Last week, Sarah Davis, founder of Fashionphile, shared her stories of exporting to Brazil with the Internet Retailer. In the article, Davis explained that for a long time, she had made a business decision to not export any of her high-end designer handbags to Brazil. She said that the few times she did export her items to Brazil, the customers never received their packages, which was a financial loss to her company. However, when a Brazilian blogger had a Fashionphile handbag shipped to a New York hotel where she was staying and shared her experience on the popular Brazil fashion blog Garotasestupidas (or Stupid Girls), word about the retailer, which sells often hard-to-find, used handbags, spread throughout the country. “We were totally slammed from this Brazilian blog once word spread,” Davis says. “We didn’t even ship there, and the country crashed our site.” Davis said that was the moment when she decided to rethink her previous decision on Brazil. Since that day, Fashionphile has served a number of customers in Brazil, increasing their sales and their exposure.

Davis argues that her experiences in Brazil proves that many times it’s worth exploring selling globally. Even into countries often deemed risky or complex there are now services available to help, she says. According to Davis, international orders now account for about $10 million, or 20%, of her sales. She accepts PayPal and wire transfer for international orders. Her top countries outside the U.S. in terms of sales are Australia, England, Canada and Singapore. She said that she relies heavily on exporting tools like the recently launched PayPal site Paypal-Passport.com and MyUS for tips and tools on selling globally.

To read more about Fashionphile’s exporting story, please visit the Internet Retailer. Learn more about PayPal-Passport.