Creating a Packing List For Your Packages
I recommend, using a Packing Invoice Slip. This would include the customers name and address.
You want this information so that if the package gets damaged during shipping, the name and address are still available to the shipper to allow them to know where to ship it. It's rare, but shipping labels, packing envelopes and boxes can lose the label. You Want to make sure your package doesn't end up lost in the shippers undeliverable pile.
You also want to detail what is included in the package, this is for the customer and the shipper.
The customer can cross check what is in the box against the list of items that are supposed to be in the box. You would also use this to make notations for packages that are split into separate shipments. For the Shipper side, having the contents listed, allows the shipper to know what is supposed to be in the package in the event the package is damaged during shipping.
I like to have a web address, especially now that they are so cheap.
I have the web address redirect to the marketplace I am selling on. If its eBay, then I have a web address that is easy to remember and includes my store name. I redirect the web address so that it brings the shopper to my eBay store - Mercari store, Etsy store or any other marketplace I want to bring them.
Having a web address has another advantage for resellers who only sell online. We often find ourselves facing policy changes or fee increases we are not in agreement with. eBay and Amazon change their policies all the time. So instead of giving out a direct eBay link to my store or products for sale, I only give out my privately owned web address. If at some time in the future I tire of selling on a marketplace, then I can redirect my personal private web address to a different marketplace I am selling on instead of taking my customer back to a marketplace I no longer sell on. I do not want those previous customers to be redirected to other sellers who sell similar products, on a marketplace I no longer sell on..
Other things I recommend you put on your packing slip - invoice.
I use the original selling title of the product, the product id number created by the marketplace, and details describing the product. If I sold a broken 16 Gig Iphone as Parts-Only - then that is what I put on the packing slip-invoice. That helps the customer remember that they bought a broken parts-only iPhone and not a working iPhone. This is especially helpful in this generation of customers who will purchase solely based on the product title without reading the description text. Equally important on eBay who hide the description on it's eBay's app and even some website views that now require clicking a somewhat non-obvious link to see all of the details.
Having the price paid, who paid shipping are also helpful.
I personally make two copies of the packing slip-invoice. One for going into the customers package and one for my records. On my copy I make notations that include the fees I paid to the marketplace, the shipping costs, I have an internal handling/processing fee that I charge against the profit that the customer never sees and does not pay - this internal fee comes off the profit or in some cases loss of profit. Its to help cover my time to take the package to the post office to get an acceptance scan, which eBay requires - but I do it for all marketplaces I sell on. I charge about $1.25 per package. If I have to use alternative transportation like my mountain bike or motorcycle, train or bus to get the package to the shipper then I charge more. $1.25 is what I charge when I use my car. $2.25 is what I charge when I use a bicycle. Etc. Since we as online independent sellers do not generally take a salary on our sales, its useful to help reimburse your businesses when it comes to taxes.Here is a packing-slip invoice template created in Microsoft Word.
It's on Google Drive, so you should be able to download it and edit it on your own computer. Remember to save the digital copy of each packing slip-invoice you create for an order to keep as part of your sales documents.