Definition

A delivery note is a document the seller sends with a shipment of goods. It lists what was sent and how many of each item, but it never shows prices. The person receiving the goods signs a copy to confirm everything arrived.

That last part is what sets it apart. An invoice asks for payment. A goods received note (GRN) is something the buyer fills in after checking the shipment. A bill of lading is a contract between a shipper and a carrier. A delivery note is none of those things. It travels with the goods, stays silent on price, and gets signed at the door.

One naming note worth knowing: "delivery note," "dispatch note," "delivery docket," and (in the US) "packing slip" all describe the same basic document. The name changes by country, not by what the document does.

What it contains

Most delivery notes share a core set of fields. These are the ones you will find on virtually every note, regardless of supplier or industry:

• Document title

  
  

• Delivery note number

A unique reference number that follows this specific shipment through your system. It is the number your team will use to match this document against the GRN and, later, the invoice.

• Supplier details

The name, address and contact information of the company that sent the goods.

• Customer details

The recipient name and the address where the goods were delivered.

• Delivery date

The date the goods were handed over. This is the date that matters for matching and for any dispute about when something arrived.

• Line items

A row for each product, showing what it is and how many were sent. Quantity is the field the receiving team checks at the dock and the one accounts payable relies on for three-way matching.

• Signature block

A space for the receiver to sign and date. That signature is what turns a list of items into proof of delivery.

Some fields appear on most delivery notes but not all.

Whether they are included usually depends on the supplier, the industry, or how the buyer set up the relationship:

• PO reference or order number

The link between this shipment and the purchase order the buyer raised. This is the most important optional field in practice. Without it, your accounts payable team cannot match the delivery note to the right order, which holds up payment.

• Product codes or SKUs

Supplier item codes or your own internal codes. Useful when descriptions alone are not enough to identify a product unambiguously.

• Batch, lot or serial numbers, and expiry dates

Standard in pharmaceuticals and food, where traceability to a specific production run is a regulatory requirement. Rarely seen in general goods.

• Package count, weight and carrier

How many cartons or pallets, the total weight, and who is doing the delivery. Useful for freight claims if something is damaged in transit.

• Remarks or discrepancy box

A free-text field at the bottom or alongside the line items. If something is short or damaged, this is where the receiving team writes it down before signing.

There is no single legal template for a delivery note. 

One thing worth noting: Delivery notes are not only used for physical goods. Contractors and service businesses issue them too, typically to record that a person, piece of equipment, or service was deployed on a given date. In those cases, you will see fields like "Period" (the service or rental duration) and "Contract Issued By" instead of the usual goods fields.

Where it's used

If a business physically ships or receives goods, it uses delivery notes. They show up in manufacturing, wholesale distribution, construction, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, and e-commerce fulfillment.

They also appear in service businesses and equipment rental, where the note records what was supplied or deployed rather than what was shipped.

Five types of people typically handle a delivery note as it moves through the process:

1. Warehouse or Dispatch operator

This is the person who creates the delivery note. They pick the order, confirm what is being shipped, generate the note from the warehouse or ERP system, and send it out with the goods.

2. Driver or Carrier

They carry the note with the goods and hand it to the receiver at the destination. If something looks wrong at delivery, they countersign the discrepancy before leaving.

3. Goods-receiving clerk or Storeperson

This is the most important signature on the note. They check what actually arrived against what the note says, and they sign only when they have confirmed the count and condition. They then create a GRN from what they found.

4. Operations or Warehouse manager

They own the receiving process and make the call on exceptions: what gets accepted, what gets refused, what gets escalated.

5. Accounts Payable

They use the signed delivery note or GRN as the "goods received" confirmation in three-way matching. Without it, the invoice cannot be approved for payment.

Where it carries legal or tax weight

In most English-speaking markets the delivery note is not a legally required document. But in several countries it has a specific legal or tax function that changes how you need to handle it:

• Italy (DDT / Documento di Trasporto)

Required by law under Presidential Decree 472/1996. You cannot legally move goods in Italy without one. It also enables deferred invoicing, which lets suppliers issue a single monthly invoice instead of one per shipment.

• India (Delivery Challan and E-Way Bill)

Under CGST Rule 55, a delivery challan is required when goods move without a sale attached, such as for job work or stock transfers between branches. For any consignment above Rs 50,000, you also need to generate an e-way bill before the goods leave.

• Spain (albarán)

Signed by the customer as documentary proof of delivery. It is not a tax document, but courts treat a signed albarán as evidence that goods were received.

• Germany (Lieferschein)

No legal requirement to issue one, but once it exists it falls under commercial document retention rules.

• UK and US

Not legally required. The delivery note matters here as evidence, not as a compliance document. If there is a dispute, a signed note is what you bring to the conversation.

How it's used

Here is the full sequence from the moment an order is ready to ship through to when the invoice gets paid:

1. Order picked and packed

The warehouse team picks the goods against the sales order or PO and generates the delivery note. In SAP this happens via transaction VL01N. In Dynamics 365 it creates a packing slip. Tally calls it a Delivery Note voucher and Zoho calls it a Delivery Challan. At this point, stock is reduced in the system to reflect what is about to leave.

2. Goods dispatched

The delivery note travels with the goods. In businesses that use EDI, a DESADV or ASN message is also sent electronically so the receiver can see what is coming before the truck arrives.

3. Handover at the receiving dock

The receiver checks the physical goods against the delivery note before signing anything. Count first, sign second. This is the step most people skip when they are busy, and it is the most expensive habit to break later.

4. Receiver signs

Once the check is done, the receiver signs and dates the note. Any shortages, damage, or discrepancies go on the note in writing before the driver leaves. A signature with no notes is treated as confirmation that everything arrived in full and in good condition.

