DAP Incoterms 2020 Explained: Delivered at Place, Who Pays Duty, and DAP vs DDP

By SaveOnShip Editorial Team — Logistics Data Editorial Team. Last updated: 2026-08-28.

<div class="quick-answer"> <strong>Quick answer:</strong> <strong>DAP (Delivered at Place)</strong> is an Incoterms 2020 rule for any transport mode. The seller arranges and pays carriage to a named destination — your warehouse, for example — and bears the risk until the goods arrive there <strong>ready for unloading</strong>. The defining feature: <strong>the buyer pays import duty, import taxes, and import customs clearance</strong>, and unloads the truck on arrival. Under DAP the seller's risk travels all the way to your door, but the border bill is yours. Cost runs to destination; duty stays with the buyer — that split is what separates DAP from DDP. </div>

TL;DR: DAP sits one step below DDP. The seller delivers to your named place and carries the transit risk the whole way, but you handle import clearance and pay the duty and taxes. That one line — who clears customs and pays the duty — is the entire difference between DAP and DDP. This guide covers the full cost and risk split, DAP vs DDP and DAP vs FOB, insurance and title responsibility, and a worked China-to-USA DAP example.

DAP is one of the most-negotiated rules in the Incoterms 2020 family because it lands goods at the buyer's door without making the seller a legal importer — a balance our <a href="/blog/ddp-shipping">DDP shipping guide</a> approaches from the opposite direction.

What does DAP (Delivered at Place) mean under Incoterms 2020?

DAP stands for Delivered at Place — one of the 11 official Incoterms 2020 rules published by the International Chamber of Commerce. The ICC's official <a href="https://iccwbo.org/business-solutions/incoterms-rules/incoterms-2020/">Incoterms 2020 rules</a> define DAP with a single core obligation: the seller must deliver the goods, ready for unloading, at the named destination — for example, "DAP Buyer's warehouse, Chicago" or "DAP Port of Los Angeles."

"DAP" itself is short for Delivered at Place, and "DAP shipping terms" or "DAP delivery terms" mean the same rule. (Buyers sometimes search "dap up meaning" — that's just DAP, Delivered at Place, phrased differently.) DAP replaced the older DDU ("Delivered Duty Unpaid") in the Incoterms 2010 revision and works for any transport mode: sea, air, rail, or multimodal.

Under DAP, the split of obligations is:

• Seller — export packing, export customs clearance, main carriage (sea or air freight), and delivery to the named destination ready for unloading. The seller bears the risk of loss or damage for the entire journey.
• Buyer — import customs clearance, import duty, and import taxes, plus the physical unloading of the goods on arrival and any onward movement.

That allocation is the whole rule. Everything else — DAP vs DDP, insurance, title — follows from it.

DAP vs DDP: who pays import duty and customs clearance?

The single most-asked question about DAP is who pays the import duty. Under DAP, the buyer pays import duty and import taxes and handles import customs clearance. Under DDP (Delivered Duty Paid), the seller pays them. That is the entire difference — the difference between DAP and DDP is not the delivery point (both deliver to the named destination), it is who clears customs and pays the border bill.

• Carriage to destination — Seller under both DAP and DDP
• Transit risk to destination — Seller under both DAP and DDP
• Import duty & taxes — Buyer under DAP; Seller under DDP
• Import customs clearance — Buyer under DAP; Seller under DDP
• Unloading on arrival — Buyer under both

Choosing between them is a cash-flow and compliance decision, not just a price line. DDP gives the buyer a cleaner, all-in price but pushes the import-compliance burden onto the seller, who may not be set up to act as a US importer. DAP keeps the border formalities with the buyer, who controls their own customs bond and duty payment. For a deeper look at the all-in side, see our <a href="/blog/ddp-shipping">DDP shipping guide</a>.

DAP risk transfer, title, and insurance responsibility

Three things buyers routinely conflate under DAP — risk transfer, title transfer, and insurance — are actually separate.

Risk transfer. Under DAP, risk transfers from seller to buyer when the goods are placed at the buyer's disposal at the named destination, ready for unloading. Until that moment, the seller carries the transit risk. This is later than under CPT or FOB, where risk passes at origin.

Title transfer. Incoterms do not govern title (ownership) transfer at all — that is set by the sales contract, not by the DAP rule. DAP only allocates cost and risk.

Insurance responsibility. DAP includes no insurance obligation for either party. Because the seller carries the risk to destination, a prudent seller insures the journey — but nothing in DAP forces it. If you are the buyer and want the seller to carry the risk and prove insurance, that is CIP or DDP territory, not DAP.

