A customer in London, Zurich or New York orders from your Shopify store. The parcel arrives, and before the courier hands it over, the customer is asked to pay import VAT, duty and a clearance fee. Some pay and never order again. Some refuse the parcel, and you pay for the trip back. Whether this happens is decided by one field on the shipment: the Incoterm. This guide explains the two Incoterms that matter for parcels, DAP and DDP, and what they mean for shipments from the EU to the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the USA.

Rules as of October 2026. Customs rules change often, especially in the USA. This article is general information, not tax or legal advice; check the details with your courier or a customs broker before you change your pricing.

DAP and DDP in one minute

Incoterms are standard delivery terms published by the International Chamber of Commerce. They say who pays for transport, who clears customs and who carries the risk. For e-commerce parcels, two of them cover almost every shipment:

DAP, Delivered at Place. You pay for delivery to the customer's address. The recipient handles import clearance and pays import duty, import VAT and the courier's clearance fee, usually before the parcel is released.
DDP, Delivered Duty Paid. You pay for delivery and for everything on import. The courier clears the parcel and bills duty, taxes and its fee to your account. The customer pays nothing at the door.

The International Chamber of Commerce puts the difference simply: under DAP "the buyer is responsible for carrying out and paying for import clearance", under DDP the seller is. Most couriers use DAP as the default for international parcels, so if you do nothing, your customers pay.

What the customer pays on import

When a parcel leaves the EU customs union, up to three charges can appear at the destination:

Import VAT (or sales tax), calculated on the value of the goods and usually the shipping cost.
Customs duty, a percentage set by the tariff code (HS code) and the origin of the goods. It is often zero.
A clearance or handling fee charged by the courier for paying these amounts on the recipient's behalf. On a small order this fee can be higher than the tax itself.

Exporting from the EU is the easy part. A B2C export is zero rated for EU VAT when you can prove the goods left the EU, and the courier's export declaration and tracking give you that evidence. The questions start at the other border.

Shipping to the United Kingdom

Since Brexit, the UK treats parcels from the EU like parcels from anywhere else. The rules depend on the value of the consignment, meaning the whole parcel, not single items.

Consignments of £135 or less

For B2C sales up to £135, UK VAT is not collected at the border. According to GOV.UK, "the seller must charge and account for VAT at the point of sale", which means you need a UK VAT registration and charge 20% UK VAT at checkout. Customs duty on these consignments is currently covered by the low value import relief, so in most cases the customer pays nothing on delivery.

This relief is ending. In July 2026 HMRC confirmed that the £135 customs duty relief will be removed by October 2028 at the latest and replaced by a dedicated low value imports regime (summary). Until then, low value parcels to the UK are mostly a VAT registration question, not a DAP or DDP question.

Consignments over £135

Above £135, normal import rules apply: import VAT at 20% and customs duty according to the UK tariff are charged at the border. With DAP, the courier collects them from your customer together with its fee. With DDP, the courier bills them to you.

Duty can often be avoided. Goods that qualify as EU origin can enter the UK duty free under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement when the invoice carries a statement on origin. For consignments above 6,000 EUR, that statement needs your REX number. Products made outside the EU, for example in China, do not qualify just because you ship them from an EU warehouse.

Shipping to Switzerland

Switzerland is not in the EU customs union, and every parcel goes through Swiss customs. The good news first: since 1 January 2024 Switzerland has abolished customs duties on industrial products, so clothing, electronics, cosmetics and most other goods sold online enter without duty. Agricultural products and food are the main exception.

What remains is Swiss import VAT: 8.1% standard rate, 2.6% reduced rate for food, books and medicines. Two rules shape your choice:

Small consignments. No import tax is collected when the tax amount is CHF 5 or less. At 8.1%, that is a parcel worth roughly CHF 62 including shipping.
Mail order registration. According to the Swiss Federal Tax Administration, a foreign seller that makes at least CHF 100,000 a year from such small consignments must register for Swiss VAT. From then on, your parcels to Switzerland are treated as domestic supplies.

The Swiss pain point is the clearance fee. Under DAP, a customer who orders a CHF 80 item pays about CHF 6.50 VAT plus the courier's fee for handling it, and that fee can be several times the tax. Swiss shoppers know this and often abandon carts from foreign stores that do not show the full price. DDP, with the VAT and fee built into your price, is the common choice for B2C sales to Switzerland.

Shipping to the USA

The USA changed the most. For years, parcels worth up to $800 entered duty free under the de minimis rule. That exemption no longer applies to commercial shipments since 29 August 2025, and US law repeals it for good from 1 July 2027 (Federal Register). Every parcel now goes through formal or informal entry and duty is due from the first dollar.

