EXW (Ex Works)

EXW (Ex Works) is the Incoterm placing minimum responsibility on the seller: the seller merely makes the goods available at its premises, and the buyer bears every cost and risk from there — export clearance, freight, insurance, US import duty, and delivery. Example: on an EXW purchase you (or your forwarder) arrange pickup at the factory and handle everything through US customs, so your landed cost includes origin logistics that an FOB or CIF price would have covered. It matters because EXW pricing looks cheap but shifts the most cost and complexity onto you — easy to under-budget the true delivered cost.