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DDP Shipping for Crochet Orders: Cost & Lead Time

Updated 18 October 2026 · Buyer guide · Reading time ~7 min

DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) means the supplier delivers to your door with export clearance, freight, import duty and last-mile delivery already inside one quoted price — so the number you approve is the number you pay.

What DDP actually covers

Incoterms decide who pays which leg of the journey. Most first-time crochet buyers compare unit prices that were quoted on different terms, which is why two suppliers can look 30% apart on paper and land at the same cost. The table below shows the split for the four terms we quote.

DDP is quoted door-to-door to 50+ countries with duty and last-mile included, so the figure on the quotation is the figure that leaves your account. CIF, FOB and EXW remain available if you have your own forwarder or a customs broker you prefer.

Why crochet pays for volume, not weight

Hand-crocheted goods are light and bulky. A carton of 200 amigurumi may weigh under 12 kg but occupy far more space than the chargeable-weight formula allows, so freight is billed on volume rather than mass. Two levers control that bill:

• Compression packing. OPP vacuum compression reduces the shipped cube by roughly half on soft goods, which cuts the freight component of the landed cost by a similar order. The goods are re-shaped on unpacking; yarn memory restores the form within hours.
• Carton engineering. Mixed-carton planning within one category removes the dead space created when a single SKU is packed alone, and it lets a smaller buyer test several designs in one shipment.

Compression is not suitable for every item. Rigid structures, straw-stiffened shapes and gift boxes with printed inserts are shipped uncompressed at higher freight; the quotation states which method applies to each line.

How a landed cost is built

A quotation returned within 24 hours carries four visible components rather than one blended number:

1. Ex-works unit price at your stated volume, including the hand-work content of the design.
2. Freight on chargeable volume for the chosen mode and lane.
3. Duty and import VAT at the destination rate for the declared HS code.
4. Last-mile delivery to the address you nominate, including residential or appointment surcharges where the carrier applies them.

Sampling sits outside this structure: a bespoke sample is charged separately and credited against the bulk order, so the sampling cost is not lost if the design is approved.

Lead time by stage

Because production is distributed across a network of 30,000+ certified artisans in four provinces, a single site problem does not stop an order, but peak season still has to be booked early. Christmas programmes are cut off against a stated production date, not against the ship date.

Documents that travel with a DDP shipment

• Commercial invoice and packing list, with the HS code stated per line
• Test reports for the applicable market — EN71-1/2/3 for the EU, ASTM F963 for the United States, with CE and UKCA marking where required
• TÜV Rheinland audit reference and 90N pull-force QC records for the run
• Certificate of origin where a preferential rate applies

Customs problems on crochet shipments cluster in four places: a value declared below the invoice, textile toys classified as accessories or the reverse, no test report attached when the destination asks for one, and a freight quote built on weight when the carrier bills on volume. All four are avoidable at quotation stage.

Frequently asked questions