When shipping worldwide, one of the most important things to get right is who pays the duties and taxes. That’s where Incoterms (International Commercial Terms) come in. These are global trade rules that define who’s responsible for shipping, insurance, customs clearance, and import charges.
In e-commerce and small parcel shipping, the two most common Incoterms are DDU and DDP. They simply explain who pays for duties and taxes:
What is DDU?
Delivered Duty Unpaid (DDU), aka Delivered at Place (DAP): The buyer (receiver) pays all duties, taxes, and clearance fees.
Your customer pays duties and fees when the package arrives, often via the carrier. It's simple for you: ship and done—but it can leave customers blindsided by extra costs and delays—risking frustration.
What is DDP?
Delivered Duty Paid (DDP): The seller (sender) pays all duties, taxes, and clearance fees.
You calculate duties and fees upfront—folding them into the checkout price. Customers pay everything at once, enjoying a seamless delivery with no surprises. It's a win for transparency, but it requires more effort on your part.
Why should you care about DDU and DDP?
When selling internationally, import duties and taxes may apply depending on the country regulations, and if so, someone has to pay those — either you or your customer. Nobody likes surprise costs after a shipment arrives, so it’s important to set the right expectation up front.
Every country sets its own rules and rates, usually based on the declared value of what you’re shipping. Depending on the destination and the country De Minimis value, you may decide to ship under DDU or DDP.
The key to successful cross-border sales is avoiding unwanted surprises for your customers. International shoppers are savvy — they expect transparency about fees and total delivery costs. If duties and taxes aren’t made clear, many customers may abandon the shopping cart. That’s why it’s crucial to communicate who is responsible for these costs (you or the buyer) before checkout.
Should I ship DDU or DDP?
Unless you’ve already collected duties and taxes from your customer (or you’re willing to cover them yourself), you probably don’t want to pay those extra costs out of pocket.
If you’re new to international shipping or unsure about how much the duties and taxes will be: you should ship DDU. This way, the receiver will pay for the duties and taxes.
If you collect duties and taxes from the customer upfront (or decided to absorb the cost): go with DDP. This will result a smoother delivery and a better customer experience.
How do I collect duties and taxes from customers?
If you’re using Shopify, you can auto-calculate and collect duties and import taxes at your store's checkout. Here's how ⟶
If you’re selling on Etsy or other platforms, you can use Zonos duty & tax calculator or ChatGPT (AI) to get the estimates.
⚠️ Important: UrShipper does not include duties and taxes in the shipping rates. If you want to ship DDP, calculation and collection of duties and taxes from your customers are solely your responsibility.
How to ship DDP with UrShipper?
To use DDP with UrShipper, you’ll only need to specify the Import Duty/Tax Bill to: Sender when creating shipping labels.
UrShipper will first handle the duties and taxes payment on your behalf—then will charge it to your UrShipper account—typically one week after the shipment is delivered.
ⓘ UrShipper DDP Service Flow:
1. Sender calculates and collects duties, taxes & clearance fees from the buyer/receiver.2. Sender ships with UrShipper DDP (only shipping cost is charged at this point).
3. UrShipper handles the duties, taxes & clearance fees payments in advance.
4. Package continues to delivery once it's cleared customs.5. UrShipper issues DDP Invoice to sender (≈ 1 week later).
Who is the importer of record if a shipment is sent DDP?
The receiver remains the importer of record (IOR) even if you choose to bill the duties and taxes to yourself. You’re only acting as the payor of duties and taxes, not the importer of record.
At some cases, the carrier will take care of this themselves. FedEx DDP shipments to the U.S., for example, FedEx acts as the importer of record (IOR) directly.
Are there other fees associated with DDP shipments?
Yes. Sending a DDP means the seller (sender) is responsible with the entire total landed costs—so the buyer (receiver) won’t have to do or pay anything . This also includes the brokerage/processing fees charged by the carrier who help clear your shipments from customs.
DHL Express “Duty Tax Paid” Fee: 2% of the Total Customs Charges or a minimum of 290,000 IDR.
FedEx “Ancillary / Disbursement Fee”: Vary depending on the destination country, for shipments to the U.S.: 2% of the Total Customs Charges or a minimum start from 4.5 USD.
Aramex “Free Domicile” Fee: 2% of the Total Customs Charges or a minimum of 14 USD for express/standard services; and 3% of the Total Customs Charges for economy services.
On top of that, UrShipper will charge a flat fee of 30,000 IDR per DDP shipment.