Everything a shipment needs, from the selling side
The exporter writes most of the paperwork. The buyer's bank, their customs authority and their finance team all read documents you produced, and each of them is checking that your documents agree with each other. That is the whole job: one consignment, described identically everywhere it appears.
The document customs values the shipment from. Fill it in and every other document for the same consignment is already populated.
| Item # | Description | HS Code | Qty | Unit | Unit Price (USD) | Amount (USD) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
We hereby certify that this invoice is true and correct, that the goods described are of origin, and that the prices stated are the actual prices paid or payable.
Your entries are kept as you move between documents — the parties, ports, container and line items carry across.
A binding quotation in invoice form, issued before shipment so the buyer can open a letter of credit or arrange an import licence.
The primary customs valuation document: what was sold, to whom, on what terms, and for how much.
Full itemised packing list with HS codes, marks and numbers, package types and per-item dimensions.
Certifies where goods were produced. Usually stamped by a chamber of commerce and required to claim tariff treatment or satisfy a letter of credit.
The carrier's receipt for the goods, evidence of the contract of carriage, and a document of title the consignee must surrender to collect the cargo.
The agreement itself: goods, price, delivery terms, payment and the clauses both parties sign against.
The invoice and the packing list are read together
Customs uses the commercial invoice for value and the packing list for physical reality, and compares them. A shipment invoiced for 500 pieces and packed as 480 gets stopped regardless of which number is right, because the set no longer describes one consignment. The cheapest check in export documentation is reading those two side by side before they go out.
Origin is where it was made
Not where it shipped from, and not where your company is registered. Goods manufactured in Vietnam, warehoused in Singapore and shipped to Rotterdam are of Vietnamese origin. Getting that wrong on a certificate is not a clerical matter when a preferential duty rate was claimed on it — that is claiming relief you were not entitled to.
Quote the Incoterm or you have not quoted a price
The same goods EXW and CIF differ by freight, insurance and clearance. State the rule and the named place together on the quotation, carry it onto the invoice, and make sure it matches what the transport document says. Customs uses it to decide whether freight forms part of the value being declared.
Exporters
Issue the invoice, packing list and origin paperwork for a shipment in one sitting, without re-keying the consignee address four times.
Freight forwarders
Produce a clean set of documents for a client who sent you a spreadsheet, and hand back PDFs that a customs broker will accept.
Customs brokers
Rebuild a missing or unusable document from the particulars you already hold, without waiting on the shipper's software licence.
Judge it by the document, not the feature list.
The generator on this page is the product, prefilled and editable. Fill it in and download the finished PDF — then decide.
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