Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🏆 Sports organization 📹 Video resolution 🚢 Shipping cost term 🏦 Customer file 🔬 Crystal data file
CIF

CIF

1 6.6
A shipping term that says the seller pays the cost, insurance, and freight to a named port
  • noun
  • /siː aɪ ɛf/
  • Formal
: CIF (coste, seguro y flete)
  • The contract specified delivery terms as CIF New York, so the seller covered shipping and insurance.

Examples

  • The invoice listed the price as CIF Rotterdam, meaning the buyer would not pay extra for freight.

  • When buying goods internationally, understanding CIF can help you know what costs are included.

  • The price includes CIF charges for delivery.

  • Many companies prefer CIF terms in their contracts.

  • The seller agreed to a CIF contract, ensuring that the cost of shipping and insurance was included in the total price.

  • When negotiating the purchase of machinery, they opted for terms that specified CIF to avoid unexpected shipping costs.

  • In international trade, understanding the implications of CIF pricing can help buyers calculate the total landed cost of their goods.

Surface Forms

CIF singular
CIFs plural

Morphology

CIF = cost + insurance + freight (opaque) = C + I + F

CIF as used in shipping (cost, insurance, and freight) is an initialism; the letters themselves do not allow learners to reconstruct the contractual meaning without knowing the expansion.

Etymology

CIF stands for cost, insurance, and freight, meaning the seller pays those costs to deliver goods to the named port. So, when a price is given as CIF, the buyer can expect shipping and insurance to be included.