Decorative Pebble Shipping and Quotation Guide

Product and grade, size band, packing, quantity, Incoterm, destination and validity. If any of these is missing, the price you receive is not comparable with another supplier's.

FOB prices the goods loaded at the origin port and leaves freight and insurance to you. CIF includes sea freight and insurance to your nominated port. Neither is inherently cheaper — it depends on your freight arrangements.

Because stone is dense, containers reach their weight limit long before they are physically full. Permitted payload varies by route and by destination road regulations, which is why quantity is confirmed against your destination.

With this, a quotation can usually be prepared in one exchange.

• — Products and size bands
• — Quantity per line, in tonnes
• — Packing format
• — Destination port or city
• — Preferred Incoterm

Stone and freight pricing can move, so quotations typically carry a validity window. Confirm it explicitly rather than assuming a price quoted weeks ago still stands when you are ready to order.

If your quantity does not fill a container, ask about consolidation with other cargo. It can make smaller orders commercially viable, though it usually adds some lead time compared with a dedicated full container.

Gather these before contacting a supplier to avoid a slow back-and-forth.

• — Product, colour and size band for each line
• — Quantity per line, in tonnes
• — Preferred packing format
• — Destination port or city
• — Preferred Incoterm and any target delivery window

If one quotation is FOB and another is CIF, they cannot be compared directly on the headline price alone. Convert both to a landed cost by adding your own estimated freight and insurance to the FOB figure, then compare that total against the CIF price for the same product, size band, packing and destination. Comparing headline prices with different Incoterms is one of the most common ways buyers misjudge which quotation is actually cheaper.