FOB, EXW or FCA from China: What We Handle

The term decides who is obliged. It does not decide who does it well.

If you buy from China under FOB, EXW or FCA terms, you may need to coordinate suppliers and logistics in China even though your company is overseas. Transeasy can manage that China-side process for you.

An Incoterm sets the point at which the seller’s responsibility for a shipment ends and yours begins. Most China purchases are made on FOB, EXW or FCA, and buyers usually choose between them on price. The price difference is mostly a redistribution of origin costs that get paid one way or another; the real difference is who controls the origin leg, and whether anyone is actually running it for you.

Under all three terms you have the right to nominate the carrier and the forwarder. Under all three, the tasks between the factory and the ship, supplier coordination, collection, export clearance, consolidation and booking, have to be done by someone in China. What changes is who is obliged to do them and who pays. What does not change is that a shipment run from the factory’s side of the table is run for the factory. This page sets out the three terms, and what we do under each so that you stay in control.

01

The Three Terms

Handover, obligations and what we do

FOB

Free On Board

Handover: On board the vessel at the named China port, export-cleared.

The most common term for China purchases. The seller delivers the goods on board at the named port and handles export clearance; you control the main international transportation and can nominate the forwarder.

The seller

Delivers the goods to the port and loads them on board
Lodges the Chinese export declaration in its own name
Pays origin haulage and, usually, terminal handling

You

Nominates the carrier and the forwarder
Pays the main carriage, insurance and everything from the ship onward
Carries the risk from the moment the goods are on board

What we do under FOB

Book the ocean or air carriage on your account, to your delivery date
Chase the supplier's cargo-ready date and its delivery to the port against the cut-off
Check the supplier's export declaration agrees with the invoice you will import on
Consolidate several FOB suppliers at one port into one shipment
Itemise every origin charge on the quote, so nothing arrives as a collect charge

Watch for: FOB with the supplier's own forwarder is where importers lose visibility. The origin leg is run for the factory's convenience, and the origin fees come back to you at destination as collect charges. Nominating your own forwarder is your right under FOB, and it is the fix.

If You Control the Main Freight, We Manage the China Side. Discuss Your FOB Shipment

EXW

Ex Works

Handover: At the seller's factory or warehouse door, not export-cleared.

Maximum control and maximum responsibility. Everything from the factory gate is yours, including the Chinese export declaration.

The seller

Makes the goods available at its premises, packed for export
Provides the commercial documents

You

Collects from the factory
Arranges export clearance through a China-registered agent
Books and pays for all haulage, handling and carriage
Carries the risk from the factory door

What we do under EXW

Collect from the factory with equipment sized to the cargo
Lodge the export declaration as your agent
Handle origin terminal charges, inspection and documents
Consolidate across suppliers and cities before loading
Book the main carriage and report end to end

Watch for: A foreign buyer cannot lodge a Chinese export declaration in its own name, so EXW only works with a China-side agent. Many importers who ask for EXW actually want FCA, where the seller clears export and hands the goods to your carrier.

We Manage the China-Side Process for You. Need Help With an EXW Shipment? Talk to Transeasy

FCA

Free Carrier

Handover: To your nominated carrier at a named place, export-cleared: the factory, or a warehouse or terminal near the port.

The clean middle ground. The seller does the export declaration in its own name; you control everything from the handover point.

The seller

Delivers the goods to your carrier at the named place
Lodges the Chinese export declaration in its own name
Loads the goods if the named place is its own premises

You

Nominates the carrier and the forwarder
Pays all carriage from the named place
Carries the risk from handover

What we do under FCA

Receive the goods at the named place, or collect from the factory as your carrier
Confirm the export declaration is lodged and matches the invoice
Handle onward haulage, origin handling and consolidation
Book the main carriage on your account
Draft the bill of lading the way your bank or broker needs it

Watch for: Agree the named place precisely. "FCA Shenzhen" is not a place; "FCA supplier's warehouse, Bao'an" or "FCA our consolidation warehouse, Yantian" is. The named place decides who pays the inland leg.

