Marketplaces rent you customers. A Shopify store lets you own them. For Indian D2C brands going global, Shopify is the standard choice — but selling internationally from India involves plan choices, payment gateway constraints and export compliance that domestic guides skip. Here is the 2026 version.
Choosing a plan
| Plan | India price (billed yearly) | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | ~₹1,499/month | Launching, validating your first overseas orders |
| Grow | ~₹5,599/month | Scaling, more staff accounts, better reporting |
| Advanced | ~₹22,680/month | Higher volume and lower third-party gateway fees |
Shopify Payments is not available in India, so you will use a third-party gateway. Shopify charges an extra transaction fee in that case — roughly 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.5% on Advanced — which is often the real reason to upgrade.
Payments and getting paid in foreign currency
- Use a gateway that supports international cards — Razorpay, PayU, Cashfree, PayGlocal or Stripe-equivalents depending on eligibility.
- Set up FIRC/e-BRC handling with your bank for export remittances.
- Understand your FEMA/RBI obligations for export receipts. Confirm the current process with your bank or CA.
Configure Shopify Markets properly
- Create a market per region (US, UK, EU, GCC, AU) rather than one global market.
- Enable local currency display and round prices to psychological price points.
- Add duty and tax messaging at checkout. Silent surprises at delivery cause chargebacks.
- Set market-specific shipping rates based on real courier quotes, not guesses.
- Restrict markets you cannot legally or economically ship to.
Export compliance checklist
- IEC from DGFT
- GST registration and LUT for zero-rated exports
- AD code registered with your bank and port
- HS codes mapped to every SKU — store them once and reuse
- Country-specific restrictions (cosmetics, food, supplements and leather are the usual traps)
Automating fulfilment with ShipReward
Connect your Shopify store to ShipReward and paid orders arrive in the Order Inbox automatically.
- One-click or bulk import of Shopify orders with buyer address and line items
- Saved product catalog that auto-fills HSN, weight and price on import — the single biggest time saver for Shopify sellers
- Live rate comparison across couriers for every order
- Automatic commercial invoice and packing list
- Pickup scheduling, unified tracking and cashback on every shipment
Pricing for international customers
Build your overseas price as: product cost + shipping (on chargeable weight) + payment gateway and FX + returns allowance + marketing + target margin. Sellers who copy their India price and bolt on shipping at checkout see cart abandonment above 70%.
FAQs
Do I need a foreign company to sell globally on Shopify?
No. An Indian entity with IEC and GST can sell and ship worldwide from India.
Should I charge duties upfront (DDP) or let the buyer pay?
DDP converts better in the US and EU because the buyer sees one final price. It costs more per parcel, so test both.
Can I run Shopify and marketplaces together?
Yes, and most successful exporters do — marketplaces for discovery, Shopify for margin and repeat purchase. ShipReward imports orders from both into one queue.
Next step: check live shipping rates for your key markets, then connect Shopify to ShipReward and automate fulfilment.