Advice for selling internationally?

[Former_Member]

Does anyone have any advice on this? Right now I only have my shop as shipping to the U.S., but I wonder if I might be losing sales from people in other countries since I'm not shipping there. But I'm really nervous about trying to ship to other countries, I don't really know how it works and I'm afraid something might go wrong.
I also don't know how I would determine how much to charge for shipping. Would I charge different shipping prices for different countries, or could I cover it with one shipping price?
If anyone who does ship internationally could tell me how they do it, I'd really appreciate it! :)

[betsyannpaper]

International shipping is expensive. Try figuring out a typical package weight for a standard order and go to USPS.com and "calculate a price." Pick a few random places- Australia, the UK, wherever- and find a zip code for them and see how much it would cost.

Then, I use that as a ballpark so that my shipping is set up as 1 price for US, 1 price for Canada, 1 price for everywhere else.

[Former_Member]

Thanks! :)

[Former_Member]

Hint: For shipping internationaly, Asian countries are usually the most expensive. I calculate my "everywhere else" price for shipping to Japan, and then expect to refund part of the cost to buyers from EU/Australia. For very heavy items, I ask international buyers to contact me for a specific quote.

[Former_Member]

Oh, that's good to know, thanks! I sell pretty much only cards, so nothing is very heavy. Which I guess makes things easier.

[Former_Member]

Lila, I'm really glad you asked this question. I am only shipping to the US for the exact same reason! Guess I should use the advice here and make the leap.