Cross border selling from Australia to Europe and UK

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

An Australian e-commerce brand is receiving orders from UK, France, and Spain and wants to expand sales through Facebook ads but needs guidance on cross-border compliance.

Key Questions:

  • Import duties & taxes: Should these be calculated at checkout (via apps) or left for customers to pay upon delivery? Seeking recommendations for customer-friendly solutions.

  • Tax collection: Currently doesn’t charge taxes in Australia. Unclear whether VAT/sales tax must be collected for UK/EU/US sales from a single store setup.

  • Tax registration: Uncertain if VAT registration is required in destination countries, or only after reaching specific sales thresholds.

The seller wants to remain compliant while capitalizing on holiday season opportunities but finds international selling regulations overwhelming. Another user has encountered identical challenges, indicating this is a common pain point for Australian merchants expanding to European markets. The discussion remains open with no solutions provided yet.

Summarized with AI on November 1. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Hi All,

I am an e commerce brand based in Australia and have received a few orders and enquiries from customers in UK, France and Spain. I want to start running facebook ads and start selling in these countries but have no idea about the following:-

  1. Should I add any apps or figure out a way to include import duties and taxes at check out for those customers or let them pay on their own on arrival ? Should I just mention the same at checkout page / cart page ? I want to have happy customers. Are there any helpful apps ?

  2. I am already using currency converter on my store . I dont charge taxes on products in Australia. Do I need to start charging that to sell in UK/ EU / US ? How do I do that from a single store ?

  3. Will I need to be registered as a tax payer in these countries where I sell ? Like for VAT etc ? Or is that only applicable if I cross a certain sale threshold in amount ? I understand Australia has tax treaties with most countries.

It is so overwhelming to sell outside australia , and I want to remain compliant , but there is just so much potential that I dont want to miss out. Esp with the holiday season.

Please help

1 Like
2

Hi, I encounter the exact same issue, have you had and answers by any chance ? thanks