eBay UK international orders: postage, customs and delivery explained

How do eBay UK international orders work?

eBay UK international orders are sales on eBay.co.uk to buyers outside the UK. They reach you in one of two ways. Either the order is sent through eBay International Shipping, where you post it to a UK hub and eBay does the rest, or you post it abroad yourself, as you would a domestic order but with customs paperwork and longer delivery times. Which route an order takes depends on your postage settings and whether the item and your account are eligible.

eBay International Shipping is replacing the Global Shipping Programme for eligible UK sellers. eBay's help page says it is being introduced in phases, and that eligible sellers enrolled in the Global Shipping Programme are moved across automatically.

eBay International Shipping: what you do and what eBay does

With eBay International Shipping, eBay says your job is to send the sold item safely to the UK shipping hub. When an item sells to an international buyer, eBay gives you the hub address. You post it there with tracking and the reference number on the label, which Simple Delivery adds automatically. Once the hub receives it, eBay adds international tracking and takes care of the international postage, customs clearance and returns.

What eBay covers

eBay's help page lists the protections. If an item is lost or damaged during international shipping, or at the hub, eBay works with the buyer and you are protected from refunding the buyer, from eBay Money Back Guarantee cases and payment disputes, from open not as described returns in your service metrics, and from negative or neutral feedback about handling during international shipping. You are protected against item not received claims and chargebacks once the hub accepts the item.

Returns work differently from your domestic orders. eBay applies a 30 day return policy to items sent through the programme. When a buyer returns an item, eBay refunds the buyer and you keep the sale, but returned items, undeliverable items and items that fail inspection at the hub are not sent back to you.

Who and what is eligible

eBay's eligibility rules include Above Standard or Top Rated seller performance, eligibility for seller protections, low or average service metrics and compliance with eBay's policies. Items must be in the UK and listed on eBay.co.uk, eligible for export, and the order must not cost more than £900 including postage. Packages must not exceed 120 cm in length, 120 x 60 x 60 cm, or 31.5 kg. Many hazardous or restricted items are excluded, including lithium batteries that are loose, damaged or used, aerosols, alcohol, plants and seeds, supplements and medicines, tobacco and e-cigarettes, and weapons, so check the full list for your category.

Fees

eBay says business sellers can save on selling fees for international transactions with the programme, including no international fee. For private sellers, eBay's UK selling fees page says a UK private seller pays a 3% international fee when delivering overseas, so check which applies to your account.

Posting international orders yourself

If you offer your own international postage, or an item is not eligible for the programme, the order is yours from start to finish. That gives you more control over the service and the price, and more responsibility.

1. Choose a tracked international service. eBay's help page says that outside eBay International Shipping and the Global Shipping Programme you must add international tracking yourself, using a carrier that offers tracking.
2. Set a realistic delivery estimate. International services take longer, and customs can add days. The estimate shown to the buyer is what late delivery is judged against.
3. Complete the customs declaration. Royal Mail and couriers use a CN22 for lower-value parcels and a CN23 above a value set by the postal service. Describe the goods precisely, give the true value and, for business senders, the tariff code and country of origin. Your carrier's guidance gives the current thresholds and what each form needs.
4. Tell the buyer about import charges. eBay advises sellers to tell overseas buyers about the import charges they may have to pay when the item arrives.
5. Upload tracking the same day and keep an eye on the parcel through customs.

Customs and the Money Back Guarantee

eBay's Money Back Guarantee sets out who bears the risk when import charges cause problems. An item that could not be delivered because the buyer did not pay import charges is not covered, so the buyer cannot claim it as not received for that reason. It is covered, however, if you said the item would be sent with import charges pre-paid, or if the charges were higher than expected because you overstated the item's value or misrepresented its location or country of origin. Fill in customs forms honestly; an undervalued declaration is not only a customs offence but also removes your protection in a dispute.

There is some help on the feedback side too. eBay's feedback policy says it removes negative or neutral feedback about a customs or tax issue outside the seller's control that it could identify.

VAT, currency and which rules apply

VAT on exports

eBay's help page notes that items shipped from the UK through eBay International Shipping always leave the UK and are treated as exports, and that for shipments between the UK and the EU, eBay adjusts the item price to remove UK VAT where it was included; the buyer then pays customs and import charges on the adjusted price. If you are VAT-registered and post exports yourself, the VAT treatment depends on the evidence of export you keep. Check HMRC's guidance or an accountant for your own position.

Currency conversion

Sales to international buyers can involve a currency conversion. eBay's fees page says its seller currency conversion charge is 2.5%, rising to 2.75% from 1 December 2026. Our guide to the eBay currency conversion charge shows how to price for it.

Which buyer protection applies

eBay's Money Back Guarantee says that when you offer international postage or do not exclude it, a buyer may check out on a different eBay site from the one you listed on, and the buyer protection policy of the site where the buyer checked out applies. In practice, a buyer in Germany checking out on eBay.de is covered by that site's protection, not eBay.co.uk's.

Selling into the EU and the US

Selling abroad brings other countries' rules with it. eBay's help page names product safety rules for buyers in the EU and Northern Ireland (the General Product Safety Regulation), extended producer responsibility rules on packaging and some products, and US Consumer Product Safety Commission rules for business sellers sending certain items into the US. Our guide to product safety rules for online sellers in the UK is a starting point.

Worked example: pricing an international order

Example: suppose you are a UK private seller and an item sells to a buyer in Ireland for a hypothetical £40.00 plus £12.00 international postage you set yourself.

• eBay's 3% international fee for private sellers applies when delivering overseas. If it were charged on the £52.00 total, it would be £1.56; check eBay's fees page for exactly what it is calculated on.
• Your actual postage cost through a tracked international service is, hypothetically, £10.50, leaving £1.50 towards packaging.
• If the buyer pays in euros, a currency conversion charge may also apply.

Run this sum for each international service you offer before you set postage prices. Overseas postage that looks profitable can become a loss once fees, packaging and the occasional lost parcel are counted.

A checklist for eBay UK international orders

• Check in Postage Preferences whether you are enrolled in eBay International Shipping, and which locations you exclude.
• Remove your own international services from listings if you only want to use the programme.
• For self-posted orders, use tracked services and set honest delivery estimates.
• Complete customs declarations accurately, with a true value and description.
• Tell buyers about import charges in your listing.
• Know which fees apply: the private seller international fee, currency conversion and postage.
• Check that your products are allowed for export and meet the destination's product rules.

For UK postage choices more generally, see our guide to eBay UK postage options, and read eBay's own page on the eBay International Shipping programme for the current terms.