Implement a DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) cross-border checkout flow that calculates and collects import duties and taxes at checkout using the Zonos Duty and Tax API
domain: zonos.com · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Steps
Integrate the Zonos Classify API to assign HS-6 codes to cart items using the product description, category, and material composition
Call the Zonos Landed Cost API with the destination country, shipper origin country, item-level HS codes, values, and quantities to retrieve duty, VAT/GST, and any country-specific fee breakdown
Display the itemized duty and tax estimate to the consumer at checkout and collect payment for the landed cost as part of the order total
Pass the collected duty/tax identifiers and Zonos transaction reference to your freight forwarder or carrier so they can clear the shipment as DDP without collecting from the consignee
Reconcile the estimated duties against the actual duties assessed at clearance; handle under/over-collection according to your DDP guarantee policy
Known gotchas
DDP legally obligates the seller to pay duties; if the actual duty assessed at import exceeds the collected amount, the seller absorbs the difference unless there is a contractual pass-through clause
Some countries (Brazil, India, Russia) have import restrictions, prohibited goods lists, or extremely high duty rates that make DDP economically unviable; always maintain a country-level DDP opt-out list
VAT/GST registration requirements in the destination country may be triggered once sales volume exceeds the local registration threshold (e.g., EU OSS or UK VAT at £0 for non-established sellers post-Brexit); failure to register constitutes tax evasion in the destination country
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