Key takeaways
- ALL-FOOD sells Ex Works and FOB Italy. Outside Europe we do not deliver to your door and we are not your importer of record. Within Europe, delivery by road groupage to your address (DAP) can be agreed case by case.
- That means you arrange the freight yourself or appoint a forwarder to do it, and you handle customs clearance and import documentation at destination.
- The incoterm is not a pricing detail. It decides who carries the risk, who does the work, and who is legally responsible to your customs authority.
- Most failed conversations are not disagreements about price. They are two sides quoting different incoterms and not noticing.
- If you cannot import in your own name and have no forwarder, you need a landed supplier or a domestic distributor, and we will tell you that rather than waste your time.
- Ask for the incoterm in the first email, before anyone builds a price.
The Question That Ends Deals Quietly
A buyer asks for a price. We send one. The buyer compares it to a number from somewhere else and it looks high, or it looks impossibly low, and the conversation cools off without either side saying why.
Often nothing was wrong with either price. They were quoted on different terms. One included ocean freight and destination clearance, the other ended at a loading dock in Tuscany. Those are not the same product and they should not carry the same number.
This is the most expensive misunderstanding in food import, and it is entirely avoidable. It takes one line in the first email.
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What the Terms Actually Mean to You
Incoterms describe one thing: the point at which responsibility moves from the seller to the buyer. Not quality, not payment, not who is at fault if the goods are wrong. Only where the handover happens and who does what on each side of it.
Think of it as a relay race. The incoterm is the moment the baton changes hands. Everything before that point is the seller's problem and everything after it is yours.
| Term | Where the handover happens | What you take on | Who is importer of record |
|---|---|---|---|
| EXW, Ex Works | At the producer's or our warehouse in Italy | Collection, export clearance, main freight, insurance, destination clearance, delivery | You |
| FOB, Free On Board | Loaded on the vessel at the Italian port | Ocean freight, insurance, destination clearance, delivery | You |
| CIF, Cost Insurance Freight | Seller pays freight and insurance to the destination port | Destination clearance, duties, delivery from the port | You |
| DDP, Delivered Duty Paid | At your door, cleared | Almost nothing | The seller |
The column that matters most is the last one. Under EXW, FOB and CIF you are the importer of record in your market, whatever the other columns say. Under DDP the seller takes that on, which is why very few exporters offer it and why those who do price it accordingly.
What ALL-FOOD Does, Plainly
We sell Ex Works and FOB Italy. That is the whole answer.
Under EXW, the goods are ready for collection at the producer's warehouse or at our consolidation point and your forwarder collects them. Under FOB, we handle the movement inside Italy and the export formalities and the goods are loaded on the vessel at the Italian port, where responsibility passes to you.
From that point it is your side of the race. You book the ocean freight or your forwarder does. You insure the cargo if you want it insured. You clear it at destination, you pay the duties, and you are the importer of record in your market. The import documentation at destination is yours to file.
What we do is upstream of that line, and it is not nothing. We select the producers, check the goods before they ship, consolidate several producers into one shipment, and prepare the export documentation that your side needs in order to clear the goods. Our Italian export office model explains how that works in practice.
What we do not do is deliver to your warehouse or act as importer in your country.
Europe is the exception. Between EU member states there is no import clearance, and a mixed pallet can travel by road groupage straight to your warehouse. Where it makes sense for the order, we quote delivered to your address (DAP); otherwise your forwarder collects Ex Works.
Why We Do Not Offer Landed Delivery
Being importer of record in a foreign market is not a logistics service. It is a legal position. It means holding the registrations that market requires, being the party your customs authority holds responsible, and carrying the liability if a shipment is detained or refused.
A supplier who takes that on in your market is running a different business from ours. We are a sourcing and export office in Italy, and the honest version of that is that our competence ends at the Italian port. We would rather say so than discover it halfway through your first shipment.
There is a second reason, and it is yours rather than ours. When you import in your own name you control the freight decision, you can consolidate our shipment with other suppliers, and you see the real landed cost line by line instead of inside somebody else's single number. Buyers who import themselves almost never want to go back.
When That Is the Wrong Answer for You
Sometimes it genuinely is, and the useful thing is to find out early.
