International Shipping on Shopify: A Practical Guide

Who it is for

UK stores starting to sell abroad

Time needed

2 to 4 hours to set up

What you need

Product weights, HS codes and a carrier

The first order from abroad usually turns up before the store is ready for it. Someone in Germany or Texas finds a product, the checkout lets them through on a rate that was never meant for their country, and the parcel then sits at customs while the customer is asked for duty they didn't expect. Most of the international shipping problems I fix on UK stores start exactly like that.

This guide sets up international shipping in the order I use on client stores: decide the countries and who pays duties, open the markets, build zones and rates, choose carriers, add customs data, then test. Menu names, carrier limits and fees come from Shopify's help center, the European Commission and US Customs and Border Protection, as checked on 7 November 2026.

Three decisions to make first

Settings are the easy part. These three choices decide what you set, and changing them later means redoing rates and policies.

1. Which countries. Start with the countries you already get traffic or enquiries from. Check your analytics by country. Shipping to "the whole world" on day one usually means a rate that loses money on half the destinations.
2. Who pays duties and import taxes. Either the customer pays a known amount at checkout (delivered duty paid, DDP), or they pay the carrier when the parcel arrives (delivered at place, DAP). DDP costs more to set up but removes the nasty surprise at the door.
3. What you charge for shipping. Flat rates are simple and predictable. Calculated rates track your real label cost. Free shipping over a threshold is a sales tool, but only if the threshold covers the label.

Step 1: Add the countries to a market

Shopify won't sell to a country that isn't in an active market, whatever your shipping zones say. Open Markets in the admin sidebar and either add the countries to an existing international market or create one market per region you want to treat differently, for example the EU, the US and the rest of the world.

1. Create or open a market. Add the countries or regions it covers and make sure the market is active.
2. Set the currency. Shoppers buy more readily in their own currency. With Shopify Payments, a currency conversion fee applies when the shopper pays in a currency other than your payout currency: 2% for UK-based stores and 1.5% for US-based stores.
3. Check the language and domain. A translated storefront helps in markets like Germany and the Netherlands. Translation and domains are separate decisions from shipping, but they live in the same place.

Step 2: Build zones and rates

On stores still using shipping profiles, zones and rates live under Settings > Shipping and delivery. A zone is a group of countries that share the same rates.

1. Open the profile. Go to Settings > Shipping and delivery and click the shipping profile under Shipping profiles. Most stores only need the general profile. Create a custom profile (you can have up to 99) only for products that ship differently, such as heavy or fragile items.
2. Add a zone. Under Shipping zones, click Add zone, name it ("EU", "USA", "Rest of world") and select its countries.
3. Add a shipping option. Click Add shipping option. The Name is what customers see, so make it descriptive: "Tracked international, 3 to 6 working days" beats "International".
4. Pick the rate type. Choose Flat, Order amount, Weight or Carrier or app calculated. For weight-based rates, set each range's minimum, maximum and price, and leave the maximum empty on the highest tier so heavy orders aren't blocked.
5. Add transit time. On flat rates, pick a suggested transit time or enter a custom one. It feeds the delivery estimate at checkout.
6. Set free shipping if you offer it. Select Offer free shipping and enter a minimum order amount for that zone. Set a different threshold per zone, because a parcel to Australia costs far more than one to France.
7. Save, then repeat for each zone.

Carrier-calculated rates from your own account (UPS, FedEx and others) need third-party carrier-calculated shipping, which is included on Advanced and Plus. Grow stores can add it for a monthly fee or by switching to yearly billing. From a UK location, Shopify's built-in calculated rates cover DPD UK, InPost UK and Royal Mail, which are domestic services, so most UK stores use weight-based or flat rates for international zones.

Step 3: Choose how you buy international labels

This is where UK stores trip up. Shopify Shipping lists Royal Mail, Evri, DPD, InPost UK and DHL Express Europe for UK fulfillment locations, but the Royal Mail, Evri and DPD labels sold inside Shopify are domestic only. So the carrier you use for UK orders may not be able to take your international ones.

Click & Drop is free to use, you pay only for postage, and it imports your Shopify orders automatically. Many small UK stores run both: Shopify Shipping for domestic labels and Click & Drop for international. I've written up the connection steps in how to connect Royal Mail Click & Drop to Shopify, and the domestic carriers are compared in Royal Mail vs Evri vs DPD.

Step 4: Add customs data to every product

Shopify's help center is blunt about it: if you ship internationally, each product must include a Harmonized System (HS) code. Without one you risk border delays, penalties or seized goods, and Shopify won't create a label that needs a customs declaration until every item has an HS code and a country of origin.

