What Incoterms does KioskForce quote for vending machines?

We quote EXW, FOB or CIF depending on your preference, and we can work with a freight forwarder you have already appointed. FOB Tianjin is the most common arrangement for export orders, because the factory is about 100km from Tianjin Port and crates are loaded on site. Whichever term you choose, name it together with the place — 'FOB Tianjin', not just 'FOB' — because the Incoterm on its own does not identify where responsibility changes hands. Tell us at quotation stage which term you want quoted; the price is not comparable between suppliers until you know which one each of them used.

What is the difference between EXW, FOB and CIF, and which should I choose?

EXW means you take over at the seller's premises and arrange everything after that, including export clearance — the lowest quoted number and the most work for you. FOB means the seller delivers the goods on board the vessel at the named port of shipment and handles export clearance, and you take over from that point with ocean freight, insurance, import clearance, duty and delivery. CIF means the seller also pays the ocean freight and a minimum insurance cover to the named destination port, though risk still transfers at origin, and you still pay import clearance, duty and inland delivery. Buyers with an established forwarder usually prefer FOB, because they control the freight leg. Buyers importing for the first time often prefer CIF for simplicity, accepting that the freight is bought on their behalf rather than by them.

How many vending machines fit in a 20ft or 40ft container?

It depends on the crated dimensions of the specific model, so there is no single figure worth publishing. A compact wall-mount unit, a standard snack and drink cabinet and a large industrial locker bank load very differently, and custom builds change the crate size again. The loading quantity for your configuration is calculated from its crated dimensions and stated in the quotation. If a supplier gives you a units-per-container number before knowing which model you are buying, that number came from somewhere other than your order.

How much duty will I pay to import vending machines?

We do not quote duty rates or landed-cost totals, because they depend on your destination country, the tariff classification applied there, the origin of the goods, any trade measures in force at the time and the declared value including freight — and those rules change. The correct source for that number is a licensed customs broker in your own country. What we do is give you what the broker needs to answer it: the HS code we declare on the export documents, the crated dimensions and weights, and the commercial values. Get that estimate before you commit, not after the container has sailed.

How are vending machines packed for sea freight?

Every machine is wrapped in protective film, foam-padded at corners and edges, and secured in an export-grade wooden crate. Each crate is labelled with the model number, serial number, destination and handling instructions, and packaging is engineered for international ocean freight. Machines are powered on and tested under load before crating, with results recorded against the serial number, and a final pre-crating inspection checks model number, accessory completeness and crate labelling. Crated machines are staged in the on-site warehouse and loaded into the container directly from the warehouse floor at the facility's truck dock, so there is no intermediate handling or off-site storage between crating and loading.

Do I have to pay duty on spare parts as well as machines?

Yes. A spare-parts shipment is an import like any other and is assessed the same way, which is why buyers regularly report paying far more to bring in a small parts order than the parts themselves are worth. Freight, the customs entry and the broker's fee barely change with the size of the shipment, so the fixed costs dominate. The practical answer is to order the common wear items with the machine, while it is already being crated and cleared, and to consolidate later parts orders into a single shipment rather than several small ones.

Shipping, Incoterms and Landed Cost

KioskForce quotes EXW, FOB or CIF, and the Incoterm you choose decides how much of the landed cost sits inside our quotation and how much you arrange yourself. Machines are crated in export-grade wooden crates and loaded into containers on site at the Cangzhou facility, around 100km from Tianjin Port. How many units fit a 20ft or 40ft high-cube container depends entirely on the model’s crated dimensions, so that figure is stated on your quotation rather than published as a general number. Ocean freight to major ports in Australia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas typically takes two to four weeks, with air freight available for urgent or prototype shipments. Ask for the HS code, crated dimensions and weights early so your customs broker can estimate duty before you commit — and remember that duty applies to spare-parts shipments as well as to machines.

The price on the quotation is not what the machine costs you

Two suppliers quote the same machine. One number is lower. The buyer picks it, and then discovers the lower number was ex-works, the higher one included ocean freight, and the gap between them was never really there.

Landed cost — what the machine costs standing on your floor, cleared and delivered — is the only figure worth comparing. This page sets out which Incoterms we quote and what each one moves onto you, how machines are crated and loaded, why we do not publish a units-per-container number, and what to get from any supplier early enough for your customs broker to give you a real estimate.

Incoterms we quote

We quote EXW, FOB or CIF, and we can work with a freight forwarder you have already appointed. FOB Tianjin is the most common arrangement for export orders — the manufacturing facility is in Cangzhou, Hebei, approximately 100km from Tianjin Port.

