Free International Trade Proforma Invoice Template & Generator
An overseas buyer cannot start a payment from an email thread. Their treasury books the currency, their controller opens the beneficiary, and both work from a document that names the registered legal entity on each side, the currency as a three-letter code, the exact amount, and a date after which the price is no longer good. This proforma carries those fields next to the goods lines, the Incoterm and the named place, so the transfer can be set up before any invoice exists.
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| Description | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale goods | 250 | $22.00 | $5,500.00 |
| Export documentation | 1 | $180.00 | $180.00 |
| Freight allowance | 1 | $1,250.00 | $1,250.00 |
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Use-case checklist
What to include in a international trade proforma invoice
This is the document that moves through a foreign buyer's approval chain, and it fails there for reasons that have nothing to do with your goods. Use a trading name instead of the registered entity and the beneficiary check at the bank does not match, so the transfer is rejected without a useful explanation. Leave the charge instruction off and the intermediary banks take their fee out of the middle, so the money that lands is forty or sixty dollars short of what you invoiced and your receivable never closes cleanly. Leave the validity date off and the buyer's approval cycle outruns your pricing, so the order comes back weeks later at a number you would not quote today. Each of those costs a round trip, and a round trip across eight time zones is measured in weeks.
- legal seller and buyer identities
- goods, quantities, and currency
- origin and destination
- Incoterm with named place
- payment, validity, shipping, and preliminary status
Example starting lines
| Description | Qty | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Wholesale goods | 250 | $22 |
| Export documentation | 1 | $180 |
| Freight allowance | 1 | $1,250 |
Complete it cleanly
State legal seller and buyer names, currency, bank or payment terms, goods, origin, shipping responsibilities, Incoterm and named place, validity date, and that the document is preliminary.
How to make an international trade proforma invoice in 6 steps
Open the proforma invoice generator
Start from this page so the proforma invoice opens with fields and sample lines already set up for importers, exporters, and cross-border B2B sellers. No account is needed to create or preview.
Enter both parties
Add your business name, address and contact details, then the customer name and address exactly as they should appear on the record.
Add the international trade lines
Replace each sample line with the real work or goods. Make sure the document shows legal seller and buyer identities, goods, quantities, and currency, origin and destination.
Check the figures
Totals calculate as you type. Confirm quantities, rates, any tax line and the final total against your own records before you send anything.
Set the reference and dates
Give the proforma invoice a unique number and the correct date so it can be traced later and matched to related documents.
Review and download the PDF
State legal seller and buyer names, currency, bank or payment terms, goods, origin, shipping responsibilities, Incoterm and named place, validity date, and that the document is preliminary. Preview is free; a PDF download costs $4.99, or is included with Unlimited.
Worked example
A first Poland order priced FCA Cleveland for the buyer's treasury
Marrow Fluid Systems Inc. of Akron, OH issues proforma PI-2026-1184 on August 11, 2026 to Zakrzewski Przemysl Sp. z o.o. in Poznan, Poland. Zakrzewski's finance team needs a priced document naming both registered entities before it can open the beneficiary and release a USD transfer.
- 6 filtration skid manifolds, model FS-220, at $4,260.00 each
- $25,560.00
- 24 replacement cartridge sets at $312.50 each
- $7,500.00
- Goods subtotal
- $33,060.00
- First-order allowance, 3% of the goods subtotal, applied once
- -$991.80
- Export packing, three crates, quoted as a flat lot
- $540.00
- FCA Cleveland, OH (Incoterms 2020), total payable, buyer's forwarder collects
- $32,608.20
- Currency and settlement instruction
- USD, wired to the seller's USD account, charge code OUR, quoting PI-2026-1184
- Payment milestone 1, 50% on order acceptance
- $16,304.10
- Payment milestone 2, 50% before the buyer's forwarder collects
- $16,304.10
- Validity, after which the document is reissued under a new number at current pricing
- Firm through September 10, 2026
The row people skip is the charge instruction. Send the wire marked SHA and the intermediary deductions come out of your $32,608.20, leaving a residue too small to chase and too odd to write off quietly. Parties and figures here are invented.
When this document is the right choice
Use this proforma invoice to show an expected transaction before a final invoice exists. A proforma invoice is a preliminary commercial document, not a final tax invoice or proof that payment is due. Replace it with the final invoice when the transaction is confirmed.
Frequently asked questions
The buyer's bank rejected the transfer because the names did not match. What belongs on the party lines?
The registered legal entity on both sides, spelled the way it appears on the bank mandate, including the company-form suffix. Marrow Fluid Systems Inc. and Zakrzewski Przemysl Sp. z o.o. are what the banks compare; the brand on your website is not. Add the registered address, and put any trading name in a smaller second line so the buyer's controller can see it is the same company without feeding it into the beneficiary field.
Should I quote in USD or in the buyer's currency?
Whichever you quote in, somebody carries the movement between quote and payment, and it is whoever is not holding the quoting currency. Quoting USD moves that exposure to the buyer, which is why their treasury often books forward cover as soon as your proforma arrives, and why a validity date matters to them more than it does to you. Whatever you choose, write the currency as a three-letter code rather than a symbol, since a dollar sign is ambiguous in several markets.
How long should the validity window be on a cross-border quote?
Long enough to clear the buyer's approval chain, short enough that nothing underneath it has moved. Set it against the thing most likely to change: a metals surcharge, a freight rate that reprices each sailing, or your own currency exposure. Thirty days is a common shape for a stock item, and a week is not unreasonable when a commodity input drives the price. Write the date rather than a number of days, so nobody has to count from an issue date they cannot see.
The purchase order came back with terms that differ from my proforma. Which document governs?
In practice, neither one wins by being newer, and which set of terms actually applies is a contract question for your attorney rather than something a template can settle. The operational move is simpler: do not ship into the gap. Reissue the proforma so it matches the purchase order, or ask the buyer to amend the order so it matches the proforma, and only then release goods. Two documents that disagree are two versions of the payment amount.
The buyer's bank wants a signed and stamped copy before it will process the transfer. How do I handle that?
Plenty of overseas banks and import permit offices ask for a signed and stamped document, and a plain emailed file gets sent back without an explanation you can act on. Invoity gives you a PDF, so the signature and the company stamp go on after you print it: sign the printed page, stamp it, then scan the signed copy if a scan is accepted, or courier the wet-signed original if the bank insists on one. Ask Zakrzewski to tell you exactly what their bank wants before you print, because whether a scan passes, whether the stamp has to sit across the signature, and how many originals they need all vary by bank and by country. A second round trip on that question costs a week.
More proforma invoice templates
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