How can I ship an order placed before DDP was setup?

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment
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Topic summary

A Canadian merchant encountered issues shipping a US order placed before completing Shopify’s DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) setup, as Canada Post blocked label creation earlier than announced (August 28 vs. August 29).

Main concerns:

  • How to fulfill pre-DDP orders when the system now requires duty collection
  • Whether Avalara’s $0 duty calculation for USMCA/CUSMA-eligible items is accurate
  • Canada Post’s explicit statement that USMCA/CUSMA preferential treatment is not available through postal service

Suggested solutions:

  • Manual commercial invoice creation outside Shopify’s automated flow
  • Ensuring correct HS codes and country of origin documentation
  • No need to cancel/refund existing orders

Current status:
The merchant has paused all US shipments temporarily, waiting for alternative carriers like Chit Chats to support USMCA/CUSMA claims. They’re informing customers of delays and potential cancellations.

Key risk: If Avalara calculates duties incorrectly, customs may assess charges later and invoice the merchant or customer, despite the automated $0 estimate.

Summarized with AI on October 25. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Despite this help age STILL saying that Canada Post labels will not be blocked until August 29, it is actually blocked starting today, August 28.

I have now completed the setup to collect duties from American customers, but how can I ship an order I received before this? The item is USMCA/CUSMA so there’s no duty anyway. Do I have to cancel, refund, and ask customer to order again?

Second, I’m seeing duty being calculated as $0 for items with origin Canada and Taiwan. It’s just assuming the item is CUSMA/USMCA compliant? And I guess there’s some Taiwan trade deal too? Is it going to print a low value statement of origin on the shipping label in order to claim those tariff treatments? What happens when Avalara calculates incorrectly?

2

Ooops this is the help age I was referencing: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/fulfilling-orders/shipping-labels/shipping-carriers/canada-post

3

Hello @quarfie ,

I hope you are well!

Please check the following points:

  1. Shipping an order placed before duties collection was enabled

  • If the order was placed before you finished setting up duties collection, Shopify (and Canada Post’s cross-border label flow) may now require a duty/tax line even though your item qualifies as USMCA/CUSMA duty-free.

  • You do not need to cancel and re-create the order. Instead, you can:

    • Manually create a commercial invoice with Canada Post (outside of Shopify’s automated label flow) and attach it to your package. Mark the origin as Canada, and add a statement of origin if applicable.

    • Or, if available in your admin, re-purchase the label through Shopify with your new duties collection settings (sometimes this “refreshes” the duty handling).

Since the product is USMCA-eligible, the duties should be zero either way—you just need the correct paperwork.

  1. Why you’re seeing $0 duties for Canada and Taiwan origins

  • Canada → US: Shopify (via Avalara) assumes USMCA preferential tariff treatment applies, so the default calculation is $0 duty.

  • Taiwan → US: The US has a trade agreement with Taiwan (AIT–TECRO), which eliminates many tariffs, especially on consumer goods. Shopify/Avalara seems to be defaulting to those rates.

  • The shipping label won’t necessarily “print” a detailed statement of origin automatically. For USMCA, customs usually requires the low-value certification statement on the invoice (can be electronically transmitted). For Taiwan, it depends on HS code.

3. What if Avalara calculates incorrectly?

  • Avalara’s calculation is advisory and flows into Shopify’s Duties & Import Taxes module. Customs makes the final decision.

  • If Avalara marks it as $0 but CBP disagrees, the carrier (Canada Post/USPS) will assess the duties and invoice either you or the customer later.

  • To reduce risk:

    • Make sure your HS codes and country of origin are correct in Shopify.

    • For USMCA claims, add the proper statement of origin in your documentation.

    • For Taiwan, check the HS codes against the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to confirm $0 is correct.

4

Hey @quarfie

If you got the order before you finished setting up DDP (Delivered Duty Paid), you don’t need to cancel or refund it. You can still go ahead and ship it manually, especially since it’s a USMCA/CUSMA-eligible product with no duties. Just make sure your customs docs clearly show country of origin and HS code, and note that it’s duty-free under the trade agreement.

As for the label, if you’re using Shopify Markets Pro, it should automatically include the correct statement of origin as long as your product setup is accurate (origin, HS code, etc.).

Now, for tracking, if you’re handling fulfillment outside of Shopify’s normal flow because of the DDP timing, a tracking app like ParcelPanel Order Tracking could really help. You can add the tracking info manually and still send customers real-time updates via a branded tracking page and emails, super useful when the default Shopify emails don’t quite cut it for these exceptions.

And yeah Avalara’s $0 duty estimate for Canada and Taiwan likely reflects trade agreements. But if you ever feel something’s off, you can edit the HS code and origin yourself, or reach out to support to double-check.

Hope this helps a bit!
If it does, feel free to mark it as a solution so others can find it too :blush:

5

There doesn’t seem to be any way to “manually” ship by Canada Post on an order received before Thursday.

Also, Canada Post has explicitly stated that CUSMA/USMCA is not available through postal service, so I have doubts about whether the Avalara calculated duty rate is going to fly.

Ship to the U.S. | Canada Post.

Waiting for Chit Chats to get setup for CUSMA/USMCA then I’ll probably use them instead.

I’m just not shipping anything to US right now. Telling customers it’ll take a few days to sort out and orders may be canceled.

6

It’s definitely confusing when rules change mid-way. For orders placed before DDP was set up, most sellers usually just ship them out under the old terms, since the customer already paid without duties included. If the product qualifies under USMCA/CUSMA, you shouldn’t need to cancel—just make sure the paperwork clearly shows origin so it passes without issues. As for Avalara, I’ve also noticed it sometimes defaults to $0 duty; usually that’s because it assumes compliance with trade agreements.