Quote to Cash · step 8 of 11
Despatch and shipment
Picking, checking, packing, documenting and sending the goods — and capturing the proof of delivery that the invoice will later depend on.
Also called: Despatch · Shipping · Goods out · Delivery · Fulfilment
- Owned by
- Despatch Coordinator
- Also involved
- Production Planner, Inside Sales / Sales Coordinator
- Measured by
- On-Time Delivery (OTD)
What it is
Despatch is the physical handover: the finished goods leave your control and become the customer's problem, or the carrier's, depending on the delivery terms. It is a short step and an unglamorous one, and it generates the two documents the rest of the chain leans on — the packing slip that travels with the goods, and the proof of delivery that comes back.
It is also the last inspection. Whatever leaves here is what the customer will judge you on, and any mismatch between what was ordered and what is in the box will be discovered by someone with no context and no incentive to be forgiving.
The commercially important part is not the loading. It is the paperwork: the right quantity recorded, the right references quoted, the certification attached, and the signature captured.
Why companies do it
Because invoicing without evidence does not get paid. A dispute over whether goods arrived, how many arrived, or whether they arrived on time is settled by whatever despatch recorded — the packing slip, the signed delivery note, the carrier's tracking record. Companies that treat despatch as a loading dock rather than a control point discover this during their first serious payment dispute, and again during every one after it.
Inputs and outputs
What has to be there first
- Completed and inspected goods — Planning and making it
- The sales order with quantities, addresses and special requirements — Order entry
- Delivery terms and who arranges transport — Reviewing and issuing the quotation
- Certification and test records where required — Certificate of Conformity (CoC)
- Customer delivery instructions — Customer logistics
Booking-in windows, labelling, pallet standards, bay numbers.
- Credit release — Credit Controller
An account on stop stops here, not at the invoice.
What it produces
- The despatched consignment — Customer goods-in
- A packing slip travelling with the goods — Packing Slip / Delivery Note
- A despatch confirmation and quantity — Raising the invoice
- Proof of delivery — Accounts receivable and collection
The evidence that settles a payment dispute.
- The delivery date actually achieved — On-Time Delivery (OTD)
How it is done
01Pick against the order, then check against it independently
Pick from the order, and have the count verified by someone or something other than the person who picked. Short shipments and over-shipments are both expensive, and the second one is worse because nobody reports it.
02Confirm the special requirements before packing
Certification, batch traceability, labelling format, pallet type, heat treatment marks on wood, barcode standards, delivery booking. These were agreed weeks earlier and are on the order line. Checking them here is cheap; discovering them at the customer's gate is not.
03Pack for the journey, not for the shelf
Packaging is protection, not presentation, and damage in transit is normally your problem even when the carrier is at fault, because the customer will not pay for a damaged part regardless of who is liable. Where packaging was quoted as a cost line, use what was quoted.
04Raise the packing slip with every reference the customer needs
Their purchase order number, their part number, your delivery note number, quantity, and any batch or serial numbers. Their goods-in department will search on their references, not yours, and an unmatchable delivery sits in a corner of their warehouse until someone asks.
05Record the quantity actually despatched
Not the quantity ordered. If 388 of 400 are going, the despatch record says 388 and the order stays open for 12. The invoice is raised from this number, and a partial shipment invoiced in full is a dispute you have created yourself.
06Hand over on the correct delivery terms
Ex-works means the customer collects and risk passes at your gate. Delivered means you arrange, you pay, and risk stays with you until it arrives. These decide who insures the goods, who clears customs, and who bears the loss if the lorry is stolen — and they were agreed at quotation.
07Capture the proof of delivery and file it against the order
A signed delivery note, a carrier tracking confirmation, a portal receipt. It should be attached to the order so that anyone chasing payment three months later can find it in seconds rather than asking despatch to search a folder.
08Tell the order system, and tell sales
Close or part-close the order line, release the despatch to invoicing, and let whoever owns the customer relationship know it has gone. Goods that shipped but were never booked out remain visible as unfulfilled demand and get made twice.
