Ex Works (EXW)

Ex Works (EXW) is the Incoterms 2020 rule that asks the least of the seller: the buyer collects from the seller's door and does everything else. The goods are placed at the buyer's disposal at the seller's premises or another named place, packed and identified, but not loaded onto the collecting vehicle and not cleared for export. From that moment every cost and every risk is the buyer's, including the export declaration in the seller's own country. EXW can be used for any mode of transport.

Who does what under EXW

• Seller: has the goods ready at the named place on the agreed date, packed for transport, and gives the buyer the information it needs to collect them
• Buyer: loads the truck, arranges origin trucking, files the export declaration and pays export charges, books and pays the main carriage, insures if it wishes, files the ISF, clears import, pays the duty and delivers to its own door
• Loading: if the seller loads the goods anyway, which is what usually happens at a factory with a forklift, it does so at the buyer's risk and cost unless the contract says otherwise

Why EXW is awkward for an international purchase

EXW puts export clearance on the buyer, who is normally not established in the seller's country and cannot file the export declaration there in its own name. In practice the buyer's forwarder files it with the seller's cooperation and documents, and the paperwork often names the seller as exporter anyway. That blurs who is responsible if something on it is wrong.

The seller has sold "ex works" but still has to answer to its own customs authority for goods that left its premises. Many exporters quote EXW because it is the simplest price to write, then help with loading and export formalities anyway, so the term no longer describes what actually happens.

EXW vs FCA

For an export sale, the ICC's guidance, and ours, is to use FCA (Free Carrier) at the seller's premises instead. It gives the same commercial result without the ambiguity: the seller loads the goods onto the buyer's collecting vehicle and clears them for export, and delivery and risk pass at that point. The buyer still controls the main carriage. If the seller will not move off EXW, write into the contract that the seller loads the goods and provides the export documents, so the extra work is at least agreed. The Incoterms explainer compares the two rules line by line.

EXW vs FOB for an Asia-to-US import

Under EXW you pay from the factory door, and your forwarder handles the origin trucking, export clearance and port charges. Under FOB the supplier does that part and delivers the goods on board. FOB is the more common term on the China to USA and India to USA lanes because the supplier already knows its local truckers and its own export process. EXW makes sense when:

• you want one forwarder to control the shipment from the factory onward
• you consolidate several suppliers into one container at origin
• the supplier's origin charges are opaque and you would rather see them itemized by your own agent

Check the price, too: an EXW price should be noticeably lower than the same supplier's FOB price; if it is not, you are paying for origin handling twice.

EXW and your US customs value

US customs value is the price actually paid or payable to the seller (19 CFR 152.102(f)). An EXW price covers the goods alone. The origin trucking, export handling and freight you pay to your own forwarder are not payments to the seller, so they do not form part of that price. Packing you paid for, assists you supplied and commissions you paid to a selling agent are still added under 19 CFR 152.103(b). Estimate the resulting duty in the tariff simulator.

Buying EXW through Airlift

EXW works when you have a capable agent at origin. Airlift has its own offices in Chennai, Ho Chi Minh City, Dhaka and Phnom Penh, so on the India, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Cambodia lanes we arrange collection from the factory, coordinate the export formalities with the supplier and its customs broker, book the ocean or air leg, issue the bill of lading to you, file the ISF and coordinate the entry through our licensed customs-broker network (customs clearance). Neither party has to insure under EXW, so add cargo insurance from the factory door if you want the whole move covered.