Canton Fair Quotation: Write It Down, Then Use One Incoterm
Published by Aeonix Trade.
Last fact-checked: November 10, 2026.
A Canton Fair quotation starts as a sentence in an aisle and becomes useful only when it is a file. The file names the spec, the unit, the quantity, the rule, and the place. Trade.gov's Incoterms note describes Incoterms as terms that clarify the tasks, costs and risks for buyers and sellers. The rule text itself is the ICC Incoterms 2020 page. Two booths that used different rules have not given you two prices. They have given you two different jobs.
How to ask for that file in the first place is what an RFQ is. How to line the replies up is comparing supplier quotes. EXW and FOB are the two labels booths mix most often. For a container handover, FCA is the third label to keep in the same conversation. The evening after the hall is follow-up, samples and the first order.
What the card has to hold
| Write this | In these words | It is not ready if |
|---|---|---|
| Who sells | The name printed on the board, and the name that would be on the invoice | You only have a catalogue brand |
| What the number covers | Spec, unit, MOQ, packing | The number was for a different SKU |
| When it starts | Lead time from deposit, and again from sample sign-off | One number is supposed to cover both |
| Where the seller's job ends | The Incoterm and the named place | The place is "China" |
MOQ as a term is MOQ in sourcing. The document the booth should send after the conversation is the shape of a proforma invoice. The fair's exhibitor entry, so the booth number you write matches a current listing, is the official exhibitor page.
The same rule, then the table
A circled price on a catalogue page is the thing you photograph so you remember the conversation. It is not the row in the table. Ask every survivor to quote one spec, on one rule, at one place. If the replies come back on different rules, you are looking at different leftovers, not at a winner.
The next two days
The evening you leave, drop any card whose legal name you cannot read. The next morning, send one specification. When the files return, put them in one table before you answer the booth that chased you first. Order a sample only for a line you will test. The buyer system is where the organiser handles buyer accounts. It is not a form that converts a verbal price into a contract.
Two booths, one cushion
A buyer of cushions leaves phase 3 with two numbers. One is EXW at a factory the booth will not pin on a map. One is FOB at a named port. Only the second can sit next to a freight idea without inventing the truck. The buyer asks the first booth to restate the offer as FOB at that same port, or to leave the comparison. No price from this scene is printed here, because none was an official figure. The case is a pattern.
Questions that stay on the rule page
Is the booth price binding?
Treat it as a conversation until the company sends a file with the spec and the rule. The pages opened for this check do not call an aisle sentence a contract.
Which Incoterm should every booth use?
The one you named in the request, at a place you named. The ICC page is the rule set. This article does not pick a winner among the rules.
Where do I build the request?
The fields above are the same fields as an RFQ. A blank you can fill is the RFQ brief builder, and the copy you want a person to read can go on the RFQ form.
The fair logistics around this are Canton Fair 2027 Dates, Phases and Which Products Each Phase Covers, badge and registration fees, whether a small buyer should go, and opening hours and a day plan.
Official sources
- ICC: Incoterms 2020.
- Trade.gov: Know Your Incoterms, which describes the terms as clarifying tasks, costs and risks.
- Canton Fair exhibitor page, for the booth you are writing down.
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