Term	What the seller does	Where it stops being ours	Typically suits
EXW (Ex Works)	Makes the crated machines available at the premises	At the factory door — you arrange collection, export clearance and everything after	Buyers with a China-side agent or consolidator already handling their freight
FOB (Free On Board, named port)	Inland haulage, export clearance and loading on board at the named port	Once the goods are on board the vessel	Buyers with their own forwarder who want to control the ocean leg
CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight, named destination port)	Everything under FOB, plus ocean freight and insurance cover to the named destination port	Risk still transfers at origin, even though we pay the freight	First-time importers who want one number and fewer moving parts

Two things worth knowing before you compare quotations.

Always name the place with the term. “FOB” on its own does not say where. “FOB Tianjin” does. The named place is what makes the term mean something on a contract.

Under CIF, risk and cost separate. We pay the freight and the insurance, but risk transfers to you at origin, the same as FOB. CIF buys you convenience, not protection at sea — if the cargo value matters to you, check the level of cover rather than assuming it is comprehensive.

What landed cost is actually made of

Depending on the Incoterm, each of these is either inside our quotation or on your side of the line. None of them disappear.

Cost element	Under EXW	Under FOB	Under CIF
Machine and crating	Seller	Seller	Seller
Inland haulage to port of loading	Buyer	Seller	Seller
Export clearance and documents	Buyer	Seller	Seller
Terminal handling at origin	Buyer	Seller	Seller
Ocean freight	Buyer	Buyer	Seller
Marine insurance	Buyer	Buyer	Seller (minimum cover)
Terminal handling at destination	Buyer	Buyer	Buyer
Import clearance, broker’s fee	Buyer	Buyer	Buyer
Duty and import taxes	Buyer	Buyer	Buyer
Inland delivery to site	Buyer	Buyer	Buyer
Unloading, positioning, installation	Buyer	Buyer	Buyer

The last row catches people out. A crated vending machine is heavy and cannot be carried in by hand. Confirm with your delivery contractor how the crate comes off the truck and how it gets to its final position — the machine’s castor wheels are designed for short indoor repositioning, not for moving a crated unit across a car park.

Crating and packing

Machines are packed for international ocean freight, not for a short domestic delivery:

Wrapped in protective film, with foam padding at corners and edges
Secured in export-grade wooden crates
Each crate labelled with model number, serial number, destination and handling instructions
A final pre-crating inspection checks model number, accessory completeness and crate labelling accuracy

Every machine is powered on and tested under load before it is crated, and the test results are recorded against its serial number. That record is what makes the machine identifiable years later when you order spare parts for it.

Crated machines are staged in the on-site warehouse organised by customer order, and load into the container directly from the warehouse floor via the facility’s truck dock. There is no intermediate handling and no off-site warehousing between crating and container loading.

Container loading — why there is no published units-per-container number

Buyers often ask how many machines fit in a 20ft or a 40ft high-cube container. The honest answer is that it depends on the crated dimensions of the model you are buying, and those differ enormously across the range — a compact wall-mount unit, a full-height snack and drink cabinet and a bank of smart lockers do not load anything alike. A custom build changes the crate size again.

So the loading quantity is calculated for your configuration and stated on the quotation, alongside the crated dimensions and weights. We would rather give you a number that is true for your order than a general figure that is true for nothing.

If you are comparing suppliers: a units-per-container figure offered before anyone knows which model you are buying is a marketing number, not a loading plan.

Get the HS code and packing details early

The single most useful thing you can do before committing is put your customs broker in a position to answer the duty question. To do that they need:

Ask for	Why the broker needs it
HS code declared on the export documents	Determines the duty rate applied in your country and whether any trade measure attaches to it
Crated dimensions and gross/net weights	Drives freight cost, container selection and destination handling charges
Commercial value and the Incoterm quoted	Duty is generally assessed on a value basis that depends on which term was used
Country of origin	Determines eligibility for preferential rates under any trade agreement
Description of goods as it will appear on the invoice	A vague description is the usual cause of a customs query and a delay

Vending machines and their parts sit in HS heading 8476 — automatic goods-vending machines and parts thereof; the export data discussed in our analysis of China’s vending machine export volumes moves under code 847690. The exact subheading applied to your build in your country is your broker’s determination, not ours. We tell you the code we declare; they tell you what it costs.

We handle export documentation and provide customs clearance support from our side. We do not act as your importer, and we do not quote duty.

