PLAYBOOK
Selling in the US, UK and Australia
Markets, tax display, duties, returns and the test orders that catch what the rest misses.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Choose the markets, settle tax and price display, plan shipping and duties, write terms per market, then place a test order in each. The tax questions go to an accountant.
IN SHORT
- The three markets show prices differently: the UK and Australia expect the price to include tax, US prices usually have sales tax added at checkout. Decide this before you design the product page.
- Tax registration is a legal question for your accountant. This page lists what to ask, and links the regulator’s own wording.
- One page of terms that is true in only one market is the commonest mistake. Write returns and shipping terms per market.
- The check that catches the most is a test order in each market, comparing the checkout total with what you meant to charge.
Stage 1: decide the markets and the shape
Before any setup.
- List each country you will sell to, the currency, and the products that sell in each.
- Decide how each market reaches the store: its own domain, a path, or one domain with a country selector.
- Decide whether one store covers all three or each gets its own, using the table below.
- Check your payment provider supports the currencies and countries.
- Write down who owns each market’s numbers, so results are read per market.
Stage 2: settle tax and price display
Summaries of each regulator’s own page, checked on October 22, 2026. Not tax advice.
- Decide whether the displayed price includes tax in each market. UK and Australian shoppers expect tax-inclusive prices; US prices usually have sales tax added at checkout.
- UK: for goods sent from outside the UK in consignments of £135 or less, GOV.UK says the seller must charge and account for VAT at the point of sale. GOV.UK: VAT and overseas goods
- Australia: the ATO sets out GST on low value imported goods of A$1,000 or less and when an overseas seller must register. ATO: GST and consumers importing goods
- US: since South Dakota v. Wayfair (2018), a remote seller can owe sales tax in a state once it passes that state’s own threshold. Thresholds differ by state and change, so check each state’s revenue department.
- Ask your accountant which registrations you hold or need, and put the answer in writing.
- Make sure the tax settings in Shopify match that answer, then test them in stage five.
Stage 3: shipping and duties
The customer should not meet a surprise at the door.
- Decide where each market ships from, and the carrier for each route.
- Decide who pays import duties and taxes: the customer at delivery, or you at checkout. Say which, before the customer pays.
- Check with each carrier what it needs on the parcel for customs, and that your product data supplies it.
- List what you will not ship to each country, and make the store refuse it.
- Write delivery times from your carriers’ own service levels, not from a guess.
Stage 4: returns and consumer terms
One policy that is true everywhere is usually true nowhere.
- UK: GOV.UK tells sellers to tell customers they can cancel up to 14 days after delivery. GOV.UK: online and distance selling
- Australia: Australian Consumer Law gives consumers guarantees whatever your policy says. Read the ACCC’s guidance for sellers.
- US: returns terms are mostly yours to set, but state them clearly and keep to them.
- Say who pays return postage, per market, and how long refunds take.
- Have a lawyer read the final terms for each market. This page is not legal advice.
Stage 5: test every checkout, then watch it
The cheapest check on this whole page.
- Place a test order in each market, on a phone, and compare the total, tax and shipping with what you intended.
- Test each payment method and each currency, then refund the orders.
- Check emails, invoices and the order record show tax correctly for that market.
- Check that prices, currency and language do not change in odd ways when someone moves between pages.
- Watch orders, refunds and support tickets per market for the first weeks and fix the pattern, not the single case.
One store or one per country?
Neither is right everywhere.
| One international storeUSUALLY THIS | A store per country | |
|---|---|---|
| Right when | Same catalog and brand, mostly the same prices | Different catalogs, legal terms or teams |
| Main risk | Terms, tax or content that is wrong for one market | More to keep in step: products, apps, themes |
| Reporting | Needs per-market views to read results | Separate by default, harder to combine |
| Start with | The market list and the tax answers | A shared product-data process |
Read the guides
The blog posts behind each stage, for when you want the reasoning.
One store or several, and how do you localize?
Shopify Markets or a store per country?
One storefront serving every market is the right default. Only a short list of things justifies the alternative.
Multi-store governance on Shopify Plus
Shopify gives you the organization layer: users, billing, reporting. Everything that actually drifts between stores is yours to govern, and drift is what makes the fifth store cost more than the first four.
Localizing content without duplicating your catalog
The instinct is to clone: a second store, or a second product record per country. Shopify separates availability, price and language from the product itself so you do not have to.
How do tax, duties and prices work across markets?
Tax registration thresholds, and when selling abroad gets complicated
A threshold is a date in your future, not a permission slip. The question is which of your markets has one you are about to cross, and which never had one at all.
Duties at checkout: the post-purchase surprise that kills repeat orders
Collecting duties at checkout costs you conversion once. Not collecting them costs you the customer, the parcel and the support ticket.
Duty-paid pricing and the markets it opens
DDP is usually discussed as a checkout setting. It is really a pricing decision, and it decides which countries are worth selling into at all.
What changes at checkout by market?
Payment methods by market, and the conversion they unlock
A local payment method only appears when the customer is in a supported country and the currency is eligible. That one rule means your pricing decision quietly decides which methods your buyers ever see.
Buy now, pay later by market: Afterpay, Zip, Klarna and Shop Pay Installments
Which provider you can switch on depends on where your business and store currency sit, not just where your buyers live. Here is how the four differ in the US, UK and Australia.
Translation and localization beyond currency
Switching the currency is the first ten percent. The rest is menus, metafields, notification emails, size guides and the tags your filters are built on.
Questions about selling in three markets
Can one Shopify store sell in the US, UK and Australia?
Yes, and many do. The decisions are about currency, whether prices include tax, where products ship from, who pays import charges and which returns terms apply. The five stages above take them in order. Whether you need one store or several depends on how different the catalog and the prices are.
Do I have to charge VAT to UK customers if my company is overseas?
GOV.UK says that for goods sent from outside the UK in consignments of £135 or less and sold directly to customers, the seller must charge and account for VAT at the point of sale, and that an overseas seller who owns goods in the UK at the point of sale must register. Rules for larger consignments differ. Confirm your situation with an accountant; this is not tax advice.
What about GST in Australia?
The ATO’s guidance covers low value imported goods, meaning goods with a customs value of A$1,000 or less when the price is agreed. An overseas seller registers once its sales to Australian consumers reach A$75,000 in a 12-month period, and marketplaces can be responsible in the seller’s place. Read the ATO page for the current wording and ask your accountant.
How does US sales tax work for a store in another country or state?
Since the Supreme Court’s 2018 South Dakota v. Wayfair decision, a seller with no physical presence can owe sales tax collection in a state once it passes that state’s own threshold. Thresholds and rules differ by state and change, so check each state’s revenue department, or ask a tax adviser, rather than relying on a single number.
Do customers in the UK have a right to cancel an online order?
GOV.UK tells sellers to tell customers they can cancel up to 14 days after delivery, and the period extends to 12 months if the seller does not say so. Australian Consumer Law has its own consumer guarantees that apply whatever your store policy says, so check the ACCC’s guidance. Neither is a substitute for legal advice.
Should I use one international store or a separate store per country?
One store is simpler to run when catalog, prices and content are mostly the same. Separate stores make sense when the catalog, legal terms or the team differ a lot. The table below sets out the trade-off. Either way, run the test orders in stage five.
Where we help
Services and tools for a multi-market store.