to 15% depending on the province.

Cost & Legal Requirements to Canada, UK, and Australia

Localization: Canada, the UK, and Australia require virtually no extra work from a language and culture perspective.
Shipping costs: Shipping to all three countries can be surprisingly economical for small packages sent via USPS First-Class Package International Service® (refer to the “Optimizing costs” section).
- While shipping to Canada is significantly less expensive than to the other two countries, all USPS® pricing for smaller packages to the UK and Australia is surprisingly similar; in some cases, Australia is even cheaper than the UK.
Legal requirements: It’s always wise to have a clear policy about use of personal information and cookie collection that allows visitors to opt out.

Canada has similar privacy and spam laws to the US. You can learn more about specifics with this privacy toolkit

The UK has more stringent policies, which you should follow to be safe. Learn more about cookie law and spam emails

Australia’s policies are less stringent, especially for small businesses. Learn more about cookies and anti-spam

Article Sources:

(1) http://paymantix.com/en/world-online-payment-methods-survey/

(2) http://trade.gov/MAS/pdf/Credit_Card_Markets.pdf

(3) http://www.dutycalculator.com/country-guides/