International Shipping & DDP
DDP and landed-cost shipping with Zonos
Show international customers a single all-in price at checkout—duties, taxes, and fees paid upfront, no surprises at the door.
What DDP means
DDP stands for "Delivered Duties Paid." When you ship a parcel internationally as DDP, the duties, import taxes, and brokerage fees are calculated at checkout and paid by the merchant up front. The customer sees a single all-in price—no border surprise, no carrier call, no refused delivery. The opposite is DDU (Delivered Duties Unpaid), where the customer pays the carrier directly at delivery.
Why DDP wins for cross-border ecommerce
Roughly 1 in 3 DDU international parcels gets refused, abandoned, or returned because the customer was blindsided by a duties bill at their door. DDP eliminates that—cart abandonment drops, refusals drop, and customer support volume drops. Customers in Canada, the UK, EU, and Australia have come to expect DDP from US merchants and treat lack of DDP as a sign of an unprofessional store.
The Zonos partnership
ShipWave partners with Zonos, the leading landed-cost API, to provide real-time duty and tax quotes. Zonos maintains an updated database of HS codes, duty rates, de minimis thresholds, and country-specific rules across 220+ countries and territories. ShipWave forwards your cart to Zonos at checkout, gets a quote back in under 500ms, and renders the breakdown to the shopper. See Configuring DDP and broker accounts to set up your Zonos API key.
What customers pay upfront
The landed-cost breakdown shown at checkout includes item subtotal, shipping, duties, import taxes (VAT, GST, etc.), and brokerage fees. The total is locked in for that order—if duties change before the parcel ships, ShipWave absorbs the delta. The customer sees one number, pays one number, and gets one delivery with no follow-up invoices.
Sandbox vs production
Zonos provides a sandbox environment for testing. In Admin → Settings → Landed Cost, set Environment to
sandbox during integration to get freely-generated quotes with no rate limiting. Sandbox quotes are not real customs filings—they cannot be used to ship a real parcel. Switch to production once you have validated the widget, broker accounts, and HS code coverage.FAQs
Does DDP work with USPS?
No. USPS does not support DDP—they only offer DDU on international parcels. Use UPS, FedEx, or DHL for DDP shipments. See <a href="/help/configuring-ddp-and-broker-accounts">Configuring DDP and broker accounts</a>.
Is DDP more expensive than DDU?
Per parcel, DDP costs slightly more (brokerage fee is paid up front rather than at the door). Per net revenue, DDP almost always wins because cart abandonment and refused delivery rates drop dramatically.
Can a customer still choose DDU?
Yes. The landed-cost widget can offer both options if you enable it in country settings. Most merchants force DDP for high-value parcels and offer DDU as a discount path for low-value.
What countries are covered?
Zonos covers 220+ countries, including every major market and most second-tier ones. Restricted destinations (sanctioned countries, certain HS codes) are flagged at quote time.
More in International Shipping & DDP
- Configuring DDP and broker accounts
Plug in your Zonos key, link your UPS/FedEx/DHL brokers, and pick DDP-eligible countries country-by-country.
- Adding the landed-cost widget to Shopify
Drop a single script tag into your theme and shoppers see real-time DDP duties and taxes right in the cart.
- DDP refunds and reconciliation
When a customer returns a DDP order, duties are refunded back to you. The reconciliation cron catches drift before it adds up.
- Shipping electric scooters and e-bikes (lithium batteries, UN3556)
A scooter with its battery installed is dangerous goods. Here is how to classify, label, and document it—and why it is UN3556, not UN3481.