Door-to-Door Shipping
A shipping service that covers the full journey from the seller's premises to the buyer's address, including main freight and local delivery.
TL;DR: Door-to-door shipping means one provider handles the whole trip, from pickup at the seller’s factory or warehouse to delivery at the buyer’s address. It is simpler to manage than booking each leg separately.
A typical door-to-door service includes pickup at origin, export customs, the main sea or air leg, import customs clearance, and trucking to the final address. Whether duties and import taxes are included varies. Some quotes cover everything, while others leave duties and taxes to be paid by the buyer on arrival. Read the quote carefully.
Door-to-door is a service description, not an Incoterm. The Incoterm in the sales contract still decides who pays for what and where risk passes. For example, a buyer on EXW or FOB terms can hire its own forwarder for a door-to-door service, while under DAP or DDP the seller arranges delivery to the named place.
Compare door-to-door with port-to-port or airport-to-airport services, where the carrier’s job ends at the destination port or airport and you arrange clearance and delivery yourself. Express Courier Shipping is always door-to-door.
For heavy crates, confirm the delivery details before shipping. Say whether the site has a loading dock or forklift, whether a truck with a liftgate is needed, and whether there are access limits such as narrow streets or site hours. Final delivery problems are a common source of extra charges.