Guide · Ultineo E-commerce
Selling in a new country: the five things to open
This guide is for a merchant who already delivers to a few countries and wants to open one more. A country is not one switch but five openings: delivery, payment, tax, language and channel. You will know what to prepare, and in which order, so that a buyer there can find your shop, read it, pay and receive the parcel.
Checked against the product in November 2026
The five things to open, and their order
- A way to deliver
A carrier that serves the country, a price for each parcel weight and a delivery time you can keep. Without them, the order stops at its last step.
- A way to pay
A payment provider that accepts buyers from that country, with the payment methods they use at home. Ask in which currency the buyer is charged.
- The tax to charge
The rate you charge at checkout, and what is collected when the parcel crosses a border. Both are questions for a qualified adviser, before the first order.
- A language to read
Product names, help pages and a contact that the buyer can read and reach. A country that is open is not yet a country that is translated.
- A channel to be found
Where buyers of that country will find you: search, a shopping service, an advertising service. Open these channels last, when the purchase works from end to end.
- The order of work
Delivery, payment and tax first: an order that cannot be shipped, paid or taxed is a problem of your own making. Then language, then channels, after one rehearsed purchase.
1. Choose a country you can serve
Start from what you can deliver, not from what looks large. A good next country is one your carrier already reaches, whose language you can answer in, and which resembles a country that already buys from you.
Your own sales say nothing about a market you have not opened. They do show which of your countries carry the shop.
Example. A shop of cycling accessories sells in three countries. Over ninety days, one of them brings 58% of sales, and its carrier serves a bordering country at the same rate. That country becomes the candidate.
In Ultineo. In Statistics, on the "Sales by country" card, click "View report". The table lists each Country with its Status, its Orders, its Sales and its Share; countries are ranked by sales.
2. Activate the country and read its row
Activating the country is the shortest step. Do it on a day when you can finish delivery and payment in the same sitting: in most tools, the shop answers buyers of that country at once.
Then read what the country still lacks: every missing item is work to finish before any announcement.
Example. A merchant activates a fourth country one morning. Its row shows a language and a currency, and no delivery zone yet. She keeps the afternoon to create the zone and place a test order.
In Ultineo. In Publication, the Countries tab shows your activated countries with their "Delivery zone", "Payment gateway", Languages and Currency. Choose the region of the country in the list above the table, click Filter, then Activate on its row and "Activate the country" to confirm. Your storefront then serves visitors from this country, in its languages and currency.
3. Set up delivery to the country
A country is deliverable when you have a carrier that goes there, a delivery method with a time you can keep, and a price for each parcel weight. Ask your carrier for its rates by weight and its usual delivery time in working days. Our guide to delivering abroad gives the full method.
Example. A shop sends parcels of 400 g and of 2.5 kg. Its carrier quotes 9.50 and 14.00 euros to the new country, in four to six working days. The merchant creates one delivery method with those times and enters one rate per weight band.
In Ultineo. In Shipments, the Settings tab holds the Carriers, "Delivery methods" and "Delivery zones" boxes. Create the carrier and the method first, then click "Add delivery zone": tick the Countries, choose the "Delivery method" and fill in the "Delivery rates" for each weight band. Only the countries your shop sells in can be ticked.
4. Check that a buyer there can pay
Put three questions to your payment provider. Does your account accept buyers from that country? Which payment methods do buyers expect there, and are they switched on? In which currency is the buyer charged, and in which are you paid?
A payment page that displays is not a payment that completes: only a real payment proves that the account is ready.
Example. A merchant writes to her provider. The reply: cards are accepted, one local payment method must be enabled, and payouts stay in the currency of the shop. She enables that method, then pays for a test order with it.
In Ultineo. On the Countries tab of Publication, each activated country shows its "Payment gateway". You connect the payment service itself in the Settings of Payments. Activating a country does not create a missing provider configuration.
