I'm Canadian and I really wish Canada had something similar. Canada has really high shipping rates and it costs me about $6 to ship a bubble mailer internationally. My shipping prices may very well be a turn off for buyers because compared to U.S sellers it may appear as though I am jacking my shipping fees when I'm only charging bare minimums. So I decided to test out free worldwide shipping on a few things...but it didn't make any difference at all.

I don't get how some Etsy sellers can charge such low worldwide shipping rates. I guess they must be folding the extra costs into their item prices? I am not in a position either where I can eat the shipping costs, but I don't want buyers to think I'm trying to scam them. Also, I include mandatory insurance in with my shipping costs because I've had packages go missing in the mail before and the buyer, rightfully, got really upset. (this was on ebay, though, not Etsy.) So that drives my prices even higher....

I'm also in Canada and our shipping rates are horribly high. I am absorbing some of the cost on international orders otherwise I think I may never sell anything!

Yeah i'm the same, I don't want to pay a ton in shipping especially if it doubles the price of the item itself. It's like man, I wish I could just drive and get this...but that's hard to do with one of a kind unique items like you find on Etsy.

Shipping has been an issue for us.  It is hard to find the balance between product costs and shipping costs.  I am considering upping prices and decreasing shipping.

bluecalla, since you are a Canadian, can I ask you a question about US sellers shipping to Canada? I asked this question in the forums but no one responded....

From the research I've done, it seems that if I include any sort of tracking or insurance, the price of shipping goes WAY up (like, from $4  to $10.95) because the cheapest method of shipping does not allow tracking. I am very uncomfortable with sending untracked packages because the USPS is crap and loses packages sometimes. But I'm equally uncomfortable with charging Canadians more than the cost of my item for shipping! $10.95 for a pair of earrings seems ridiculous.

So, my question is: When buying from the US, would you rather pay more in shipping and have the tracking/insurance, or pay less and take your chances? I guess what I'm not sure of is whether Canadians assume they're going to pay a lot when  buying from the US and are OK with that.

I've heard shipping to Australia is off the wall but how do you exclude them. I can't see listing each country separately. In other words how do you include Europe and exclude Australia.
Rose