The buyer's side of the paperwork
Importers write fewer documents than exporters and carry more of the legal exposure. The customs entry is filed in your name, the duty is yours, and a supplier's error on a document you never saw becomes your penalty. The documents here are the ones where a buyer sets the terms rather than receiving them.
Your offer to buy, on your terms — and the number every later document should quote back to you.
| Item # | Description | HS Code | Qty | Unit | Unit Price (USD) | Amount (USD) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Your entries are kept as you move between documents — the parties, ports, container and line items carry across.
Invites a supplier to price a specified list of goods against stated delivery terms and a response deadline.
The buyer's formal instruction to supply goods on stated terms, prices and delivery dates.
The agreement itself: goods, price, delivery terms, payment and the clauses both parties sign against.
The ten data elements a US importer must file with CBP at least 24 hours before cargo is laden aboard a vessel bound for the United States.
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.
Set the terms before the goods move
A purchase order is your offer, and it becomes the contract when the supplier accepts it. Whatever is printed on it generally governs the sale — which is an advantage if you use it, and a liability if you send a bare order and inherit the supplier's terms instead. State the Incoterm with its named place, the payment terms and the delivery date.
Errors on the supplier's documents become yours
Customs holds a shipment on the paperwork it receives, and the importer of record answers for the entry. A supplier who describes goods vaguely, understates a weight or names the wrong country of origin creates a problem that lands on you at destination. Reviewing the invoice and packing list before shipment is cheaper than clearing after it.
Deadlines that sit at origin
The importer security filing for US-bound ocean cargo is due 24 hours before the container is loaded at the foreign port — not before it arrives. That means gathering ten data elements while the goods are still being packed on the other side of the world, which only happens if you asked for them in the purchase order.
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.
Browse all 33 documents