The advice everyone gives, and why it fails
Ask anyone how to buy freight and you will hear the same rule: get three quotes and take the lowest. It sounds like discipline. In practice it compares three documents that were not written to answer the same question.
A freight quote is not a price tag on a fixed product. It is a description of what the forwarder will do, for which cargo, between which two points, on which assumptions, with a number attached. Change any of those parts and the number changes with it. When two quotes differ by a third, the honest first question is not "who is cheaper?" but "what is each one actually promising?"
How a low number gets made
Most differences between quotes are honest differences of scope, not tricks. The trouble is that they are invisible on the page, where only the total is easy to compare. A lower total can come from any of these:
- A narrower scope. The quote ends at the port or airport, while another one includes handling at the destination, customs coordination and delivery to your door.
- Generous assumptions. Normal weight, normal dimensions, no waiting, no re-delivery. If the cargo turns out to be bulkier than assumed, the charge is recalculated later.
- Items that are "at cost" or "to be advised". The line exists, but without a number. The quote looks lower because part of the bill has not been written yet.
- A short validity window. The figure is real today and may not be next week, when your cargo is actually ready.
- A different charging basis. For air freight the charge follows the greater of actual and volumetric weight, so a light, bulky shipment is charged on its volume. A quote that quietly assumes the actual weight will look cheaper until the cargo is measured.
Normalize before you compare
The useful move is to rewrite every quote into the same shape before you look at a total. A table with one row for each step of the journey is enough. Fill each cell with what the quote says, and with a question mark where it says nothing.
| Step | Quote A | Quote B | What to ask |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pickup at origin | Included | ? | Is pickup in the price, and from which address? |
| Origin handling and documents | ? | Included | Which fees are charged before departure? |
| Main transport | Included | Included | On what chargeable weight or volume? |
| Destination handling | ? | ? | Who pays terminal and handling charges on arrival? |
| Customs clearance | Excluded | Included | Who prepares the declaration, and what are its fees? |
| Delivery to the final address | Excluded | Included | Where does the quote stop? |
| Validity | 7 days | 14 days | What happens to the figure after that? |
Every question mark is a cost that somebody will bill you for later, or a step that somebody assumes you will arrange yourself.
A worked example with invented numbers
Hypothetical example, invented for illustration. The units are arbitrary and no real rate is implied.
Quote A totals 100 units. Quote B totals 130. Written into the table above, A turns out to stop at the destination terminal: it leaves out destination handling (18 units), customs clearance (9 units) and delivery (22 units). Quote B already contains all three.
Put on the same scope, A comes to 100 + 18 + 9 + 22 = 149 units against 130 for B. The quote that looked 23% cheaper is about 15% more expensive once it covers the same journey. If A also assumed the actual weight and the cargo is later charged on volume, the gap widens further.
The number you are not comparing: what a day of delay costs
Even a perfectly normalized comparison leaves out the largest variable. Freight is not bought for its own sake. It is bought so that goods arrive when somebody needs them. A late shipment can mean a production line waiting for parts, a missed sales window, or a customer who buys elsewhere.
So ask a second question next to the price: what does one day of delay cost me? If the answer is "almost nothing", the lowest normalized quote is a sensible choice. If the answer is "a stopped line", paying more for a clearer scope, an earlier departure or a forwarder who explains the documents before they are needed is usually the cheaper decision.
Charges that start when cargo waits are part of the same arithmetic. Carriers publish their own rules for free time, demurrage and detention, and those rules depend on the location and the contract, so a delay at the destination can turn into a bill that was never in the quote.
Five questions that expose the gap
- Where exactly does this quote start and stop, and which steps are mine to arrange?
- On which weight, volume or container basis is the price calculated, and what happens if the real cargo differs?
- Which charges are not in this total, and how will each of them be billed?
- Until what date is the figure valid, and what moves it?
- If the cargo is delayed or changes, who pays for what, and where is that written?
A forwarder who answers these in writing before you book is telling you something useful about how the rest of the job will go.
When the cheapest quote is the right one
None of this means the lowest number is always wrong. For standard cargo, flexible timing and a buyer who is happy to handle the destination side, the cheapest like-for-like quote is often the right one. The point is narrower: an unexamined lowest quote is a bet that nothing was left out. Examining it takes an hour and a table.
It also helps to settle the allocation of responsibilities between buyer and seller before you ask for quotes. Incoterms® 2020, published by the International Chamber of Commerce, allocate costs, risks and obligations between the two parties of a sale, and they are the starting point for knowing which steps a quote has to cover at all.
Start from a brief, not from a target price
The most reliable way to receive comparable quotes is to send the same, complete request to everyone: the goods, the packing, weights and dimensions, the route, the ready date, the agreed trade term and the steps you want quoted. The checklists on our Insights page and the frequently asked questions list what to include. When you are ready, you can request a quote with the route and the cargo, and we will confirm the arrangement for that inquiry.
Limits of this article
This article explains how to compare quotes. It does not state any current rate, transit time or free-time allowance, and the example uses invented numbers. Carrier and airline conditions differ by location and contract, so rely on the written terms of the quote you receive.
Sources
- ICC, Incoterms® 2020 (accessed 2026-10-30)
- IATA, European Air Cargo Programme (EACP) Handbook, Edition 23, section on chargeable weight (accessed 2026-10-30)
- Maersk, Terms for Detention and Demurrage (one carrier’s terms, not universal) (accessed 2026-10-30)