9-minute read

Developing an International Delivery Strategy

Delivering globally can help your shop reach more customers. Here’s how to tap into priority placement in US search results with a strategic approach.

Avatar image for Etsy Staff by Etsy Staff
Title image for the article
Want to open your own Etsy shop? Create your shop today!

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 delivering internationally can vary, too.

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

Soon, to make it as easy as possible for US shoppers to find items that deliver for free or are eligible to deliver for free when sold as part of an order of $35 USD or more from the same shop, for US search results, Etsy will start reserving the most visible search spots on the page for items that deliver for free and shops that deliver for 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 delivery strategy, there are a few factors you might consider, especially if you are thinking about offering a US free delivery guarantee. Here are some options for finding and implementing a strategy that works for you.

Analysing 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 2019). After you download the CSV file, you can sort the list by “Delivery Country” to see what percentage of orders are being delivered to the US. If the majority of your orders are coming from the US, it may make sense to try offering a free delivery guarantee to your US buyers.

For sellers focused on growing sales within their own country, there are no planned changes to how offering US free delivery 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 delivered 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 dispatch
Canadian seller Alicia Zwicewicz of Beardbangs offers free delivery 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 delivery guarantee in your shop

When you choose to offer a free delivery guarantee, your US-based buyers will receive free delivery 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 postage, you can consider updating your item list prices to include postage prices. 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.

A smart pricing tool, which will allow you to make bulk adjustments to multiple listings priced $35 USD and over, will be available in August for sellers outside of the US. In the meantime, you can manually update your prices to recover postage costs if you want to do so.

For items priced $35 USD and over, here are some examples of how you can consider adjusting your prices to recover postage costs:

  • Your domestic shipping price: This approach works best if a large portion of your sales come from buyers in your own country.
  • Your US postage price: This is a good approach if you’re concerned about covering postage costs to the US or a large portion of your sales come from US shoppers.
  • An average of your US and domestic postage prices: If there’s a large difference between your domestic and US postage prices, it may make sense to choose a middle ground with the expectation that costs will balance out between various distances travelled. For example, if your domestic postage price is $3 USD and your US postage price is $10 USD, you may choose to adjust your item prices by $6 USD to average your costs.

For items priced under $35 USD, you’ll also want to consider how your inventory and pricing strategy can incentivise multi-item orders that meet the free delivery threshold while ensuring you’re able to recover associated postage costs. For instance, if you sell a $30 USD necklace, perhaps shoppers would rather buy the matching earrings than pay for postage.

If you choose to adjust your item prices to recover postage costs, you may want to consider updating your delivery profiles for other countries to ensure that the total price your non-US buyers pay reflects your actual costs. To update the delivery profiles for your listings, visit Shop Manager > Listings > Editing Options >Change delivery profiles. It’s good practice to reduce your postage 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 postage costs on a variety of items, including furniture and vintage goods, read Strategies for Delivering Challenging Items.

Saving time and money with Etsy Postage Labels

To help save time and reduce your postage costs, try Etsy Postage Labels if you’re dispatching 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. If you’re new to Chit Chats, give it a try and get a $10 CAD credit from Chit Chats when you sign up and link to your Etsy shop. Offer valid until December 31, 2019.

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

In 2018, Aga Koch of ArtStudioAK began experimenting with offering free delivery 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 postage costs to the US.

“I started slowly at first”, recalls Aga, “lowering the postage fee and integrating the part of the postage cost in the price. In case of very large canvases, the postage 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 delivery 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 postage costs had been fairly easy because about 90% of her parcels are under four pounds and cost about the same to deliver to the US. “I understand that in some cases offering free delivery 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 postage 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 delivery and promoting her items in 2018, she’s seen her sales steadily grow. Her advice to other sellers who are thinking about trying free delivery: “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.”

Return to the Ultimate Guide to Delivery

We’d like to know what you think about offering a free delivery guarantee: Share feedback

Avatar image for Etsy Staff Words by Etsy Staff

Connect with the community

Looking for a place to share questions and spark new conversations?

Join the conversation in the Forums and get inspired

See more

Latest articles

The Ultimate Guide to Pricing

The Ultimate Guide to Pricing

Get the smartest, most up-to-date guidance on developing your pricing strategy to reach new customers, increase profits, and grow your business.

How to Craft a Killer About Section

How to Craft a Killer About Section

Telling the story behind your business can create a connection with customers – and boost your visibility. Learn how Etsy sellers are doing just that.

The Essentials of Online Advertising

The Essentials of Online Advertising

Advertising is one way to help shoppers discover your products. Get to know the basics of online advertising to accelerate your marketing efforts.

Tools for Growing Your Business – and How to Fit Them Into Your Pricing Strategy

Tools for Growing Your Business – and How to Fit Them Into Your Pricing Strategy

Learn how discounts, advertising, and sales events can help support the goals you have for your shop while protecting your bottom line.