En Route

As an independent artist, I've had the privilege of sharing and selling my work online since 2008. From that time to this, thanks in part to the Etsy marketplace and later my website, I've had the tools and the opportunities to ship my handmade goods worldwide.

It's no secret, though, that moving things across borders has become, well, trickier. New conditions around import/export in the US, are changing the options I can offer as a small business. Because of the seller protections Etsy has in place, I will tentatively continue to ship worldwide from my shops there, unless things evolve in a way that makes it unfeasible.

In the shop on this [newly updated] site, I have more freedom in what I can offer, how I offer it, and the cost to do so. I mostly set my own guidelines. But with the current state of laws and policies in my country, I may face new restrictions, costs, and risks around shipping to destinations outside of the US.

The possibility that an international customer could face inflated import fees to receive goods from me gives me pause. Recently I found myself waiting nervously to receive confirmation that a customer in Britain had successfully paid customs fees and picked up their package (and NOT returned to sender when they saw the fees- that's actually happened before!).

I'm thrilled to have a space apart from the marketplace, but on the big E, there are people and resources that make the process of getting an item to a customer abroad more predictable and conducive to that option.

So for the time being (hopefully very temporarily), this site will not offer international shipping. That could change any day, at which point I'll share an update. In the meantime, my Etsy shops will continue to serve international customers:

https://studiorenee.etsy.com

https://createdbyrenee.etsy.com

*For those interested in learning how to create a special piece of your own using some of my techniques anywhere on the planet, my YouTube channel has tutorials.

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