If you are thinking about selling on Depop or have been selling on the platform for a while, you may run into buyers overseas asking if you do international shipping. If you are wondering whether or not to offer to ship worldwide on Depop to expand your potential buyer base, you definitely should!
You will be surprised at how affordable and easy it is to ship worldwide on Depop. So if you are wondering how much international shipping costs and how hard it is to ship orders from the US, you are at the right place! We will show you what you need to know on how to ship worldwide on Depop. The best part is, you can do everything through your phone!
What You Need to Ship Worldwide on Depop
The first thing you will need is a digital scale. Whether you’re shipping with Depop or on your own, a scale is very handy to know the weight of your package since postage fees are largely dependent on this. You can find them for around $20-$30, we like this one and it is a good investment if you plan on selling online, whether that’s with Depop or with any other e-commerce platforms. You will also need a measuring tape and a printer.
Next, you will need to register for a Pirate Ship account. If you have not heard of them, Pirate Ship is a shipping service that lets you buy USPS postage and print shipping labels for domestic and international orders at the cheapest rates out there.
If you also sell on eBay, Pirate Ship comes in very handy because Pirate Ship can integrate with eBay along with other e-commerce platforms. They can sometimes offer cheaper rates than eBay’s shipping. You will need to set up a few settings.
- Ship From Addresses – This is the physical address from which you will be shipping. This is also where returns will be sent back if you accept them. You can set up multiple addresses if you plan on shipping from other addresses but keep in mind, that any returns will be sent to where you choose to ship from.
- Payment Method – You can set up payment with a debit or credit card. You also have the option to buy in increments if you don’t like seeing each shipping transaction on your bank card.
How Much Does it Cost to Ship Worldwide?
PirateShip has a Simple Export Rate that is extremely affordable. You must only meet these four criteria.
- Your package must weigh less than 4 pounds total.
- The item(s) value must be less than $400.
- Any of the dimensions are less than 24”.
- The Length + Height + Width added must be 36″ less than the total.
That means most clothing and shoes can be shipped without any issues. Here is a chart from them that summarizes how much your package will cost to ship to Canada and to the rest of the world.
Shipping Costs
They also make custom forms really easy by including them on the shipping label so when you print, everything is printed onto one form. If you are shipping to Canada, you will get an international shipping label. For full information on shipping to Canada specifically, we have a step-by-step guide on this post here.
If you are shipping to other countries, your shipping label will look like a regular domestic label. It will be addressed to one of the sorting centers that Pirate Ship uses. The label “To” will say Pirate Ship Export Sorting Center. Do not be alarmed by the fact that it will have an address that is not your buyer’s. That is the sorting center address located closest to you. It will be either to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, or Miami.
However, the bottom left of the shipping label will say “Address & custom data sent:” with your customer’s name and country. When the sorting center receives your package, they will re-label it with your buyer’s name and address that you provided to Pirate Ship. The sorting center will also include all the customs information that you have entered.
This is the newest change that Pirate Ship rolled out in January of 2021. Instead of using USPS exclusively as a shipping carrier as they have done in the past, Pirate Ship partnered with Ascendia USA. So it is a hybrid service where USPS takes the package to the sorting center then Ascendia takes over from there. This is actually a good change because USPS has been increasing its rates. You will have seen that for mailing anything with USPS.
Once the package arrives in the recipient’s country, the local Postal service will handle delivery within 1-3 weeks. You can track the order the same way that you track packages here in the US if you are shipping to one of the 55 major countries below.
List of Countries Available for Full Tracking
| Australia Austria Belarus Belgium Brazil Bulgaria Canada Colombia Croatia Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Gibraltar Greece Hong Kong | Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Ireland Israel Italy Japan Lebanon Lithuania Luxembourg Malaysia Malta Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Norway Poland Portugal | Romania Russia Saudi Arabia Serbia Singapore Slovakia Slovenia South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Turkey United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Vietnam |
It is important to note though that some countries may not provide tracking as reliably, although the package may be moving. If the country that you are shipping to is not listed above, you can use tracking services like 17Track. We have a full review of their service here.
How to Create a Shipping Label on Pirate Ship
When your item sells and you receive an invoice from Depop, it will have your buyer’s shipping information. We recommend copying and pasting everything to reduce human error.
- Log on to your account and choose “Create a Single Label”. Copy and paste all your buyer’s information here. Pirate Ship uses Google autocomplete for addresses so it should match with what you have pasted. Make sure you click on the correct country.
- Enter the packaging information. Your package can be any type, whether it is a poly mailer, a box, or an envelope, as long as it meets the weight and dimensions requirements mentioned earlier.
- Make sure to click on the box for “Customs Form” which will open up more fields. You will pick the package content type, and enter the description of what you will be shipping, quantity, dollar value, and weight.
- You will then simply click “Get Rates” where you will be given the price for “Pirate Ship Simple Export Rate”, which will be the cheapest. There will be additional shipping service options as well if you choose additional insurance or a different speed.
- Once you buy the label, you will be able to print the label right away. Your customs form will also be a part of the shipping label.
If you need to see what your Pirate Ship account screen will look like, check this post here.
It is that easy! The one caveat of using Pirate Ship Simple Export Rate is that it does not have insurance for lost or damaged mail. That is the trade-off for an extremely affordable service for items valued at less than $400. We definitely recommend adding insurance, especially for one-of-a-kind items or collectibles.