DDP or DAP
for UK imports?

Two terms, and one that isn't a term

DAP and DDP are both formal rules in the ICC's Incoterms® 2020, the authoritative text for which is published by the ICC as one of eleven three-letter trade terms. What Chinese forwarders market as 双清包税 — roughly "dual-cleared, tax included" — is not among them and has no standard definition. Setting all three side by side makes the gap clear:

It comes down to who is the importer

On the surface the difference between DAP and DDP is who pays. What actually moves your landed cost is a layer below that: who is named as importer of record on the declaration. Because the right to recover import VAT follows the importer, not the payer.

HMRC is direct about this. Accounting for or recovering import VAT requires your own VAT registration number on the import declaration, and the guidance states that the VAT is recorded against your EORI number — see Check when you can account for import VAT on your VAT Return.

The conclusion follows: under DDP or an all-in arrangement the importer is normally the forwarder or its nominated entity, so the import VAT sits with them and you receive nothing recoverable. None of this is visible on the quotation — it usually surfaces at year end. Our customs documents guide sets out importer-of-record responsibility in more detail.

"A DDP price looks like convenience. If you are a VAT-registered UK buyer, it also quietly contains 20% of the customs value that you will never get back — and that figure appears on no line of the quote."

For a UK buyer, DAP is often cheaper

The instinct is that DDP must be better value — one price, delivered, nothing to manage. Put the VAT into the arithmetic and it reverses:

• On DAP — you are the importer, you pay duty and import VAT, and the VAT is recoverable under the normal rules. That 20% is a cash flow timing cost, not a cost.
• On DDP — duty and import VAT are built into the price, but the VAT is recorded against the forwarder's entity. That 20% is a real, unrecoverable cost.

So the deciding question is not which term is better, but whether you are able and willing to recover the VAT:

• VAT registered in the UK and able to arrange clearance → DAP is genuinely cheaper
• No UK entity, no EORI, no wish to handle declarations → DDP is simpler, and the VAT is a sunk cost
• In between, e.g. VAT registration in progress → run DDP as a bridge and switch to DAP once registered

Why supplier DDP is structurally awkward

Read strictly, DDP requires the seller to complete import clearance. But importing into Great Britain requires an EORI number beginning with GB, which a Chinese company generally does not hold — see the HMRC EORI guidance. So "DDP" on this lane almost always means the declaration is filed using a forwarder's or third party's entity as importer of record.

That works operationally — we do it daily — but two consequences follow. First, the import VAT recovery belongs to that entity, not to you. Second, the chain of responsibility is more complex if HMRC later enquires: the declaration liability sits with the named importer, while the information came from the supplier. The ICC itself advises using DAP or DPU where the seller cannot handle import formalities, rather than forcing DDP.

Neither DAP nor DDP includes unloading

A frequent source of dispute, and widely misunderstood: both DAP and DDP end at "delivered, ready for unloading" — the unloading itself is the buyer's responsibility. The Incoterm where the seller unloads is DPU (Delivered at Place Unloaded).

This bites particularly hard in the UK, where a great many small and mid-size warehouses have no loading dock and no forklift. The driver arrives, cannot unload, and you are into either a tail-lift vehicle or manual handling — both chargeable, both accruing waiting time. Our practice is to establish three things at booking: is there a dock, is there a forklift, and can the site take a 40ft trailer. Asking before the quote is far cheaper than solving it on the day.

Amazon will not be your importer

Anyone selling on Amazon UK needs to know this one: Amazon will not act as importer of record for your goods. Any FBA-bound consignment therefore needs a separate, identified importing entity — your own UK company, or a forwarder's or third-party service provider's entity.

Settle it before booking. Discovering on arrival that there is no usable importer leaves two options — finding an entity at short notice, or diverting to a third-party warehouse — and both add cost and eat into free time. To confirm the destination address and postcode, use our FBA warehouse lookup; the first-leg options are on our Amazon FBA page.

Three things to put in writing

Whichever route you choose, these three belong in the document. Verbal assurances do not survive an invoice dispute:

• 1. Whose name the declaration is filed in. Name the importing entity and its EORI number. That single line determines who recovers the VAT and who answers an enquiry.
• 2. Inclusions and exclusions as two columns. State specifically whether the price covers examination costs, demurrage and detention beyond free time, redelivery, tail-lift or manual unloading, and waiting time. These are the usual exclusions in an all-in quote; the underlying cost structure is broken down in our cost guide.
• 3. Who unloads, and the site conditions. Dock, forklift, 40ft access. If the seller must unload, use DPU rather than DAP or DDP.

A forwarder unwilling to put those three in writing is itself telling you something.

What this guide does not cover

This guide reflects the day-to-day operational experience of the HSIEHSHUN China–UK desk and is not legal, tax or contractual advice. Four points specifically: the authoritative definitions of DAP and DDP are those in the ICC Incoterms® 2020 rules, and this guide only explains them operationally; eligibility to recover or postpone import VAT depends on your own tax position and should be discussed with your UK accountant or tax adviser; the rates and figures used are illustrative of the arithmetic and are not a quotation; and clauses dealing with title, the point of risk transfer and insurance liability should be reviewed by your legal adviser. The allocation of responsibility on any shipment is governed by the signed contract and quotation.

Written by Alex · Operations, Shenzhen Xieshun Logistics Co., Ltd. · 5 years in international freight forwarding, handling China–UK bookings, export declarations and UK-side clearance and delivery coordination.
Published 11 August 2026 · Last updated 11 August 2026 · Reviewed by the HSIEHSHUN commercial team

Where to go from here

• What customs documents UK customs needs — the five mandatory documents and the full importer-of-record picture
• What makes up the cost of shipping to the UK — the five cost segments and the import VAT calculation
• How long does shipping from China to the UK take — sea, air and rail compared, port-to-port against door-to-door
• UK and Germany FBA first-leg guide — Amazon will not be your importer, so each marketplace needs its own entity
• China–UK freight services — the actual ocean, air, rail and road options and scope of carriage
• Back to the guides — other practical articles on UK and European logistics