Tips for merchants outside the US

Change your store's currency, measurement standard, and language.

Last updated November 13, 2024

This guide offers best practices for merchants operating outside the United States. Before you begin, we recommend reading through Supported countries and currencies for Squarespace Commerce.

Manage your site's language settings

You can change the language of your site's built-in text in your Language and region settings.

If you have an international audience, consider creating a multilingual site to reach diverse customers in their native languages.

Use a local domain

Use a domain that matches your location. For example, if you live in Australia or Germany, you can register, transfer, or connect a .com.au or .de domain. To learn which local domains you can register or transfer to Squarespace, visit List of top-level domains (TLDs).

Change your store's currency

After connecting Commerce to a payment processor, your store currency automatically changes to the currency of the bank account linked to your payment processor, if it's a supported currency. If it's not supported, your currency defaults to USD. If you sell to an international audience, you can select a different currency from the drop-down menu.

Change to metric measurements

You can change how your store displays weight (kilograms) and dimensions (meters) in your Language and region Settings.

Shipping measurements

Visit our guide on shipping by weight to learn more about how measurements are used in shipping calculations.

Create an imprint (or impressum) page

Germany and many other European Union countries require commercial websites to create an Imprint, which displays business information. To learn more, visit Creating an imprint page.

Disable newsletter opt-ins

Some countries have laws, like the Canada Anti-Spam Legislation, that regulate how websites can collect mailing list subscribers. If you have a newsletter subscribe option at checkout, you can choose to not automatically opt-in customers into your email communications.

  1. In Checkout settings, scroll down to Newsletter.
  2. Uncheck Enable mailing list opt-in by default.

Note

Squarespace doesn't provide specific advice on laws or requirements applicable to your site or business. Mailchimp offers tips to help you comply with CASL here.

Use extensions for discounted shipping rates

You can access discounted international shipping rates, use your own couriers, offer tracking, and enable automated returns by connecting the Easyship or Shippo extensions. While we work with third-party services to ensure Squarespace Extensions work properly, extensions fall outside our scope of support. We can help with connecting or disconnecting your extensions. For all other questions, contact the extensions provider directly.

To add shipping options in Squarespace, visit Setting up shipping rates. For international shipping, ensure you create shipping zones for the countries you'll ship to.

Create international tax rules

You can create tax rules for different countries in the Taxes panel. Usually, the tax rate applies to the entire country.

  1. Open the Taxes panel.
  2. Click Add Country.

Add provincial tax rates in Canada

When you select Canada, you can add tax rules for each province. Province taxes are charged in addition to the Canadian country-wide tax. This displays in a separate line in receipts. To learn more, visit Setting up manual tax rates in Squarespace Commerce.

Enable tax-inclusive pricing

Tax-inclusive pricing includes tax in the product’s listed price, instead of adding tax on at checkout. To learn more, visit Collecting VAT or GST.

Note

This guide is available as a resource, but it isn't legal or accounting advice. Per our Terms of Service, Squarespace doesn't provide advice or recommendations on any laws or requirements applicable to your site or business. If you have questions about these laws, you can consult with a tax advisor or attorney.

The GDPR regulates how individuals and organizations may collect, use, and retain personal data, which affects Squarespace and sites run on Squarespace’s platform. To learn about the GDPR and how Squarespace helps you comply, visit GDPR and Squarespace.

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Tips for merchants outside the US