What needs approval
Approvals only work when they happen before the commitment. Retrospective approval is a manager being told what has already been promised.
| Trigger | Approver |
|---|---|
| Account on credit holdThe last point at which withholding delivery is possible. | Credit control |
| Part shipment against a full order lineSome customers reject partial deliveries outright or charge for the extra handling. | Sales |
| Goods shipped under concession | Quality and the customer, in writing |
| Premium freight to recover a late deliveryIt is a cost against the margin on that order and should be recorded there. | Operations or sales |
| Export consignmentCommodity codes, licences, origin statements and customs paperwork. | Whoever owns export compliance |
The delivery that arrived and still was not paid
A worked example with real numbers.
388 brackets ship on day 30, ahead of the reruns for the remaining 12. The lorry arrives, the goods are unloaded, and the customer's warehouse signs an illegible squiggle on the driver's sheet, which the carrier keeps.
Despatch closes the order line as complete because the works order was for 400 and 400 were eventually made. The invoice is raised for 400 at £18.95 — £7,580.
The customer's goods receipt shows 388. Their three-way match compares purchase order 400, receipt 388 and invoice 400, and fails. The invoice goes into an exceptions queue. Nobody at the customer contacts the supplier because the process does not require them to.
Sixty-one days later, credit control calls. The customer asks for proof of delivery for the full 400. There is none, because 12 had not shipped. The invoice is credited in full and reissued as two invoices — 388 on the original date and 12 on the later date. Payment terms restart from the reissue date, so the money arrives 94 days after the first delivery rather than 30.
The parts were made correctly, delivered undamaged, and accepted without complaint. The entire delay came from one field in the despatch record.
| Ordered | Delivered | Invoiced | Match? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer purchase order | 400 | — | — | — |
| Customer goods receipt | — | 388 | — | — |
| Supplier despatch record | — | 400 | — | Wrong |
| Supplier invoice | — | — | 400 | Fails match |
| Corrected: two despatches | 400 | 388 + 12 | 388 + 12 | Matches |
The point
Despatch quantity is not an administrative detail — it is the number three separate systems reconcile against. Recording 400 when 388 went cost 64 days of cash on a £7,580 invoice, and every one of those days was invisible until someone chased.
Common mistakes
MistakeInvoicing the ordered quantity when a shorter quantity shipped
Why it happens: The invoice is generated from the order rather than from the despatch. It looks correct in your system and wrong in theirs.
What to do instead: Invoice from the despatch record only. If the goods have not physically gone, they cannot be on an invoice.
MistakeMissing the certification
Why it happens: The requirement was agreed during negotiation and lives in an email. Despatch has never seen it, and the parts are perfect.
What to do instead: Certification requirements belong on the order line as a flag that blocks despatch, not in anyone's memory. A rejected delivery costs the freight both ways plus the delay.
MistakeNo proof of delivery
Why it happens: The driver left, nobody signed, and the carrier's record is a tracking number that expires from their system after ninety days.
What to do instead: Capture and file the POD as part of closing the despatch. Download carrier confirmations rather than relying on their portal still holding them when the dispute arrives.
MistakeShipping without checking the delivery booking
Why it happens: Larger customers require a booked slot at goods-in. A lorry arriving unbooked is turned away, and the delivery is recorded as late.
What to do instead: Delivery instructions belong on the order and are checked at pick, not at the gate. The booking is often needed several days ahead.
MistakeOver-shipping and saying nothing
Why it happens: Twenty extra parts were made to cover yield loss and it seems generous to send them. The customer's system receipts 400 against a 400 order, and the extra 20 disappear — unpaid, and untraceable.
What to do instead: Ship the ordered quantity. If the customer will take the overrun, get it added to the order first so it can be invoiced.
MistakeGetting the delivery terms wrong
Why it happens: The quote said ex-works, the customer expected delivered, and nobody reconciled it. The freight cost is argued about after the goods have already moved.
