I spent many years (on another platform) selling internationally but made the decision to stop, initially in lockdown when the international postal system was so broken, and afterwards because of the very high postal charges, particularly to the US where many of my international customers were, and the packaging regulations for the various EU countries, which are a logistical and financial burden that a one-person microbusiness simply can’t support. I miss my international customers. However, I don’t miss the ‘where’s my package’ messages (this year was my first ever Xmas season without a single one) and the vagaries of international tracking!
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I sell overseas and don’t have any issues, I have 2 rolls of the CN22 labels (with and without barcodes) and fill those in on the parcels, I also add my EORI number to the top and the commodity codes (for those i have been able to find).
I use Craft Cover for my insurance which covers me for USA.
My bears are all over the world which is a lovely and an almost strange feeling as well, when i use to sell via facebook I had more international sales, there are bears in New zealand, USA, Arab emitrates, France, Canada, Spain and a whole collection of elephants in
Australia.
On Folksy I have sold to Australia, USA, Canada but do do need to look at the EU, I havn’t quite got the hang of
what we need for it since brexit and have thought about taking that option off my shop, I did read up on it but it didnt go in…
I am going to read up on Royal mail for sending to the EU, do we have an IOSS number from Folksy ? And this doesn’t cost the seller anything does it ?
I know it is Probably straight forward but I can’t get my head around it lol 
. Any advice is always welcome x
Folksy will share with you their IOSS number when you get an order it applies to (EU orders under 135 euros), it needs to be part of the electronic presubmission that is associated with the parcel so you either need to add it via click and drop or go to the post office and they will enter it onto the computer system. An invoice including how much vat has been paid and the ioss number in a clear envelope on the outside is also required in case it is inspected by customs. It doesn’t cost you anything (other than a few sheets of paper for the invoices and a clear document wallet).
edited to add The packaging licenses do cost us as sellers. So if you got an order to France for a single bear then Folksy’s IOSS would cover it BUT you’d need a French packaging license as well.
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I have been shipping orders overseas for the past 12 years, mainly America but also Australia, canada and Europe. To post anything overseas I always use tracked and insured for postage, ( I dont use signed for as some home adresses are miles from a post office and if they miss the post they have a long drive ). You need to know the Tariff number to send anything over seas, this can be found on the HM Govenment website. You should also get an Eori number from HMRC, this helps parcels to run smoothly through import and export, I write this number at the tope of the customs lable, again this EORI number is FRE from HMRC. you also need to check the restricted list for each country you want to send to as some items are not allowed.
Sending to Europe has become more difficult since we left the EU due to some countries imposing a Packaging Recycling charge, where you are responsible for the packaging and its recyling in the host country. You have to sign up for to be registered, which is free, however you then have to sign up to a company to handle the fees, that will cost you, minimum fee is about £35.00 per country depending on the amount of packaging you send into the country, currently its France, Germany, and Austria doing this, but others will follow I imagine, so for me its not worth the hassel.
As for sending to USA, Canada and Australia, I have not had any issues, as long as you have a customs label on, and the correct tariff and value of the item on the customs form. I have some digital kitchen scales that I can wiegh my items on and then check the Royal Mail website for prices, these are quite accurate and been doing this since I started back in 2011.
I don’t currently sell overseas here on Folksy but I do on my own website and over on E**y
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Thank you very much Sasha, I understand it a bit more now and after reading some of the other comments I might still take the EU out, I havn’t sold to the EU since Brexit and I think for now it might not be worth it. If I leave the postage box blank on my listings for EU will that stop anyone being able to order ?
I dont have any issues sending to US, Canada,
Australia etc, I have tariff numbers for my bears and dolls but havn’t found anything for my kits, I will look at those today. I also put my EORI number on the top of the CN22 label @bagsofelegance and the tariff number for those I have found. I always send a refund if I over charge on postage but have sent quite a lot of parcels international so am fairly accurate with it now.
Because you’ve got ‘everywhere else’ filled in technically an EU customer can purchase but would be charged ‘everywhere else’ postage. I think in practice because they don’t see ‘europe’ on the list they are dissuaded from ordering.
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Ah yes, I would hope the postage cost for everywhere else would put them off, if I take that out I will lose custom from Australia, Canada etc so will chance it, if I do get an order ai may have to apologise and say I can’t fulfil it. Thank you again
Hello everyone,
I want to thank you for such helpful and thorough input into the oveseas sales topic. I am really grateful for your answers and advise. I have a lot to think about and jot every piece of info down as there’s a lot to take in!
Sorry for my delayed reply. Happy New Year to you all! May it be very successful in many ways. xxx
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