Question 1: Is there real demand from a specific country?

Check your existing traffic and any pre-launch interest by country before building international shipping into your process. If demand is concentrated in one or two countries, start there rather than trying to support every destination at once.

If demand is unclear: Consider testing with a manual, one-off international shipment before building a permanent process around it.

Question 2: Does your product clear that country's de minimis threshold easily, or not?

Check the destination country's current de minimis value against your typical order value — see de minimis thresholds by country. If most of your orders fall comfortably under the threshold, customs friction will be minimal. If they routinely exceed it, plan for duties as a standard part of the transaction.

Question 3: DDP or DDU/DAP?

If your orders will routinely incur duties (see Question 2), decide whether you'll prepay them (DDP, smoother buyer experience, more seller admin) or let the buyer pay at delivery (DDU/DAP, simpler setup, risk of buyer surprise and refused packages). See Incoterms explained for small sellers for the full tradeoff.

Question 4: Can your shipping software handle the documentation?

Confirm your shipping platform supports customs forms, HS code lookup, and your chosen Incoterm for the destination countries you're targeting — see the shipping software guide. If not, either switch platforms or plan for manual documentation, which doesn't scale well past occasional shipments.

Question 5: Is your product description and HS code accurate and specific?

Before your first shipment to a new country, confirm you're using specific item descriptions and correct HS codes — this is the single most preventable cause of customs delays. See avoiding customs delays.

Putting it together

A seller with light demand, low-value orders comfortably under the destination's de minimis threshold, and a shipping platform that already supports customs documentation can reasonably start international shipping with minimal setup. A seller with strong demand, higher-value orders, and no current customs documentation support has real setup work ahead before international orders should go live at scale — starting with Question 4 above.

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