What to do instead: The delivery term travels from the quotation to the order to the packing slip. If those three disagree, resolve it before the consignment leaves.
Where the work happens
- ERP despatch module
- Warehouse or stock system
- Carrier booking portals
- Customer delivery booking systems
- Label and barcode printing
Terminology
- Packing slip
- The document travelling with the goods listing what is in the consignment. Also called a delivery note or despatch note.
- Proof of delivery
- Evidence the goods arrived — a signed note, a carrier confirmation, a portal receipt. The thing a payment dispute turns on.
- Incoterms
- Standard trade terms defining who arranges transport, who pays, and where risk passes. EXW, FCA, CIP, DAP and DDP are the common ones.
- Ex-works (EXW)
- The buyer collects from your premises and carries all cost and risk from that point. The lowest obligation on the seller.
- Delivered (DAP/DDP)
- You arrange and pay for delivery, and risk stays with you until arrival. DDP also puts import duty and clearance on you.
- Part shipment
- Delivering less than the ordered quantity, leaving the order line open for the balance.
- Consignment note
- The carrier's contract document for the journey, distinct from your packing slip.
- Goods-in
- The customer's receiving function. Its records, not yours, determine what they believe arrived.
Common questions
›What is the difference between a packing slip and an invoice?
A packing slip lists what is physically in the consignment and normally carries no prices. An invoice is the demand for payment. They are separated deliberately, so that warehouse staff handling the goods do not see commercial terms, and so the customer can check the delivery independently of the money.
›Why does proof of delivery matter so much?
Because it is the only evidence you have when a customer says the goods never arrived, or arrived short, or arrived late. Without it the dispute is your word against their receiving records, and their records will win. It is also what stops the payment clock being reset by a query raised months later.
›When does ownership of the goods pass to the customer?
Risk passes according to the delivery term — at your gate for ex-works, on arrival for delivered. Legal title is separate and is usually governed by a retention of title clause in your conditions of sale, which typically keeps ownership with you until the invoice is paid. The two often pass at different moments, which surprises people during insolvencies.
›Should you ship a partial quantity or wait for the full order?
It depends on the customer and the contract. Some run lines that need the parts now and welcome a partial delivery; others reject partial shipments or charge for the extra receiving. It is a question to answer at order entry, not at the loading bay.
›Who is responsible if goods are damaged in transit?
Formally, whoever holds the risk under the delivery term, with a claim available against the carrier. Practically, the customer will not pay for damaged parts and expects a replacement regardless, so the commercial cost usually sits with the supplier whatever the paperwork says. Packaging for the journey is cheaper than being right about liability.
›What should trigger the invoice?
The despatch record, not the order and not the completion of production. Invoicing before the goods have physically gone creates a mismatch with the customer's goods receipt, and that mismatch is the most common reason a correct invoice is not paid on time.
Tools for this
Downloadable, self-contained, and yours to keep — they run in a browser with no account and no data leaving your machine.
- Dispatch List & Shipping LogProRun outbound dispatch from one list — pick, pack and ship against promised dates, measure your OTIF rate honestly, catch missing paperwork before the van leaves, and print a shipping log worth showing a customer. Nothing is uploaded.
- Delivery & Goods-In LogFreeLog every delivery as it arrives, compare what turned up against what was promised and ordered, and measure on-time, in-full and on-time-in-full by supplier with the discrepancies still open. Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
- Batch & Lot Traceability LogFreeLink incoming material batches to the batches you make and the customers you send them to, so a recall can be scoped in minutes instead of days. Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
- Stock Inventory RegisterFreeA stock register for a small warehouse, workshop or stores: value every line at the unit cost you enter, see what has fallen to its reorder point, prioritise the next stock-take and print the reorder report. Nothing is uploaded.
Reviewed 2026-08-15. Nothing here is legal, tax or accounting advice — contractual and tax practice varies by jurisdiction.