What Are Incoterms? Incoterms, or International Commercial Terms, are a set of rules published by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) that define the responsibilities of sellers and buyers for the delivery of goods in international trade. They specify who is responsible for paying for and managing the shipment, insurance, documentation, customs clearance, and other logistical activities.
By default, Incoterms are set as DDU (Delivered Duty Unpaid), which means the buyer is responsible for paying duties. However, you can change this setting in a few ways depending on your needs.
- Use a Custom Profile to Set Incoterms at the Carrier Level
- Import Incoterms from your Store
- Manually Set Incoterms on the Order Details Page
- Add Incoterms Using Automation Rules
NOTE: ShipHero does not support Incoterm changes for all carriers. Contact the support team to confirm that your preferred carrier can be configured on the platform. More information about DDP and DDU is available in this article.
Use a Custom Profile to Set at the Carrier Level
This option is best if you want to use different Incoterms for specific orders. You'll need to create a warehouse profile for each Incoterm you want to use, for example, a profile named "FedEx_DDP". Connect the carrier to that profile and then enable the DDP Carrier settings.
In order for the DDP Carrier Connection to be used for an order, the DDP Profile you create must be assigned to the order and one of those carrier's shipping methods used to generate the label. To automate your process further, set up an Automation rule to apply the DDP profile to orders.
To create a new profile, follow the steps in this article. Once the profile is created, follow these steps to set it up:
- Open the Shipping > Carriers page and click Connect Carrier.
- Select the carrier from the drop-down menu.
- Choose the profile you just created and enter your carrier account details.
- Hit Connect.
- After the new connection is made, click the Settings button and choose your preferred option. If you don’t see this option, please contact our support team. Depending on the carrier, you will either need to:
- Check the Shipper Pays Duties option, or the Deliver Duty Paid (DDP) Setting.
- Select "Account" or "Shipper" from the Duty Payment drop-down menu.
Import Incoterms from Your Store
Shopify allows you to set Incoterms directly on their platform. These settings can then be imported into your orders. For more information on Shopify's Incoterms settings, refer to this link.
To import Shopify's IncoTerms, make sure to check the Import Order Incoterms (must be enabled on your Shopify account) option in your store settings.
Manually Set Incoterms on the Order Details Page
For individual orders, you can manually set the Incoterm directly on the order details page. This setting is on the right side of the page. After making your selection, be sure to click Update Details.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
- This manual setting will override any Incoterm settings from the carrier profile for that specific order.
- This setting will not be applied if the selected carrier does not support Incoterm changes.
Set Incoterms Using Automation Rules
There are several automation rule Actions available to set your incoterms on order. As with all Automation rules first you need to set your Triggers (order crieteria) in order for the Action to be executed. The available actions are:
- Set Profile: Choose profile from the dropdown (NOTE: This option must be used in tandem with the Custom Profile Carrier Connection)
- Set Order Incoterms: Choose DDu or DDP from dropdown.