Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) places maximum responsibility on the seller, who handles export clearance, main transport, import clearance and duty payment, delivering to the buyer's door with nothing left for the buyer to arrange. On paper this is the simplest possible experience for an importer — one price, no customs involvement.
The risk is specifically around who the importer of record actually is. In many markets, the seller cannot legally act as importer of record unless they have a registered local entity or a specific customs representation arrangement — which means some DDP arrangements rely on a third party, sometimes the forwarder, sometimes an undisclosed broker, being named as importer of record on the buyer's behalf. If that arrangement is not transparent, the buyer can end up with limited visibility into what was actually declared, at what value, and under what classification, even though they are the ultimate recipient and commercially responsible party.
A second risk is cost opacity: because duty and clearance costs are bundled into one DDP price, it can be harder for a buyer to verify that the duty actually paid matches what should have been paid for the product's correct classification and value, compared to handling import clearance directly through their own broker.
DDP is not inherently a bad arrangement, but we recommend confirming exactly who is named as importer of record and requesting the underlying import entry documentation, rather than treating DDP as a reason to stop paying attention to the customs side entirely.