Foreign Returns on Shopify: 10 Tips for Selling Internationally in 2026

Updated in November 2026: we rewrote this guide for Shopify stores selling across borders. It now covers the EU withdrawal rules that apply from June 2026, Shopify's return rules and self-serve returns, duties and currency refunds, and what we have learned about returns in our own client projects.

A new market usually starts with the store: translations, prices, payments, delivery. Returns come later, and that is when they get expensive. A parcel that has to come back from Paris, Berlin or Stockholm costs you shipping twice, ties up stock and, if the process is unclear, a review.

Mirosław Mikołajczak, CEO of the furniture brand Selsey, which sells in around 8 European markets, put it plainly in our podcast episode with him: "all those returns cost huge amounts of money. Keep in mind that we sell all over Europe. A parcel reaches Paris and the customer says: 'Thank you, take it away'" (translated from Polish).

This guide covers the ten decisions we go through with brands that sell from one Shopify setup into several countries. Shopify features were checked in the Shopify Help Center on November 2, 2026. Legal and tax points are a starting map, not legal or tax advice: check the rules for each country with a lawyer or tax adviser.

In short: foreign returns on Shopify in 2026

• Write the return policy per market, starting from local consumer law: in the EU, consumers can usually withdraw from an online purchase within 14 days of delivery.
• Selling to EU consumers? Give them an online way to withdraw. The EU withdrawal function rules apply from June 19, 2026.
• Put the policy into Shopify return rules and let customers request returns themselves from their account.
• Pick return labels and carriers per market, so customers can drop a parcel where they are used to.
• Consider a local return address in bigger markets instead of shipping every parcel back to your warehouse.
• Decide in advance how you refund duties, taxes and shipping, and how currency differences affect refunds.
• Offer exchanges, not only refunds, especially for size problems.
• Use return reasons to fix product pages and products, so fewer parcels come back at all.

1. Write a return policy for each market

Return rules are set by the law where your customer lives, not where your company is. One policy copied to every market is the most common mistake we see.

In the EU, the baseline comes from the Consumer Rights Directive and is summarised for consumers on the EU's Your Europe page about returns:

• consumers can withdraw from an online purchase of goods within 14 days from delivery, without giving a reason;
• you refund the payment, including standard delivery costs, within 14 days of being told about the withdrawal; you can wait until the goods are back or the customer shows they have sent them;
• the customer pays for return shipping only if you told them so before the purchase; otherwise it is on you;
• some goods are excluded, for example items made to order or clearly personalised.

Outside the EU, check each market separately. The UK has its own consumer rules, Switzerland and Norway are outside the EU, and in the US return windows are mostly set by store policy and state law. Many brands offer a longer window than the law requires, for example 30 days, because it is a selling point. That is fine, as long as the policy, the checkout and the order emails all say the same thing.

What to decide for every market before launch:

Brands that run separate stores per region can set all of this per store. The Odder Side, a Polish fashion brand we moved to Shopify Plus, started with four instances (European, Polish, American and British) and later consolidated to three, dropping the UK store in favour of one European store. Fewer stores means fewer policies to maintain, but each market inside one store still needs its own rules.

2. Selling to EU consumers? Add an online way to withdraw

From June 19, 2026, Directive (EU) 2023/2673 requires stores selling to EU consumers through a website or app to give them an electronic way to exercise the 14-day right of withdrawal, often called the "withdrawal button". The right itself isn't new. What is new is that customers must be able to use it online, without writing an email or a letter.

Shopify's return rules article suggests a setup for this: turn on self-serve returns and cancellations, set the cancellation window to "Until item is fulfilled", use a return window of at least 14 days counted from delivery of the last item and extended over weekends and holidays, add a visible link to the customer account or orders page (it can be a menu item shown only in EU markets), and issue EU refunds within 14 days of a cancellation request. Shopify also notes that using these tools doesn't automatically make your store compliant, so review the setup with a lawyer, especially in countries that implemented the directive with extra requirements.

We talked about it with Mirosław Mikołajczak of Selsey: a large store like Selsey prepared for the change on its own, together with us, and then Shopify added support close to the deadline. As Mirosław put it, "a small store might not have made it in time, and suddenly it's done for them" (translated from Polish). That is one of the practical advantages of a hosted platform when EU rules change.

3. Turn the policy into Shopify return rules and self-serve returns

Once the policy is written, put it into the admin so the store enforces it. On Shopify, return rules let you set:

• a return window of 14, 30 or 90 days, unlimited or custom, counted from the delivery of each item or of the last item in the order;
• return shipping as free, a flat fee per return, or a label the customer buys;
• a restocking fee as a percentage of the return (Shopify doesn't deduct it automatically, so you deduct it when you create the refund);
• final sale products or collections, and longer or shorter windows for specific collections, products or variants (if several apply, the shortest wins);
• a cancellation window, from no cancellations to "until item is fulfilled".

