For more information on customs rule changes affecting low-value shipments, visit our Customs and Duties page or refer to the destination country's customs authority website.

With Delivered Duty Paid (DDP), applicable duties, taxes, and fees are paid by the sender before delivery, helping to provide a smoother delivery experience for the recipient.

With Delivered at Place (DAP), duties, taxes, and fees are typically collected from the recipient before or at delivery. This may result in additional charges for the recipient and can delay delivery if payment is required before the parcel is released.

The United States and Puerto Rico require eligible items (up to USD $2,500) must be sent using DDP service as the only viable option. Your shipments will be sent with DDP by default, and you don’t need to do anything else.

DDP services are offered as separate services because additional requirements, charges, and conditions apply to the calculation and payment of duties, taxes and fees.

Each DDP service is based on a corresponding standard service. For example, Economy Tracked Delivered Duty Paid is based on Economy Tracked and shares the same parcel specifications and terms and conditions, such as maximum limits on weight and dimensions, as well as the cover for eligible loss or damage.

Applicable duties, taxes, and fees included in the DDP transaction are paid by the sender before delivery. However, additional charges may still be applied if:

• the customs information provided is incomplete or incorrect;
• customs authorities reassess the parcel's classification, origin, or value;
• the parcel contains goods that are not eligible for DDP;
• a charge falls outside the scope of the DDP service; or
• another government agency applies a separate fee.

In the instance of sending to the US, your parcels will be sent using DDP by default provided that the value of the shipment is not over US$2,500.

In this instance, your parcels will be sent using DAP.

If an online marketplace has already collected EU VAT at checkout, the marketplace’s IOSS information must be included in your label request. Whatyou need to do depends on the NZ Post electronic labelling tool you use. 

If you use eShip

Customer-provided and marketplace-provided IOSS information is not currently supported for DDP labels created in eShip.

Do not use DDP in eShip for a shipment where VAT has already been collected by an online marketplace, as VAT may be charged again.

Where supported, use an eligible DAP service and provide the marketplace’s IOSS information in accordance with its instructions. If the destinationrequires DDP or does not accept DAP with marketplace-provided IOSS information, you cannot currently send that shipment through eShip.

We’re working to support customer-provided and marketplace-provided IOSS information in a future eShip release.

If you use Parcel Label API V3

Parcel Label API V3 supports customer-provided and marketplace-provided IOSS information for eligible DDP shipments. Include the authorisedIOSS information in your label request in accordance with the API specifications and the marketplace’s instructions.

Check our destination availability table and the latest Parcel Label API V3 documentation before sending.

eShip customers

You can find instructions on how to set up an Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) number or other shipper tax identification numbers in our support article: Set up shipper tax numbers – eShip

API integration customers

Refer to the Parcel Label API documentation for the details.

Yes, for items that are sent using DDP service, both duties and taxes must be paid upfront by the sender. Where you specify DDP for your shipments and don’t provide an IOSS number, NZ Post's IOSS number will be applied. The relevant duties, taxes and fees will be charged to your business account.

To be eligible for DDP, your shipment must not exceed the applicable destination value limit.

If you declare the shipment value in the destination's local currency, we use the declared amount to determine eligibility for DDP without applying a currency conversion.

If you declare the shipment value in another currency, such as New Zealand dollars, our labelling system converts the value into the destination currency, such as EUR or USD,using the applicable exchange rate.

To account for potential exchange rate fluctuations, we apply a 5% buffer to the converted value when assessing DDP eligibility.

This buffer helps reduce the risk of exchange rate movements causing the shipment value to exceed the destination's DDP limit.

As a result, a shipment declared in a non-local currency may be ineligible for DDP, even if its converted value is slightly below the destination's maximum value limit.

Duties and taxes are calculated using the customs information you provide when you generate the labels, such as each item’s description, value, quantity, HS tariff code, country of origin, as well as the applicable duty and taxes rates from the destinations.  

We have the Duty and Tax Calculation API to provide landed costs calculations.  

No. The prices currently available in eShip do not include duties, taxes, or any applicable DDP fees. You are responsible for understanding the duties, taxes, and fees payable for your items before sending them.​

VAT and customs duty are different types of import charge. IOSS is an EU scheme for collecting and reporting VAT on eligible ecommerce goods sent to EU consumers in consignments valued at no more than €150. It does not cover customs duty or any other import charge. 

If you have a business account with NZ Post, you will be invoiced for duties, taxes, and ancillary fees on a regular basis.  

If you use Small Business Sending, you will be asked to authorise the payment at checkout and will be charged once the items are scanned at our outbound processing centre.  

This is driven by the service provider of the destination, i.e. the postal operator of the destination country, as well as the local customs authorities.