For importers, exporters and sellers
Trade Lane
Cross-border trade goes wrong in predictable places: a term nobody read, a document nobody signed, a payment nobody structured. This desk covers those three, in the order they bite. Everything here is written for a business doing its own shipping and customs paperwork, or managing a supplier who does.
Trade Lane guides
Incoterms explained without the legalese
All eleven rules, who pays what, and the two terms that surprise importers most.
02The import and export document pack
Every paper that normally travels with a shipment, who issues it, and what breaks when it is missing.
03Payment terms and cross-border payment risk
From open account to letters of credit, ranked by who carries the risk — plus the fraud patterns to block.
The four questions that decide a cross-border deal
Before you agree a price with an overseas supplier or customer, make sure all four of these have a written answer. Each one is a separate line in the contract, and each one is a place where a deal can look profitable and end up losing money.
- Where does the cost stop and where does the risk stop? These are two different points, and confusing them is the single most common cross-border error. The Incoterm sets both.
- Who is the importer of record? The named party on the customs entry carries the legal obligations: correct classification, duty and tax payment, and record keeping. It is not always the party paying the invoice.
- When does money move relative to when goods move? Deposit, documents against payment, letter of credit, or open account. The choice determines who is financing the shipment.
- Which documents trigger payment? If the answer is “a set of documents”, list them precisely and confirm the names and numbers match the contract word for word.