Market-specific return rules exist, but at the time of writing they are in early access and limited to certain merchants. If you can't use them yet, the default rule is your strictest common denominator, and anything more generous for a single market has to be handled in the policy and manually.

Self-serve returns let customers request a return or a cancellation from their order page instead of writing to customer service. You review each request in the admin, approve or decline it, and send return instructions and a label with the approval. The request form can ask for the return reason and product condition, which matters for tip 9.

Things to know before you rely on it (setup article):

• it works only with the new customer accounts, not legacy accounts;
• on the Advanced and Plus plans you can turn it on for all markets or for selected markets; on other plans it applies to all markets;
• customers can't request exchanges through it, only returns and cancellations;
• it applies to all orders, including B2B, and personalised products aren't exempt automatically, so review those requests manually.

4. Choose return labels and carriers per market

The easiest return is one the customer can drop off where they already send parcels: a parcel locker in Poland, a parcel shop or post office elsewhere, a courier pickup for bulky items. Ask your carriers what return options they offer in each country, and check whether the customer will get tracking for the return.

On Shopify, when you create a return, you can create a return label in Shopify, upload a label you got from your carrier (or add a label URL), or create a return without shipping. Return labels bought in Shopify are available only when you have a location in the same country as the customer's shipping address, and that country must be the US or Canada. For European stores, return labels usually come from the carrier's app, its own returns service or a returns app.

Carrier apps differ a lot. InPost, for example, has an official Shopify app, InPost – oficjalna aplikacja, which covers Paczkomat lockers, courier shipping, labels and returns. We compare carriers for Polish stores in our guide to couriers for Shopify Poland.

For GANT's Polish store, which we migrated to Shopify in 2026, we automated returns with Shopify Flow and the InPost Quick Returns API. A standard return now processes itself end to end: it picks its own parcel size, keeps the customer informed and doesn't reach the customer service team at all. That is the level of automation worth aiming for in your biggest market first, before you copy it to the next ones.

5. Give customers a local return address in bigger markets

Sending every return straight back to your own warehouse is simple, but for the customer it often means an international label, a higher cost and a longer wait for the refund. Once a market has enough orders, consider a local return address: the customer sends the parcel domestically to a hub in their country, where returns are collected, checked and sent back to you in bulk (consolidated).

What to check with a returns partner:

• which carriers and drop-off points customers in each country can use;
• whether the hub inspects items and confirms the return, so you can refund before the goods reach your warehouse;
• how often consolidated returns come back and who handles customs for countries outside the EU;
• how their system connects to Shopify, so return status and refunds don't need manual work.

Global24, which offers foreign shipments and local returns in European countries, including the UK, for Polish online stores, is one example of this model. We built the integration of the Global24 system with Shopify, so merchants can handle foreign shipments and returns directly from their store (see the case study or Global24's website).

Large brands sometimes solve this market by market instead. For L'Occitane, whose markets we move to Shopify Plus (8 in our case study, starting with Poland), each market has different needs, so for each store we prepared ERP and POS integrations with local service providers, including delivery and payments.

6. Decide how you refund duties, taxes and shipping

Returns from countries outside the EU customs area (for example the UK, Switzerland or Norway, if you ship from the EU) add customs to the picture. Decide your approach before the first return:

• Duties and import taxes you collected at checkout. Shopify's duties and import taxes article says how you refund them is up to you. You can refund them for unfulfilled and fulfilled orders, but money you spent on DDP (delivered duty paid) labels isn't returned to you by the carrier. You can also refund import tax separately from other customs fees, for example if you can't recover it from the customs authority.
• Duty on the parcel coming back. A returned parcel can be treated as an import into your country. Both the EU and the UK have a returned goods relief that can remove import duty on goods coming back unchanged, usually within three years, if the paperwork is right (UK government guidance). Agree with your carrier or customs broker who prepares it.
• VAT. When you refund an order, you refund the VAT the customer paid too, and you correct the VAT you reported for it, whether through the EU One Stop Shop (OSS) or a local VAT registration. How and when depends on the scheme and the country, so set it up with your tax adviser and accountant.
• Shipping costs. Under EU rules you refund the standard outbound delivery cost on a withdrawal; return shipping depends on what your policy said before the purchase.

7. Refund in the customer's currency and know the exchange rate risk

If you sell in local currencies, refunds follow the currency the customer paid in. According to Shopify's article on refunds:

• refunds are always issued in the currency the customer used to pay for the order;
• when a conversion is needed, Shopify uses the current exchange rate, not the rate from the day of the order, also when you use manual exchange rates;
• currency conversion fees and card fees aren't returned to you, so you can gain or lose money on a refund when rates move;
• you can't refund to a different card or bank account than the one used for the order.

In practice: watch refunds on high-value orders in currencies that move a lot, and include currency effects in your return cost per market (tip 9). If a customer asks for a refund to another account, the answer has to come from your policy and payment provider, not from the Shopify refund screen.

8. Offer exchanges, not only refunds

A refund ends the sale. An exchange for another size or colour keeps it, and for many fashion and footwear returns it is what the customer actually wants.

