Ex Works

Ex Works (EXW) is the Incoterm that places the maximum responsibility on the buyer. The seller's only obligation is to make the goods available at their own premises (factory, warehouse, mill). From that moment, the buyer bears every cost and every risk — loading the truck, export clearance, main carriage, import clearance, and delivery to the final destination.

On the spectrum of Incoterms, EXW is the seller-friendliest term. On the ground, it's rarely the most practical.

What's actually included

• Seller: Makes goods available at their premises, packaged for transport. That's it.
• Buyer: Loading, inland transport to port, export customs clearance, main carriage, import customs clearance, inland transport at destination, unloading.

Where EXW gets awkward

Export customs clearance. Under EXW, the buyer is responsible for export clearance at the seller's country. In many countries (notably India, China, and most of the EU), only a resident entity can file the export declaration. A foreign buyer usually can't clear cargo out of the seller's country, so in practice the seller (or the forwarder) does it anyway — which deviates from the EXW terms.

Loading. The seller doesn't have to load the truck under EXW. In practice, most do — their warehouse staff and forklift are right there, and the buyer's carrier can't easily load without them.

Because of these practical issues, FCA (Free Carrier) is often recommended as a replacement for EXW in modern trade. Under FCA, the seller handles export clearance and loading, which matches how things usually work anyway — and the INCOTERMS 2020 update explicitly recommends FCA over EXW for most international moves.

When EXW still makes sense

• Domestic sales where all parties are in the same country and there's no customs export step.
• Buyer-led logistics where the buyer has strong local presence at origin and genuinely handles every step.
• Ex-factory pricing used for quotation purposes, with a separate contract covering logistics.

If neither of these fits, FCA is almost always the better term.