DDP explained: what your customer pays and what you pay
In short
DDP = Delivered Duty Paid. The duties and taxes are calculated at checkout from the products, collected from your customer with the order, paid by you to Teleship at label purchase, and settled by Teleship at import. Your customer pays nothing on delivery. Teleship only sells DDP.
Why DDP: with DDU (Delivered Duty Unpaid), the carrier advances duty and VAT at the border and collects them from the buyer before delivery, plus a brokerage fee (typically €10–25 for EU) nobody saw at checkout. Result: refusals, abandoned parcels, chargebacks. The duty and tax owed are identical either way; DDP just moves the calculation to checkout.
Example (EU, €100 goods + €22 shipping and insurance, 4 % duty, 20 % VAT): duty €4 on the goods; VAT 20 % on (€100 goods + €22 shipping and insurance + €4 duty) = 20 % × €126 = €25.20; total €29.20 — collected at checkout, remitted by Teleship.
Guarantee: if a carrier asks your customer to pay on a Teleship DDP parcel, send us the request; we resolve it with the carrier and refund the customer if they paid. If we ever miscalculate duties, we cover the difference.
Zero duty ≠ nothing to pay. Some goods carry 0 % duty (e.g. Switzerland abolished industrial duties in 2024) but import VAT and clearance still apply — DDP covers those too.
Still stuck? Contact our support team.