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Shipping internationally is a great way to grow your ecommerce business. Learn the key factors of customs and logistics in this guide.
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If you’re looking to grow your ecommerce business, expanding beyond your country’s borders could be a great next step. But that also means you need to figure out how to ship internationally, which can be easier said than done.
To do ecommerce international shipping right, you’ll need a strategy that works for you and your business. You don’t have to know everything about shipping, but you do have to understand the available options and their costs—and find an approach that will fulfill your shipping needs in the long run.
There are many reasons you might not be shipping internationally right now. Maybe you're just considering it for the first time. Maybe you looked into shipping overseas and decided it's too expensive. You may have even tried expedited international shipping services and then given up after one or two bad experiences.
In any case, here’s what you need to know to start international ecommerce shipping and expand your business on your terms.
International shipping is the transport of goods across foreign borders. It plays a pivotal role in connecting global economies and facilitating sales to customers outside the country where you operate your business. International shipping has key differences from domestic shipping, mainly regarding costs and documentation.
International shipping is typically more expensive than domestic shipping, as the package has a longer distance to travel. It often includes multiple modes of transport spanning air, land, and sea. Additionally, international shipping often requires import taxes and duties owed to the destination country.
Regarding documentation, international shipments require customs forms, but domestic shipments don't. Ecommerce international shipping also typically takes longer than domestic shipments.
Sell internationally in minutes with Markets Pro
Markets Pro helps you sell in 150+ countries and scale your business internationally—all from a single Shopify store. Make global shipping hassle-free, with tools to manage store localization, collect duties upfront, simplify customs documentation, and get fast transit times.
Selling beyond your borders can be an important growth area for your business, even if you only ship some products internationally, so it’s worth tackling the logistics head-on. Consider these figures:
These figures show that online shoppers around the globe have come to expect international shipping, and ecommerce businesses are increasingly meeting that expectation. Shipping internationally creates an opportunity for stores like yours to sell to a larger audience.
While it’s difficult to create a definitive list of best practices for every business, there are a few central decisions you’ll need to consider for your ecommerce international shipping strategy.
You’ll first need to identify which countries and regions you’ll ship to and which products you’ll ship.
Unsure which markets you should expand to first? Here are a few indicators that can help narrow it down.
Next, you’ll need to consider what to ship. You may want to offer your entire product line, but that won’t always be possible. Before you start delivering all over the world, think about these aspects of your products and your business.
Once you have an idea of which regions offer the most immediate opportunities and which products you’ll be sending, it’s time to check into country-based rules and regulations.
Some countries prohibit certain goods outright, while others may limit them. Being informed of the rules and regulations that exist and which may impact your shipments can help ensure a smooth delivery.
There are a few ways you can access this information:
This might be the most important part of any ecommerce international shipping strategy: be as transparent and communicative as possible with your customers about delivery costs. Don’t surprise your customers with an unexpected total cost at checkout.
According to the Baymard Institute, nearly 50% of the cart abandonment they surveyed on ecommerce sites in 2024 was due, in part, to extra shipping fees and costs.
Shopify’s own research studies how customer trust develops during the purchase journey of shoppers who buy from a new online store. When shipping internationally, a shipping policy that clearly states who pays duties and taxes is a must-have to build trust and win a sale with a new shopper.
One place you can communicate these costs is on your policy pages. Clearly lay out how and where you ship products internationally, and what costs may be associated.
You can also add flags to your top navigation to show your shipping availability. Letting your customers know where you deliver to doesn’t have to be just about costs. A tool like the Free Shipping & Hello Bar can help you promote your shipping and rates to a global audience.
It’s best to use all options available to communicate shipping costs—or potential costs—to a customer, whether it’s on your homepage, product page, or policy page. It’ll set expectations for you both, which can help give the customer added confidence to complete their purchase.
There are five key components for determining the costs of international delivery. All five contribute to how effectively you’ll ship around the world.
Before you ship anything, you’ll need packaging supplies. You may need several box sizes to accommodate different-sized shipments. You might also need cushioning, like bubble wrap or stuffing. You can get your packaging both online and at post offices or office supply stores.
In general, it’s best to keep your packaging sturdy but simple. No recipient wants to deal with three boxes of varying sizes when getting a single product from your business.
Trying to strike this balance of sturdy packaging and low cost may require some homework. Look for deals where you can. For example, if you use USPS as a business, you can order boxes for free.
Working the cost of packaging into your total product cost should be pretty straightforward. Depending on the size and quality, most packaging should cost somewhere around $1 to $5 per unit.
