A number of standard conditions of sale have come to be used in International trade. The most popular are the International Commercial Terms or Incoterms, for short. These were decided by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). They are used both in writing and negotiating contracts. For example, a seller in Brazil might say they can sell you an amount of coffee FOB Santos for a particular price. As you can see in the table below, this means that for the stated price they will deliver the goods to the port of Santos, load them onto a ship and get permission for them to be exported, but you must pay for the shipping costs and get permission to import them into your country.

The table below gives a summary of the main features of the Incoterms.