Do You Ship to Ireland? International Shipping Email Templates for Online Stores

The "do you ship to Ireland?" email is a sale sitting in your inbox waiting for one sentence. It is also the email most online stores answer worst: a link to the shipping page, a "yes we do!" with no price or nothing for two days while the customer buys from someone closer. Orders going abroad bring six more emails behind that first one: the delivery cost, who pays the duties, the parcel stuck at customs, the wrong address, the parcel that came back and the honest delivery estimate. Every one of them has a right shape. Every one is faster to write once the shape is written down.

Why the "do you ship to" email is a sale waiting for one sentence

Somebody who emails to ask whether you ship to their country has already decided to buy. They have the product page open, they have probably added it to the basket and the only thing between them and the order is a doubt about delivery. A reply that answers the doubt in the first line, with the cost and the time, converts almost every time. A reply that sends them to a shipping page to work it out themselves converts some of the time. No reply for a day converts almost never, because the same product is two clicks away from a store that answered.

The emails that follow an international order are the same story in reverse. A parcel stuck at customs or a duties bill the customer did not expect is the moment a five star review becomes a one star review. The difference is almost never the parcel. It is whether the reply explained what was happening, in plain words, before the customer had to ask twice. Our guide to where is my order replies covers the domestic version. Abroad, the same rules apply with customs added.

The shape of a shipping-abroad reply

Every good version runs the same four moves, whether it is the first "do you ship here?" or the parcel that has sat in a customs depot for a week.

• The yes or no and the country first. "Yes, we ship to Ireland." "We do not ship to Australia yet." First sentence, with the country named. The customer knows in three seconds. Everything else in the email is detail. If the answer is no, say it plainly and say whether that will change, because a "not yet, from November" keeps the customer.
• The cost and the time in one line. "Delivery to Ireland is 8.95 and takes 3 to 5 working days from dispatch." A number and a range, in the body of the email. The shipping page is for browsing. The reply is for deciding. A customer who has to open a second page to find the price will often find a different store instead.
• The duties rule in plain words. Whether duties and import VAT are included in the price or charged by the courier before delivery. Say roughly how much. Three lines at most. This is the sentence most stores skip and it is the one that decides the review. A customer told in advance that the courier may ask for around 20 percent pays it and moves on. A customer surprised by it at the door blames you, whatever the small print says.
• What happens next and when. The dispatch day, the tracking email and the one thing to do if it stalls. "It ships Tuesday, you will get tracking that evening. If the tracking has not moved for five working days email me and I will chase it." A named next step turns a worried customer into a patient one.

The two habits that make an international order expensive

• Guessing at duties and dressing the guess up as a fact. "There should not be any charges" is the most expensive sentence in the ecommerce inbox. When the courier asks for 34 at the door, the customer has your email saying there would be nothing. Now you are refunding the duties, the delivery or both to keep the review. If you do not know the exact figure, say what you do know: "Orders over 150 to the EU usually attract import VAT at the local rate, which the courier collects before delivery. For your order that is likely to be around 25." A range with a reason is honest. A guess with a promise is a refund.
• Replying to a stuck parcel with a tracking link and nothing else. The customer has the tracking link. They have refreshed it forty times. Sending it back to them with "it looks like it is still in transit" tells them you have not looked either. Read the tracking, say what it says in plain words, say what it usually means and say what you will do: "It has been at the customs facility in Dublin since Thursday. That usually means a duties payment is waiting. The courier will text or email you a link. If nothing arrives by Monday I will raise it with them from this side." That is a reply. The link alone is a shrug.

International shipping email templates

Seven templates for the shipping-abroad emails that actually arrive. Swap the brackets, keep the numbers exact and keep the tone of a store that has done this a hundred times and knows what happens next.

Where the good ones come from

Every one of these replies gets easier when three things are written down: your delivery costs and times by country in one table, the duties rule for each region in a sentence you would say out loud and the way you tell a customer bad news without hiding behind the courier. Most stores keep all three in the founder's head, which is why the reply changes depending on who is answering. Our guide on shipping delay email templates covers the domestic delay. responding to an order cancellation covers the customer who changes their mind while the parcel is abroad.

The fourth "do you ship to" email today

One clear, exact shipping reply is easy. The fourth one today, between packing orders, with the right cost for the right country and the duties explained properly, is the hard part. That is when the "please see our shipping page" creeps back in, not because anyone stopped caring but because writing the same thing well four times is not what a founder has left at five o'clock.

That is the job ReciteMail does. It learns how your store writes from emails you have already sent, then turns a line like "yes to Ireland, 8.95, 3 to 5 days, VAT at the door around 20 percent, ships Tuesday" into a full reply that sounds like you on your best day. Every draft is read and sent by a person. It runs on your own PC, never connects to your inbox and nothing sends without you. If you would rather see it than read about it, our guide to stopping the rewrite has the method in full and there is a 40 second version on the ReciteMail YouTube channel.

Common questions

How should an online store reply to "do you ship to my country?"

With the answer in the first sentence and the country named, then the cost and the delivery time in one line, then one line on duties. The customer who asks has usually already decided to buy and is checking one doubt. A reply that answers it in three lines wins the order. A link to the shipping page often loses it to a store that answered.

Who pays customs duties on an international order?

Unless the store sells with duties and taxes included, the customer does. The courier collects it before delivery. The reply should say that plainly and give a rough figure with the reason: the country, the threshold and the local rate. A customer told in advance pays and moves on. A customer surprised at the door blames the store.

What should I say when a customer's parcel is stuck at customs?

Read the tracking yourself, say in plain words where the parcel is and since when, explain what that status usually means (a routine check or a duties payment waiting) and give a date by which you will chase the courier if nothing moves. Never send the tracking link back on its own. The customer has it.

What do I do when an international parcel is returned to sender?

Tell the customer the same day it arrives back, give the reason the courier recorded and offer two clear options: resend to a confirmed address for a stated cost and time or a full refund minus the original delivery. Ask for the address or the word refund in reply so it can be sorted in one email.

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