International Shipping

Should I offer international shipping?

If you have products that are in demand outside the country in which you operate, offering international shipping obviously benefits your customers in those countries—as well as your sales volume.

There are many variables to consider, but if the demand exists and you can cover (or charge the customer for) the incremental shipping, handling, and governmental costs, selling internationally can be straightforward to enable with a robust shipping platform. For a detailed discussion of international shipping, please refer to the ShippingEasy eCommerce Seller’s Guide to International Selling & Shipping.

Selling internationally: Capabilities to consider

Within your selling environment:

Support for international selling and shipping options:

Multi-currency checkout
International address
International payment gateway
Location-based duties and taxes
Multiple language capabilities

Shipping Environment:

Support for generating documentation required to move goods from one country to another:

International shipping labels
Customs forms
Electronic trade forms
Support for auto-populating critical but repetitive details, including:
- Harmonized code
- Country of manufacture
- Content type (commercial, merchandise, gift, etc.)
- Signature
Support for the electronic filing or printing of all required documents

Physical Environment:

Ability to print and accurately affix all international documentation to packages and route to the appropriate international carrier

Shipping software helps with international shipping

While international shipping requires extra steps and forms, most shipping solutions can automatically populate and print the required forms with very little set up. In addition, many software providers integrate directly with International Consolidators offering severely discounted rates to minimize the cost of shipping orders overseas.

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