Should Your Press-On Nail Order Ship DDP or DDU?
DDP vs DDU for press-on nail orders: what actually changes between the two terms, why the DDU number is often not cheaper, and what a DDP quote must state before you accept it.
Two quotes for the same press-on nail order can differ by a third of the total, and the difference is rarely the factory price. It is who carries the import bill. When you ask for DDP, you are asking the supplier to own customs clearance and the duty payment; when you accept DDU, you keep that risk yourself. The choice changes your cash flow, your retail price, and how much of your margin depends on a number you cannot see until the parcel lands.
DDP means the supplier delivers to your door with duty and import VAT already paid, so your cost is fixed at the moment you order. DDU leaves clearance and duty to you, which can look cheaper on the invoice but puts an uncapped bill in front of your shipment before release.
What actually changes between DDP and DDU?
On paper the two terms describe who files the entry and who pays the assessment. In practice they change three things you will feel directly: when you learn your true unit cost, who talks to the customs broker, and where the shipment sits if nobody pays.
| What changes | DDP | DDU |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays duty and import VAT | Supplier, built into the quote | You, on arrival |
| When your landed cost is known | At order confirmation | Only after clearance |
| Who handles the broker | Supplier or their forwarder | You or your forwarder |
| Risk if a fee goes unpaid | Supplier absorbs it | Shipment is held |
| Typical quote appearance | Single delivered price | Lower goods price, plus a bill later |
The lower number on a DDU quote is not a discount. It is the same cost with part of it deferred and handed to a carrier who will add a handling charge for collecting it.
Why is DDU so often more expensive than the buyer expects?
Because the bill arrives in pieces. Duty is assessed on the goods value, and in most markets the freight, packaging and insurance you already paid are added to that base before the percentage is applied. Then the carrier charges for advancing the money on your behalf. None of that appears in the supplier's quotation, so the DDU route is regularly read as the cheaper option right up until the invoice lands.
The United Kingdom publishes a concrete version of this. Goods sent from abroad into the UK attract VAT on the total package value, which explicitly includes postage, packaging and insurance; customs duty applies to the goods price plus those same shipping costs, on shipments worth more than £135.1 A buyer comparing only the supplier's goods price never sees the base that the percentage is charged on.
✔ Check
- Ask for the delivered price with duty and import VAT included, and a stated Incoterm
- Ask which HS code the shipment will be declared under, before you order
- Multiply your own retail price against the delivered cost, not the goods cost
✘ Avoid
- Comparing a DDU goods price against a DDP delivered price as if they were the same
- Assuming the carrier's handling fee is included in whatever you were quoted
- Discovering the duty base after the shipment is already held
Which should you choose for a first press-on nail order?
For a first order, DDP is usually worth paying for, because the alternative is discovering your landed cost after you have already committed to a retail price. Press-on sets are light and pack flat, so the freight component is modest relative to the goods value, and the duty and VAT assessment is small enough that absorbing it in the quote costs the supplier far less than the argument it prevents.
The exception is a buyer who already imports regularly and has a broker. If you clear goods every month, you are better than your supplier at optimising the entry, and DDU plus your own broker will genuinely cost less. That is an operational advantage you have already paid for; do not give it away to simplify a single order.
What should a DDP quote state before you accept it?
Four items, or you are accepting an open-ended commitment. The first is the Incoterm and the named place, not just the word DDP. The second is what the price covers: duty, import VAT, clearance fees, and the final-mile delivery. The third is the declaration basis, meaning the HS code and the value the shipment will be entered at. The fourth is what happens if the destination authority reclassifies the goods and assesses more than expected.
That last point is the one buyers forget. A DDP price is the supplier's estimate of a duty assessment; if the classification turns out to be wrong, someone absorbs the difference. Get it in writing which side that is, because the answer decides whether your margin is protected or merely hoped for.
- Confirm the Incoterm with a named destination place, not a country
- Confirm exactly which charges are inside the price
- Confirm the HS code and declared value basis
- Confirm who absorbs a reclassification or reassessment
- Confirm the delivery point: port, hub, or your door
How does DDP change your own pricing to your customers?
