Selling Internationally on Etsy 🌎 Is it even Worth it in 2023?

📺 MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO 📺 ✅ Pam Duthie shares info about shipping to the US as an international seller: https://youtu.be/_BVrzzcoYZc ✅ Download the 🍜 FREE Etsy SEO'oodles Toolbox and learn how to do Etsy SEO in 2023: bit.ly/EtsyNoodle

Etsy should really do something like the ebay global shipping program. You just ship to a warehouse in the u.s. as if it's a normal customer, and then they deal with all that stuff

Is there any way you can do an international shipping tutorial some time in the future? I haven't figured out how it works yet and how to offer the lowest shipping.

I'm always learning something new with Starla. I've been a eRank member for years and never noticed the fact that I could look at my shipments status information through eRank. Thanks again Starla!

Super stoked that this is the topic, as I’m debating this myself

Thank you, very informative video, after 3 months selling on etsy is time to expand

We found it was just waaaaaaaay too complex, confusing, and expensive to ship internationally. We still sold to Canada until we discovered last month that Etsy does NOT allow you to send a return shipping label to Canadian buyers. I'm not sure if they've always had this rule or if it's new (we've only been on Etsy for 3 years). But this is a deal killer for us. Then there's the "return acceptance required" rule for selling to the UK within so many days regardless of reason (we are a print on demand shop and do not accept returns unless it's a manufacturing error). Royal Mail refuses to honor tracking on international shipments and lost 3 out of 4 orders we tried to ship to Britain. And then there's the nightmare of Germany's green materials requirements that our printers' products and shipping materials don't meet.

Super helpful video thank you!! Because I really wanted to open up my market wider beyond just USA with the use of international shipping but i was worried about customs. I have a wellness store just opened today! adn listing crystals right now! So after watching your video and googling some specifics on crystals getting thru customs, Ive decided that YES I WILL offer international - but just doing it USA, UK, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, EU! And go from there thank you so so much, your video seriously calmed me!

1/3 of my orders are international. Was really nervous sending the 1st one off and this Christmas was a nightmare (royal mail strikes and cyber incident) but it's definitely worth it. Thankfully I was eligible for the seller protection. Thanks for the vid, just joined erank too!

Great info. Thank you.

It depends. Sometimes if your product is small like a keychain that’s less than $10, it may not even be worth it. The shipping cost for you and/or your customers would be double or more than double your price. If the products are over $100 it will be worth it.

I had to stop international shipping. Not so much the shipping price because I don’t offer shipping discounts at all. It was more because the time to have the customer receive their order. So many people got upset because of customs taking too long or something like that. I also dreaded the cancel my order requests. Learned the hard way that large orders need a confirmation email before shipping.

Really appreciate all these tips

So I hit the notify me for the live but never was notified 😢. I’m bout to watch the replay now lol

Cries in Scandinavian, specifically Denmark Offering tracking on small packages/letters is genuinely the most frustrating thing ever. The prices spikes from 36 dkk to aprox 300+ dkk, roughly translated to 15 usd for letter and starting from 43,22 usd for just added shipping, making the letter/small package into a big parcel. We also don't have the amazing alternatives like pirateship etc for cheaper rates or alternatives for postage materials as the US has. I've so far been extremely blessed with the most amazing customers/supporters from across the pond and things have gone fine so far, but I always have a super nervous feeling everytime the letter goes out of my hands. It is a shame the postal system all over the globe is so flawed. Good video with some good insight on peoples opinions, and thank you for providing information as you do!

Nice video with lots of good info. For those that use POD companies like Printify, you'll want to be extra wary about selling to EU. Etsy charges the customer VAT tax, and then Printify charges SELLERS the VAT tax as well. According to Printify, there is currently no way for them to specify that their shipments to the EU have already paid VAT tax via Etsy, so they must charge us sellers. As a result of this, I've stopped shipping to the EU. However, I still recommend shipping to other continents since it is relatively simple. Also, Germany has the whole LUCID/packaging requirement, but as I said I don't ship to EU anymore so I haven't paid attention to it.

I had someone send a $300 order back from the UK because they didn't want to pay the taxes and duties (it's been 2 months and I still haven't gotten the box back), they opened a case and etsy automatically refunded them. And because it was more than $250 it wasn't covered under etsy seller protection, so they took the money from my account even though she was the one (as the buyer) who didn't want to pay the fees. I no longer ship to UK because I've had so many issues like this. Other countries are great.

Before I had an Etsy shop I mailed a small light weight package to Australia and it cost me more than the item I was sending. I lost money on that. Never again.

I had an international sale done through an offsite ad. The shipping was almost 3 times the cost of the item and the % charged for off site ads is applied to the shipping (and cost more than the item) so I lost $12 on one item. I immediately turned off the off site ad option (never had an issue with this for domestic shipping cause it doesn't quite cost that much). Next I removed all international shipping options as this was the only one I have had in 3 years outside of Canada. So, until I feel it's worth it, I won't be doing it. It's not like I can increase the price to offset this potential type of sale when it is not my main customer.

After having 3 international packages in a row go missing in transit, I stopped selling internationally. I didn't get enough international orders to make it worth having to lose that much money. I got lucky and at least one of them came back to me, but I'm still out a crazy amount for the shipping.