1. Open a product. In the Shipping section, check that Physical product is on and that the weight is accurate.
2. Set the origin. Click Country of origin and choose where the product was made or took its final form. A mug printed in the UK on a blank made elsewhere needs care here, so check the rules for your product.
3. Enter the HS code. Use the Harmonized System (HS) code field. Codes are usually six digits worldwide, and Shopify uses a country's longer code for duty where one exists.
4. Do the rest in bulk. In the bulk editor, add the Harmonized system code and Country of origin columns. For large catalogs, use the CSV under Settings > Taxes and duties > Duties and import taxes > Manage, then Update with CSV.

The customs declaration also needs a description, quantity, value and weight for each item, and parcels to the EU worth €150 or less need a product identifier for each item. The description usually comes from the HS code's standard wording, not your product title, so a wrong code also means a wrong description.

Step 5: Set up duties, or warn the customer

If you want customers to pay duties at checkout, go to Settings > Taxes and duties, click Set up in the Duties and import taxes section, confirm your carriers support DDP, pick the countries, fill any missing HS codes, update your policy and notifications, then click Agree and activate.

A few limits catch people out. You can't collect duties in a Rest of world zone, so countries need their own zones. Northern Ireland isn't supported. You can't offer DDP and DAP to the same country. Your carrier must support DDP labels, and among Shopify Shipping carriers, DHL Express supports both DDP and DAP. If you choose DAP, say so on the product page, in the cart and in your shipping policy.

The rules that differ by destination

EU. The EU ended its duty exemption for parcels worth €150 or less on 1 July 2026. A temporary €3 customs duty now applies per declaration line until 1 July 2028, whichever VAT scheme you use. For VAT, a UK seller can register for the Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) through an EU-based intermediary and collect VAT at checkout on orders up to €150. In Shopify, IOSS and the duties feature can't both run at checkout for the EU. My guide to customs and duties on EU orders covers both routes in detail.

US. US Customs and Border Protection began enforcing the global suspension of duty-free de minimis treatment on 29 August 2025, so low-value parcels from the UK no longer enter duty-free. Only narrow exemptions remain, such as bona fide gifts under $100.

Common mistakes

• One "Rest of world" rate for everything. A single price either overcharges Europe or loses money on Australia, and it blocks duty collection.
• Missing weights. Weight-based and calculated rates go wrong when products have no weight, and some countries need it for duties.
• Assuming your UK carrier ships abroad. Royal Mail, Evri and DPD labels bought in Shopify are UK only.
• Vague product descriptions on customs forms. "Gift" or "Clothing" gets parcels held. The HS code drives the description, so get it right.
• DAP with no warning. A surprise charge at the door is the fastest route to a refused parcel and a chargeback.
• Free shipping thresholds copied from the UK. Set each zone's threshold from its real label cost.

International shipping checklist

1. Countries chosen from real traffic, and each added to an active market.
2. Currency set per market, with the conversion fee priced into margins.
3. A zone per region, with no countries left only in Rest of world if you collect duties.
4. Descriptive rate names with transit times.
5. Free shipping thresholds set per zone from real label costs.
6. Every product has a weight, an HS code and a country of origin.
7. International carrier chosen: DHL Express, Click & Drop or your own account.
8. Duty approach decided and either activated in Shopify or explained on the site.
9. Shipping policy updated with transit times, duties and returns from abroad.
10. Test checkout run for each zone with a real address.

Next steps

Start small. Open one or two markets where you already have demand, ship a few weeks of orders, and look at the real label costs and delivery times before you add more countries. The fees involved are broken down in what it costs to sell internationally on Shopify.

If you'd rather have it set up once and properly, I do this as part of store development for UK brands, from markets and rates to HS codes in bulk. Store design and development starts from $300, and every project gets a fixed quote. You can also ask for a free review of your current setup first.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Setting up shipping zones and rates, Shopify Help Center
2. Understanding shipping carriers, Shopify Help Center
3. Collecting duties and import taxes at checkout, Shopify Help Center
4. HS codes, Shopify Help Center
5. EU applies €3 customs duty per item on low-value e-commerce consignments, European Commission
6. CBP ready to enforce end of de minimis loophole, U.S. Customs and Border Protection

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Written by Ashraf Siddik

I'm a Shopify developer and CRO specialist. I have built and improved Shopify stores since 2018, completed more than 1,000 projects, and hold a 4.96 average rating across 719 client reviews.

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