Incoterms for Amazon sellers (EXW, FOB, CIF, DDP)

Incoterms fix the handoff: EXW (you collect at the factory door — their lowest quote, your maximum scope), FOB (factory delivers loaded on the vessel at the origin port — the standard for container buys from China, keeping freight under your control), CIF (they arrange freight to your port — convenient, opaque, and you still own import clearance), DDP (delivered duty paid to the final door — one price, all inclusions, all opacity).

The seller-side pattern: FOB for FCL volumes (your forwarder, your rates, your visibility), DDP for parcels and LCL where per-kg all-in pricing wins on simplicity. The EXW trap: factories quote it to look cheap, then origin charges surface; the CIF trap: their forwarder's destination fees ambush at the port. Whatever the term, landed-cost-per-unit is the only comparable number.