Simple customs clearance for international parcel shipping

Postal Delivered Duty Paid (PDDP) is an additional service for international parcel shipping. With the PDDP solution, you as the sender take care of all import duties for your customers in third countries. This means: recipients do not have to pay any additional fees upon delivery, which leads to higher customer satisfaction and delivery success rates.

Currently, this service is only available for shipments to the United States of America, with more destination countries to follow.

Your benefits at a glance

Easy activation: Select the additional service and submit customs data
Higher delivery rate: no payment barriers for recipients
Customer satisfaction: no surprise costs upon delivery
Transparent billing: import duties are charged separately
Attractive price: PDDP service fee €2 per parcel

How it works

1. Order: Calculate the expected import duties during the checkout process and charge them directly to your customers. Please note: The Austrian Post does not offer customs consultancy and cannot assist with the calculation of import duties.

2. Shipping preparation:

Create a shipping label for the product “Paket Plus International” with the additional service “Customs Clearance PDDP in third country”
The digital transmission of complete and correct customs information in the preliminary data is mandatory.
Please ensure that each individual shipment is properly labeled and that both the customs declaration (CN23) and commercial invoices are affixed to the outside of the parcel.

3. Transport: The shipment is either picked up or delivered by you to the Austrian Post logistics center. From there, it is transported to the destination country and handed over to the local postal operator.

4. Transport charges: Upon acceptance by the Austrian Post, the standard postage and the PDDP service fee are charged.

5. Customs Clearance: Customs clearance and the advance payment of import duties are handled by a “Qualified Partner” in the destination country. These costs are paid by the Austrian Post and passed on to the sender.

6. Delivery: The shipment is delivered to the recipient without any additional payment required.

7. Settlement of import duties: Import duties and the processing fee of the customs clearance partner are invoiced to you by the Austrian Post.

Transparent billing

Billing is carried out in two stages via two separate invoices:

Invoice	Explanation
Invoice 1	includes the standard transport fee for your international parcel shipment as well as the PDDP service fee.
Invoice 2	covers all import duties incurred in the destination country. These charges are invoiced to us by our customs clearance partner in the local currency. They are passed on to you per parcel at the current exchange rate, without any markup. This second invoice is typically issued 2–3 months after the parcel shipment and includes: - Import VAT (depending on the value of goods and the applicable tax rate in the destination country, if import sales tax is levied there) - Customs duties (depending on the value, type, and origin of the goods) - Processing fee (fee for customs clearance by our qualified partner)

Invoice

Explanation

Invoice 1

includes the standard transport fee for your international parcel shipment as well as the PDDP service fee.

Invoice 2

covers all import duties incurred in the destination country. These charges are invoiced to us by our customs clearance partner in the local currency. They are passed on to you per parcel at the current exchange rate, without any markup. This second invoice is typically issued 2–3 months after the parcel shipment and includes:

- Import VAT (depending on the value of goods and the applicable tax rate in the destination country, if import sales tax is levied there)
- Customs duties (depending on the value, type, and origin of the goods)
- Processing fee (fee for customs clearance by our qualified partner)

Requirements

Basic requirement

A contractual agreement with the Austrian Post for parcel shipping is a prerequisite for using this additional service.

Calculation of customs during the order process

Import duties must be calculated by you in advance during the ordering process and passed on to your customers. Please ensure that these costs are calculated before shipping and collected directly during the checkout process. The Austrian Post does not offer customs consulting and cannot take over or assist with the calculation of expected import duties.

Depending on the destination country, customs duties and import VAT may apply. Additionally, a processing fee will be charged depending on our Qualified Partner in the destination country.
There are third-party providers on the market offering so-called “Landed Cost Calculator” solutions. These software tools can be used to calculate import duties (import sales tax & customs).

Label creation

Create a shipping label for your Paket Plus International shipment as usual and select the additional service “Customs Clearance PDDP in third country.”

The individual shipment must be labeled according to the Austrian Post’s Labeling & preliminiary data guide, and all customs data must be transmitted to us digitally. Additionally, the customs declaration and other documents required for customs processing must be enclosed, such as invoices, certificates of origin, export declarations, export/import permits, etc..

Special requirements for shipping to the USA

For all parcels containing commercial goods (up to a maximum of 800 USD), the following requirements are mandatory:

Shipments without the activated PDDP additional service are not permitted.
The declared value of goods must not exceed 800 USD and must be stated in USD.
Customs documents and preliminary data must only show the net value of goods, excluding any import duties.
Billing for shipments to the USA:
- Invoice 1: Parcel fee and service fee for the PDDP additional service.
- Invoice 2: Customs duties and processing fee.
  
  Customs duties depend on the value of goods and the country of origin.
  The current processing fee is 0.99 USD per shipment.

The U.S. Customs authorities require complete pre-clearance for commercial shipments. PDDP ensures that all import duties are paid in advance by the sender and correctly remitted. This allows for smooth delivery without the recipient having to pay any additional fees.