How to check a packing list against a commercial invoice
The short answer
Lay the two documents side by side and check six things in order: that they belong to the same shipment, the parties, each line of goods, the packages and their marks, the weights, and the totals. Write down every difference with both values and send the list to the shipper before you file.
Last checked By Muhammad Saadullah Khan, Founder
Before you start
You need the shipment’s commercial invoice, its packing list and its transport document, the bill of lading or air waybill. The first two describe the same goods from two sides. HMRC’s guidance for exporters describes the invoice as covering “the seller and buyer, detailed descriptions of the goods, their quantities and values, and the terms of sale”, and the packing list as “the contents of each package or container within the shipment”.
Work from the documents as printed. If you copy values into a spreadsheet, check what you typed against the page before you trust it. Note the page each value comes from: when you write to the shipper, you will want to point to it.
The six steps
- Confirm it is one shipment. Find a reference that appears on both documents, such as the purchase order or the invoice number, and check it is the same. Check the transport document is in the pack too. If the references differ, stop: you may be comparing two shipments.
- Check the parties. The seller and the consignee should have the same names on both documents. Ignore capital letters, extra spaces and the layout of the address. A different word in a name is a question for the shipper.
- Check each line of goods. Go down the invoice line by line and find each item on the packing list. The description should be the same, and so should the quantity, wherever the packing list gives one. A line on one document and not the other is a difference.
- Count the packages. For each line, compare the number of cartons, pallets or other packages. Then check the marks: a range such as NS/01-64 covers 64 packages, and the ranges should cover the count printed beside them. 19 CFR 141.86 asks a US invoice for “the marks and numbers of the packages in which the merchandise is packed”.
- Compare the weights. Put both in one unit first. Kilograms and pounds convert exactly; “tons” does not, because it has three meanings. Compare gross with gross and net with net, never one with the other.
- Check the totals, then write it down. Add each document’s lines and check the sum against its own total row before you compare the two totals. Then list every difference with both values, the line and the page, and send the list to the shipper in one message.
The order matters. Steps 1 and 2 tell you whether the comparison means anything. Step 3 before step 4 means a package difference is already traced to its line when you find it. And step 6 catches the case a total hides: two lines that are wrong in opposite directions add up to a total that looks right. Each item in the list business.gov.uk gives for export invoices that also appears on the packing list is a field to compare; which fields must match goes through them one by one.
The sample pack, worked through
Sample pack SHP-10482 uses invented values: Harbor Textile Mills in Karachi sells cotton towels and bath mats to Northstar Retail in Rotterdam, FOB, on commercial invoice HTM-2291.
| Step | Commercial invoice | Packing list | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. One shipment | Order PO-10482 | Order PO-10482 | Same order. No bill of lading or air waybill in the pack: ask for it. |
| 2. Parties | Northstar Retail | Northstar Retail | Consignee agrees |
| 3. Lines of goods | Cotton towels; Bath mats | Cotton towels; Bath mats | The same 2 lines, described the same way |
| 4. Packages: cotton towels | 64 cartons | 64 cartons, NS/01-64 | Agrees |
| 4. Packages: bath mats | 64 cartons | 62 cartons, NS/65-126 | Differs by 2; the marks cover 62 |
| 5. Gross weight | 2,810 + 2,830 = 5,640.00 kg | 2.81 + 2.83 = 5.64 tons | Can’t compare yet: 5.64 tons is 5,117 kg, 5,640 kg or 5,731 kg |
| 6. Totals | 128 cartons, 5,640.00 kg | 126 cartons, 5.64 tons | Each total equals its own lines; the cartons differ by the bath mats line |
Three things go to the shipper: the bath mats line (64 cartons invoiced, 62 packed, marks NS/65-126); the gross weight in kilograms, because 5.64 tons could be any of three weights; and the missing bill of lading or air waybill. Only one reading of the tons, 5,640 kg, agrees with the invoice’s 5,640.00 kg, and that is exactly why you ask rather than assume. What to send back has a message you can adapt.
Common mistakes
- Comparing totals only. Two wrong lines can cancel out. Compare line by line first.
- Trusting the total row. A total is a typed number like any other. Add the lines yourself.
- Converting “tons” by assumption. If the shipper meant short tons and you read metric, you have made the documents agree on paper and nowhere else. See short, metric and long tons.
- Comparing gross weight with net. Net weight leaves the packaging out, so it is lower by design. Compare like with like.
- Correcting a document yourself. The shipper issued it, and only the shipper knows which value is true. Ask for a corrected document.
Checking this automatically
FlowDocs does parts of steps 1, 2, 4 and 5 for you. It confirms the commercial invoice, packing list and bill of lading or air waybill are in the pack, compares the order reference and the consignee, ignoring case and extra spaces, compares the total number of packages, and compares gross weight (kilograms only, within 5 kg). Every order reference and gross weight FlowDocs reads is reviewed by a person before it is compared.
Steps 3 and 6 stay with you: 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. The commercial invoice and packing list checker lists every rule FlowDocs applies.