Buyer's guide

Buying aircraft parts from a US supplier when you are not in the US: the EXW buying sequence, step by step

By the MG AVIATION TECH team · Published · 9 min read

You found the part number at a US seller. The quote says EXW, the ships-from country is a guess, and nobody has said who files the export paperwork or what your own customs office will want when the box lands. This guide walks the purchase in order, from the RFQ to your dock, for a buyer in Brazil, Canada, the UAE, Germany, Poland, Ireland, Bangladesh, Malaysia or anywhere else outside the United States.

The order of operations

Eight things happen, in roughly this order, between a US quote and a part on your shelf. Use this as the checklist; each step is covered in more detail below.

  1. State destination and end use up front. Put your country, the aircraft or stock the part is for, and the end use in the RFQ itself, not in a follow-up email.
  2. Read the Incoterm on the quote. Most US aircraft parts quotes say EXW, or say nothing at all; find out where "Ex Works" actually is.
  3. Line up a US forwarder before you order. Under EXW, you collect the goods — someone in the US has to do that on your behalf.
  4. Find out who files the EEI in AES. The Incoterm does not decide this; the export regulations do.
  5. Answer the seller's screening questions. Expect to be asked about the end user and end use before the part ships.
  6. Pay through a channel you verified yourself, not the bank details in the latest email.
  7. Collect the papers before the part leaves the US. Commercial invoice, packing list, the part's own release, and its trace.
  8. Clear the part at home. Your own country has its own duty rules and its own import paperwork.

Put the destination and end use in the RFQ, not in a follow-up

A US seller will want to know your country and what the part is for — it is the same information it will ask for again once it screens the order. Name the destination country, the aircraft type, operator or stock the part is going into, and the end use, in one sentence, on the RFQ itself. That sentence saves an email round-trip later, and it is the starting point for the screening questions covered further down this page.

Reading EXW on the quote

Under Incoterms® 2020, EXW (Ex Works) means the seller's job ends once the part is ready at a named place — usually its own premises — and everything after that, including loading, transport, export clearance and import, is the buyer's. The International Chamber of Commerce, which publishes the Incoterms rules, is explicit that under EXW "the buyer has the obligation to handle any export clearance process," and that traders are "strongly encouraged to consider using FCA instead of EXW where the goods are crossing a border," since under EXW "any export responsibilities are for the buyer." Where an aircraft parts quote names a term at all, EXW is by far the most common one, so plan for it rather than around it.

From our quote data

In supplier quotes we received between mid-June and late September 2026 (about 126,000 quote lines, 15,900 part numbers), 83.4% of lines named no shipping term at all. Of the lines that did, 66.3% were EXW in some form, 27.5% FOB, and 3.2% FCA. The ships-from country was blank on 61.1% of lines; where a supplier did state it, 62.4% was the United States — so the quote itself often does not tell you where a part actually sits.

Two things to check before taking EXW at face value: the named place (a city is not a delivery point; ask for the street address) and the ships-from country, since a US seller's line may already be somewhere else. The differences between EXW, FCA and FOB, and what to ask so two quotes land at the same point, are in our Incoterms guide for aircraft parts.

Choosing a US forwarder, and what to give them

EXW puts collection on you, so line up a US-based forwarder before you place the order, not after the seller asks who is picking the part up. Give the forwarder the seller's exact address and the ready date, plus enough of the transaction to prepare the export filing. BIS's own guidance for freight forwarders lists what the exporter should give its forwarder: a power of attorney or other written authorization to file the EEI, clear and complete transaction information in writing — including the Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) or EAR99 designation and the license authorization for every item — and a Shipper's Letter of Instructions (SLI). It expects the forwarder to question and resolve any discrepancy between the commercial invoice and those instructions, and it recommends regular communication between exporter and forwarder.

Give the forwarderWhy
Seller's exact address and the date the part is readyThey collect it — EXW does not include pickup or loading.
Written authorization, if you want them to file the EEIMakes it a routed export transaction; without it, filing is the seller's decision.
Schedule B or HTS number, and ECCN or EAR99, per lineRequired on the EEI; the seller should supply it on request.
Value and currency per lineDecides whether the $2,500-per-Schedule-B exemption can even apply.
Your end use and destinationBoth the forwarder and the seller need it, for the filing and for screening.
A dangerous-goods flag, if any line is oneChanges the packing, the paperwork and sometimes the routing.

Buying several lines from more than one US seller at once? Ask the forwarder about a single consolidation point instead of a separate pickup and filing for each order: see consolidating a long parts list into one shipment. And flag anything that is dangerous goods — batteries, oxygen, sealants, a used fuel pump — before you order; it needs its own packing, paperwork, and sometimes its own routing, covered in dangerous goods in an aircraft parts order.

Who files the EEI in AES — EXW does not decide it

When a part leaves the United States, the export has to be reported as Electronic Export Information (EEI) through the Automated Export System (AES), under the Foreign Trade Regulations at 15 CFR part 30. The regulation is explicit that the delivery term has nothing to do with who does that: "International commercial terms, terms of sale, and industry or other agreements do not determine the type of or parties to the export transaction, as they have no regulatory basis." An EXW quote does not, by itself, make you the exporter.

The same part defines the two roles: the US principal party in interest (USPPI) is "the person in the United States that receives the primary benefit... from the transaction" — normally the seller; the foreign principal party in interest (FPPI) is you, the buyer abroad.

