UPS: Incoterms and UPS Billing Options for international shipping | shipcloud Help Center (2024)

Shipcloud supports you in shipping your UPS packages worldwide from Germany - via Shipcloud business rates or your own UPS contract, which you can already store with us starting from our Professional subscription.

In this article you will learn which incoterms you can transmit to UPS and how to use the UPS Billing Options with Shipcloud.

In this article 👇

For your international shipping, you can use Shipcloud to submit incoterms to UPS via API request. These are a set of voluntary clauses for the interpretation of customary contractual formulas that are interpreted uniformly internationally and are applied worldwide. You can transfer the following incoterms to UPS with Shipcloud:

If you have your own UPS contract, UPS will also provide you with the so-called "Billing Options" for your international shipping and thus support you in the billing and payment processing. With the UPS Billing Options you can inform the carrier which party (shipper, consignee, third party) is responsible for the transportation costs and/or the import and customs duties incurred in the destination country and instruct UPS to collect these from the respective party. In contrast to the incoterms, however, they do not regulate which of the parties has to bear the shipping risk.

You can transmit your preferred billing option via API request to UPS. A universal setting of your in your UPS configuration is not possible.

📌 If you do not pass any billing options to UPS at the time of booking, the transport costs are charged to the sender by default and the import and customs charges incurred in the destination country are collected by UPS from the recipient.

1. Transportation costs: sender / import and customs duties: sender

In classic B2C shipping, the sender usually pays all fees, i.e. transportation costs as well as import and customs duties (also referred to as "free delivery").

API request

"billing": {
 "transportation": {
 "type": "sender"
 },
"duties_and_taxes": {
 "type": "sender"
 }
 },

2. Transportation costs: sender / import and customs duties: no specification

no specification via API request => 

If you inform UPS that you, as the sender, are responsible for the transport costs, but do not provide any information on import and customs duties, the import and customs duties incurred in the destination country will be collected by UPS from your recipient by default.

3. Transportation costs: without specification / import and customs duties: without specification

no specification via API request => 

no specification via API request => 

Unless you submit billing options to UPS, you as the sender will be billed for the transportation charges or your UPS account number and the import and customs charges incurred in the destination country will be collected by UPS from your receiver by default. UPS refers to this as "prepaid." "P/P" will be printed on the shipping label.

For B2B shipping, different billing options can be mapped using the UPS billing options. In classic B2B shipping, the recipient usually pays the import and customs charges.

📌 If a third party or the recipient has to pay the transport costs and/or import and customs charges, this party must have a UPS account number. You must submit this to UPS in your API request along with the country and corresponding ZIP code of the billing address.

1. Transportation costs: sender / import and customs duties: third party

API request

"billing": {
"transportation": {
"type": "sender"
},
"duties_and_taxes": {
"type": "third_party",
"account_number": "380800",
"zip_code": "10001",
"country": "US"
}
}, 

2. Transportation costs: receiver / import and customs duties: no specification

no specification via API request => 

If you indicate to UPS that you want your receiver to pay the transportation costs, but do not specify the import and customs charges, your receiver will also be charged the import and customs charges incurred in the destination country by default by UPS at your receiver's location (also referred to as "prepaid").

3. Transportation costs: receiver / import and customs duties: receiver

📌 If the transport and/or customs charges are to be borne by your recipient, he must have his own UPS account with the corresponding customer number.

API request

"billing": {
"transportation": {
"type": "receiver",
"account_number": "654321",
"zip_code": "93101",
"country": "US"
},
"duties_and_taxes": {
"type": "receiver",
"account_number": "654321",
"zip_code": "93101",
"country": "US"
}
},

4. Transportation costs: third party / import and customs duties: no specification

no specification via API request => 

5. Transportation costs: third party / import and customs duties: receiver without UPS account number

API request

"billing": {
"transportation": {
"type": "third_party",
"account_number": "380800",
"zip_code": "10001",
"country": "US"
}
},

6. Transportation costs: third party / import and customs duties: third party

📌 If the transport and/or customs charges are to be borne by a third party, this party must have its own UPS account with the corresponding customer number.

Any further questions? We're happy to help.

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