Duties · Customs · Cross-border shipping

DDP vs DAP shipping: who pays duties on cross-border e-commerce orders in 2026

1 November 2026 · 11 min read · SuperFulfill · Rules last reviewed 1 November 2026

Under DDP (delivered duty paid) the seller arranges and pays import duties and taxes, so the customer pays nothing more at the door. Under DAP (delivered at place, still often called delivered duty unpaid in parcel shipping) the customer or their carrier pays them on arrival. For cross-border e-commerce that choice now matters more than it did: the low-value exemptions that let most small parcels enter duty-free have been suspended or narrowed in the US, the EU and, on a timetable, the UK.

This guide explains the two models, what changed by market, how the duty on an order is worked out, and what data you need before you ship duty-paid. Rules change often; every external rule below links to its primary source and was last reviewed on 1 November 2026. This is general information, not a customs ruling or legal advice, and what applies to a shipment depends on its details.

The terms, defined

Cross-border shipping and customs terms
Term	Meaning in e-commerce
DDP (delivered duty paid)	The seller, or its shipping provider on its behalf, pays import duties and taxes. The customer receives the parcel without a further charge.
DAP (delivered at place)	The seller pays to deliver the parcel; import duties and taxes are the buyer's to pay. Parcel carriers and platforms often call this delivered duty unpaid.
Landed cost	Everything paid to put the product in the customer's hands: product, shipping, duties, taxes, and any customs brokerage or carrier fees.
HS code	The Harmonized System classification that determines the duty rate. Countries extend the six-digit international code with their own digits, such as the 10-digit US HTS number.
Customs value	The value duty is calculated on. In the US this is normally the transaction value: the price paid for the goods when sold for export to the US.
De minimis	A value below which a country doesn't collect duty (and sometimes tax) on an import.

DDP and DAP are two of the 11 rules in the International Chamber of Commerce's Incoterms 2020. Delivered duty unpaid is no longer one of them, but the label survives in carrier and platform settings, where it means the same thing as DAP for practical purposes.

What changed in 2025 and 2026

For years most direct-to-consumer parcels into the US and EU fell below a de minimis threshold, so the DDP versus DAP decision often had little money attached to it. That is no longer true for the US and EU, and the UK has set a date for its change.

Low-value import rules by market, checked 1 November 2026
Market	Status and what applies	What it means for a brand shipping from China
United States	In force. The US$800 de minimis exemption has been suspended for all countries since 29 August 2025. CBP interim final rules published on 24 June 2026 continue the suspension indefinitely for mail and all other modes. Exemptions for bona fide gifts up to US$100 and travellers' personal articles are unchanged.	Every sale parcel must be entered and pays whatever duty applies to the goods, which for some products is zero. Duty depends on the product's HTS classification, its country of origin and its customs value, plus any additional duties that currently apply to goods of that origin. Those additional duties have changed several times since 2025, so check them when you ship.
European Union	In force. The €150 customs duty exemption for distance sales ended on 1 July 2026. Until 1 July 2028 a flat €3 duty applies per item in consignments up to €150, counted per tariff classification rather than per unit, and normal tariff rates are due to apply after that. VAT is still charged, and IOSS remains available to collect it at checkout. Product identifiers are mandatory from 1 November 2026. A separate handling fee has been proposed but not yet set.	Duty is now a predictable per-item amount for low-value parcels, paid by the seller or its representative as declarant. It adds up for orders containing several different kinds of product.
United Kingdom	Current rules, with a change announced. In Great Britain, non-excise goods worth £135 or less carry no customs duty, and the seller includes VAT in the price at the point of sale. The government has announced that the relief will be removed from a date set in regulations, by October 2028 at the latest. Northern Ireland follows different rules.	Duty is not usually due on low-value orders to Great Britain today, but plan for duty on every order once the reform takes effect.
Australia	In force since 1 July 2018. A seller registered for Australian GST charges 10% GST at the point of sale on goods with a customs value of A$1,000 or less, excluding tobacco and alcohol. Registration is required once Australian sales reach A$75,000 in 12 months. Consignments over A$1,000 are taxed at the border.	When GST was collected at sale and the details are on the customs documents, the customer should not be charged GST again at delivery.

Sources for each rule are listed at the end of this guide. A comparison of what the US change does to a China-versus-US-warehouse decision is in our China vs US fulfillment guide.

How the duty on an order is worked out

Duty is a rate applied to a value, and both parts are set by rules rather than negotiated. Four inputs decide it:

Classification: the product's HS code decides the base duty rate. You can look up US rates in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Similar-looking products can sit under codes with different rates, so classify by material and function, not by how you describe the product in your store.
Origin: where the goods were made, which can trigger additional duties on top of the base rate.
Value: normally the transaction value of the goods, not the retail price your customer paid. For goods sold direct to a US consumer, how the value is declared should follow 19 CFR 152.103 and your customs adviser's guidance.
Taxes and fees: VAT or GST in most markets, and any carrier or brokerage fees for clearing the parcel.