It makes your cost curve flat. With DDP you know your per-set cost before you publish a retail price, so a margin decision is arithmetic rather than a bet. With DDU you are pricing against an unknown, and the correction, if it comes, has to come out of margin because the retail price is already on the shelf.
For a mixed-set order the effect compounds. Buyers often need several designs in one shipment, and a single consolidated entry is cheaper per unit than several small ones. That is an argument for grouping seasonal and core designs into fewer shipments, and it is the same logic that makes mixed containers cheaper than piecemeal orders.
Related reading
What about markets where you already have a warehouse?
Then the question changes shape. DDP is efficient for a direct shipment to your facility; it is a poor fit for replenishing stock you already hold, because the destination side is your own operation and you are paying a supplier to duplicate work you do better. Split the two: import DDP into your warehouse in volume, and ship domestically from there. The warehouse decision is covered separately in direct shipping versus overseas warehousing.
How do you compare two quotes that are not on the same basis?
This is the practical reason buyers end up choosing badly. Supplier A quotes a goods price and mentions DDU in a footnote; supplier B quotes a delivered price with duty included. The two numbers are not comparable, and whichever is smaller wins the order by default. Rebuilding them onto one basis takes three steps and about ten minutes.
First, convert both to the same delivery point. Add the freight you know applies to the DDU quote, and make sure the DDP quote genuinely reaches your door rather than a port or a hub. Second, identify the assessment base each side is using; the value that duty and import VAT are charged on is usually the goods value plus freight and insurance, not the goods value alone. Third, add the carrier's charge for advancing duty on your behalf, which appears only on the route where you pay the assessment.
Do that and the gap usually narrows sharply, and occasionally reverses. A quote that looked more expensive delivered was carrying costs the other quote had simply left for you to discover later.
What does DDP change about your reorder cycle?
It removes a variable, and variables are what make reorders slow. When your landed cost is fixed at order time, a reorder is a quantity decision rather than a pricing negotiation, and you can commit to a repeat quantity without holding budget back for a duty bill that has not arrived yet.
That matters most for seasonal lines, where the reorder window is short and a delay of two weeks can put stock on the shelf after the demand peak. It also matters for mixed orders, because a consolidated shipment carrying several designs is cleared once, which is cheaper and faster than several small entries spread across the season. If you stock both core and seasonal designs, grouping them into fewer DDP shipments is usually the single cheapest logistics change available to you.
One caution: a DDP price is quoted for a destination and a value. If your reorder ships to a different market, or the goods value moves enough to cross a threshold, ask for the price to be requoted rather than assuming the old figure carries over. Terms that were right for one shipment are not a standing rate.
Frequently asked questions
- Is DDP always more expensive? On the invoice, usually yes. On total landed cost for a first order, often no, because the DDU route adds carrier handling and an assessment base that includes your freight.
- Can a supplier genuinely quote DDP to any country? Only where they have a forwarder who will act as importer of record. Some markets require a local entity, and in those cases the honest answer is no.
- Does DDP mean I have no customs obligations at all? You still have record-keeping and product-compliance obligations in your own market. DDP moves the duty payment, not your regulatory responsibility.
- What if the shipment is split across several parcels? Ask whether the DDP price holds per parcel. A threshold that applies per consignment can be crossed or avoided depending on how the goods are split, which changes the assessment.
- Should I ask for DDP on a sample order? For samples the duty assessment is trivial, so courier terms are usually fine. Save the DDP negotiation for the first bulk order where the margin is real.
Conclusion
Choose DDP when you want your cost fixed before you price your own product, and DDU when you already have a broker and the volume to use it. The mistake is not picking the wrong term; it is comparing two quotes that were never on the same basis. Ask for a single delivered figure with the Incoterm named, confirm the declaration basis in writing, and your margin stops depending on a number you cannot see.
Send us your design shortlist, your target quantities against the 20/50/100/volume ladder, and the destination market and postcode; we reply with a per-project quote, the Incoterm applied, and the declaration basis we will use.
Get a Quote or message us on WhatsApp. Start from the live range at press-on nails, and the published styles under handmade press-on nails.Footnotes
1. GOV.UK, "Tax and customs for goods sent from abroad" — VAT is charged on the total package value including postage, packaging and insurance; customs duty applies to goods worth more than £135, assessed on the goods price plus shipping costs. https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty ↩︎
