EXW vs FOB vs DDP when you buy vials overseas

Incoterms aren’t personality preferences. They’re a map of who pays and who carries risk at each handoff. We’ve had buyers insist on EXW because a forwarder “always handles Asia,” then discover the factory-gate price was never the number finance approved.

EXW — you take the goods at our premises. Cheap on paper. You (or your forwarder) arrange pickup, export formalities depending on local practice, main freight, insurance choices, US entry, and delivery. Fine if you already have a strong forwarder and want control. Painful if you don’t.

FOB — we get the cargo to the vessel at the named port. You take ocean freight and everything after. Common, but you still own the duty and drayage surprise risk.

DDP — we deliver to your named place with duties paid. The unit price should be comparable to a domestic landed cost. That’s the term we default to for US clinics and distributors who don’t want to staff a customs workflow for packaging SKUs.

If your forwarder is excellent and you import weekly, EXW/FOB can be rational. If vials are a side SKU and your team is already stretched, DDP usually wastes less calendar time. We can quote more than one term on the same PO if you want a sanity check.

Related: DDP deep dive