A large US meal-kit buyer told us plainly that they have no capability to import on their own account and can work only on FOB terms at a US port. They were clear, we were clear, and they asked us to come back if our capabilities change. That conversation took one exchange instead of three months.
We lost that opportunity. It was one of the biggest in that window. We would rather lose it in the first week than in the twelfth.
If you cannot import in your own name, you have three options. Appoint a freight forwarder and customs broker in your market, which is the normal route and less difficult than it sounds. Buy from a domestic distributor who has already imported, accepting their margin in exchange for taking the problem away. Or find a supplier who offers delivered terms into your country, which exists but narrows your choice of producers considerably.
None of those is a bad answer. Choosing one of them before you start is much better than discovering mid-negotiation that nobody has it covered.
How Buyers Actually Ask
Four separate buyers raised delivery terms with us in a six-month window, and no two of them framed it the same way.
One sent a request for quotation priced CIF to a West African port, which told us immediately they were used to buying on delivered terms. One asked for full-container freight delivered to their port in the Middle East. One, the meal-kit buyer above, named a specific US port and a specific term. The fourth never raised it at all until pricing was already on the table, which is the case that costs everyone the most time.
The pattern is that experienced importers state the incoterm unprompted in the first message. If a supplier does not ask you for it, ask them. The answer tells you what kind of business you are dealing with before you have spent anything.
What to Settle Before Anyone Quotes
Four questions, answered in writing, before a price exists.
Which incoterm are we quoting on, named with the place attached, because FOB without a port is not a term. Who is importer of record at destination, which is you unless the supplier has explicitly said otherwise. Who books and pays for the main freight, and whether insurance is included or assumed. And which documents each side produces, because the export paperwork from Italy and the import filing in your market are two different jobs done by two different parties.
Our guide to importing Italian food to the USA covers the US-specific registrations behind that last point. If you are weighing how to build the shipment itself, the freight maths behind a mixed pallet is the companion piece to this one.
Working with ALL-FOOD
ALL-FOOD is a dedicated Italian export office based in Tuscany. We source from Italian producers, check the goods before they ship, consolidate several producers into one shipment and prepare the export documentation, on Ex Works or FOB Italy terms, for importers, distributors and retail buyers in the USA, Canada, Australia, the Middle East and South America.
If you import in your own name or work with a forwarder who does, that fits. If you do not, tell us in the first email and we will say so straight away. Get in touch with our team to discuss your product needs.
Frequently asked questions
What incoterms does ALL-FOOD sell on?
Ex Works and FOB Italy. Under EXW your forwarder collects from the producer’s warehouse or our consolidation point. Under FOB we handle movement inside Italy and the export formalities, and responsibility passes to you when the goods are loaded on the vessel at the Italian port.
Does ALL-FOOD deliver to my warehouse?
Outside Europe, no. We sell Ex Works and FOB Italy, we are not your importer of record, and you arrange the freight and the clearance at destination. Within Europe, delivery to your warehouse by road groupage (DAP) can be agreed case by case.
Who is the importer of record on an FOB shipment?
You are. Under EXW, FOB and CIF the buyer is importer of record in their own market. Only under DDP does the seller take that on, which is why few exporters offer it.
What if I cannot import in my own name?
You have three options: appoint a freight forwarder and customs broker in your market, buy from a domestic distributor who has already imported, or find a supplier offering delivered terms into your country. Tell us in the first email and we will say straight away whether we fit.
Why does the incoterm matter so much when comparing prices?
Because two quotes on different terms are not the same product. One may include ocean freight and destination clearance while the other ends at a loading dock in Italy. Comparing them directly is how deals cool off without either side understanding why.
What should I settle before asking for a price?
Which incoterm, with the place named, because FOB without a port is not a term. Who is importer of record. Who books and pays the main freight and whether insurance is included. And which documents each side produces.
About the author
Giorgio Morocica
Export Manager at ALL-FOOD
Giorgio leads export operations at ALL-FOOD, sourcing and shipping authentic Italian food for importers, distributors and retail chains across the USA, Canada, Australia, the Middle East and South America. He writes about the sourcing, compliance and logistics questions buyers actually run into.
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