Two suppliers quote you for the same specification. One is noticeably cheaper. Then you notice one says EXW and the other DDP, and the comparison collapses — you were never looking at the same number. Incoterms are the most under-read part of a furniture quotation and the most common source of a landed cost that arrives higher than budgeted.
This is the part that catches people. Under FOB, risk passes when the goods are loaded on the vessel — if a container is damaged in transit, that is your problem and your insurer's, not the supplier's, even though you have not seen the goods. Under CIF the supplier arranges insurance but the risk position is similar. Knowing where the handover sits tells you where you need your own cover, and it is worth reading the actual policy rather than assuming the supplier's minimum cover matches the value of your order.
EXW looks best on a spreadsheet and frequently costs the most in practice, especially for a first-time importer. You are buying inland haulage and export clearance in a country where you have no relationships, usually through the supplier's forwarder anyway, at a price you did not negotiate. Unless you have a freight partner who genuinely handles origin-side logistics for you, FOB is normally the better floor.
DDP has the opposite trap. It is genuinely convenient, but it puts the supplier in charge of your customs entry, which means their broker decides your commodity code and origin declaration. If the classification is wrong, the liability is still yours. For repeat volume, most importers eventually move from DDP to FOB or CIF once they have a broker they trust.
Tell us which Incoterm you work on and your destination port and we will quote on that basis, with what is included and excluded stated line by line.
Put every offer on the same basis before you compare — usually landed at your warehouse. Take an EXW price and add origin haulage, export clearance, freight, insurance, destination clearance, duty where applicable, and delivery. That is the only number that means anything, and it regularly reorders the suppliers.
One last habit worth forming: ask what is excluded, not what is included. Every quotation lists its inclusions. The costs that break a budget are the ones no one mentioned.
Projebaz manufactures bathroom vanities and mirror cabinets in Denizli, Türkiye — 41 collections, 250+ finishes, exporting to more than 35 countries. Browse the collections
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