Invoice
Or commercial invoice. The concept of “invoice” in foreign trade is completely different from domestic financial invoice. Foreign trade invoice is a document made and issued by the exporter himself, which is used to explain the name, quantity, unit price, total value, etc. of the goods in this invoice, as well as some other contents describing the goods. The format of the invoice is not limited, but it must include the above elements and be signed in full.
The invoice must indicate an invoice number (drawn up by yourself) and the time of issue. It can be made in several copies as needed, consisting of several originals and copies, and the words “ORIGINAL” and “COPY” should be indicated.
The end of the invoice usually has the words E.&.OE., which means “if there is any mistake, check”, that is, if there is any mistake or omission in this invoice, it is allowed to be changed.
Invoices are widely used and are used in procedures such as declaring commodity inspection, applying for certificates of origin, customs declaration, and collecting payment.
Proforma Invoice (PROFORMA INVOICE)
The style is similar to that of a commercial invoice. You can almost directly take the commercial invoice and change the title to “PROFORMAINVOICE”. The use of a proforma invoice is, first, similar to a unilateral contract, as a tool for quotation and confirmation of transactions. Customers in some countries prefer to use the form of a “confirmed proforma invoice” as a contract. Therefore, in addition to the same content as the commercial invoice, you can also add terms in the blank space in the form of “REMARK” as needed, such as delivery date, etc., to further implement the transaction. In addition, for those transactions that require import licenses or foreign exchange usage quotas, customers also need a proforma invoice for preliminary application.
When sending goods by international express, a proforma invoice is also required to be attached for the express company to use for unified customs declaration statistics.