Developing an International Shipping Strategy

Just as the items on Etsy can vary in size from a tiny stud earring to a giant sectional sofa, each seller’s approach to shipping internationally can vary, too.

Many sellers choose to sell their items internationally in order to reach more customers. Often, that includes shipping to the United States, which has the largest customer base in Etsy’s global market. Because most buyers only see items that ship to their country while searching on Etsy, you'll allow them to find you by offering international shipping.

To make it as easy as possible for US shoppers to find items that ship free or are eligible to ship free when sold as part of an order of $35 USD or more from the same shop, for US search results, Etsy reserves the most visible search spots on the page for items that ship free and shops that ship free to US buyers for all orders from their shop that total $35 USD or more.

As you’re growing your domestic sales and also developing an international shipping strategy, there are a few factors you might consider, especially if you are thinking about offering a US free shipping guarantee. Here are some options for finding and implementing a strategy that works for you.

Analyzing your orders

First, it’s helpful to determine what portion of your orders are coming from the US. To do that, go to Shop Manager > Settings > Options > Download data. In the dropdown menu for “CSV type,” select “Orders” and pick a timeframe (such as 2022). After you download the CSV file, you can sort the list by “Ship Country” to see what percentage of orders are being shipped to the US. If the majority of your orders are coming from that country, it may make sense to try offering a free shipping guarantee to your US buyers.

For sellers focused on growing sales in their domestic market, there are no planned changes to how free shipping affects search placement when buyers outside the US search on Etsy. We plan to continue to invest in making it easier for buyers and sellers to connect in their own countries by increasing our digital marketing efforts aimed at bringing more buyers from around the world to Etsy.

If you’re interested in expanding your sales internationally for the first time, it’s important to note that packages shipped globally may be subject to import taxes, customs duties, and/or fees imposed by the destination country. While Etsy does not expect sellers to calculate or collect these fees or taxes, clarifying who will be responsible for customs fees in your shop policies helps eliminate any surprises for international buyers. You can learn more about custom duties here.

Seller packaging an item to ship — Canadian seller Alicia Zwicewicz of Beardbangs offers free shipping in North America, where most of her customers live. Read more about Alicia's ceramics shop in this Quit Your Day Job.

Offering a US free shipping guarantee in your shop

When you choose to offer a free shipping guarantee, your US-based buyers will receive free shipping for all orders over $35 USD from your shop, whether they’re purchasing a single item that meets or exceeds the order minimum, or multiple items that add up to $35 USD or more in a single order.

Reviewing your pricing strategy

To help recover the cost of shipping, you can consider updating your item list prices to include shipping prices using our smart pricing tool. Your item prices don’t change depending on where a shopper is located when they view your listings, so choose an approach that makes sense for your primary customer base.

Here are some examples of how you can consider adjusting your prices to recover shipping costs:

Your domestic shipping price: This approach works best if a large portion of your sales come from buyers in your own country. Using the pricing tool, the price you currently charge for domestic shipping will be added to your item prices. Choosing this option reduces shipping prices to buyers outside the US by the same amount, so your domestic buyers will pay the same total price as before. You’ll cover the remaining cost of shipping to the US.
Your US shipping price: This is a good approach if you’re concerned about covering shipping costs to the US or a large portion of your sales come from US shoppers. Using the pricing tool, the price you currently charge for US shipping will be added to your item prices. Choosing this option reduces shipping prices outside the US by the same amount. If the US shipping price is higher than a shipping price to another country, we'll set the shipping price to that country to free, so your domestic buyers may pay a higher total price. Your US shipping price will be covered.
An average of your US and domestic shipping prices: If there’s a large difference between your domestic and US shipping prices, it may make sense to choose a middle ground with the expectation that costs will balance out between various distances traveled. For example, if your domestic shipping price is $3 USD and your US shipping price is $10 USD, you may choose to adjust your item prices by $6 USD to average your costs. Using the pricing tool, you'll also have the option to edit listing prices by a set increase or decrease.

You can learn more about Etsy's smart pricing tool here.

For items priced under $35 USD, consider how your inventory and pricing strategy can incentivize multi-item orders that meet the free shipping threshold while ensuring you’re able to recover associated shipping costs. For instance, if you sell a $30 USD necklace, perhaps shoppers would rather buy the matching earrings than pay for shipping. Learn more by reading How to Increase Your Revenue With Tiered Product Offerings.

If you choose to adjust your item prices to recover shipping costs, you may want to consider updating your shipping profiles for other countries to ensure that the total price your non-US buyers pay reflects your actual costs. To update the shipping profiles for your listings, visit Shop Manager > Listings > Editing Options > Change shipping profile. It’s good practice to reduce your shipping prices by the amount that you increased your item prices by. Keep in mind that how you determine and set prices for your shop is up to you.

For more information on recovering shipping costs on a variety of items, including furniture and vintage goods, read Strategies for Shipping Challenging Items.

Saving time and money with Shipping Labels on Etsy

To help save time and reduce your shipping costs, try shipping labels on Etsy if you’re shipping from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, or the United States. We’ve negotiated discounted rates with postal carriers in most of these countries.

We partnered with Chit Chats, Canada's shipping alternative, to help grow your business with low-cost, fully tracked shipping options—making it easier for you to offer a US free shipping guarantee. They work with global shipping carriers to save you up to 74% to the U.S. and internationally and are a preferred shipping solution by thousands of Etsy sellers.

Case Study: How European artist Aga Koch makes US free shipping work for her shop

In 2018, Aga Koch of ArtStudioAK began experimenting with offering free shipping on the nature-inspired drawings and paintings listed in her shop. While she splits her time between Cracow, Poland and Stuttgart, Germany, about 70% of her orders come from the US. She decided to adjust her item prices to incorporate the average shipping costs to the US.

“I started slowly at first,” recalls Aga, “lowering the shipping fee and integrating the part of the shipping cost in the price. In case of very large canvases, the shipping costs are huge, so it was actually necessary, so as not to scare off potential buyers when they went to checkout.”

Original abstract painting hanging in a bedroom — Aga's products vary greatly in size, from prints available in a range of sizes to large original canvas pieces.

As a shopper, Aga finds free shipping very appealing. “I try to look at it from the buyer’s perspective,” she says. “I personally hate falling in love with something and only to later find out that, in reality, it costs more—or sometimes much more—than I thought.”

For Aga, incorporating the shipping costs had been fairly easy because about 90% of her parcels are under four pounds and cost about the same to ship to the US. “I understand that in some cases offering free shipping could be difficult,” she says, but it made sense for her shop. “I don't think the customer has to—or wants to—know what my shipping costs are. Have we ever known when buying at the mall how much the rent was, or any other costs they had?”

Since Aga began offering free shipping and promoting her items in 2018, she’s seen her sales steadily grow. Her advice to other sellers who are thinking about trying free shipping: “Test it and see how it works for you. You can always adjust your prices as you go. Calculate your prices fairly—and pay yourself fairly, too.”