A common misunderstanding is that DAP sets a fixed total price. It does not — DAP only allocates cost and risk between the parties. Shipment-specific freight pricing and duty amounts still depend on your cargo, and public figures are always approximate reference bands, not binding quotes.

DAP vs FOB: how is it different from free on board?

DAP and FOB sit at opposite ends of seller responsibility. Under FOB (Free on Board), the seller's job ends when the goods are loaded on board the vessel at the origin port — risk and cost transfer to the buyer at that point, and the buyer arranges and pays main carriage. Under DAP, the seller arranges and pays carriage all the way to the buyer's named destination and carries the risk for the whole trip.

So the practical difference is who controls and pays the main leg: the buyer under FOB, the seller under DAP. FOB is sea-only; DAP works for any mode. We map the full cost split in our <a href="/blog/fob-vs-exw">FOB vs EXW comparison</a>, and the related origin-end terms in our <a href="/blog/fca-incoterms">FCA Incoterms guide</a>.

Is FedEx DAP or DDP? Neither — an express courier is a carrier, not an Incoterm. When you ship with a courier, the sales contract between you and your supplier still sets the Incoterm (often DAP or DDP), and the courier simply executes the carriage and, depending on the term, bills the duty to the responsible party.

A DAP shipping example on a China-to-USA route

A quick case study. A US cross-border seller buys $40,000 of home goods from a Shenzhen factory on DAP Buyer's warehouse, Chicago terms. The Chinese supplier arranges and pays for export clearance in China, ocean freight to Los Angeles, and onward carriage to the Chicago warehouse — and carries the risk until the container arrives there ready for unloading.

When the goods reach the US border, the buyer (the US seller) files the import entry, pays the customs duty and import taxes, and clears the goods — because under DAP the import side belongs to the buyer. The buyer also unloads the truck at the warehouse dock. The supplier's responsibility ended the moment the goods arrived ready for unloading; the buyer's border bill — duty, MPF, and any applicable tariffs — was theirs alone. To estimate that duty before committing, the buyer would run the numbers with a <a href="/blog/us-customs-duty-calculator">US customs duty calculator</a> and confirm the final figure with US Customs and Border Protection.

When to use DAP, and when to compare providers instead

DAP makes sense when the buyer wants goods delivered to their door without making the foreign seller a legal US importer, and when the buyer is set up to clear customs and pay duty themselves. It is a poor fit when the buyer cannot handle import compliance — that pushes you toward DDP — or when the buyer wants to control main carriage, which pushes you toward FOB or FCA.

Whichever term you land on, the Incoterm only allocates cost and risk — it does not set your actual freight rate or duty. Those depend on your cargo, route, and timing, so any shipment-specific figure requires manual confirmation with your provider, and public prices are approximate reference bands.

SaveOnShip is a China-to-global logistics route lookup and comparison platform — not a carrier, freight forwarder, customs broker, or booking service. You can use it to compare <a href="/companies">Chinese logistics companies</a> by route coverage, price band, and data freshness, browse <a href="/countries">destination-country route options</a>, review <a href="/best">top-rated providers by route</a>, and read <a href="/data-information">how our route data is sourced and bounded</a> before you negotiate terms. For the official word on import obligations at the US border, <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/trade/basic-import-export">U.S. Customs and Border Protection</a> is the authoritative reference.

Frequently asked questions

What does DAP mean in Incoterms?

DAP stands for Delivered at Place. It is an Incoterms 2020 rule under which the seller delivers the goods, ready for unloading, at a named destination and bears the transit risk for the whole journey. The buyer pays import duty, import taxes, and import customs clearance, and unloads on arrival.

Who pays duty in a DAP Incoterm?

The buyer. Under DAP the seller pays carriage to the named destination but the buyer pays import duty, import taxes, and handles import customs clearance. This is the key difference from DDP, where the seller pays those charges.

What is the difference between DAP and DDP?

Both deliver to the named destination and both put transit risk on the seller. The only difference is the import side: under DAP the buyer clears customs and pays duty and taxes; under DDP the seller does. DDP is the maximum seller obligation, DAP one step below it.

Does DAP include insurance?

No. DAP places no insurance obligation on either party. Because the seller carries the risk to destination, a prudent seller insures the journey, but the rule does not require it. Buyers who want the seller to carry risk and provide insurance should look at CIP or DDP instead.

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> Disclaimer: SaveOnShip is a logistics route lookup and comparison platform — not a freight forwarder, carrier, customs broker, insurer, or booking service. Incoterms explanations and all prices and cost bands in this article are approximate references compiled from public sources, for reference only; they are not quotes, legal advice, or a guarantee of rates or availability. Shipment-specific freight pricing, duty amounts, and availability require manual confirmation with your provider or customs authority, and contract terms should be reviewed against the official Incoterms 2020 text.

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