  • Standard export transaction: the USPPI files the EEI itself, or authorizes a US agent to. Under an EXW sale this is the seller's call unless you arrange otherwise.
  • Routed export transaction: you, the FPPI, give a US agent — typically your forwarder — written authorization to file. That written authorization is what makes it "routed," not the word EXW on the quote. The seller stays in the picture: it remains the USPPI and must give your agent complete, accurate and timely export information for the filing.

Low-value lines are often exempt from filing: under 15 CFR 30.37(a), no EEI is required when the goods classified under one Schedule B or HTSUSA number, shipped from one USPPI to one ultimate consignee on a single exporting conveyance, are worth $2,500 or less. The test applies per Schedule B number, not per shipment total — and several lines under the same Schedule B number are added together. That exemption drops away, and EEI is filed regardless of value, for the cases listed in 15 CFR 30.2(a)(1)(iv), among them: the export requires a BIS license or must be reported under the EAR's own filing rule, 15 CFR 758.1(b); a State Department (DDTC) license is required; the item is subject to the ITAR even when it is exempt from a license; or another federal agency's export license is required. The 758.1(b) rule alone catches, for example, "600 series" items listed in paragraphs .a through .x of their ECCN, anything going to a Country Group E:1 or E:2 country, and any item on the Commerce Control List — a 9A991 part included — going to China (Hong Kong included), Russia or Venezuela, whatever the value. So for anything defense-related, anything on the Commerce Control List bound for one of those destinations, or anything the seller hesitates to classify, ask before assuming the $2,500 line covers you. How a part gets classified in the first place — EAR99, 9A991, the 600 series, ITAR — is in our export control guide for aircraft parts buyers.

The screening questions to expect

Before or with the quote, expect a US seller to ask what the part is for, who the end user is, and whether it will move on to another country. Under BIS's "Know Your Customer" guidance, absent "red flags" there is "no affirmative duty upon exporters to inquire, verify, or otherwise 'go behind' the customer's representations"; when red flags appear — a freight forwarder listed as the product's final destination, a buyer reluctant to say what the part is for, a shipping route abnormal for the product and destination — the seller has "a duty to check out the suspicious circumstances," and if concerns remain after asking, the guidance says to refrain from the transaction or take it to BIS. Answering in one clear statement on the RFQ or PO, rather than after the seller asks twice, is usually the fastest way through.

One distinction worth knowing: the "ultimate consignee" is the party abroad that actually receives the part — under 15 CFR 748.5 that is, by definition, "not a forwarding agent or other intermediary" — while your forwarder is an intermediate consignee. Naming your forwarder as the final destination is on BIS's own list of red flags. The classification questions behind all this, and the red flags a legitimate buyer can answer before being asked, are covered in full in our export control guide.

Paying the seller

By the time you are ready to pay, you have usually only "met" the seller by email, sometimes under AOG pressure. Changed bank details sent by email, a lookalike domain, and pressure to wire before you can verify anything are the ways buyers get caught most often. Our guide to paying an overseas aircraft parts supplier safely covers verifying bank details through a second channel, checking the payee against sanctions lists, and what to do in the first hours after a wire goes to the wrong account.

The papers to expect before the part leaves

Four documents should travel with, or ahead of, the shipment.

  • Commercial invoice. For entry into the US or your own country, an invoice needs real content: under 19 CFR 141.86, a US import invoice must show who sold to whom, when and where, a detailed description of the merchandise, quantities, the purchase price of each item and its currency, itemized charges such as freight and packing, and the country of origin, among other items. Ask the seller for that level of detail even when the US is not the country of entry, and check what your own customs office requires.
  • Packing list matching the invoice, package by package — with dimensions and weight if you are booking the freight yourself.
  • The part's own release — an FAA Form 8130-3, an EASA Form 1, a dual release, or a Certificate of Conformance, depending on what the part is and what your operation needs. Which one to ask for is in FAA 8130-3 vs EASA Form 1 vs dual release.
  • Trace — the documented chain of custody behind the release, back toward the OEM or an earlier operator. A release without trace is common and not always a problem, but ask before assuming it is there; see aircraft parts traceability.
From our quote data

In the same data, an FAA 8130-3 was named on 16.7% of quote lines, an EASA Form 1 on 11.9%, both together on 5.7%, and a Certificate of Conformance on 18.5%; trace was stated on 43.7% of lines. Just under half the lines, 46.5%, named no certificate at all.

A blank field on a quote is a question, not an answer — ask for the certificate and the trace you need before you compare prices, not after you place the order.

Clearing it at home

Your side of the border has its own paperwork and its own duty treatment, and the Incoterm on the US quote decides none of it. The WTO Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft, a plurilateral agreement binding only the WTO members that signed it, eliminates import duties on civil aircraft parts and components; the US, the EU and the UK each give that relief in their own form, under their own conditions, and only when someone claims it with the right proof. If your country has not signed the Agreement, its own tariff decides. What the relief covers, what it does not, and what changed with the US tariffs of 2025–2026, is in our guide to aircraft parts import duty.

Send the RFQ with the destination already on it

Send your RFQ to [email protected] in the file you already have — Excel, PDF, a scan or the email body, five lines or five hundred — with your destination country and the end use in the same message. Your inquiry will be reviewed by a specialist within one business day. Our prices are Ex Works our warehouse in Orlando, FL. In our client portal, each line shows the country it ships from where the supplier states it, and the cost of bringing that line to Orlando is shown separately, per line — so you know what you are pricing before you ever call a forwarder.

Send your RFQ →

Our client portal, RFQ Radar, keeps every quote, order and invoice in one place — useful once you are juggling a forwarder, an EEI filing and a customs entry on top of the purchase itself.

Aircraft on ground? See our 24/7 AOG desk.

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