Packing list template: free in Excel, Word and PDF

What the template contains

• Header: the words “Packing list”, its number, the date and the number of the commercial invoice it goes with
• Shipper (exporter): name, address, tax ID or VAT number and exporter code (IEC, EORI…)
• Consignee (importer): name, address, tax ID or importer number
• Ten lines with package number, contents, quantity, net weight, gross weight and dimensions
• Shipment: total packages and weights, total volume, marks and numbers, transport document, ports or airports, country of origin
• Declaration with name, date and signature, and the company stamp

Packing list or commercial invoice?

The commercial invoice states what the goods are worth: customs uses it for duties and taxes. The packing list states how the goods are packed. UPS points out that a packing list does not replace a commercial invoice, because customs does not use it to assess duties. The two travel together, and their descriptions, quantities and weights must agree with each other and with the bill of lading or air waybill.

For goods sent free, such as samples, a proforma invoice takes the place of the commercial invoice: see proforma invoices for DHL, FedEx and UPS.

How to fill it in

1. Invoice number and date, so that the packing list and the commercial invoice can be matched.
2. One line per package, or per group of identical packages (“1–20”): number or marks, contents, quantity, net weight, gross weight and dimensions.
3. Net weight is the goods alone; gross weight adds the cartons, crates or pallet.
4. Totals: number of packages, net and gross weight, and volume. The Excel version adds up quantities and weights for you.
5. Volume: for each package, length × width × height in metres; 120 × 80 × 100 cm is 0.96 m³.
6. Marks and numbers exactly as printed or labelled on the packages; then the transport document, the ports or airports, and the country of origin.

Who reads the packing list

• The forwarder and the carrier, to book space and plan the loading by weight and volume.
• Customs, to find and inspect a given package and check quantities against the invoice.
• The buyer’s warehouse, to check the delivery package by package.
• The bank, under a letter of credit, when the credit lists it among the documents required.

Our export documents checklist shows where it fits among the other shipping documents.

With InvoiceProforma

InvoiceProforma does not produce packing lists: use this free template for them. It issues the documents around the shipment: the proforma invoice, the invoice, with HS codes and origin written in the line descriptions and the Incoterms rule in the note, and the delivery note. Keep the same descriptions and quantities on all of them.