I've Gone International

NOTE: My shop The Beehive is now Papercut Kitchen! Please visit my shop Papercut Kitchen by clicking here.

I've been wanting to add international shipping to my shop forever but just haven't found the time to do it. Now that I'm having trouble finding time to craft and I've been doing more playing on the computer I decided it was time to dive in. I got to use the new postal scale I got for Christmas and hauled all my items and packaging out to start the process. Doing it all with a dial up connection was a hastle. I got on usps.com and played around with numbers and different countries so that I could add just Canada and Everywhere Else, but wanted to try and make sure a miscalculation of Everywhere Else didn't end up sinking me. I think I found amounts that would cover the main places. As long as someone from a strangely expensive country doesn't buy something I think I'm covered. It took me two days to get it set up but now I have international shipping on everything!

Now I'm waiting for my first international sale so I can see how it goes. Alot goes into shipping international it seems, customs forms and such, but I know it's just a matter of doing and learning as I go. Etsy does have a nice feature where you can save shipping profiles, that way when I list items in the future all I have to do is pick the profile that most fits the item and it loads the info for me. Setting up the profiles takes some time but it's well worth it. I think it's exciting to think that my things could start ending up all over the world, heck I've been excited that they're making it all over the country!

Thinking of going international yourself? These links may give you some helpful info, oh and don't forget, usps is upping their shipping prices and changing the way they price shipments starting May 12, 2008, stock up on your Forever stamps while you can get them at the current price!

usps price and services changes
usps.com homepage
usps index of countries where you can find shipping rules and regs for specific countries
EtsyWiki customs information
Etsy forums are also extremely helpful, especially now that they have made their forum search functional. Go to the forums and do a search for "international shipping" and you will find lots of helpful information on how to go international and learn through others' experiences.