Incoterms & Delivery Terms
DDP
Also known as: Delivered Duty Paid
Delivered Duty Paid places the maximum obligation on the seller, who must deliver the goods to the named destination in the buyer's country having borne every cost along the way — export clearance, main carriage, insurance, import duties, taxes, and customs formalities. Risk passes only when the goods are placed at the buyer's disposal, ready for unloading, at destination. DDP offers buyers a true landed, all-inclusive price with no surprises, but it exposes sellers to unfamiliar foreign tax and customs regimes; sellers unwilling to act as importer of record often prefer DAP, which stops short of paying import duties.
Treat DDP from an overseas seller with real suspicion. It proposes that the seller becomes importer of record — which a foreign entity can only do by appointing a resident agent for service of process. Most do not. What usually happens instead is that somebody else's importer number goes on the entry, sometimes the buyer's, sometimes a broker's, sometimes one belonging to a party with no connection to the goods. Ask whose number is being used, in writing, before you agree.
Where it matters for compliance
- A non-resident importer of record must have a resident agent for service of process, and the bond analysis changes.
- Using another party's importer number without authority is a serious matter, and the number holder carries the liability.
- Duty "included" in a DDP price does not discharge the importer of record's obligation if the duty was underpaid.
Related terms
Reviewed by a licensed customs broker. Definitions are general information, not legal or customs advice for a particular shipment. Duty rates, tariff programs and agency requirements change frequently.