Most aesthetic equipment sold in North America is manufactured elsewhere. That is not a problem in itself. What causes problems is buyers comparing an EXW price against a delivered price and concluding one supplier is cheaper.
The three terms you will see
EXW — Ex Works. The price of the machine standing in the factory. You arrange and pay for everything after that: export handling, freight, insurance, customs clearance, import duty, and delivery. Most factory price lists are EXW, and they are the lowest number you will see quoted anywhere.
FOB — Free On Board. The seller gets it onto the vessel or aircraft. You own everything after that, including duty.
DDP — Delivered Duty Paid. The seller carries it to your door with customs cleared and import duty prepaid. The quoted number is the number you pay.
An EXW price and a DDP price are not comparable, and the gap is not small.
What gets added to an EXW price
- International freight. For aesthetic equipment this is typically air, and it scales with the crate. Expect a few hundred dollars for a small HIFU unit and a few thousand for a large laser.
- Import duty, which depends on classification and origin. On goods from China this can be substantial and has moved repeatedly in recent years.
- Customs brokerage, a per-entry fee whether or not anything goes wrong.
- Domestic delivery from the port or airport to your practice, and whether the crate is left at the kerb or brought inside.
The last one surprises people. Freight delivered to a terminal for collection is not the same service as a crate uncrated in your treatment room.
Questions worth asking before you pay
- Is this price EXW, FOB or DDP? If the answer is not immediate, assume EXW.
- Is import duty included, or payable on arrival? Get this in writing. Duty invoiced after delivery is the single most common unpleasant surprise.
- Who clears customs, and who pays the broker?
- Is delivery to the kerb or into the room? A 40kg crate on a pallet is not a two-person lift up a flight of stairs.
- What is the transit time, and does it start from payment or dispatch?
- Who is the importer of record? This has regulatory consequences in the US for medical devices, not only commercial ones.
Wire transfer, and one warning
High-value equipment is usually paid by bank wire, because card fees on a $20,000 machine are a real cost. Wires are also irreversible.
Invoice fraud in this industry is common and specific: a convincing email arrives, apparently from your supplier, saying the bank details have changed. The money goes, and it does not come back.
The rule is simple and worth adopting whoever you buy from: never act on a change of bank details received by email. Telephone the supplier on a number you already had — not one in the email — and confirm verbally before sending anything.
Why we quote DDP
Every price on this site is delivered duty paid to an address in the United States or Canada, with customs and duty prepaid, uncrating on site, operator training and a 12-month warranty in the number. Not because it is generous, but because a quote you cannot compare is not a quote.