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.
Related Articles & Resources:
- eCommerce Shipping Capabilities
- Multiple Store Shipping
- Expedited Delivery Options
- Shipping Pricing Options
- Customer Shipping Preferences
- Picking and Packing Orders
- Carrier Selection
- Fulfillment
- Shipping Returns
- Analytics & Reporting
- View ShippingEasy International features
- View ShippingEasy International features in list format
- Request a quote from International Consolidators to save on shipping overseas
This article is from The Definitive Guide to eCommerce Shipping
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