For most goods made in the EU, the US tariff is capped at 15% all inclusive under the EU-US framework, meaning the ordinary US duty rate is included in the 15% (European Commission). Some categories, such as steel and aluminium, follow different rules, and goods made outside the EU pay the rate for their country of origin. There is no federal VAT, and US state sales tax is not collected at the border.

US rates have changed several times since 2025, so check the current rate for your products before you build it into a DDP price. Under DAP, US customers who did not expect a duty bill refuse parcels more often, and a refused express parcel from the USA is expensive to bring back.

DAP or DDP: how to choose

There is no single right answer. Use these rules of thumb:

Choose DDP for B2C orders where import charges will apply: UK orders over £135, Swiss orders above the CHF 5 tax limit, and practically every US order. Build the expected duty, tax and courier fee into your product price or shipping rate, and tell the customer "duties and taxes included" at checkout.
Choose DAP for B2B customers with their own import account, for orders where no import charges are expected, or when you cannot predict the duty and the customer agrees to pay it. Say clearly at checkout that import charges are paid on delivery.
Mix them. Many stores keep DAP as the default and switch single orders to DDP, for example for a valuable order, a key customer or a market where refusals hurt.

DDP has its own costs. The courier pays the authorities for you and bills you later, usually with a service fee. DHL Express in Germany, for example, lists 2% of the duty and tax amount with a minimum of 17 EUR for its Duty Tax Paid service (DHL). Ask your courier which fees apply to your account before you switch.

How to set the Incoterm in ShipDock

ShipDock builds the customs declaration from your Shopify order and sends it to the courier with the label. The Incoterm is part of that declaration, and you set it in two places:

Default for the courier. Open Providers, choose the courier and go to the Customs tab. Under Declaration defaults, pick the Incoterm. DAP is preselected; DDP means duties and taxes are billed to your courier account. The default prefills the customs declaration of every new order.
Override for one order. Open the order in ShipDock and click Customs. The Incoterm field is prefilled from the default. Change it, for example to DDP for this one customer, and save before you create the label.

The Incoterm choice is available for DHL Express, which our support enables on request. If you switch to DDP, check with DHL that your account is set up for billing duties and taxes to the shipper.

Couriers for the UK, Switzerland and the USA in ShipDock

Packeta partner carriers for home delivery to Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the USA. You fill in the customs declaration on the order and upload your own invoice PDF.
DHL Express (on request) to the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the USA. The declaration is built automatically when you create the label, DHL can generate the commercial invoice, and you choose the Incoterm.

Customs declarations are part of label creation through the courier API, which is on the ShipDock Full plan.

Checklist before your first non-EU parcel

HS code (tariff code) and country of origin on every product in Shopify
EORI number and, where needed, your UK or Swiss VAT number
REX number if you claim EU origin on larger UK consignments
Real delivery cost in the declaration, even when shipping was free for the customer
Commercial invoice, generated by the courier or uploaded
The Incoterm you want as the default, and a rule for when you switch an order to the other one
A clear line at checkout: "duties and taxes included" (DDP) or "import charges paid on delivery" (DAP)

Frequently asked questions

Is DDU the same as DAP?

In practice, yes. DDU (Delivered Duty Unpaid) was removed from the Incoterms rules in 2010, but some couriers still use the code. Like DAP, it means the recipient pays import duty and taxes.

What happens when a customer refuses to pay under DAP?

The courier holds the parcel for a while and then returns it or, on your instruction, abandons it. You usually pay the return shipping, and duties already paid at the border are not always refunded. That is the main business reason for DDP on B2C orders.

Do I need a UK VAT number to sell to UK customers?

For B2C consignments up to £135, yes: the seller charges UK VAT at checkout and must be registered for it. Above £135, VAT is collected on import, from the recipient under DAP or from you under DDP.

Do I pay Swiss VAT on every parcel?

No. When the import tax would be CHF 5 or less, it is not collected. If such small parcels bring you CHF 100,000 or more a year, you must register for Swiss VAT, and then VAT applies to all your parcels to Switzerland.

Can I use DAP for some orders and DDP for others?

Yes. In ShipDock the courier default applies to every order, and you can change the Incoterm on any single order in its customs declaration.

Does ShipDock calculate duties and taxes?

No. ShipDock sends the declaration and the Incoterm to the courier. The duty and tax amounts are calculated by customs and billed by the courier, to the recipient under DAP or to you under DDP.

Ship outside the EU without surprises

Your customer should know the full price before paying, and you should know who gets the customs bill. Decide per market whether you ship DAP or DDP, put it in your prices and checkout text, and set the default once in the courier's Customs settings.

Install ShipDock from the Shopify App Store to create labels and customs declarations from your Shopify orders. Need help with your setup? Visit our help center.

DAP vs DDP: Customs to the UK, Switzerland and USA