China-Side Coordination Made Simple. Plan Your China Shipment

02

Side by Side

FOB, EXW and FCA compared

	FOB	EXW	FCA
Handover point	On board the vessel at the China port	Seller’s factory or warehouse door	Your carrier at a named place, export-cleared
Chinese export declaration	Seller	You, through a China-side agent (us)	Seller
Inland haulage to port	Seller	You (we arrange)	Depends on the named place
Origin terminal handling	Seller	You (we arrange)	You (we arrange)
Carrier and forwarder nomination	You	You	You
Main carriage	You	You	You
Risk transfers	When goods are on board	At the factory door	At handover to your carrier
Invoice price includes	Goods plus all origin costs	Goods only	Goods plus costs to the named place
Best when	One supplier near a port; you want the seller to run export	You want full control and have a China-side team	You want the seller to clear export and you take over from the factory or a nearby terminal

Follows the ICC Incoterms 2020 definitions. CIF, DAP and DDP purchases are also common; under those the seller controls more of the carriage, and we will tell you what that costs in visibility before you agree the term.

03

Choosing

Which term should you buy on?

Buy FOB when you have one supplier, or several suppliers near the same port, and you are content for each seller to run its own delivery to the ship and lodge its own export declaration. Nominate your forwarder on the purchase order. Without that nomination FOB is the term under which importers most often lose visibility, because the factory’s forwarder runs the origin leg and recovers its fees from you at destination.

Buy EXW when you want control from the factory door and you have a China-side team to exercise it, because a foreign buyer cannot lodge a Chinese export declaration in its own name. EXW is the right term for multi-supplier consolidation where the suppliers are inland or do not export regularly. It is the wrong term if nobody in China is acting for you.

Buy FCA when you want the seller to clear export in its own name and hand the goods to your carrier at a defined place, which may be the factory or a warehouse near the port. It is the cleanest division of labour for most importers and it is what many buyers who ask for EXW actually want. Name the place precisely: a city is not a place.

Two clauses worth adding to any purchase order. First, the nominated forwarder: the seller shall deliver the goods to the buyer’s nominated forwarder, ShenZhen TransEasy Int’l Logistics Co., Ltd, and shall not book carriage through any other party. Second, the document deadline: the seller shall supply the commercial invoice, packing list and any required certificates to the nominated forwarder no later than three working days before the agreed collection date. Neither costs the seller anything. Both change who the origin leg is run for.

04

Questions

Importers ask us about terms

Yes. FOB gives you the right to nominate the carrier and the forwarder, and the supplier’s obligation is to deliver the goods to that forwarder at the port. Name us on the purchase order and the supplier delivers to us rather than to its own forwarder. We then coordinate the delivery against the cut-off, check the supplier’s export declaration and book the carriage on your account.

Because it excludes every origin cost: inland haulage, export clearance, terminal handling, documentation. Those costs still exist and you pay them, through us, itemised. An FOB price bundles the same costs at whatever margin the seller applies. Compare landed cost, not the unit price on the quotation.

The exact point where the seller hands the goods to your carrier: the seller’s own loading bay, a consolidation warehouse in Yantian, a rail terminal in Xi’an. The named place decides who pays the inland leg to it and where the risk passes. "FCA Shenzhen" leaves both open, which is why we ask for an address.

With care. Under DDP the seller is the importer of record in your country, which means the tariff classification, the duty payment and the compliance evidence are in its hands. Many importers find that buying FOB or FCA and clearing through their own broker costs about the same and keeps the control. We will show the comparison if you send us the offer.

FOB, EXW or FCA: what we handle under each

The term decides who is obliged. It does not decide who does it well.

Handover, obligations and what we do

Free On Board

The seller

You

What we do under FOB

Ex Works

The seller

You

What we do under EXW

Free Carrier

The seller

You

What we do under FCA

FOB, EXW and FCA compared

Which term should you buy on?

Importers ask us about terms

Further reading

Not sure which term is on your orders?

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