How do I figure out what compliance rules apply to selling internationally?
Finding contradictory rules and unexpected mandates makes it nearly impossible to know which regulations actually apply to your products abroad. This confusion leaves you second-guessing your research and unable to move forward with foreign sales safely.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from October 2026.
- This comes up 60.7× more often in r/ecommerce than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1searching online for informationDid this help you?
- 2asking questions on forums like RedditDid this help you?
- 3Reading regulatory texts and commission guidance documents independentlyDid this help you?
- 4Looking for compliance frameworks or open-source tracking toolsDid this help you?
- 5Attending industry compliance events and summitsDid this help you?
- 6paying compliance services hundreds or thousands of euros per countryDid this help you?
- 7Using automated tax calculation settings on ecommerce platformsDid this help you?
- 8Ignoring international tax requirementsDid this help you?
- 9Limiting store sales to the US onlyDid this help you?
- 10Using Amazon for basic requirementsDid this help you?
- 11Partnering with local MSPs or trusted partners in the target region to handle procurement via a margin splitDid this help you?
- 12Establishing separate local entities and distributor relationships in each region over time as volume increasesDid this help you?
- 13Using plugins such as WooCommerce TaxDid this help you?
- 14Spending three times the price to send items using personal mail instead of regular cheap carriersDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“We are based in the UK but have an increasing number of customers overseas. How are you facilitating overseas procurement of things like laptops, printers etc?”source ↗
“As a Canadian MSP, I had a similar issue with procurement in UK, Japan and some African countries.”source ↗
“And for that new account, you need a local entity yourself - which for small amounts of procurement ends up being more cost and effort than its worth.”source ↗
“The biggest thing I'm struggling with is reporting packaging size.”source ↗
“How are European retailers actually calculating packaging weights for hundreds or thousands of different SKUs?”source ↗
“If a client wants to sell worldwide, how do you figure out and keep up with taxes for each country?”source ↗
“Is anyone still shipping & getting through.”source ↗
“Has anyone had their packages ceased, if so, to which country?”source ↗
“I got an order to Ireland and I am not sure if I should send using my normal cheap company or if I should take the L and spend 3x the price to send using personal mail.”source ↗
“Migrating over from Gumroad, which handled all of this stuff for me. My question is, how are you guys handling this? It seems like a huge headache, realistically what would happen if one were to just ignore it?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 5Unexpected business taxes and compliance requirements
- 4How to track multi-state compliance and operational requirements
- 9Where do I declare gold bullion at LAX customs?
- 6Why is my domestic order shipping from overseas and clearing customs?
- 2Employee moved to another state and wants to work remotely
- 6How to avoid customs fines and drone laws abroad