Building the cost of shipping into your pricing approach is an essential part of correctly setting your prices. You don’t want to lose money on shipping or overcharge your customers. To make sure your approach works, think through these steps:
Do you ship a lot of similarly sized products? Or maybe a few sizes or weights of packages? This difference, naturally, affects how you price a shipment.
Here's one way to find the costs of shipping internationally:
With these three figures in place, you’ll have a sense of pricing for ecommerce international shipping. It’ll also help you determine which shipments may cost more than others.
If you’re in the US, use our shipping calculator to see how much it will cost to ship internationally with Shopify. For reference, here’s a list of shipping calculators for some major carriers.
Here are two examples of how different brands could approach global shipping:
Brand A has a broader range of shipping costs to cover, and Brand B’s range is relatively narrow. Brand A may be selling heavier and more varied products, while Brand B’s offerings seem more consistent in size and cost.
There are three main pricing structures for delivering around the world: free shipping, carrier-calculated shipping, and flat-rate shipping.
Along with the cost of your packaging and materials, consider adding a handling charge.
International shipments pass through many more additional facilities than the typical domestic order. You should be packaging these shipments with more care, and that’s included in your handling. To determine your handling charges, ask yourself:
Now, you can determine your handling costs. Here’s an example:
It usually takes 10 minutes to prepare an order for shipment. And at $11 per hour to prepare these packages, you would add a $1.83 handling charge to cover the cost.
(10 minutes / 60 minutes) x $11 = $1.83 handling cost
Again, adding in a handling cost is entirely up to you, and you need to do what’s best for your business. Keep in mind that international orders are typically a bit more expensive, and international customers usually expect to pay a bit more for quality shipping. A big part of a quality shipment is how it’s handled and packaged.
International shipments can be subject to duties and taxes depending on a number of factors. It’s important to do your research and factor any duties and taxes into your pricing strategy, especially for any key international market you are targeting. You can use a duty calculator to get an idea of what duties and taxes may apply to your products per destination country.
Taxes are based on a fixed percentage per destination country (and sometimes state or province). Duties, on the other hand, depend on a number of factors, such as:
By default, the importer (i.e., your customer) is responsible for any taxes or duties on the shipment and will need to pay them before they can receive their order. This is called Delivered Duty Unpaid (DDU) or, more officially, Delivered At Place (DAP). It’s very important to be transparent with the buyer about additional fees to manage their expectation and avoid returns and chargebacks. Make sure to set up a clear return policy on your website.
To provide a smoother and surprise-free buying experience to your customers, you can choose to be responsible for paying these fees. This is called Delivered Duty Paid (DDP). In this case, you would collect these fees upfront.
From a logistical standpoint, you’ll buy the appropriate shipping label, DDU/DAP or DDP, and include customs documentation with your international shipment. Use your domestic postal service as a local resource to make sure you know which documents you need to ship internationally. They’ll typically have these documents for you.
When you buy your shipping labels through Shopify Shipping, you’ll be provided with the necessary customs documentation needed to fulfill international shipments.
The correct customs paperwork required for an international shipment can vary by country. But typically these two documents will be required: a commercial invoice and an export packing list.
The commercial invoice is the bill for the shipped product from the seller to the buyer that helps prove ownership and payment. Used to determine the true value of the product(s) being shipped, this document helps the country assess customs duties and taxes. Here’s some essential information that should be included:
Depending on the shipping company you’re using, the customs information may be embedded in the shipping label. DHL Express provides Paperless Trade to most countries, reducing the need for extra printed documents.
The typical detail on a packing list is on this form (buyer, seller/shipper, invoice number, date of shipment, etc.), but it also includes more extensive information like:
While international shipping probably isn’t the cheapest way to ship a package, it can still be profitable with the right approach. It’s important you still make a profit, otherwise international expansion won’t actually help your bottom line.
Price your products and shipping fees so you’re still competitive but also earn a healthy profit margin. Your profit margins may be smaller for international shipments, considering costs and additional time spent. But it can be a worthy investment if you want to grow your brand globally. This is especially important if you plan to absorb some or all of the cost of international shipping to make it more affordable for overseas customers.
To make sure you’re pricing profitably, you can plug different numbers into Shopify’s free profit margin calculator.
Shopify Shipping and Shopify Fulfillment Network provide resources to help you ship internationally. If your business is in the US, Canada, or Australia, you can use Shopify Shipping to ship internationally. If your business is in the US or Canada, you might be able to use Shopify Fulfillment Network, depending on your eligibility.
