What Are Delivery Notes? A Clear Guide for Importers and Brand Managers

A delivery note is one of the most important documents in international shipping. When you’re importing promotional products from China or Vietnam, this simple document helps verify what was delivered, prevents misunderstandings with suppliers, and protects your orders against discrepancies.

Understanding how delivery notes work and what should be included strengthens your supply chain and ensures smoother coordination between factories, logistics partners, and your warehouse team.

What Are Delivery Notes?

A delivery note is a document that comes along with the shipped promotional merchandise to consumers. It is also known as a “dispatch note” or a “goods received note.” They contain certain information that allows the consumer, seller company and delivery company involved to be able to ensure the safety of the products from their origin to their end consumer.

Typically, delivery notes are printed but they can also be emailed beforehand so consumers will have an idea of what products they will expect to receive in advance.

Some companies have their delivery notes duplicated with a signature field at the bottom. One is a copy for the consumer while the other one is to be signed by the consumer and returned to the company as proof of delivery.

What Information Is Included in a Delivery Note?

A complete and accurate delivery note typically includes:

• Supplier name and address

• Buyer name and address

• Delivery note number

• Purchase order number

• Date of dispatch

• Product name or description

• Quantity ordered and quantity delivered

• Outstanding items or backorders

• Remarks about packaging or condition

• Signature of the receiver

These details help your operations team reconcile goods quickly and prevent inventory mistakes.

Why Delivery Notes Matter in Procurement and Global Sourcing

Delivery notes do more than list items. They support the entire supply chain:

1. Avoids disputes

If quantities differ from those in the purchase order, the delivery note serves as proof.

2. Improves communication

Warehouse and QC teams can quickly verify whether the shipment matches the promised specifications.

3. Supports customs and logistics flow

While not a customs document, delivery notes help freight forwarders reconcile physical goods with packing lists.

4. Strengthens documentation trails

This is essential for brands working with multiple SKUs, packaging layers, and partial shipments.

At ODM, our merchandisers use delivery notes to cross-check factory output during inspections and consolidation, ensuring clients receive exactly what they ordered.

Delivery Note vs. Packing List vs. Invoice

These documents are often confused, but each plays a different role:

• Delivery Note

Confirms the items delivered to the buyer. It focuses on quantities and serves as proof of receipt.

• Packing List

Provides detailed information on how the goods were packed, including net weight, gross weight, carton count, and dimensions. It is required for customs clearance.

Read more: Shipping Promotional Products

• Commercial Invoice

Acts as the financial record for the transaction. It outlines pricing, Incoterms, payment terms, and total cost.

By understanding the difference, importers can better interpret shipping documents and ensure all parts of the order are accounted for.

Here are some related reads you might want to have intensive knowledge in:

When your ordered promotional products are being shipped, they’re typically put in a container with all other packages. This can cause confusion and errors in deliveries. The answer to this problem relies in shipping marks, know more about them below:

If you’re interested to create promotional merchandise and are trying to find a manufacturer for them, here are some things you should know about contract manufacturing. As well as where you can find the best one for the promotional product on your mind.

Enlisting the help of another company to help in merchandise design can be quite as risky. An NDA helps outline the conditions in which information can be shared, thus securing your brand. Learn more about it here:

The risk of working with another company to manufacture your custom merchandise is the theft of your intellectual property. If you’re looking to work with a manufacturer, specifically in China, an NNN Agreement that’s equal to an NDA might be a document you’d wish to go over.

For a number of reasons but most specifically for transparency that could reinforce your company’s credibility, a document that you must request whenever you’re working with another company for manufacturing is a “certificate of origin.” Know more about it here:

Accordingly,

Having delivery notes on shipping your products is not a compulsory service but one that could arguably help your business connect more to your clients. It takes your service a step further to ensure your consumers will be satisfied, strengthening your brand in their perception to repeat their business with you.

The important thing to always remember is to keep your branding and service consistent across all possible outlets such as delivery notes so you’d remain on top of your consumers’ minds.

Harness Our Creativity!

The ODM Group is a promotional company with decades of experience in the industry. Our work spans from manufacturing promotional products, specialising in customisation with our creative team, Mindsparkz, providing packaging solutions, to designing branded merchandise and promotional giveaways. We also work with trusted merchandisers to ensure the quality of products.

You can harness this experience and creativity to work with your promotions! Contact us today!

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