Currencies, Duties and What Customers Actually Receive

Duties are the main complaint generator

A customer who receives a demand for import duty they did not expect will not order again, and will frequently refuse the parcel. That cost lands on you either way.

Either collect duties at checkout so the price is final, or state plainly and prominently that the customer pays on delivery. Silence is the option that produces complaints.

What has to be right

1. Local currency displayed, with sensible rounding
2. Duties and taxes either collected or clearly disclosed
3. Delivery times that reflect customs delays, not just transit
4. Returns — a realistic route, or an honest statement that returns are difficult
5. Product compliance — electrical standards, labelling, restricted items

Local currency changes conversion

Shoppers seeing prices in their own currency convert measurably better than those asked to convert mentally. Shopify handles this well and it is one of the easier improvements.

Round the converted prices sensibly. An automatically converted £24.99 showing as an awkward figure looks amateurish.

Delivery expectations must include customs

A carrier's transit time is not the delivery time once customs is involved. Quote what customers actually experience, including the range.

Under-promising and delivering early is a much better position than a stream of “where is my order” enquiries.

Start with one or two markets

• Pick markets where you already see traffic or enquiries
• Get the duties, delivery and returns right for those
• Measure the return rate and complaint rate honestly
• Then expand, rather than switching on forty countries at once

Frequently asked questions