What does a DDP landed price include for electronics built in Shenzhen in 2026?

A DDP landed price is the cost per unit delivered to your US address with import duties paid. It includes the factory unit price, packaging, export handling, international freight and insurance, US duties and Section 301 tariffs, customs fees, brokerage and final delivery. The seller carries the duty and clearance risk until the goods arrive.

What is DDP, and how is it different from FOB or EXW?

DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) is an Incoterms rule. The seller delivers the goods to a named place in the buyer's country, cleared for import, with duties and taxes paid. The seller bears the cost and risk until the goods reach that address.

Most Shenzhen factories quote FOB (Free On Board, at a Chinese port) or EXW (Ex Works, at the factory gate). Those prices stop at China. Freight, US customs entry, tariffs and the broker are then your problem, and in 2026 the tariff line can be the largest of them.

The last row matters. Read the tariff-change clause in any DDP quote, because that is where the real risk allocation sits.

Which tariffs apply to electronics from China in 2026?

The tariff picture changed several times this year. As of October 2026, the layers are:

• Base duty from the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Many electronics, including GPS tracking devices under 8526.91, have a base rate of zero.
• Original Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, by list: 25% for Lists 1 to 3 and 7.5% for List 4A. See USTR's Section 301 page.
• Forced-labor Section 301 tariff, in effect since July 24, 2026: 12.5% for China, Vietnam and Thailand, and 10% for several other economies, with product exclusions listed in the annexes. Check your goods against the USTR notice in the Federal Register (91 FR 47318).

Two layers are gone. On February 20, 2026 the Supreme Court held that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs, which ended the fentanyl and reciprocal tariffs. The temporary 10% Section 122 tariff that followed expired on July 24, 2026. A separate overcapacity Section 301 investigation, which includes China, Vietnam, Mexico and Taiwan, is still open as of October 2026, so another layer could be added.

Why does the HTS code decide so much of the price?

The Section 301 list a product falls under depends on its HTS classification. For connected devices the swing is large. Take an LTE and GNSS tracker built in China:

CBP has classified GPS trackers under 8526.91 when location is the principal function. In ruling N315940, for example, it placed LTE and GPS tracking modules from China there. A device whose main job is cellular data or voice may fall under 8517.62 instead. The difference is roughly 17.5 points of duty on every unit. Do not guess. For a product line you plan to scale, request a binding ruling through CBP's rulings program, and build the quote on the classification the ruling gives you.

What goes into a DDP landed price, line by line?

This is how we build a landed price for a small-batch run. Every line appears on the quote, so you can check it.

1. Ex-factory unit cost: components, PCB and assembly, enclosure, final test and programming.
2. Packaging and labeling: retail or bulk packaging, FCC and country-of-origin marking, battery warning labels.
3. Export handling: China export declaration, origin documents, trucking to the airport or port.
4. International freight and insurance: air or ocean, with dangerous-goods charges for lithium batteries where they apply.
5. Duties and tariffs: base duty plus each Section 301 layer, calculated on the customs value. US customs value is generally the transaction value of the goods, excluding international freight and insurance.
6. Customs fees: the Merchandise Processing Fee on formal entries, a percentage of value with a minimum and maximum set by CBP each fiscal year, and the Harbor Maintenance Fee on ocean shipments.
7. Brokerage and bond: customs broker fees and the customs bond that a formal entry requires. Shipments valued over $2,500 generally need formal entry. See CBP's import basics.
8. US delivery: from the port or airport to your warehouse, office or 3PL.

On a pilot run of a few hundred units, freight and fixed fees per shipment can add much more per unit than they do at volume. A DDP quote makes that visible. A low FOB price on a small order can look attractive and still land at a higher number than expected.

Does moving assembly out of China lower the tariff?

Sometimes, but less than most people expect. As of October 2026:

• Vietnam and Thailand carry the same 12.5% forced-labor Section 301 rate as China. The saving comes only from avoiding the original China-specific Section 301 lists, and Vietnam is part of the open overcapacity investigation.
• Mexico is 0% for goods that qualify under USMCA origin rules, and 10% for goods that do not.
• Origin is decided by substantial transformation. If the main board and module are built in China and only final assembly moves, CBP may still treat the product as Chinese. This needs a specific answer for each product, ideally a ruling.

For most pilots of 10–1,000 units, the cost of setting up a second assembly site outweighs the tariff saving. It becomes worth studying at higher volumes, or when a customer's procurement rules require non-China origin.

What does a DDP price leave out?

DDP covers getting goods to your door with import duties paid. Several costs sit outside it, and a fair comparison has to account for them on every option:

• Development and tooling. NRE, molds and fixtures are quoted separately from the unit price, by gate or by item.
• Certification and lab fees. FCC, PTCRB and carrier costs are paid by the product owner, whichever way the goods are shipped.
• US sales tax. Import duties are not sales tax. Sales tax depends on where and to whom you sell.
• Fulfillment after delivery. Kitting, storage, outbound shipping to end customers and returns start after the delivery address in the quote.
• Connectivity. SIM, eSIM or data plans for cellular devices are a running cost, not a landed cost.

Ask for these as separate lines, outside the unit price. That way a change in one, such as a new tariff layer, does not hide inside a single number.

What should you ask for in a DDP quote?

• The HTS code used, and whether it is backed by a ruling.
• Each duty layer shown separately, with its legal basis.
• The customs value used for duty, and how it was derived.
• The named importer of record and customs broker.
• Freight mode and transit time, and how batteries are shipped.
• What happens if a tariff rate changes between quote and entry.
• The delivery address and what counts as delivered.

How does Duobay quote landed cost?

We quote DDP to your door, with tariffs included and each line shown. The first landed-cost estimate is part of Feasibility, together with the costed BOM and certification path, so you see the real unit economics before you fund development. Small batches of 10–1,000 units are priced the same way. Read how our DDP pricing works, get a first range from the landed-cost estimator, or see how small-batch builds are run.

This article is general information, not customs or legal advice. Rates and rules are as of October 2026 and change often. Confirm classification and rates with a licensed customs broker before you rely on them.

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