Tecof • September 23, 2026
Selling Abroad: Micro Export, ETGB and Customs
In Brief
Selling abroad is the entire chain a product passes through — customs, transport, collection and tax — between leaving Türkiye and reaching a buyer in another country. For small parcels there is a simplified version of that chain: micro export. Here the customs declaration is filed electronically by an authorised carrier instead of going through a separate brokerage process, and the resulting document is called an ETGB (Electronic Commerce Customs Declaration). As of 2026 the question is not "can we sell abroad" but "which order goes out through which channel, on which document, and at what total cost to the buyer".
Tuesday afternoon, 14.40. A jewellery brand's dashboard shows 46 international orders that have piled up over three weeks. The average basket is 38 dollars and most items weigh under 200 grams. The team shipped them with ordinary courier service; 9 of the 46 came back without reaching the buyer, 11 were refused because the buyer was presented with an unexpected tax bill, and 6 customers wrote in to say "the item looked like 12 dollars and then they asked for 19 more at the door". Shipping already cost 14 dollars; with the returns added, profit per item turned negative.
The cause was not the product, the price or the marketing. The parcels went out with no export declaration, no defined delivery term and no account taken of the destination country's tax threshold. Most of the loss in cross-border selling comes from four line items that have nothing to do with the product: the wrong document, the wrong HS code, the wrong delivery term and hidden tax. All four are set before the order, and none can be fixed afterwards.
1. Micro Export and the ETGB: How the Mechanism Works
Micro export means filing the customs declaration under a simplified procedure for shipments below a set value and weight. Its purpose is to keep individual small parcels out of the classic export procedure.
What is an ETGB and why is it needed?
ETGB: the customs declaration filed electronically by an authorised carrier on the exporter's behalf for small parcels moving by express courier or post. In practice it does three things: it makes the shipment officially an export, it provides the documentary basis for claiming the export exemption, and it records the source of the foreign currency income. A parcel that leaves without an ETGB is not an export in accounting terms, just a box sent abroad; you have nothing to stand on in return, tax and currency matters.
Which shipments fall within micro export?
Scope is bounded by the shipment's value and weight; the goods are also expected to be commercial in nature and to travel with an authorised carrier. Because those limits can change with regulation, we are not writing a fixed figure here: confirm the current value and weight thresholds with your carrier's export desk and your own accountant before you ship. Shipments above the limit go out on a standard export declaration, usually through a customs broker.
The document chain: what follows what
- Sales invoice: buyer details, product description, quantity, unit price, currency and delivery term written out plainly. This document will be read at customs.
- Proforma / commercial invoice: the carrier generates the declaration from this document; the invoice and the contents of the box must match exactly.
- ETGB: filed by the carrier and appearing in the system after the parcel leaves; archiving it is your responsibility.
- Transport document: the tracking number and destination records are your only evidence in loss and return cases.
Even the smallest mismatch between invoice and declaration holds the shipment at customs. The product description has to be in English, specific and stripped of marketing language: not "gift item" but "silver plated brass earrings".
2. Choosing a Channel: Your Own Site, a Marketplace, Post or Courier
The channel decides who carries which risk. The same product produces a completely different cost and responsibility picture once the channel changes.
Selling through your own site
This is the highest-margin channel: no commission, the customer data stays with you and pricing is yours to set. In exchange you build the payment infrastructure, the international shipping agreement, the tax communication and the returns process yourself. Multilingual page structure, currency selection and destination-based shipping calculation are the three items that have to be solved on the platform side; on an e-commerce platform where these come built into the template, setup is measured in days rather than weeks.
International marketplaces
A marketplace brings demand ready-made and in most cases takes on tax collection; the price is commission, price competition and not owning the customer relationship. It is a sensible test bed to start with: you learn whether your product has demand in that market without investing in your own site. But marketplace traffic is a rented asset; lasting margin comes from your own channel.
Post or express courier?
Postal services are noticeably cheaper for low-value, lightweight parcels, but delivery takes longer and tracking quality varies by country. Express courier is expensive, fast, gives end-to-end tracking and usually handles customs formalities within its own process. A practical rule: if the basket is at least three times the shipping cost, use express; below that, post or consolidated shipping makes more sense. We covered carrier agreements and integration logic in detail in our shipping integration comparison.
| Channel | Margin | Setup load | Who collects tax | Fits when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your own site | High | High | You (if DDP) | Brand demand, repeat sales |
| International marketplace | Low-medium | Low | Usually the marketplace | Market testing, fast start |
| Post (small packet) | Medium | Low | The buyer, in most cases | Light, low-value goods |
| Express courier | Medium | Medium | You or the buyer, by choice | High basket, speed expectation |
| Overseas warehouse | High | Very high | As a local sale | After monthly volume settles |
3. The Customs Side: HS Code, Origin and the Product File
At customs your product is recognised by its code and its origin, not by its name. If those two fields are wrong, the shipment gets stuck even when everything on the page is right.
