A unit price only makes sense once you know what it includes and who carries which risk. The two terms you’ll see most often are FOB and DDP.
FOB
Free On Board covers the goods, their packing and delivery to the port of export, cleared for export. From there your forwarder handles freight, insurance, import duties and delivery. Strictly, FOB is a sea-freight term; for air shipments the correct term is usually FCA.
DDP
Delivered Duty Paid means the seller handles everything to your address, including import duties, in one price.
What to check in any quotation
- Who the seller is. The party named as seller carries the trade-term obligations.
- What is included. Packing, labelling, testing and inspection are not always in the unit price.
- Who the importer is. Under DDP the seller may act as importer; under FOB it is normally you.
On Tactile projects we source the factory, build and negotiate the quotation and manage the order to shipment. The seller and exporting party are agreed before the order is confirmed and named in the project agreement.