Frequently asked questions
Questions about checking invoices and packing lists.
FlowDocs checks the commercial invoice against the packing list on order reference, consignee, packages and gross weight, and confirms the bill of lading or air waybill is in the shipment pack. These are the questions freight forwarders and customs brokers ask before they send a pack.
What FlowDocs checks.
What does FlowDocs check?
FlowDocs checks the commercial invoice against the packing list on four fields — order reference, consignee, packages and gross weight — and confirms that the commercial invoice, packing list and bill of lading or air waybill are all in the shipment pack.
Who is FlowDocs for?
Freight forwarders, NVOCCs, customs brokers and exporters who receive commercial invoices and packing lists from shippers and check them before filing or moving the shipment.
What does a result look like?
Every compared field comes back Match, Mismatch or Cannot compare, with the value read from each document and the page it was read from where available. A missing document is reported as missing.
What happens when a value cannot be read clearly?
The field comes back Cannot compare, with the reason — for example, a gross weight with no kilogram unit. FlowDocs does not guess, and it never reports a reading problem as a mismatch in your paperwork.
Does a person review the results?
Yes. Order reference and gross weight are critical fields, and every value FlowDocs reads for them is reviewed by a person before it is compared.
Do I need CargoWise or a TMS integration?
No. You upload the documents; FlowDocs needs no access to CargoWise, a TMS or an ERP, and writes nothing into them.
What it does not check yet.
Does FlowDocs compare the bill of lading?
Not yet. Today the bill of lading or air waybill is checked for presence in the shipment pack; its weights, packages, parties and container numbers are not compared.
Does it convert pounds or tonnes to kilograms?
Not yet. Gross weight is compared only when both documents state it in kilograms; any other unit returns Cannot compare instead of a converted guess.
Why can a weight like 5,640 kg return Cannot compare?
Because the comma could be a thousands separator or a decimal comma, so 5,640 could mean five thousand six hundred and forty or five point six four. FlowDocs does not guess between them. Written as 5,640.00 kg, 5640 kg or 5.640,00 kg, the same weight is read as 5,640 kilograms.
Does it check line items, invoice totals or HS codes?
No. It compares header fields between the commercial invoice and the packing list. It does not compare line items, check invoice arithmetic, classify goods or verify HS codes.
Can it check documents against a letter of credit?
Not yet. FlowDocs does not check documents against a letter of credit’s terms. You can join the waitlist on the letter-of-credit page.
Does FlowDocs check US Customs invoice requirements?
Not yet. FlowDocs compares the commercial invoice with the packing list. It does not check an invoice against what 19 CFR 141.86 requires for a US import, such as the country of origin and the purchase price of each item.
Can FlowDocs send the shipper a list of what to fix?
Not yet. Each mismatch is shown with the value from both documents, which you can pass to the shipper; FlowDocs does not write or send that message for you.
Pricing and the free check.
What counts as a shipment pack?
One shipment’s documents: its commercial invoice, its packing list and its bill of lading or air waybill. Plans are priced by the number of packs checked in a month.
How does the free check work?
Send 3 recent shipment packs. We run each one through FlowDocs, review every result by hand, and email you the report within 24 hours. It is free and needs no account.
How much does FlowDocs cost?
The 3-pack check is free. A 30-day done-for-you pilot is $300 for up to 200 packs, refunded if no real mismatch is caught. Starter is $99 a month for 100 packs and Team is $249 a month for 400; self-serve sign-up is not built yet, so access is set up on request.
Your documents and data.
Is my data safe?
Documents are stored in Frankfurt and processed on servers in Germany, are not used to train AI models, and stay until you delete them; deleted documents are purged after 60 days.
Is FlowDocs related to flowDOCS Software GmbH?
No. FlowDocs (flowdocs.dev) is an independent product for freight shipment documents.
Check 3 shipment packs free.
Send the commercial invoice, packing list and bill of lading or air waybill for 3 recent shipments. We review every result by hand and email you the report within 24 hours. No CargoWise, TMS or ERP access is required.
You can delete or paste over the names, values and routes first — FlowDocs still reads whatever is left. Use a tool that removes the text rather than a black box drawn on top: a drawn box hides it from you, not from a parser.