Can't Decide on Local VS International Delivery

Hi all,

I'm due to be starting an online retail business in men's fashion accessories next month, but I can't decide on whether to do international delivery or UK delivery only for the time being. I had an ebay store that provided UK delivery only and had very few problems, but I know there are all sorts of tarrifs, customs charges, VAT variations and other potential hiccups lurking around the corner with international delivery.

My competitors appear to provide international delivery to a wide range of countries. I also predict that I will get a lot of interest from the USA and don't want to rule them out.

My question is, am I being over-paranoid by doing UK only delivery? Are most EU countries OK to deliver to? I'm also considering doing just UK & USA but it seems a bit oddd to leave out Europe who are on my doorstep.

Apologies for the long post, I wanted to provide some context.
I would be very grateful for any advicce on this topic as I can't see many threads on it.

 

I'd say it depends on what you're selling. Myself on ebay, always prefer local retailers and only if I can't find the product there, I head off to international sellers. Customs charges and delivery times are the main reasons behind considering local and not international as primary choice. My point, chances are that your US competitors will win the deals to buyers like me so it may not be worth the effort, whatever that means for you to target international audience.

 

Thank you for your response, you make a lot of sense. I'll be selling men's fashion bow ties and other fashion accessories. I know there are a few vendors already in the USA and I've seen a few in France/ Italy so you could be right. Eventually I'll be providing completely unique items, so I may need to branch out closer to that time. At this particular time, I want to keep things simple. I was just concerned that I was being a bit too cautious by ruling out the USA.