Who pays the customs duty

The short answer

By default, the person receiving the parcel pays any duty and tax their own country charges on arrival. Two customs authorities see your parcel: India on the way out, and your customer s country on the way in. The second one sets the duty, against the declared value, and bills whoever is receiving it. Every country sets its own threshold below which nothing is charged.

What DDP and DAP mean, without the jargon

These are Incoterms — the standard shorthand for who carries which cost. DAP (delivered at place) is the default above: you cover the freight, your customer settles duty and tax on arrival. DDP (delivered duty paid) means the duty is settled before delivery, so nothing is asked of your customer at the door. If you have seen CPT or CIF in the same list, those are freight-and-insurance terms and they leave import duty with the receiver too.

Where we ship duty paid

Some lanes and services go duty paid, which means the duty is in the price and your buyer has nothing to pay at the door. Which lanes and which service they are changes, so the rates page and every quote tell you before you book rather than this page telling you now. Everywhere else, duty and tax are settled by the receiver on arrival.

It is worth choosing a duty-paid lane where one exists.

What this means for how you price

If you quote your customer a single delivered price and absorb the shipping, you are effectively selling DAP and they may still be billed on arrival. Either say plainly at checkout that duty is payable on delivery in their country, or ship to a destination where it is already paid.

Where to start

Open a business account and tell us what you sell. We call every new business on WhatsApp within a working day, usually to settle exactly the question this page is about, and you are on the right route before your first parcel moves.