Is expanding to Canada / Mexico viable for me?

[HumblebeeHouse]

Hi there - newish Shopify store owner here honestly looking for any feedback on my situation.

I have a store where I sell two physical print items I’ve created, a niche hardback kid’s picture book and a corresponding paperback coloring book version. The price points are $5, $17, and $20 for both. I have only sold in USA because printed material rates through USPS are very cheap. Based on my item’s price points, would it be viable to open up and sell to both other North American markets? I know very little about international sales but would love to expand my footprint if it’s feasible. Thanks in advance for any feedback!

[adriannecameron]

Absolutely. Made in the USA it is duty free to CA & MX. on top of the fact that to EU, UK & many other countries, books falling under HS chapter 49 are essentially duty free or result in super-reduced VAT rate. Now... whether or not you have the ability to fulfill (inventory wise) and/or carriers to deliver the expected behavior will depend on the volume. LMK if you have any Qs

[HumblebeeHouse]

Interesting! I do have a very large inventory so that’s not an issue. I had never thought CA/MX would be feasible let alone EU/UK. I assumed on a $17 book, it would cost $30+ alone on shipping costs to fulfill across the pond making it not great for foreign purchases. How is this done usually if you know? Is there a service (much like Amazon FBA) where you have to ship bulk inventory and they ship for you to international countries or is it something that’s easily doable for me through my current Shopify setup? Thanks for the advice!

[adriannecameron]

easily doable through current, depending on daily pickup amount. also depends where they pickup. whats your site i need to see what it looks like - you should start with amazon fba though if you havent already, but if you dont have enough then you are fine to purchase labels yourself but not through shopify mkts because they ship ddu and you dont get reduced rates if the label isnt ddp. its a lot just message me

[HumblebeeHouse]

HTTPS://www.humblebeehouse.com/

[adriannecameron]

whats going on with the theme!? plus the book is sold out. where are you centralizing inventory or is this intentional

[HumblebeeHouse]

I'm not sure what you mean.  Would love to see what you're seeing problem-wise with the theme. The store looks normal to me on mobile. All inventories are showing good on my end of Shopify and we have had sales today so I'm not sure what's up on your end. 😕