Why Retailers Should Use DDP to Ship to the EU
With the dust finally settled on Brexit and the transition period over, all goods sent from the UK to the EU are subject to VAT and additional customs requirements. How you send goods to the continent - DDP or DUP - is more important than ever.
One is easier for retailers but risks custom delays and customer dissatisfaction. The other is more complicated to integrate but offers a considerable number of long-term benefits.
This in-depth article will explain why DDP should be your delivery method of choice and how Pro Carrier can help you reap the benefits while overcoming the challenges.
What Is DDP?
DDP stands for Delivered Duty Paid. It means the seller has taken responsibility for both customs paperwork to ship goods to the EU and the payment of VAT and any other fees.
That’s the opposite of DDU (Delivered Duties Unpaid), where the overseas courier must collect the VAT and additional fees from the buyer before delivery.
Why Choose DDP vs DDU?
Sending goods DDP and taking responsibility for the customs clearance process can be time-consuming for UK retailers, but the benefits more than makeup for the additional work.
For one, DDP delivers a superior customer experience. Imagine how annoyed you would be if you ordered an item from your favourite retailer only to learn you can’t get your hands on the package until you’ve paid another additional fee. That’s precisely how your customers feel when you ship DDU.
DDP also avoids unnecessary delays and disruptions during the customs process. By taking care of customs documents in advance, it’s far more likely your products will sail through customs checks without being delayed or rejected. That’s not necessarily the case with DDU when you pass responsibility to a third party that may not have the best interests of you and your customer as their first priority.
How Pro Carrier Streamlines DDP
The benefits of DDP do not come cheap. Delivered Duty Paid means retailers must take on additional work and costs, but both can be minimised by working with the right international shipping carrier.
Here at Pro Carrier, we work with a variety of global brands to ship DDP to the continent in a stress-free and straightforward manner while helping them to save money on their shipping and packaging costs.
It starts by working closely with retailers to make sure you have all of the paperwork you need when shipping to the EU, including the correct commodity codes, VAT registration number, Economic Operator Registration and Identification Number, licenses, and any other customs clearance information, as per our Shipping Process.
We also use our decades of experience and wide network of connections to significantly improve the customs clearance rate through strategies like scan to pallet. We can even take care of the VAT and Duty payments on your behalf, so your products experience little to no delay. The charges will be invoiced to you as part of our service, instead of you paying them in advance.
Finally, our market-leading shopping cart integration and customer portal means you only need to pack the goods and have them ready to be collected. Our one label system removes the headaches caused by multiple labels and simplifies the process while eliminating potential issues. And on the off chance an issue does occur, our customer portal lets you manage your orders on the fly, updating information where necessary and avoiding complications at customs.
Combine all of that with our extensive network of EU carriers that provide the delivery options your European customers demand, and shipping DDP to Europe becomes almost as easy as it used to be. Contact our team today for more information on how Pro Carrier can help you with cross-border commerce.