A hypothetical example, to show the arithmetic only: a jacket with a declared customs value of $30, a combined duty rate of 25% from its classification and origin, and a carrier clearance fee of $2 would carry $7.50 in duty and $9.50 in total import charges. None of those figures is a real rate for any product; the point is that the answer comes from classification, origin and value, which is why a fulfillment provider quotes DDP shipping per product and destination rather than as a flat surcharge.

DDP or DAP: the trade-offs

DDP and DAP compared for direct-to-consumer orders
Question	DDP (seller pays)	DAP or duty unpaid (customer pays)
What the customer sees	One price at checkout; nothing to pay on delivery	A separate charge from the carrier before or at delivery
Who carries the cost	You, so it needs to be in your price or shipping charge	The customer, on top of the price they paid
Refused deliveries	Less likely, because there is no surprise charge	More likely when the charge is unexpected; a refused parcel usually comes back at your cost
Margin risk	A misclassified or undervalued product costs you the difference	Lower direct cost, but lost orders and support time are harder to see
Data you need	HS code, origin and value for every product, before shipping	The same data for the customs declaration, but errors land on the customer

DAP can still suit low-value orders into markets where little or no duty is charged, or business customers who clear goods themselves. For consumer orders into the US and EU, where duty now applies to most parcels, DDP is usually the clearer experience, provided the cost is built into your pricing rather than absorbed by accident.

Charging duties at checkout on Shopify

If you sell on Shopify, you can collect duties and import taxes at checkout so the customer pays them with the order. According to Shopify's help centre, the store needs HS codes on its products, must not use Shopify Fulfillment Network, and, if it buys shipping labels through Shopify, must use a carrier that supports DDP labels. Duties are calculated from each product's HS code and country of origin, and Shopify describes the amounts as estimates: wrong product data can still lead to a charge on delivery. A transaction fee applies to orders where duties are calculated. If you used Shopify Managed Markets with duty-unpaid delivery, Shopify stopped supporting it on 24 August 2026 in every market where Managed Markets supports DDP.

Collecting duties at checkout and shipping duty-paid are two halves of one process: the first sets the customer's price, the second pays customs. Check with your fulfillment provider that the carrier service used for each destination supports DDP for your products before you switch it on.

Before you ship duty-paid: a checklist

An HS code for every SKU, checked against the destination's tariff schedule rather than copied from a supplier invoice.
Country of origin for every SKU, as made, not as shipped.
Declared values that follow the destination's valuation rules, consistent with your commercial invoices.
Product descriptions specific enough for customs ("women's knitted cotton sweater", not "top").
A list of products that may be restricted or need certification in each destination, reviewed before they ship.
Prices or shipping charges that include the duty you will pay, by market.
A returns plan for each market, since duty is not always refunded when goods come back.

How SuperFulfill handles duties

SuperFulfill quotes shipping separately from the US$0.50 order fee, with DDP shipping as standard for supported destinations and products: applicable duties and taxes are part of the quoted shipping price, and the terms are confirmed in your quotation. Duties depend on each product's classification, origin and value, so they are priced for your catalogue and destinations, and restricted or regulated products are reviewed individually before they're accepted. Read more about our duties and customs service.

Questions brands ask

Is delivered duty unpaid the same as DAP?

For parcel shipping, effectively yes: in both, the seller pays for delivery and the buyer pays import duties and taxes. Delivered duty unpaid is not one of the current Incoterms 2020 rules, but carriers and platforms still use the label.

Do US customers pay duty on small parcels from China now?

Every sale parcel must now be entered and pays whatever duty applies to the goods: the US suspended the de minimis exemption for all countries from 29 August 2025, and CBP's June 2026 rules continue that indefinitely. Whether the customer or the seller pays depends on whether the order ships DDP or DAP.

Is duty calculated on the retail price?

Usually not. In the US, duty is normally calculated on the transaction value of the goods when sold for export, which is different from the retail price shown to the customer. Follow the destination's valuation rules and take advice for your products.

Does DDP mean the customer never pays anything on delivery?

That is the intent: duties and taxes are paid before delivery. It depends on the data being right; a parcel declared with the wrong classification or value can still be held or reassessed.

Sources

Rules and figures from these sources were last reviewed on 1 November 2026. This is general information, not a customs ruling, legal advice or a quotation: what applies depends on each shipment's product, classification, origin, value, destination and service, and the rules change.