Why the HS code comes before the price
HS code: the product's tariff code in the international classification system; the duty rate, restrictions and document requirements the destination country applies are decided by looking at it. Filing the same product under two different codes changes what the buyer pays at the door. Determine the code from the product's material and function rather than by guesswork, and ask your customs broker about items you are unsure of. Verify it once and store it as a permanent field on the product record instead of looking it up for every shipment.
Origin and document requirements
Origin is the country where the product was made, and it decides whether a preferential tariff applies. Shipments to some countries require proof of origin; without that document the goods may be taxed at a higher rate. To use the advantage on goods you manufacture yourself, your production and supply records need to be in order. Which document a given country requires varies; research it once per country and write it into your internal documentation.
Restricted and prohibited goods
Every country keeps its own restricted list, and those lists cannot be guessed by intuition: cosmetics, supplements, electronics containing batteries, plant products, leather and fur, and certain textile dyes come up often. Carriers also maintain their own transport prohibitions, separate from the country lists. Run your catalogue against both lists once before the first shipment; a box destroyed at customs costs far more than the profit on that order.
Fields to keep on the product record
- English product name: a non-generic description carrying material and function.
- HS code: verified, fixed per product.
- Country of origin: where it was made, not where the supplier sits.
- Net and gross weight: packaging included; both the shipping price and the declaration are generated from this.
- Package dimensions: for volumetric calculation; on most products dimensional weight is more expensive than actual weight.
These fields need to live in your stock record in structured form; a messy coding scheme costs twice as much once exports start. We covered how to build a stock code structure in a separate article.
4. Delivery Terms and Tax: DDP or DAP?
The delivery term is the single decision that determines who pays the destination country's tax and customs charges. It is also what makes the biggest difference to customer experience.
DAP: the buyer pays the charges
DAP: you carry the goods to the delivery address, but import duty and customs charges belong to the buyer. It looks cheap and is easy to set up at first, but the buyer meets an invoice they were not expecting. That is exactly what caused the scenario at the top: a 19-dollar demand on a 12-dollar product means a refused parcel and shipping paid in both directions. If you sell on DAP terms, state plainly on the product page and at checkout that additional tax is the buyer's responsibility.
DDP: you carry the charges
DDP: delivered with tax and customs charges included and nothing to pay at the door. It lifts both conversion and delivery success markedly, because the customer pays the price they saw. The cost is that you have to calculate those charges correctly in advance; a wrong calculation comes straight out of margin. In practice most brands run a hybrid: DDP for certain countries and above a certain basket value, DAP elsewhere.
Tax thresholds and platform collection
Many countries apply a threshold for low-value consignments, below which import tax is not charged or a simplified procedure applies. Thresholds and how they are applied differ by country and are updated regularly; rather than pricing against a fixed figure, confirm the current threshold for your first three destination countries with your customs broker and write it into your price table. Some markets have rules making the platform, rather than the seller, responsible for collection; if you sell through a marketplace, that works in your favour.
| Item | DAP | DDP |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays tax | Buyer, on delivery | Seller, in advance |
| Price shown in the basket | Not final | Final |
| Risk of refusal | High | Low |
| Margin predictability | High | Depends on the calculation |
| Setup difficulty | Low | Medium |
| Fits | Low basket, below-threshold parcels | High basket, repeat customers |
5. Collection, Currency and the Real Cost
In cross-border selling, profit is read not from the sale price but from what is left after the whole chain's cost. Pricing set without that calculation is a loss you notice a few months later.
Payment infrastructure and currency
Accepting foreign cards carries a higher commission and a higher dispute risk than domestic cards. Showing the customer a price in their own currency raises conversion, but who sets the conversion rate and who keeps the spread has to be clear. We went through commission, value dates and cross-border transaction differences line by line in our payment gateway comparison.
Invoicing and the export exemption
An export invoice is issued differently from a domestic sales invoice and is linked to the ETGB. Getting that link right is the condition for claiming the export exemption and for the records reconciling at period end. We described the mechanics on the e-invoice and e-archive side in our e-invoice article; how export records should be declared is something to work through with your own accountant, because the detail changes with the business's tax status.
The real per-item cost table
Before setting a price, write out the full cost of a single order. Say you are shipping a 240-gram item priced at 45 dollars; once you fill every row below with your own figures, what remains is your real margin.
| Cost item | Where it comes from | How often it is missed |
|---|---|---|
| Product cost | Supply / manufacture | Low |
| Packaging | Box, filler, label | Medium |
| International transport | Dimensional or actual weight, whichever is higher | Low |
| Fuel and ancillary charges | Carrier contract | High |
| Customs and import duty | On the seller if DDP | Very high |
| Payment commission and FX spread | Gateway / marketplace | High |
| Returns and failed delivery | Average spread per shipment | Very high |
| Customer service time | Cost per hour | High |
6. Logistics, Returns and Customer Experience
Most dissatisfaction in cross-border selling comes not from the product but from uncertainty: where is the parcel, when will it arrive, will there be an extra charge, and what do I do if there is.
