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Home > Guides > DDP vs DAP incoterms
DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) means the seller pays all duties, taxes, and import charges: the price you see at checkout is the final price. DAP (Delivered At Place) means the buyer pays duties and customs-clearance fees when the parcel arrives. The two terms decide who gets the surprise bill at the door. This is general information, not tax advice.
One honest boundary first: LetterAgent's shipping labels cover Canada-only Canada Post Xpresspost parcels, so incoterms do not apply to anything LetterAgent ships. Incoterms matter only for cross-border shipments, and this guide explains them because the duty question comes up constantly for international buyers and sellers.
| DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) | DAP (Delivered At Place) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays duties and import taxes | The seller | The buyer, on delivery |
| Who handles customs clearance | The seller (or their broker) | The buyer (or the courier, who bills the buyer) |
| Price at checkout | Final price, duties included | Product price only; duties come later |
| Surprise bill at the door | None | Possible, often with a brokerage fee on top |
| Best for | Buyers who want cost certainty | Sellers who want to keep listed prices low |
Because the shipment came DAP, which is the default for most consumer cross-border orders. When a DAP parcel reaches customs, the courier clears it and advances the duty and tax payment to the government, then collects from you at the door along with a brokerage or disbursement fee for the trouble. That fee is the part that stings: it can rival the duty itself on lower-value parcels. None of this happens with DDP, because the seller has already paid everything before the parcel reached you. So when a Canadian buyer orders from a US store and gets a courier bill at the door, the missing piece of information was almost always the incoterm, which the checkout page rarely states plainly.
Look for the words "duties included" or "DDP" at checkout, or a store policy that says all import charges are covered. If the store says nothing, assume DAP and budget for duties on top of the listed price: Canada's duty-free thresholds for courier shipments are low, so most cross-border parcels attract at least sales tax. One more wrinkle: DDP does not always mean every charge is covered, because some sellers exclude specific local taxes or remote-area delivery surcharges in the fine print, so read the store's shipping policy before assuming. If you order internationally often, DDP sellers are worth seeking out even when their listed prices look slightly higher.
DDP converts better and generates fewer angry emails, because the customer never sees a bill. The catch is that you, the seller, must handle import compliance for every destination country: correct customs valuation, proper tariff classification, and a way to pay duties abroad, usually through a broker or a carrier's DDP service. DAP is simpler to operate: you ship, the carrier bills the buyer, and you never touch foreign customs. Many small sellers start on DAP and switch their best-selling destinations to DDP once volume justifies the setup. Whichever you choose, state it clearly at checkout: most duty disputes are not about the duty itself, but about the buyer not knowing it was coming.
DDP and DAP are the two that touch consumers, but the Incoterms rulebook (published by the International Chamber of Commerce) defines eleven terms, mostly for business-to-business freight. The one consumers occasionally meet is EXW (Ex Works), where the buyer takes responsibility from the seller's door onward: maximum buyer responsibility. Unless you are importing commercially, DDP and DAP cover what you need: know which one your order is on, and the doorstep bill stops being a surprise.
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