Rug pricing confuses new importers less because of the numbers than the vocabulary around them. FOB, CIF, EXW, landed cost — each term moves risk and expense between you and the supplier. Understanding them turns quotations from apples-and-oranges into a real comparison.
The Terms That Matter
- EXW (Ex Works): you collect from the factory gate and handle everything after — rare in rugs unless you consolidate multiple suppliers.
- FOB (Free on Board): the supplier delivers export-cleared goods onto the vessel at an Indian port (usually via Mundra or Nhava Sheva for carpets); you pay freight, insurance and import costs. The most common basis for wholesale rug quotes.
- CIF (Cost, Insurance, Freight): the supplier also pays freight and insurance to your named port; you handle import clearance and onward delivery. Simpler for first-time importers, slightly less transparent on freight cost.
What Sits Inside a Rug's Price
Materials (wool quality and origin move the number most), labour (knotted > tufted > handloom), dyeing, finishing and washing, packing, and the factory's margin. When a trader is involved, their margin stacks on top of the factory's — the structural reason manufacturer-direct pricing wins. Certifications add audit costs to the factory but rarely to your unit price at scale.
Calculating Landed Cost
Landed cost = FOB price + ocean freight + insurance + import duty for your HS code + local port and delivery charges. Handmade carpets enjoy favourable duty treatment in several markets, but rates change — verify current tariffs for your country before comparing suppliers. A spreadsheet with these five lines per quotation makes decisions obvious.
Getting a Quote You Can Trust
Ask for FOB and CIF side by side, with packing specification (bale vs carton), carton dimensions for freight estimating, and validity period. We quote all of this as standard, from a fully in-house cost base in Bhadohi with no intermediary layer. Request a worked quotation on your own specification and compare.