All Incoterms 2020 rules

EXW Ex Works

The buyer collects the goods from the seller’s door and carries every cost and risk from there.

Any mode of transport

EXW puts the absolute minimum on the seller: pack the goods, make them available at the named place on the agreed date, and stop. The seller does not load them, does not clear them for export and signs no transport contract. Everything after that — loading, haulage, customs, freight, import — belongs to the buyer.

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Risk passes at
At the buyer’s disposal
Export clearance
Buyer
Import duty & taxes
Buyer
Cargo insurance
Not required

The journey, stage by stage

Every stage of the shipment in order, and who pays for it.

  1. 1 Packing the goods for export Seller pays
  2. Risk passes to the buyer The moment the packed goods are placed at the buyer’s disposal at the named place, still standing on the seller’s floor and not yet loaded.
  3. 2 Loading onto the collecting vehicle Buyer pays
  4. 3 Inland carriage to the port or terminal Buyer pays
  5. 4 Export customs formalities Buyer pays
  6. 5 Terminal handling at origin Buyer pays
  7. 6 Loading onto the main carrier Buyer pays
  8. 7 The international freight Buyer pays
  9. 8 Terminal handling at destination Buyer pays
  10. 9 Import customs, duty and taxes Buyer pays
  11. 10 Inland carriage to the final destination Buyer pays
  12. 11 Unloading at the final destination Buyer pays

What the seller does

  • Pack the goods for the transport that was agreed and mark them.
  • Place them at the buyer’s disposal at the named place on the agreed date.
  • Give the buyer whatever help is asked for — at the buyer’s cost and risk — to obtain export documents.

What the buyer does

  • Load the goods onto the collecting vehicle.
  • Clear the goods for export in the seller’s country and pay any export duty.
  • Contract and pay for all carriage, terminal handling and freight.
  • Clear the goods for import and pay duty, VAT and any import taxes.

Use it when

  • Domestic sales where no border is crossed.
  • A buyer with a forwarder of its own in the seller’s country and a reason to control the whole chain.
  • Quoting the bare price of the goods before any logistics is priced in.

Watch out for

  • In most countries the exporter of record has to be established locally, and a foreign buyer simply cannot file the export declaration — for a cross-border sale FCA is the rule that was designed for this.
  • Without an export declaration in its own name the seller has no proof of export, which is what a VAT authority normally wants before zero-rating the sale.
  • Loading is the buyer’s, but it happens with the seller’s forklift on the seller’s premises — agree in the contract who does it and who answers for damage.

EXW is the only rule under which the seller has no export obligation at all. If the goods leave the country, that gap has to be filled by someone — and the ICC itself suggests FCA instead.

Compare with

FCA Free Carrier FOB Free On Board DDP Delivered Duty Paid

Sources for this page

Every payer cell on these pages was checked against several published references, and the two cells those references disagree on are drawn as “per contract” rather than resolved by picking a side. This is a summary for orientation, not legal advice — the contract and the ICC text govern.

  1. Incoterms® 2020 International Chamber of Commerce

    The rules themselves. The authoritative text is ICC publication no. 723E, which is not free — this page is a summary of it, not a copy.

  2. Incoterms Wikipedia

    Risk transfer point, export and import clearance and the insurance clauses for each of the eleven rules; the 2010 to 2020 changes; what the rules do not cover.

Selling or buying on EXW terms? Follow the shipment from handover to arrival — whoever holds the number can track it.

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EXW FAQ

EXW puts the absolute minimum on the seller: pack the goods, make them available at the named place on the agreed date, and stop. The seller does not load them, does not clear them for export and signs no transport contract. Everything after that — loading, haulage, customs, freight, import — belongs to the buyer.

Risk passes to the buyer the moment the packed goods are placed at the buyer’s disposal at the named place, still standing on the seller’s floor and not yet loaded.

The seller’s costs end at the factory gate — this is the bare ex-works price of the goods. Export clearance is the buyer’s and import duty and taxes are the buyer’s. Neither side is obliged to insure the cargo.

Whoever contracted the carriage holds the transport document, and its number is what a lookup needs. Enter a bill of lading, booking or container number in the container tracking app, an air waybill in the air cargo tracker, or make the same lookup one REST call with the API reference.

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