Incoterms® 2020 for Export Sales

Quote accurately. Explain delivery clearly. Protect your margin.

A buyer asks for your best price “delivered to our warehouse”.

Before you can make a sound offer, you need to know more. Who will unload? Who can complete import clearance? Where will cargo risk transfer? Does the freight quotation cover the entire promised journey? What happens to your profit if the buyer changes the delivery requirements?

This practical course from eBSI Export Academy helps you answer those questions and turn them into a clear, commercially workable export quotation.

Learn all eleven Incoterms® 2020 rules through the decisions you make in export sales, from the first customer enquiry to the final review of an order.

Build confidence in the decisions behind your quotation

Choosing a delivery rule affects the service you offer, the costs you need to recover and the responsibilities you must explain to your customer.

You will learn how to:

• Match the delivery arrangement to your buyer’s needs and your ability to perform it.

• Explain where delivery occurs and when cargo risk transfers.

• Identify which transport and handling costs belong in your price.

• Clarify unloading, customs and insurance responsibilities before making a commitment.

• Check that shipping documents and payment conditions fit the proposed transaction.

• Calculate gross margin correctly and price additional services consistently.

• Negotiate changes without allowing extra obligations to disappear into an unchanged price.

The emphasis throughout is on practical judgement, clear communication and commercially sound decisions.

Who is this course for?

This course is designed for:

• Export sales executives and international account managers.

• Business development professionals selling into overseas markets.

• SME owners and managers who prepare or approve export quotations.

• Sales support and export administration staff involved in customer commitments.

• Professionals moving into an export sales role or refreshing their knowledge of the 2020 rules.

No previous Incoterms knowledge is required. Familiarity with a sales quotation and basic arithmetic will help you get the most from the worked examples.

What you will study

1. The essential decisions behind an export offer

Understand what Incoterms rules cover and where separate contract terms are needed. Distinguish delivery, cargo risk, transport costs, payment and ownership, and learn how to write a precise delivery entry.

2. Using delivery service to support the sale

Explore buyer preferences, freight-price objections and alternative service offers. Learn to compare like-for-like costs and negotiate price, service and payment together.

3. EXW and FCA: making collection workable

Examine loading responsibilities, export-clearance arrangements, evidence requirements and access to transport documents. Compare FCA delivery at the seller’s premises with delivery at another agreed place.

4. FAS, FOB, CFR and CIF in maritime sales

Connect each maritime rule with the actual delivery operation. Review vessel loading, container handovers, port charges, insurance and the commercial consequences of delayed vessel nomination.

5. CPT and CIP: selling carriage with clear boundaries

Understand why paying for carriage to destination does not necessarily mean bearing cargo risk until arrival. Review insurance scope, transport obligations and the evidence needed to support the offer.

6. DAP, DPU and DDP: making destination promises feasible

Choose between destination-delivery options by checking unloading, import capability and site access. Learn how to identify commitments that need verification before you confirm a price.

7. Aligning contracts, documents and payment

Check the sales agreement, transport booking and documentary-payment requirements together. Explore document mismatches, customer-controlled payment evidence and the limits of what an Incoterms rule can resolve.

8. Building and explaining export prices

Work through practical calculations covering gross margin, markup, freight, insurance and destination services. Learn why a 20% markup does not produce a 20% gross margin.

9. Auditing landed cost and protecting profit

Identify omissions and duplicated charges. Calculate the effect of exchange-rate movements, funding periods, delays and changes to delivery scope.

10. Applying the rules in export-sales cases

Apply your learning to machinery, perishables, bulk cargo and online B2B transactions. Complete a capstone in which you calculate alternative offers and respond to a last-minute unloading request.

Practise the conversations and calculations that matter

The course uses realistic fictional businesses and shipment scenarios to make the rules easier to apply.

You will work through situations such as:

• A container buyer requesting FOB when the seller hands goods to a carrier at its factory.

• A customer expecting seller cargo risk until arrival because the seller pays the freight.

• A proposed DDP order where the importing arrangements have not been checked.

• A freight quotation that excludes part of the promised delivery service.

• An insurance premium calculated as a percentage of the final selling price.

• A buyer requesting additional unloading at the original quoted price.

Thirty practice decisions provide explanations for your choices, helping you understand the reasoning and apply it to your own work.

What is included?

• 100 learning screens organised into ten chapters.

• Full narration using the Connor voice.

• 75 unique photographic illustrations supporting the practical scenarios.

• 25 explanatory diagrams for comparisons, responsibilities and calculations.

• Four captioned instructional videos.

• 30 interactive practice decisions with specific feedback.

• Worked pricing examples and a staged capstone.

• A 40-entry glossary and linked source references.

• A comprehensive 70-page student manual.

• A separate final assessment.

Study time and assessment

Allow approximately 3 to 4 hours for the course, including practice activities and the capstone, plus time for the final assessment. Your study time will depend on your experience and how closely you work through the examples.

The assessment presents 30 questions selected from an 80-question bank, with questions drawn from every chapter.

The pass mark is 60%, equivalent to 18 correct answers out of 30.

Practical learning supported by authoritative sources

The course draws on ICC and ICC Academy materials alongside relevant official export, customs, maritime and insurance sources.

Fictional cases make the commercial decisions concrete while keeping the assumptions visible. You will learn to recognise when a transaction needs further confirmation from a carrier, customs adviser, insurer or bank before you commit to the customer.

Bring a current quotation to your learning

Use one of your own export enquiries as a reference while you study. Review its delivery wording, cost assumptions, payment requirements and buyer responsibilities as you progress.

By the end, you should be better equipped to explain your offer, defend your calculations and identify the questions that must be answered before acceptance.

Enrol in Incoterms® 2020 for Export Sales Executives and build a more confident, practical approach to export quotation and negotiation.

Incoterms® is a registered trademark of the International Chamber of Commerce. This is an independent eBSI Export Academy course and does not claim ICC endorsement.