5. Put the tax and customs questions to an adviser
Two questions have no general answer. Which tax, at which rate, do you charge a buyer of that country at checkout, and must you register there? When the parcel crosses a border, who pays the customs duties and the import tax: you before it leaves, or the buyer on delivery?
The second point is agreed with your carrier, and the buyer should read the answer before paying. This guide gives no tax or customs advice: ask a qualified adviser before the first order.
Example. A merchant opens a country outside her customs territory. Her accountant confirms the rate to charge; her carrier confirms that duties are collected from the buyer on delivery. She enters the rate, and writes on her delivery page who pays the duties.
In Ultineo. On the Countries tab of Publication, click "Tax settings" on the row of the country and enter the "Tax rate (%)". The tax is added to net product prices after discounts and to delivery charges, for new checkouts only. Ultineo does not arrange your international transport or settle customs obligations for you.
6. Make the shop readable in that country
List what a buyer of that country reads before paying: product names and descriptions, delivery and returns pages, help pages, order emails. Check each one in the language the country shows.
Then decide who answers: show a phone number only if someone picks up in that language.
Example. A shop has its product names in the language of a new country, but not its returns page. The merchant has that page translated first. The shop shows its general email address there, and no phone number.
In Ultineo. The Countries tab of Publication shows the Languages of each activated country, and the Contact tab of Identity holds the "Contact by country" table. Our guide "Earning a first order from a buyer who has never heard of you" teaches both checks.
7. Rehearse one purchase, then open your channels
Before any announcement, buy from your own shop as a buyer of that country would: a delivery address there, every page on the way, the delivery option, the payment, the confirmation email. Our guide "Earning a first order from a buyer who has never heard of you" turns this purchase into a full audit.
Only then open the channels: the shopping or advertising service that lists your products, your newsletter, your home page. For the first weeks, read this country's figures separately.
Example. A merchant orders one item to the address of a friend in the new country. The delivery rate and the tax are right, and the payment completes. The next morning she adds the country to her product feed.
In Ultineo. At checkout, buyers see the delivery choices that apply to their destination under your zones and methods. In Feeds, open the feed and its Markets tab, click "Add a market", choose the Country and click "Add the market": there is one "Feed address" per country and language. In Audience, click "View report" under "Sessions by country": "Storefront countries" gives the "Page views", the Visits and the "Daily visitors" of each country.
Checklist
Before you announce the country
- 1. Name the country and why
Write down which carrier serves it, which language its buyers read and which of your countries it resembles.
- 2. Create its delivery
One carrier, one delivery method with a time in working days, one rate per weight band.
- 3. Get payment confirmed
Ask your payment provider in writing about acceptance, local payment methods and currencies.
- 4. Ask the tax questions
Rate at checkout, registration, customs duties and import tax: a qualified adviser and your carrier answer them, not a guide.
- 5. Read as a buyer
Product names, delivery and returns pages, help pages and contact, all in the language of the country.
- 6. Buy once, then announce
Place one real order to an address in the country before you open any channel.
Go further
Open your next country with Ultineo E-commerce
Send your application: our team reviews each one before an account is opened.
Questions
No. The Countries tab of Publication shows the "Delivery zone" of each activated country; the zones themselves are set up on the Settings tab of Shipments. Prepare delivery and payment before you accept orders there.
No. Adding supported countries, languages and currencies has no quantity limit and no activation surcharge. Delivery costs, payment provider fees and metered services remain separate.
On the Countries tab of Publication, click "Tax settings" on the row of the country, enter the "Tax rate (%)" and click Save. A rate of 0 hides the tax line at checkout. Which rate applies to your business is a question for a qualified adviser.
Yes. On its row of the Countries tab, click Disable, then "Disable the country". Your shop always keeps at least one active country: activate another one before you disable the last.
Do not assume that. Choosing a country and having complete translations are two separate checks: review missing or outdated texts in the languages of the country before you announce it.
No. The country tools help you prepare your expansion; they do not arrange your international transport or settle customs obligations for you. Agree with your carrier who pays the duties, and ask a qualified adviser.