Shopify offers businesses in the United States, Canada, and Australia access to discounted rates—up to 88% in savings with international shipping companies like USPS, UPS, DHL Express, Canada Post, Sendle, and more—so you’re already set up to compare their rates.
When you purchase international shipping labels through Shopify Shipping, the correct customs forms and documentation are automatically generated for you and can be printed on any standard printer (aside from DPP, unless you’re using Markets Pro from Shopify). When you use DHL Express to ship from the US, this documentation is electronically transmitted to customs—no additional paperwork is necessary.
If you’re a Shopify Plus merchant, you can also use Markets Pro to get a duties calculator and managed services that take care of financial and legal operations associated with filing taxes, import compliance, and international shipping.
When you’re ready to get your shipments out the door, you also have the option to schedule a free or discounted pickup for any UPS, DHL Express, or Sendle shipment or link out to schedule one directly with USPS.
When considering which shipping carriers to use, there are a few factors to consider.
Using more than one shipping company can help you reduce your shipping costs overall.
Postal carriers are often more affordable, but may not offer many options for package types and speeds. Express carriers tend to be faster, can accommodate heavier or larger packages, and provide more service options, but can be more expensive. Regional carrier services can solve any last-mile problems for your international package, but can be tricky to source and communicate with.
Do your research and price out postal, express, and carrier options. It’s good to have a sense of service availability for your international shipping strategy.
Some customers will want their purchases right away, and others will be more willing to wait.
To best serve your customers, offer a good mix of delivery options. Providing a range of choices gives them the option to balance the tradeoff between timeline and price, and that might be the difference between a sale and an abandoned cart.
Most international freight shipping companies provide shipment tracking, so you and your customers can easily see up-to-date shipment statuses. You can also add ePacket tracking to give customers end-to-end tracking options and a searchable tracking number.
If you’re worried about a shipment becoming lost or damaged, insuring your parcel against failed delivery is the way to go. Insurance is offered by just about every global express shipper. If it isn’t automatically included in the cost of shipping, it’s relatively affordable and straightforward to add.
If you’re a US–based brand using Shopify, you can add Shipsurance insurance to any shipment, regardless of shipping method or order destination.
When using postal carriers like USPS or Canada Post, some international shipping services include insurance in the price of shipping. You can use mail classes like Priority Mail International and Priority Mail Express International with USPS or Priority Worldwide, Xpresspost-USA, or Xpresspost-International with Canada Post to get automatic coverage. You can always pay for coverage using a different shipping service—usually a few dollars per $100 of declared value.
Whatever you choose, consider adding insurance to any parcel over $200 being shipped to another country. Doing so will add some peace of mind to both you and your customer.
The first step to ensuring ecommerce international shipping success is to have a strategy in place. From what and how you’ll ship to where and at what cost, giving these factors some thought and research will better prepare you to grow your business around the world.
Remember to try out new approaches and techniques. Shipping is a fluid and seasonal industry. Be sure to reapply and refine your shipping strategy as new offers or changes take place.
Sell internationally in minutes with Markets Pro
Markets Pro helps you sell in 150+ countries and scale your business internationally—all from a single Shopify store. Make global shipping hassle-free, with tools to manage store localization, collect duties upfront, simplify customs documentation, and get fast transit times.
The cheapest way to ship internationally is by using postal services like USPS in the United States or Royal Mail in the UK.
These carriers offer economy shipping options such as surface mail or standard international shipping. They typically take longer but are cheaper than express shipping options provided by private carriers like FedEx or DHL.
There are a lot of reasons international shipping is expensive, including transportation across long distances, customs, and import duties that differ from country to country, and handling and processing fees. Carriers, security, and regulation compliance also add to the cost.
Shipping goods across international borders and long distances involves logistical challenges, so international packages take time to arrive.
Customs clearance, varying international shipping regulations, and coordinating multiple postal systems and international carriers can cause delays. Packages could also be delayed because of weather conditions, geopolitical situations, or a limited transportation infrastructure at the destination.
How long it takes an international shipment to arrive at its destination varies greatly.
It depends on factors like the distance between the sending location and recipient, the chosen shipping method, customs clearance processes, and uncontrollable delays. Typically, international shipping can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks.
The business chooses who pays for international shipping by setting its shipping policies. Businesses can also offer different international shipping options, some of which they pay for and others they require customers to pay for—in the instance of rush delivery, for example.
When you ship freight internationally, the package goes through several stages, including pickup, transportation via air, sea, or land, customs clearance procedures, and final delivery to the recipient.
The package may be handled by various carriers and undergo inspections to ensure compliance with import regulations along the way.
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