A saree brand in Surat gets a message on Instagram from a shopper in New Jersey. “Do you ship to the US?” The founder says yes, ships one parcel, and then wonders how to get a hundred more orders like it without answering every DM by hand.
That’s where global marketplaces come in. Platforms like Amazon, Etsy and eBay already have millions of buyers abroad, plus the search, payments and trust signals you’d otherwise build from scratch. For an Indian seller, they’re the fastest route from a domestic business to an export business.
This guide explains how to sell on global marketplaces from India, step by step. You’ll learn which platform suits which product, the documents you need, how fulfilment and payments work, and the mistakes that eat into margins.
Global marketplaces are online platforms where sellers from many countries list products for buyers in other countries. The marketplace handles the storefront, search, checkout and buyer payments. You handle the product, the listing and, in most cases, getting the order to the buyer.
For Indian sellers, selling on a global marketplace is a form of eCommerce export. Each overseas order is an export shipment, so the usual export rules apply: registrations, invoices, customs declarations and foreign currency payments. If you’re new to the idea, our primer on cross-border eCommerce covers the basics.
Selling through a marketplace gets you in front of international buyers far faster than building your own export website. Here’s why so many Indian brands start this way.
There’s no single best marketplace. The right one depends on your product, your target country and how much fulfilment work you want to take on. This table compares the most common options.
| Marketplace | Main markets | Best for | Fulfilment options |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Global Selling | US, UK, Canada, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Europe, Australia and more | Branded products with repeat demand, from apparel to home and kitchen | Ship from India (MFN) or stock in Amazon warehouses (FBA) |
| Etsy | US, UK, Europe, Australia and Canada | Handmade, vintage, craft supplies and personalised items | Ship from India |
| eBay | US, UK, Australia, Germany and more | Collectibles, niche items, jewellery and refurbished goods | Ship from India |
| Walmart Marketplace | US | Mainstream consumer goods with competitive pricing | Ship to US buyers or use Walmart’s fulfilment service |
| Noon | UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt | Fashion, beauty and home products for the Gulf | Ship to buyers or stock in Noon warehouses (FBN) |
Seller eligibility changes over time, especially for Walmart and Noon, which usually need a local business presence or approval. Check each platform's current requirements for sellers based in India before you plan around it.
Amazon is the largest option for most Indian exporters. According to Amazon's Global Selling page, Indian sellers can register once and list across more than 18 Amazon marketplaces, with payments made in INR to an Indian bank account. Our full guide to Amazon Global Selling walks through registration in detail.
Etsy is built for handmade, vintage and creative products. If you make block-printed textiles, jewellery or home decor, it's often a better fit than Amazon, because buyers come looking for unique items. Read how to sell on Etsy from India for setup tips.
eBay works well for niche, collectible and one-of-a-kind products. It runs a cross-border trade programme for Indian sellers, and you ship orders directly from India. Our guide for eBay sellers covers listings and account health.
For a wider list of platforms, see our roundup of ecommerce marketplaces to sell your products globally.
You need a handful of Indian registrations before you can sell on global marketplaces legally. Get these in place first, because marketplaces and customs will ask for them.
| Document | What it is | Why you need it |
|---|---|---|
| GST registration | Your Goods and Services Tax number | Required to export goods and claim GST benefits |
| PAN | Permanent Account Number of the business or proprietor | Used for tax, IEC and marketplace KYC |
| Import Export Code (IEC) | A 10-digit code issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) | Mandatory for most commercial exports from India |
| Letter of Undertaking (LUT) | A yearly declaration filed on the GST portal | Lets you export without paying IGST upfront |
| AD code | A code from your bank, registered with customs | Links your export shipments to your bank for payments |
| Current bank account | An account that can receive foreign remittances | To receive marketplace payouts and get FIRA or e-BRC |
| Product compliance | Certificates such as FSSAI, lab tests or labels, as needed | Some categories and countries need extra approvals |
Applying for an IEC is online and usually quick. Our step-by-step guide to the Import Export Code shows the process.
Also check the export and import rules for each product. Some items can't be shipped at all, so review the list of prohibited items for international shipping before you list anything.
Here's the full process, from picking a market to getting paid. The diagram gives the quick view, and each step is explained below.
Start with demand, not with the platform. Look at which of your products already sell well in India, then check if overseas buyers search for them.