Delivery times and tracking communication
Give delivery time as a range rather than a single day, and mention the possibility of a customs hold up front. Send the tracking link with the order confirmation and notify again at customs entry and release. Most of the questions reaching customer service on international orders are "where is my parcel", and automated notifications prevent a large share of them.
Return policy: the most expensive line
International returns are the item most small brands leave out of the calculation; bringing an item back often costs more than the item is worth. Three common approaches exist: not accepting returns and saying so plainly, refunding low-value items without asking for them back, or keeping a return address in the destination country. Whichever you choose, write the policy in the same words on the product page and at checkout; a policy explained afterwards turns into a complaint.
The warehouse and stock side
International orders are picked differently from domestic ones: packaging is more protective, labelling more detailed and the margin for error smaller. Once monthly shipment volume passes a certain threshold, storing stock in the destination region lowers both shipping cost and delivery time; opening a warehouse before that threshold just loads fixed cost early. We set out picking and packing arrangements in our logistics and warehouse management guide.
Getting the First Shipment Out in Thirty Days
Thirty days is not enough to build cross-border selling in full, but it is enough to get a first shipment out on the right documents and learn what it really costs. The order matters: marketing comes last.
Days 1-7: scope and eligibility
Decide which products you will send to which two countries. Verify the HS codes for those products, record their origin, and run the catalogue against the destination countries' restricted lists. Nothing is sold this week; all that happens is that what can actually be shipped becomes clear.
Days 8-14: carrier and document setup
Get quotes from at least two carriers for the same sample shipment and ask who runs the micro export and ETGB process and how. Write English product descriptions, weights and dimensions onto the product records. Sit down once with your accountant to settle the export invoice format and the record flow.
Days 15-21: price, delivery term and pages
Fill in the cost table, set prices for the two countries, decide whether you sell DDP or DAP, and state it in the same language on the product page, the shipping page and at checkout. Publish the return policy. Finish the multilingual page and currency settings this week.
Days 22-30: test shipment and measurement
Send two test shipments to a real address with real documents and record how long each step takes: preparation, departure, customs, delivery. Confirm the ETGB has appeared in the system. Feed the real cost that emerges back into your price table, and only then move on to advertising or marketplace listings. Looking at the integration options needed to connect order, stock and shipping flows makes this stage considerably easier.
Here is the job for tomorrow morning: write the HS code, country of origin and packed gross weight of your five best-selling products into a single table. Without those three fields you can neither get a real shipping quote nor file a correct declaration; once the table is filled, most of the hardest part of selling abroad is behind you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a registered company for micro export?
Commercial export is expected to come from a registered business; issuing invoices and having the ETGB filed in the exporter's name depend on it. Confirm with your accountant whether your business type is suitable for these transactions and what records are required, because practice varies with business status.
Do I file the ETGB myself, or does the courier?
The authorised carrier files it electronically on your behalf while you supply accurate invoice and product information. You remain responsible for the content of the declaration, so check and archive the filed document after the shipment goes out.
Does the buyer pay the import duty, or do I?
That depends on the delivery term you choose: the buyer under DAP, the seller under DDP. Whichever you pick, stating it plainly on the product page and at checkout noticeably lowers the rate of refused deliveries.
What happens if I file the wrong HS code?
The shipment may be held at customs, taxed at the wrong rate or turned back. Verifying the code once per product and storing it as a permanent field is both faster and safer than guessing on every shipment.
For small parcels, is post or express courier the better choice?
If the basket is low and delivery time is not critical, post is noticeably cheaper. If the basket is high, the customer expects speed, or tracking quality matters, express works out cheaper overall because it reduces loss and complaint costs.
How should I handle international returns?
Three options: do not accept returns and say so openly, refund low-value items without asking for them back, or keep a return address in the destination country. While volume is low, the first two are more economical for most brands.
Should I start on a marketplace or on my own site?
A marketplace is fast for testing demand and carries a low setup load. Margin and customer data stay with you on your own site, so the common approach is to test on a marketplace and build your own channel once demand is confirmed.
How many countries should I open at once?
Start with two. Every country arrives with its own tax threshold, document requirements, shipping prices and return behaviour; learning more than three at once also delays seeing which country is actually profitable.
Can I write the product description with a translation tool?
Raw translation is not enough for the customs description; you need a specific English description carrying material and function. Machine translation can be a starting point for page copy, but have a human review the text for your best sellers.
Is SEO for cross-border selling a separate job?
Yes, because language and country targeting are set up separately: each language needs its own URL path and reciprocal hreflang declarations. We gathered the whole technical side in our e-commerce SEO checklist.