Duty and tariffs — why we do not publish a rate

Duty rates depend on the destination country, the classification applied there, the origin of the goods, the trade measures in force at the time, and the declared value including freight. Trade measures in particular move faster than any web page: US tariff treatment of Chinese-made vending machines has changed repeatedly, and the procurement structures buyers use have changed with it.

That is the reason there is no duty table on this page. A number we published today could be wrong by the time your container sails, and a wrong landed-cost estimate is worse than none. Your own licensed customs broker is the correct source, and the HS code plus packing details are what makes their answer accurate.

For background on how tariff changes have reshaped procurement decisions — not as a rate table, but as context for how buyers are structuring orders:

Ocean or air freight

Ocean freight to major ports in Australia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas typically takes two to four weeks in transit, depending on destination. Air freight is available for urgent orders and for prototype or sample units.

Transit time is not lead time. Build lead times run 4 to 12 weeks depending on complexity — see the customization page for how design, sampling and production ramp fit together — and freight sits on top of that. Plan the arrival date backwards from the site opening, not forwards from the deposit.

For a first order, sending one sample or pilot unit by air while the balance travels by sea is a reasonable pattern: it lets you commission the software, train staff and confirm the configuration while the container is still at sea.

Duty applies to spare parts too

This is the trap that catches owners after the machine is installed. A small parts shipment attracts freight, a customs entry, a broker’s fee and duty in almost the same way a container does, and none of those scale down with the size of the order. Buyers regularly report paying more to import a handful of parts than the parts are worth.

The fix is planning, not paperwork:

Order the common wear items with the machine, while it is already being crated and cleared.
Consolidate later parts orders into one shipment rather than several small ones.
Ask for the HS code for a parts shipment as well as for the machine, so the broker can estimate both.

Full detail on what to stock and how to identify a part is on the spare parts and after-sales support page.

Landed-cost checklist before you commit

Work through this before the deposit, not after the container sails.

Confirm which Incoterm each quotation was priced on, and the named place. Two quotations are not comparable until you know.
Get the HS code, crated dimensions and gross and net weights in writing.
Have a licensed customs broker in your own country estimate duty and clearance charges from those details.
Confirm the loading quantity for your model, as stated on the quotation.
Decide who arranges marine insurance, and at what level of cover.
Check destination terminal handling, and any quarantine or fumigation requirement that applies to timber packaging in your country.
Confirm delivery to site — truck access, tail-lift or forklift, and how the crate is moved into its final position.
Ask for the HS code for a spare-parts shipment as well, and order the wear items with the machine.
Check that the destination market’s electrical supply and certification were specified at quotation — see power and market compliance.

What to ask any supplier

Copy these into your enquiry. The answers tell you how much export experience is actually behind the quotation.

Which Incoterm is this quotation priced on, and what is the named place?
What is the HS code you declare on the export documents?
What are the crated dimensions and gross and net weights per unit?
How many units of this model load into a 20ft container, and into a 40ft high cube?
How are the machines packed, and is the timber packaging treated for my country’s quarantine rules?
Can you work with my freight forwarder, or do you insist on your own?
What export documents do you issue, and when do I receive copies?
What is the HS code for a spare-parts shipment, and can wear items ship with the machine?

A supplier who cannot answer 2 and 3 without checking has not exported to your market often. That is not automatically disqualifying, but it belongs in the same assessment as everything else in the manufacturer vetting guide.

What KioskForce does on each point

Point	Our answer
Incoterms quoted	EXW, FOB or CIF; FOB Tianjin is the common case
Your own forwarder	Yes — we can load to a forwarder you appoint
Export documentation	Handled from our side, with customs clearance support
HS code	Given on request; we declare it on the export documents
Loading quantity	Calculated for your model and stated on the quotation
Crating	Export-grade wooden crates, film-wrapped, foam-padded, labelled by model and serial
Container loading	On site at the facility, direct from the warehouse floor
Duty rates and landed-cost totals	Not quoted — your customs broker’s determination
Parts shipments	Duty applies; order wear items with the machine

Customer Service FAQ — Incoterms, spare parts, voltage and certifications in short form.
How to vet a custom vending machine manufacturer — export history is one of the checks, and this page is how you test it.
Spare parts and after-sales support — what wears out, and why freight and duty dominate small parts orders.
Power and market compliance — the other set of destination-specific questions to settle at quotation.
Manufacturing facilities — testing, crating and on-site container loading.
Customization — how build lead times work, and what changes the crate size.
Contact us — send your destination port and model, and we will quote the term you want compared.