Travel Tax Free

Travel Tax Free is a fintech that streamlines VAT refunds for non-EU visitors. Their platform digitises the entire reclaim process so international shoppers can recover VAT from EU purchases quickly and without bureaucratic friction.

Ecler Cloud

What did we do?

We partnered with Travel Tax Free to design and develop a native Shopify app that integrates their VAT refund service directly into the checkout experience of online stores.

Our goal was to make the process invisible to shoppers yet effortless for merchants. The app automatically identifies eligible non-EU customers, generates the necessary tax-refund documentation, and syncs it with Travel Tax Free’s backend for validation and processing.

Beyond development, our team provided technical consultancy and architectural guidance, ensuring the product aligned with Shopify’s best practices and could scale as the company expanded its merchant base.

We also supported the client during the maintenance and optimization phase, ensuring ongoing compatibility with Shopify’s evolving ecosystem and advising on the future migration toward the platform’s new architecture.

The result is a plug-and-play solution that allows any Shopify store to offer VAT refunds as a value-added service — helping merchants boost international sales while simplifying compliance across borders.

Tech stack

The technologies we used in this project

Ruby (backend)

Robust, maintainable service layer aligned with Shopify’s recommended stack at project start.

React (frontend)

Snappy UI for merchant settings and embedded app views.

Shopify Platform & APIs

Secure integration with checkout and store data using Shopify’s app framework.

Impact

The Shopify app we developed became a key enabler of Travel Tax Free’s business growth, allowing the company to offer its VAT refund service directly inside one of the most widely used eCommerce platforms in the world.

By embedding the process within the checkout, Travel Tax Free not only simplified compliance for merchants but also enhanced the purchase experience for international shoppers, turning a once manual, paper-heavy task into a single, automated step.

The solution expanded the company’s market reach, enabling multiple Shopify stores to integrate the service effortlessly and build trust with global customers. Today, the app remains the foundation of Travel Tax Free’s digital operations, continuing to facilitate seamless VAT refunds for stores and shoppers across Europe.

Challenges

Bringing Travel Tax Free’s vision to Shopify involved both technical and strategic challenges.

On the technical side, the project required a deep understanding of Shopify’s APIs, checkout architecture, and integration model to ensure a smooth and reliable in-store experience.

From a business perspective, Travel Tax Free faced the challenge of adapting a B2B financial service to a self-serve eCommerce model. The team needed to translate a traditionally manual tax-refund process into a plug-and-play product that merchants could install and trust instantly.

Another key challenge was educating potential partners on the value of automated tax refunds, turning a compliance-driven feature into a sales advantage for online stores.

Key wins

Frictionless checkout integration

Automatic eligibility detection and instant document generation inside the purchase flow.

One-click merchant adoption

Native installation from the Shopify marketplace; no specialised setup required.

Business scalability

Turned a manual VAT process into an automated, repeatable product within Shopify.

Steady reliability

Ongoing updates and corrective maintenance kept the app stable and compliant with Shopify changes.
Developing a seamless integration within Shopify required adaptability and collaboration, but in the end, we delivered a solid and scalable solution for the client.
Carlos
Carlos López
Tech Lead

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