5. GRN raised

The buyer creates a goods received note based on what was actually checked in. This is their internal record of the event, separate from the supplier's delivery note.

6. Three-way matching

Accounts payable lines up the PO (what was ordered), the GRN or delivery note (what was received), and the invoice (what the supplier is charging). All three have to agree on item, quantity, and price before the invoice is approved for payment.

7. Filed for audit

The signed delivery note and GRN are kept as the paper trail that justifies the payment. In Italy and India, there are also specific retention requirements.

Why it matters

Disputed deliveries

When a delivery goes wrong and someone has to prove what happened, the delivery note is usually the document that decides it.

Under the CMR Convention, which covers international road freight, taking delivery without writing any reservations on the note is treated as confirmation that goods arrived in full and in good condition. That shifts the burden of proof. Businesses that cannot produce a signed note with discrepancies noted at the time of delivery typically lose those disputes.

Invoices that cannot be processed

The delivery note, or the GRN it generates, is the middle leg of three-way matching. If that leg is missing or wrong, the invoice stalls. Ardent Partners' State of ePayables 2021 found that the average invoice exception rate across businesses surveyed was 22.5%, with quantity mismatches between the delivery record and the invoice listed as one of the most common causes.

Inventory that drifts out of sync

Goods that arrive without being properly recorded against a delivery note go into the warehouse but do not go into the system correctly. Over time that creates discrepancies between what the ERP shows and what is actually on the shelf. Stockouts and ghost stock are often traced back to receiving processes where the document trail broke down.

Audit and tax requirements

The signed delivery note is part of the evidence chain that shows goods were received before a payment was made. In Italy, India, and Germany it also carries direct compliance weight, either as a required transport document or as a record subject to specific retention rules.

Examples

Manufacturer receiving raw materials

A components supplier ships a batch of parts against an open PO. The delivery note lists part numbers, quantities, and batch numbers. When the pallet arrives, the receiving clerk counts every part and checks the batch numbers against the note before signing.

Those batch numbers get carried into the GRN, which means if a defect shows up on the production line three weeks later, the team can trace it back to a specific supplier shipment. A delivery note with incomplete batch data would break that chain entirely.

Distributor delivering to a retail store

A food distributor delivers cases to a supermarket. The store manager checks the cases against the delivery note and finds two cases of a product short. She writes it on the note, both she and the driver sign it, and the driver takes a copy back.

The annotated note becomes the basis for a credit note from the distributor. Without that annotation, signed in the moment, the shortage is much harder to prove after the fact.

Service and equipment delivery

Delivery notes are not only for physical goods. The example below is from a facilities contractor supplying labour and equipment to an oil site in Kuwait. The structure is familiar, but the fields reflect a service context: the note records who was deployed and when, not what was shipped. Fields like "Contract Issued By," "POC," and "Period" replace the standard goods fields.

Types and variations

Most delivery notes you will encounter fall into one of these categories:

1. Standard delivery note

The default. A supplier ships goods to a customer and sends a delivery note with the order. "Standard" is a description, not a formal classification.

2. Return delivery note

Used when goods are going back the other way, from buyer to supplier. ERP systems handle this natively: Tally has Rejection In/Out vouchers, India's GST rules have a sales return challan, and the EDIFACT standard has a Returns Despatch Advice message. This is a genuine, distinct type.

3. Delivery challan vs sales delivery note (India)

Under GST rules, a delivery challan is specifically for movement of goods that is not a sale: job work, stock transfers between your own branches, goods sent on approval. It is not the same as a delivery note that accompanies a sale. The distinction matters for compliance.

4. Partial delivery note

When an order ships in multiple batches, each batch gets its own delivery note. This is not a distinct type of document, just the standard note used in a split-shipment scenario.

5. Electronic delivery note

The same document is sent digitally, whether as a PDF, an ePOD captured on a handheld device, or a structured EDI DESADV message. The content is the same. The medium is different.

How it compares to similar documents

Delivery note vs packing slip

Functionally the same document. "Delivery note" is the term used in the UK, Europe, and India. "Packing slip" is the US term. Some sources argue that a packing slip does not always require a signature, while a delivery note does. In practice the distinction is blurry and the terms are used interchangeably.

Delivery note vs packing list

Not the same. A packing list is a more detailed document used in international trade, summarising the entire consignment by carton, with gross and net weights and dimensions. Freight forwarders and customs use it. The delivery note is for the person at the receiving dock, not for the port.

Delivery note vs invoice

These two documents are completely different and cannot substitute for each other. The delivery note records what was physically sent, with no prices. The invoice records what the supplier is charging, with prices, taxes, and payment terms. One confirms a physical event. The other creates a financial obligation.

Delivery note vs bill of lading (BOL)

A bill of lading is a contract between the shipper and the carrier. It can also function as a document of title, meaning ownership of the goods can be transferred by transferring the BOL. A delivery note does none of that. It is a supplier-to-customer document about what was packed and sent, with no legal title function.

Delivery note vs goods received note (GRN)

These two are separate documents that are often confused. The delivery note comes from the supplier and records what was sent. The GRN is created by the buyer after checking the goods and records what was actually received. The supplier fills in the delivery note. The buyer fills in the GRN. Some glossaries list them as synonyms. They are not.

Delivery note vs proof of delivery (POD)

A signed delivery note is one form of proof of delivery. But POD is the broader concept. It can also be a standalone delivery receipt, a photo and signature captured on a carrier's handheld device (an ePOD), or the signed copy of a bill of lading. POD describes the evidence. A delivery note is one type of document that can provide it.

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