Make Me International....

I had my first International sale in my Etsy shop this week! Fabulous!

Making your shop friendly for international buyers opens the door to a lot of new business.   The US dollar is not very strong right now and our global neighbors can get quite a good deal on purchasing American goods. 

Several things you can do are:

• Offer international shipping. This seems silly, but I've seen many forum posts from frustrated international customers who WOULD have bought from a store, but sadly, the seller did not offer international shipping.
• Accurately calculate shipping costs. Shipping is not as expensive as you might think, and doing your research will really help prevent you from scaring off international customers with exorbitant shipping rates.  The same bracelet I shipped in the US for $2.98 shipped to the United Kingdom for $6.68.  Really not that much more.
• Use metric measurements. Be sure that you give measurements in centimeters as well as inches, as most the rest of the world uses the metric system of measurement.
• Offer discounted shipping to international customers. I've often seen many shops do 'free shipping' sales, but only to domestic customers. This can be very frustrating to international customers who may feel as though they are being treated as second class citizens.

Using some of these tips, as well as having a well structured shop with great pictures, clear descriptions and good products, will certainly help you succeed on internationally on Etsy.