All Incoterms 2020 rules

DDP Delivered Duty Paid

The seller delivers to the buyer’s door with import duty and taxes already paid.

Any mode of transport

DDP is the maximum obligation on the seller, the mirror image of EXW. The seller carries the goods to the named place, clears them for import and pays every duty and tax due. The buyer’s only job is to unload them and pay for the goods. The price the buyer sees is a genuinely landed, duty-paid price — which is why the rule sells so well and goes wrong so often.

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Risk passes at
Arrival at destination
Export clearance
Seller
Import duty & taxes
Seller
Cargo insurance
Not required

The journey, stage by stage

Every stage of the shipment in order, and who pays for it.

  1. 1 Packing the goods for export Seller pays
  2. 2 Loading onto the collecting vehicle Seller pays
  3. 3 Inland carriage to the port or terminal Seller pays
  4. 4 Export customs formalities Seller pays
  5. 5 Terminal handling at origin Seller pays
  6. 6 Loading onto the main carrier Seller pays
  7. 7 The international freight Seller pays
  8. 8 Terminal handling at destination Seller pays
  9. 9 Import customs, duty and taxes Seller pays
  10. 10 Inland carriage to the final destination Seller pays
  11. Risk passes to the buyer On arrival at the named place of destination, import-cleared and ready for unloading on the arriving vehicle.
  12. 11 Unloading at the final destination Buyer pays

What the seller does

  • Pack the goods and clear them for export.
  • Contract and pay the whole carriage to the named place.
  • Clear the goods for import and pay duty, VAT and any other import taxes.
  • Carry the risk until the goods arrive ready for unloading.

What the buyer does

  • Unload the goods at the named place.
  • Take the risk from the moment they arrive ready for unloading.
  • Give the seller whatever help it needs to import the goods — at the seller’s cost and risk.

Use it when

  • Samples, spare parts and e-commerce parcels, where a landed price matters more than the cost.
  • Markets where the seller already has a local entity or an established importer of record.
  • Buyers with no import experience at all.

Watch out for

  • In many countries only a locally established company can be the importer of record, and a foreign seller cannot simply pay the duty — check before quoting DDP.
  • The seller usually cannot reclaim import VAT in a country where it is not registered, so it becomes a real cost inside the price.
  • Unloading is the buyer’s under DDP. If the seller is to unload too, the rule to use is DPU — with duty handled separately.

DDP puts every obligation on the seller. Where that is impractical, DAP plus a clear agreement on who imports is usually the better deal.

Compare with

DAP Delivered at Place DPU Delivered at Place Unloaded EXW Ex Works

Sources for this page

Every payer cell on these pages was checked against several published references, and the two cells those references disagree on are drawn as “per contract” rather than resolved by picking a side. This is a summary for orientation, not legal advice — the contract and the ICC text govern.

  1. Incoterms® 2020 International Chamber of Commerce

    The rules themselves. The authoritative text is ICC publication no. 723E, which is not free — this page is a summary of it, not a copy.

  2. Incoterms Wikipedia

    Risk transfer point, export and import clearance and the insurance clauses for each of the eleven rules; the 2010 to 2020 changes; what the rules do not cover.

Selling or buying on DDP terms? Follow the shipment from handover to arrival — whoever holds the number can track it.

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DDP FAQ

DDP is the maximum obligation on the seller, the mirror image of EXW. The seller carries the goods to the named place, clears them for import and pays every duty and tax due. The buyer’s only job is to unload them and pay for the goods. The price the buyer sees is a genuinely landed, duty-paid price — which is why the rule sells so well and goes wrong so often.

Risk passes to the buyer on arrival at the named place of destination, import-cleared and ready for unloading on the arriving vehicle.

The seller pays everything, import duty and taxes included. Only unloading is the buyer’s. Export clearance is the seller’s and import duty and taxes are the seller’s. Neither side is obliged to insure the cargo.

Whoever contracted the carriage holds the transport document, and its number is what a lookup needs. Enter a bill of lading, booking or container number in the container tracking app, an air waybill in the air cargo tracker, or make the same lookup one REST call with the API reference.

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