2026-10-21 · 7 min read

DDP vs DDU Shipping from China: What's the Real Difference?

Short answer: with DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) the seller pays everything — freight, both customs clearances, duties, taxes and final delivery. With DDU (Delivered Duty Unpaid, now usually called DAP) the buyer pays the destination duties and taxes on arrival. Same door, different invoice — and a very different experience when the container reaches the port.

One comparison table, no jargon

Item	DDP	DDU / DAP
Who pays export clearance	We do (included)	We do (included)
Who pays destination duty & VAT	Seller (already in the price)	Buyer, on arrival
Whose name is on the import entry	Our overseas partner's	The buyer's
Final delivery to door	Included	Usually included, duty excluded
Price you quote your customer	Final, all-in	Plus a variable your customer pays later
Best for	Amazon FBA, DTC sellers, small importers	Buyers with their own importer of record and a broker

Why DDP wins for e-commerce sellers

If you sell on Amazon, Shopify or TikTok Shop, your customer expects one price that ends at the door. DDP gives you that. The duty is calculated before the goods leave China, absorbed into your landed cost, and you never get a surprise invoice three weeks later.

The other practical advantage is speed at destination. DDP shipments move through our overseas partner's own customs entry, so the container does not sit waiting for a buyer who forgot to register for VAT or does not yet have an importer of record. On Europe lanes that difference is often a week or more.

When DDU is the correct choice

DDU is not "worse" — it is wrong only when it surprises someone. It is the right structure when:

the buyer already has a customs broker and wants to use their own entries;
the buyer can reclaim import VAT and does not want you paying it on their behalf;
the commodity attracts a duty rate that changes with the declared value, and the buyer wants control of the declaration;
the destination requires a local entity as importer of record (some categories in the EU and Brazil).

The mistake we see most often

Buyers request "DDP" but actually need duty paid and a named consignee for the import entry. If the entry is in the wrong name, the goods clear but Amazon or the tax authority rejects the paperwork later. Whenever we quote DDP, we confirm three things in writing: who is the importer of record, who pays VAT, and what happens if the destination authority re-values the goods.

Practical rule of thumb If your buyer is a consumer-facing brand or an Amazon seller → quote DDP and put the duty inside the price. If your buyer is a distributor with its own customs setup → quote DDU/DAP and let them handle duty. Quote the wrong one and you either lose the order on price or lose the margin on the duty.

Does DDP cost more?

The freight is the same. What changes is where the duty and VAT sit. In a DDP quote the number looks higher because it already contains the duty — that is not a more expensive service, it is a more complete invoice. Always compare landed cost, not freight rate.

Frequently asked

Is DDU the same as DAP?

In practice yes. DDU was removed from Incoterms in 2010 and replaced by DAP (Delivered At Place). Freight forwarders still say "DDU" because importers understand it.

Can you do DDP to Amazon FBA warehouses?

Yes — DDP to FBA is the most common structure we run. Duty is paid, the shipment is booked into the FC appointment, and the goods are received under our partner's importer of record.

What about DDP for battery products?

Battery shipments need UN38.3 reports and MSDS before any carrier books them. Once the documentation is in place, DDP works the same way as for general cargo.

Next step

Tell us the product, the destination postcode and roughly how many cartons — we will quote both DDP and DDU so you can see the difference on one page. Request a quote, or read how we handle DDP door-to-door shipping and Amazon FBA delivery.