Materials, Hardware & Compliance
Four terms, four different dividing lines
The same kitchen quoted DDP and quoted EXW produces two numbers that cannot be compared, because each term hands over a different part of the journey. This page sets out exactly where the line falls, so a quotation can be read for what it actually covers.
The term comes before the price
An EXW price covers cabinetry at our factory and nothing else. A DDP price covers the same cabinetry plus export declaration, inland haulage, ocean freight, marine insurance, Australian import clearance, duty and GST, and delivery to the address you nominate. The difference between the two numbers is that chain — not a discount, and not a markup.
Because of that, comparing a DDP quote from one supplier with an FOB quote from another tells you nothing. Ask every supplier for the same term, and check that the term carries a named place: Incoterms 2020 requires one, and a term without a place — DDP with no address, FOB with no port — leaves the responsibility undefined at exactly the point where it matters.
Where the line falls
Four handovers matter: the export declaration in China, the moment the goods are on board at the port of shipment, the Australian import clearance, and the final delivery. EXW hands over at our door, FOB on board, CIF at the Australian port once freight and insurance are paid, and DDP after clearance and delivery.
Note what CIF does not include: it stops at the destination port. Terminal handling, import clearance, duty, GST, quarantine inspection and the road leg to site all sit with the buyer. CIF is often mistaken for a delivered price for exactly this reason, and the gap between the two is where budgets go wrong.
Delivered to site is not delivered into the room
Under DDP we are responsible for getting the container to the place you nominate and for the import formalities. We are not responsible for unloading it. That means a truck that can reach the address, not a crane, a stair carry or a lift booking — panels are heavy and a container of them is heavier than most site crews expect.
Unloading, hoisting, internal distribution, and removal of packaging are yours unless they are written into the quotation. Agree them before the container sails, not on the morning it arrives: this is the single most common place where a delivered price and a client's expectation stop matching.
Responsibility, term by term
- EXW — Ex Works
- Collected at our factory. Export declaration, inland transport, ocean freight, insurance and Australian clearance are all arranged by the buyer.
- FOB — Free On Board
- Loaded on board at the port of shipment. We handle the export declaration and pre-shipment costs; ocean freight, insurance and import clearance are the buyer's.
- CIF — Cost, Insurance, Freight
- Freight and marine insurance paid to your nominated Australian port. Import clearance, duty, GST and the road leg to site remain with the buyer.
- DDP — Delivered Duty Paid
- Cleared for import through our customs broker and delivered to the address you nominate, with duty and GST borne by us. Unloading at destination is the buyer's.
- Marine insurance
- Covered by us under CIF and DDP. Under FOB and EXW it is the buyer's to arrange, and worth arranging before the container is loaded rather than after.
- GST and duty on import
- Australian import GST is 10%. Duty depends on the HS classification, and the China–Australia Free Trade Agreement rate applies only where a valid certificate of origin is issued.
Every quotation states the term and the named place it is issued on, and the two are read together. Duty rates and shipping schedules change; the rate applied is the one in force on the date of import, confirmed with the customs broker at the time of booking.
Frequently asked
- Why are the four prices so far apart?
- Because they cover different amounts of the journey. The cabinetry, the packing and the loading are the same in all four; what changes is who pays for the sea leg, the insurance, the clearance and the taxes. If you want to compare us with another supplier, convert both quotes to the same term first.
- On DDP, what is still left for us to pay?
- Unloading, hoisting and internal distribution at the destination, any lift booking or after-hours access charge, and removal of packaging. Those sit outside the delivered price unless the quotation says otherwise. Site storage after delivery is also yours — panels stored flat on a damp slab are excluded from warranty.
- Under EXW, can we declare export ourselves?
- Export declaration in China has to be lodged by a party registered to do it, so in practice your forwarder handles it. What we provide is the packing list, the commercial invoice, the certificate of origin where one is issued, and the loading record — the documents your broker needs to lodge.
- If the container arrives damaged, whose claim is it?
- It depends on the term, because the risk passes at a defined point. Under FOB and EXW the risk is with the buyer once the goods are on board, so the claim runs against the carrier and the buyer's insurer. Under CIF and DDP we are the insured party. Either way the evidence is the same: photographs referenced to the packing record and the part labels, taken before the container is unpacked.
- Can we change the term after the order is placed?
- Before booking, yes, and it is a matter of reissuing the quotation. After the container is booked the freight and insurance are already committed, so a change at that point costs whatever the forwarder charges to unwind it. Tell us the term you need at enquiry stage if you are still deciding.
Next step
Still something unclear
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