A few people have expressed interest in my product but we currently do not offer international shipping. I’ve been doing research and I’m trying to figure out if doing this will be good/easy.

I do believe this may be a good option for our business to explore. A follower of mine has expressed a lot of interest in our products and has a large following of the same niche. She provided stats and, despite being international, she does have a lot of US-based followers. I think this may help us gain a little more recognition.

  1. How hard is it to ship if I were to use PirateShip to generate the labels and customs form?

  2. PirateShip’s fine print says it can be any box or envelope. Does this mean bubble mailers won’t work?

  3. I looked at their Simple Export Rate and are customers normally willing to pay $10-20 for shipping?

  4. Do you purchase insurance for the international packages?

  5. How long is shipping normally? Are customers willing to pay for shipping on top of the long wait times?

  • LittleMsSavoirFaire@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I was unaware that PirateShip did international shipping but I will say in my experience (primarily EU, UK, and Canada) shipping USPS is much more preferable, even though it looks more expensive up front. USPS just seems to interface smoothly with whatever governmental mail is in the other country, preventing headaches like “UPS phoned up and said I owed $60 in duties, and I don’t want it anymore. Can I get a refund?”

    • Honest-Sprinkles-957@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Thank you for your reply! Is it not expected to pay your own duties/fees when you purchase things internationally? That’s a big yikes.

      I read up on EU and they require harmonization codes? Is that something hard to do? What if I’m unable to find my item(s) code?