What Does an FCA Price Include? Cost Breakdown With a Real Example

An FCA quotation from a Bangladeshi supplier is a price for goods delivered to a named place, not a price for goods delivered to your warehouse. This guide breaks one FCA quote into its cost lines, with a worked example from a Bangladesh shipment.

Quick answer

Under FCA (Free Carrier), Incoterms 2020, the FCA price covers the goods, export packing, delivery to the named place, and export clearance. It does not cover main carriage, insurance, import clearance, or duty at destination. The named place decides which delivery lines sit inside the price.

What FCA means in plain English

FCA stands for Free Carrier, one of the 11 Incoterms 2020 rules published by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which allocate cost, risk, and obligations between buyer and seller, and one of the rules that work for any mode of transport.^{1 2}

In plain terms, FCA means the seller hands the goods to the carrier or person you nominate, at a place you both name in the contract. The seller clears the goods for export and delivers them to that named place, and from that point on, the main journey and the import side are your account.²

The named place is the heart of the price. "FCA Dhaka" and "FCA seller's factory, Narayanganj" are different prices for the same goods, because the seller's delivery work ends at a different point.

How it works step by step

The seller's price builds up in the order the work happens:

1. Make and pack the goods. The seller produces the goods and packs them for export, with the marking your order requires.

2. Clear the goods for export. In Bangladesh, goods may not be loaded for export unless an export declaration, the Bill of Export or Shipping Bill, is submitted to Customs and approved.³

3. Deliver to the named place. At the seller's premises, the seller loads the goods onto your collecting vehicle. At another named place, such as a forwarder depot, the seller transports the goods there and delivers them ready for unloading.

4. Hand over to your carrier. Delivery is complete when the goods are handed to the carrier or person you nominated, at the named place and point.

5. You take over the journey. From the named place, you arrange and pay for main carriage, insurance if you want cover, destination handling, import clearance, and duty.

Who is responsible for what

Every line in the left column can sit inside an FCA price. Every line in the right column sits outside it and is paid separately by the buyer.

Three lines deserve a second look. Standard export packing is normally inside the price, but special packing, such as retail-ready cartons or extra palletising, may be priced apart, so ask which packing the figure assumes. Inland transport is inside the price only when the named place is somewhere other than the seller's premises, and the distance to that place changes the figure. And no insurance line belongs in an FCA price, so cover for the main journey is a separate purchase by the buyer.

Worked example with numbers (Bangladesh shipment)

Example figures: a buyer in the United Kingdom orders 6,000 woven jute tote bags from a supplier in Narayanganj, FCA at the buyer's nominated forwarder depot in Dhaka:

The total of $11,960 is the complete FCA price: $11,100 plus $420 plus $260 plus $180, or $1.99 per unit across 6,000 units. Nothing beyond the Dhaka depot sits in that total. Main carriage to the United Kingdom, cargo insurance, destination handling, import clearance, and any duty are priced separately by the buyer's forwarder and broker, and none of them changes the FCA figure.

If the same order had been quoted FCA at the seller's factory in Narayanganj instead, the $260 inland transport line would drop out, and the seller would instead load the buyer's collecting vehicle at the factory. The goods, packing, and export clearance lines would stay. That is why two FCA prices for identical bags can differ: the named place moves a whole cost line in or out.

FCA vs related terms

FCA sits between the lightest and heaviest seller obligations, and the price lines show the difference:

Each step up the table adds one cost line to the seller's price. If a supplier quotes FCA but the figure quietly includes main carriage, it is priced as CPT, not FCA, whatever the label says.

Common mistakes to avoid

Treating the FCA price as a landed cost. The FCA figure stops at the named place. Main carriage, insurance, destination handling, import clearance, and duty all come on top, so a budget built on the FCA figure alone will fall short.

Assuming insurance is included. Insurance is never part of an FCA price. If the goods travel uninsured from the named place, that gap is the buyer's.

Assuming unloading at another named place is included. When the named place is a depot or terminal, the seller delivers the goods ready for unloading. Unloading falls to the carrier, and any charge for it sits outside the FCA price.

Accepting a quote with no named place. "FCA Bangladesh" names a country, not a delivery point, and leaves the loading and inland transport lines undefined. A usable FCA quote always states the named place in full.

Comparing FCA prices with different named places. A factory-gate price and a depot price cover different work, so the lower figure may simply be the one with fewer lines inside it. Compare prices only after writing each quote's lines out in full.

How Exportain helps

On Exportain, post a request for quotation (RFQ) on the RFQ board and state the Incoterm and the named place in the request, so suppliers quote against the same delivery point. Ask each reply to split the FCA price into goods, packing, inland transport where it applies, and export clearance. Quotations on Exportain are versioned, showing unit price, MOQ, lead time, Incoterm, payment terms, and validity, which keeps the split on record.⁴

Exportain is not a party to the goods contract and does not book freight, clear customs, or inspect goods.⁴ Settle the delivery point, carrier, insurance, and duty schedule in writing with the supplier and your forwarder or broker.

FAQs

What is FCA?

FCA, or Free Carrier, is an Incoterms 2020 rule under which the seller delivers the goods to the carrier or person nominated by the buyer at a named place, having cleared them for export.² The FCA price covers the goods, export packing, delivery to that named place, and export clearance, while main carriage, insurance, import clearance, and duty are the buyer's separate costs.

How does FCA work in practice?

The seller makes and packs the goods, completes export clearance, and delivers them to the named place: loaded onto the buyer's vehicle at the seller's premises, or ready for unloading at another named place such as a forwarder depot.² The buyer then arranges the main journey, insurance, and import side from that point onward.

Is FCA used for shipments from Bangladesh?

Yes. FCA works for any mode of transport, including containerised sea freight from Chattogram, air freight from Dhaka, and combined transport.² The seller handles the Bangladesh export declaration, which Customs must approve before goods are loaded for export.³

What are common mistakes with FCA?

The common mistakes are treating the FCA price as a landed cost, assuming insurance or unloading is included, accepting a quote with no named place, and comparing prices quoted at different named places.

Next steps on Exportain

Read the Incoterms for shipments from Bangladesh guide to see where FCA sits among all 11 rules, and the CIF rule guide before comparing a sea-freight quote against an FCA figure. Then learn how to buy on Exportain and post your specification and named place so suppliers split their FCA prices line by line.