On Shopify, exchanges are created from the order in the admin as part of a return. If the new item costs more, you collect the difference with an invoice or by capturing payment; if it costs less, you refund the difference; if the values match, the money paid for the returned items covers the new ones. Remember that customers can't request exchanges through Shopify's self-serve returns, so if exchanges are central to your returns policy (typical for clothing and shoes), that is a good reason to look at a returns app or a custom flow.

For cross-border exchanges, check that the replacement item is in stock in the location that ships to that market, and say clearly whether the customer pays for the second delivery.

9. Turn return reasons into product and page fixes

The cheapest return is the one that doesn't happen. Collect a return reason for every return (Shopify's self-serve request form can ask for it), and review the numbers per market, product and reason every month:

• Size and fit. For Le Collet, a Polish fashion brand selling in 8 languages, the main return problem was choosing the right size across collections: the same customer could need an S in one trouser line and an L in another. In the new Shopify Plus storefront we built detailed measurements for every garment category and integrated the Keep AI assistant that suggests a size based on the customer's data. Precise product information and size support have begun to lower the return rate. For God Save Queens, a lingerie brand, we built a bra size calculator with the same goal: fewer returns caused by wrong sizes.
• Damage in transit. Selsey moved from reselling furniture to designing its own, and now inspects, assembles and drop-tests products in their parcels before launch. We describe this in more detail in our furniture logistics guide.
• "Not as expected". Usually a sign of photos, descriptions or dimensions that don't match the product. Fix the product page before you change the policy.
• Market differences. If one country returns much more of the same product than the others, look at the translation, the size conversion and the delivery promise for that market.

Mirosław Mikołajczak also gave a useful reminder that return rates depend on the category: "This isn't clothing, for example. Although, paradoxically, clothing has far more returns than furniture" (translated from Polish). Compare your return rate with your own history and your own category, not with general averages. At Selsey, the management board reads customer reviews every week, which is where many of these problems show up first.

10. Add a returns app only for what Shopify doesn't cover

Shopify's return rules and self-serve returns are enough for many stores, especially at the start. Returns management apps are worth a look when you need things the native tools don't do, for example:

• a branded returns portal with exchanges, store credit or "exchange for anything" options;
• return labels from many carriers in many countries, and drop-off points chosen by the customer;
• different rules per market if you can't use Shopify's market-specific rules yet;
• inspection and grading of returned items in the warehouse, and automatic restocking;
• reports on return reasons per product, market and carrier.

When you compare apps, check which countries and carriers they support for labels, how they handle multi-currency refunds, duties and EU withdrawal requests, whether they work with the new customer accounts, and what happens to your data if you switch. Ask for a test on real orders from your two biggest markets before you sign. Sometimes a carrier's own app or a simple automation in Shopify Flow, like the one we built for GANT, does the job without another subscription.

How we handle returns in client projects

We don't run warehouses or carriers. Our part is the store and its integrations: making sure the policy, the checkout, the customer account and the systems behind them handle returns the same way in every market. In practice:

• GANT: for the Polish store, which we migrated to Shopify in 2026, we automated standard returns with Shopify Flow and the InPost Quick Returns API, so they no longer land on the customer service team's desk. Case study
• Le Collet: reducing the return rate was the brand's main challenge. We built size support across collections, with detailed measurements and the Keep AI size assistant. Case study
• Global24: we integrated Global24's system for foreign shipments and local returns with Shopify. Case study
• L'Occitane: for each market we move to Shopify Plus, we prepared ERP and POS integrations with local providers such as delivery and payments. Case study
• The Odder Side: separate store instances per market, synchronised with a custom app we built, so each market can have its own local setup, such as payment gateways. Case study
• Selsey: we help move Selsey's large store to Shopify and build stores for new markets on Shopify Plus, and worked with the team on the EU withdrawal changes. Podcast with Selsey's CEO

The lesson we take from these projects: map returns per market before launch, together with delivery and payments. The policy page, the customer account, the order emails and the integrations all depend on it.

Checklist before you open a new market

• Return policy for the market written and translated, based on local consumer law and checked by a lawyer.
• For EU markets: an online withdrawal path set up and linked from the store.
• Shopify return rules, final sale exceptions and self-serve returns configured.
• Return label and drop-off options tested from the customer's side.
• A decision on local return address or consolidation for the market.
• Rules for refunding shipping, duties and taxes agreed with your accountant.
• Refund currency and exchange rate effects included in your cost per return.
• Exchange process ready, including stock for the market.
• Return reasons collected and reviewed every month.

Keep reading

• How to sell internationally on Shopify
• What courier service to integrate with a Shopify Poland store
• How to handle furniture logistics in e-commerce
• Best Shopify clothing stores: UX inspiration
• Podcast: Mirosław Mikołajczak, Selsey: From Groupon to 2M parcels and 8 European markets

Planning to sell in new markets from your Shopify store, or to connect your returns provider? See how we handle Shopify integrations, or let's talk.