Packing-list generator: questions and guides
Each guide here answers one question with a practical example, then takes you to the tool to try it yourself. Guides: 15.
Questions
- How to prepare a packing list for your shipmentWhat a packing list is, how it differs from an invoice, and how to prepare one as a PDF listing packages, weights and what each package holds.
- One product is spread over three cartons; how do I enter it on the packing list?Two honest ways to record an item split across cartons: one line per carton with its own quantity, or one line with a package range, and when to use each.
- Why does my packing list show several totals when I mix pieces, kilos and boxes?Pieces, kilos and boxes on one list make the grand total meaningless, so the tool also prints a total per unit. Here is which figure to read and which to ignore.
- Should the packing list weight be in kg or lb for a customer in the US?The kg or lb option on the packing list only changes the unit label; it does not convert the number. Match your shipping booking and convert before typing.
- I put an item in carton 4 of a 3-carton shipment; why didn't the tool warn me?Package numbers on the packing list are free text and are not compared with the package count, so a carton that does not exist raises no warning. Check it like this.
- How do I make a packing list for the stock I take to a bazaar or exhibition?Use a packing list as a stock-out and stock-back sheet for a pop-up: you are the shipper, your booth is the consignee, and what comes back shows what sold.
- How do I prepare a packing list for a 60-SKU wholesale order to a retailer?Up to 200 items per list, and long lists run over several pages with the table header repeated. Start each description with the buyer's SKU for faster receiving.
- My cartons are different sizes; how do I write the dimensions on the packing list?One free-text dimensions line, up to 120 characters, covers the whole shipment. A compact format for several sizes, and why each size needs its own volumetric weight.
- I ship fabric by the metre in amounts like 12.75 m; does the packing list add them up exactly?Type m as the unit and decimal quantities like 12.75; the tool sums them exactly to six decimal places, without the floating-point slips some spreadsheets show.
- Is a packing list the same thing as the packing slip my online store prints?A store's packing slip covers one customer order in one parcel; a packing list describes a whole shipment, its packages, weights and what each one holds.
- How can warehouse staff use the packing list to check a shipment and sign it off?A practical routine for checking a shipment line by line at dispatch and on arrival, using the 'Checked by' line printed at the bottom of the packing list.
- Why does my packing list give separate totals for 'pcs' and 'Pcs' when they are the same unit?Quantities are grouped by the unit text exactly as typed, so a capital letter or a different spelling splits one unit into two totals. How to spot it and fix it.
- Why doesn't the packing list work out the gross weight from the items?Gross weight is what the packed cartons weigh on a scale, boxes, padding and tape included, so the tool takes a figure you weighed instead of estimating one.
- How do I prepare a packing list to send defective goods back to the supplier?On a return you become the shipper and the supplier the consignee. Put the original PO number in the reference, the defect on each line, and keep a signed copy.
- When I ship an order from Riyadh to a customer in Dubai, who is the shipper and who is the consignee?The shipper sends the goods, the consignee receives them, and the courier is neither. How to fill in both party blocks on the packing list correctly.