Search for your product on Amazon.com, Etsy and eBay. Note the prices, number of reviews and competing sellers. Our guide to export market selection explains how to compare countries on demand, competition and costs.
Begin with 1–2 countries and a few best-selling products. It's much easier to learn from a small test than from 200 listings in five countries.
Match the platform to your product and buyer. A handmade brass lamp fits Etsy. A branded protein bar fits Amazon. A vintage camera fits eBay.
Also compare fees. Most marketplaces charge a referral or transaction fee per sale, and some add listing, subscription, payment processing or currency conversion fees. Use each platform's own fee calculator for your category and target country.
Get your GST, IEC and LUT ready, then register on the marketplace. You'll typically need ID and address proof, business details, a bank account and a credit or debit card that works for international transactions.
If you already sell on Amazon India, you can start global selling from your existing Seller Central account instead of starting over.
A listing that works in India may not work in the US or UK. Localise each listing for the country you're selling to:
Your price has to cover much more than the product. Add up the product cost, packaging, international shipping, marketplace fees, payment and currency conversion charges, advertising, returns, and any duties you pay for the buyer.
That total is your landed cost. Our guide on how to calculate landed cost shows how to work it out per market.
Decide whether you'll ship each order from India or stock inventory abroad. This choice affects your delivery speed, costs and cash flow, so it gets its own section below.
Once orders come in, ship them on time with tracking, collect your export paperwork, and track payouts. Then use your sales data to decide what to scale: more products, more countries, or a second marketplace.
There are two main ways to fulfil orders on global marketplaces. Many sellers start with the first and move to the second once they find products that sell well.
You keep stock in India and ship each order directly to the buyer, using an international courier or shipping aggregator. On Amazon this is called Merchant Fulfilled Network (MFN). Etsy and eBay sellers in India mostly work this way.
It needs little upfront investment and suits new sellers, handmade products and slow-moving items. The trade-off is longer delivery times than local sellers can offer.
You send stock in bulk to the marketplace's warehouse in the destination country. The marketplace stores, packs and delivers each order and handles many returns. On Amazon this is Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). On Noon it's Fulfilled by Noon (FBN).
Buyers get faster delivery, which helps conversions. But you pay storage fees, need an importer of record, and lock cash into stock abroad. It works best for products with steady demand.
When you ship eCommerce orders from India by courier, customs clears them under Courier Shipping Bill forms. CSB-V is the form for commercial eCommerce exports, and it allows export benefits that gift-style CSB-IV shipments don't. Our explainer on CSB-IV vs CSB-V covers the differences.
Marketplaces collect money from buyers in their local currency and pay you out, after deducting their fees. How that money reaches your Indian bank account matters for both margin and compliance.
Proper export paperwork can also make you eligible for schemes like RoDTEP, which refunds certain embedded taxes and duties on exported products.
Every country sets its own import duties and taxes. Some let low-value parcels in duty-free below a set value, known as the de minimis threshold. Others charge on almost every parcel.
Check the rules for each target country. Our list of de minimis values by country is a good starting point.
Then decide who pays. If the buyer pays duties on delivery, they may refuse the parcel. If you pay them upfront, known as Delivered Duty Paid (DDP), the buyer gets a smooth delivery and you price duties into the product.
Accurate customs data keeps parcels moving. Use the right HS code in international shipping for every product, with a clear description and the true value.
Most problems for new global sellers come from a few avoidable mistakes:
Once orders start coming in from global marketplaces, shipping is where many Indian sellers get stuck. Shiprocket X is Shiprocket's cross-border shipping platform, built for exactly this. It covers 220+ countries and territories, lets you connect your global marketplace and store accounts to bring orders into one dashboard, and supports both CSB-IV and CSB-V order upload. Through its partnership with eBay, Indian sellers on eBay's cross-border trade programme can also pick Shiprocket X to ship their eBay orders.
You can compare international courier options for each order, offer duty-paid shipping on supported lanes, and share a branded tracking page with real-time WhatsApp and email updates. For US orders, our guide on DDP for USA shipments explains how duties are estimated and handled at booking.
Global marketplaces are the most practical way for an Indian business to start selling abroad. They give you buyers, payments and trust from day one, so you can focus on product, listings and delivery.
Start small. Get your GST, IEC and LUT in place, pick one marketplace and one or two countries, and price for your full landed cost. Ship reliably, keep your paperwork clean, and expand to more products and markets once you know what sells.
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