Landed Cost & DDP

Landed cost is the total price a customer pays for an international order — including duties, taxes, and shipping. DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) means these costs are shown upfront at checkout so the customer knows exactly what they'll pay before buying.

What Is DDP?

When a customer in another country orders from your store, their government may charge:

• Customs duties — a percentage of the product value, based on the HS code
• Value-added tax (VAT) or sales tax — charged by the destination country
• Customs handling fees — charged by the carrier for processing customs

With DDP enabled, RateTell estimates these costs and adds them to the shipping rate displayed at checkout. The customer sees one total price. No surprise charges at delivery.

Without DDP, customers see only the shipping cost at checkout and may be charged duties and taxes upon delivery — a leading cause of cart abandonment and customer complaints for international orders.

How Estimates Work

RateTell combines several data sources to produce duty and tax estimates:

1. HS Code Classification — Your product's HS code determines the applicable duty rate for the destination country
2. Country Tariff Schedule — RateTell looks up the duty rate for that HS code in the destination country
3. Declared Value — The product price from your Shopify store
4. Shipping Cost — The carrier rate or custom flat rate for the shipment
5. Tax/VAT Rate — The destination country's applicable tax rate

The estimate is based on the product value multiplied by the duty rate, plus VAT on the combined product and shipping cost, plus any customs handling fees.

Accuracy

The accuracy of duty and tax estimates depends on several factors:

What improves accuracy:

• Well-classified products with approved HS codes
• Complete product data (title, type, tags, country of origin)
• Accurate product weight and dimensions

What can cause variations:

• HS codes that need reclassification
• Changes in tariff schedules or trade agreements
• Customs officer discretion at the port of entry
• Actual packed dimensions differing from estimates

All duty and tax figures displayed by RateTell are estimates. Final amounts are determined by customs authorities at the time of import and may vary.

Enabling DDP

1. Go to Configuration
2. Expand the Duties & Taxes section
3. Toggle DDP to on
4. Ensure your products have approved HS classifications (check Classifications)

DDP requires HS codes — without them, RateTell cannot calculate estimated duties. Products without approved HS codes will not show DDP estimates at checkout.

Blocking Countries

You can prevent RateTell from returning rates to specific countries:

1. Go to Configuration
2. In Duties & Taxes, use the country picker under "Block countries"
3. Selected countries will never receive rate estimates at checkout

This is useful for countries with complex customs processes, high fraud rates, or where you don't want to ship.

Next Steps

• How It Works
• HS Classification
• Carrier Rates