Do I still have a choice between DDP and DDU?
Summary: wildcatca1970 is experiencing issues with an online order where the cheaper shipping option appears during listing but defaults to a more expensive one at checkout. Despite contacting the seller and customer service, solutions were not provided. marnotom! suggests checking out in incognito mode, which wildcatca1970 tries unsuccessfully. Eventually, using a physical address instead of a P.O. box resolves the issue. However, wildcatca1970 remains concerned about package theft and seeks confirmation on the carrier used by eIS for final delivery.
Howdy, Fam-
Recently rec’d an offer (7/08/26) from an American Seller. The listing shows me a two estimated shipping prices…
$24.33 USD for Delivered Duty Paid,
And
$53.33 USD for Delivered duty Unpaid.
The cheaper option is highlighted in the main listing. When I go to check out, I am charged the higher price.
In the past, I’ve been able to choose which of these services I want to use, but this seems not to be available in this case.
(The item in question is a NOS NWT button front shirt, made in Mexico. The offer was for $13.00 USD which is well under the minimum.)
I did contact the seller, and they’ve directed me to eBay here.
Customer Service has not been able to give me any info, as this is not on the ol’ answer tree, but were going to forward the query on to the eIS guru’s, who were to respond to me in 24 hrs- It’s been 48 as I write this.
Has anyone dealt with this in the recent past?
Thanks!
marnotom!
·Aug 11, 2026 at 1:43 AMI've rarely run into listings where I'm offered the choice between eIS DDP and eIS DDU and I haven't purchased from any where that choice was offered. I wasn't able to find a listing like the one you described. All the ones that came up were DDU, but the shipping cost was a lot lower than US$53.33.
I'm sorry I can't be of any help to you, but I didn't want your post to go unanswered.
wildcatca1970
OPAug 11, 2026 at 3:08 AMHi, Marnotom-
Thanks for the reply.
Several of this type of listing are starting to appear in my watch lists.
Item number 358552395726
This is a vintage joinery catalogue @ $12.99 USD
Same situation. $23.42 USD in the listing (prepay duty and fees)
Go to check out…. $51.26 USD (defer duty and fees)
The seller of the item I used as an example has sold that item, but they’ve listed something similar
Item no. 407111885064 Wool shirt for $16.20 USD
Postage $24.29 USD as listed
Postage $53.50 USD upon checkout
I don’t know if that helps any, but this is what I am seeing on my end.
Thanks again,
wildcat1970
marnotom!
·Aug 11, 2026 at 7:02 AMHate to tell you this, but I got the choice between DDU and DDP for all three ways I went "through" checkout for the item:
Through my browser (Chrome) on my iPhone
On the app on my iPhone
On my Windows laptop using Chrome as my browser
What happens if you go into incognito or private mode on your browser and try going through Checkout as a guest?
wildcatca1970
OPAug 11, 2026 at 3:18 PMThanks, marnotom!
I’ll give that a try.
Is there a direct way to contact eIS? I haven’t rec’d a response from the eIS gurus as of yet, and the customer service route was somewhat frustrating.
Wildcatca1970
marnotom!
·3 weeks agoHow did things go?
To answer your question, I don't believe there's any way to contact US eIS. To be honest, I'm reminded of a British comedy skit that was in the style of The IT Crowd. The gist of it was that IT workers have no idea how customer service works, and customer service workers have no idea how IT works.
wildcatca1970
OP3 weeks agoHi, marnotom!
So, I tried the incognito route…. Same deal.
However, I decided to try my physical addy, and once I used it, I was able to compleat the purchase, using the lower shipping price!
That leaves me with a bit of a conundrum- I’ve been using a box number as my primary address, as I work out of town for half the month.
I am somewhat leery of ordering something this way, and have it sit on my stoop for any length of time- we have quite a problem with Porch Pirates, at present.
Do you know if eIS use Canada Post, as a final carrier?
(When I purchase using the P.O. Box, eIS automatically defaults to Can Post, and I always get my packet.)
Thanks,
Wildcatca1970
wildcatca1970
OP3 weeks agoP/S- I totally hear you regarding the Comedy Skit… Thanks for the wry laugh.
Ain’t Late Stage Capitalism grand!
WC1970
marnotom!
·3 weeks agoThat's interesting. I was under the impression that eIS didn't accept PO box addresses from buyers, period. It's mentioned in its terms and conditions for buyers in section 10:
https://pages.ebay.com/internationalshippingprogram/buyer/terms/#ac-9
It sounds as though you've been pretty fortunate if your past purchases with eIS have gone to your PO box.
My impressions--and they may be totally off--are that generally speaking, eIS uses DHL eCommerce (or DHL Globalpost) for getting DDU shipments to Canada. Canada Post usually handles the last-mile delivery component, but it's not considered a purely postal shipment. DDP shipments, on the other hand, seem to be handled by Asendia, and they may be partly handled by Canada Post, they may not. It looks as though yours may not be if a PO box address was rejected by the system, or perhaps eIS is just stepping up enforcement of section 10 of the buyer T&Cs.
If you still have a tracking number or two from your earlier shipments handy, plug them into the Parcelsapp website and see what information you get on who's handling what.
Do you have a trusted friend or relative that you can get your item sent to rather than have it possibly end up for a short period on your stoop?