How to Create Packing Slips for Your Online Store (Free, No Software)
You've just packed twelve orders. The labels are printed, the tape gun is loaded, and one customer has already messaged asking where the paperwork is. Packing slips are the small, overlooked documents that turn a shipment into a professional delivery — they confirm what's inside, show a gift message, surface a return code, and double as a receipt when a carrier damages a box. Most small stores skip them or hand-write something ugly. Here's what a good packing slip includes, how it differs from its cousins, and how to generate print-ready slips for free without installing any software.
Packing Slip vs. Invoice vs. Shipping Label
These three documents look similar but do different jobs. A shipping label goes on the outside of the box and tells the carrier where to deliver it — it usually comes from the carrier's software and includes a barcode. An invoice is a financial document that shows prices, taxes, and payment status; it's what accounting uses. A packing slip goes inside the box and confirms to the customer exactly what should be in it. Because it lives inside the package, a packing slip typically omits prices (to protect gift recipients) but always includes the order number, item quantities, and any picking notes. If you also need to send a priced document, the Invoice Generator covers that side separately.
What Every Packing Slip Should Include
A clean packing slip has six things: the order number (always — this is the lookup key for every support ticket you'll ever get), the order date, the recipient's name and shipping address, a line-item list with quantities and short descriptions, your store name and return address, and space for a short message or return instructions. Prices are optional — many stores leave them off so the recipient of a gift never sees what was paid. SKUs are useful for warehouse pickers but clutter a customer-facing slip, so consider a picker copy and a customer copy if your volume justifies it.
Gift Orders, Multi-Box Shipments, and Backorders
Three scenarios trip up almost every small store. Gifts need a slip with no prices and ideally a short personal message — a line like “A gift from Sarah” turns a transactional delivery into something thoughtful. Multi-box shipments need a slip in every box, clearly marked as “Box 1 of 3” with the line items that are in *that specific box*, not the full order — otherwise customers panic when a box arrives missing items listed on its slip. Backorders or partial shipments need a slip that lists only what's actually being sent, plus a note about when the rest will ship. Silence on a packing slip is a support ticket waiting to happen.
Platform Notes: Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce
Each platform gives you packing slips out of the box, but the defaults are bland and hard to brand. Shopify prints a generic slip from the Orders page; customizing it requires editing a Liquid template or paying for an app. Etsy only offers a barebones order receipt; many sellers generate their own polished slips to include personal notes and better branding. WooCommerce needs a plugin for anything beyond plain text. If you ship from multiple platforms, rolling your own slips in a neutral format keeps the look consistent across every channel — and avoids a monthly app fee for something that should be free.
Promo Inserts: Worth It or Overkill?
A small discount code printed on the packing slip is one of the highest-ROI marketing moves for repeat business — it costs nothing extra to print, arrives in a moment of delight (opening the package), and targets someone who has already paid once. Keep it short: one line, one code, one expiration date. Avoid long paragraphs of brand storytelling — customers are reading this while standing over a cardboard box, not sitting with coffee. If you do include a QR code to a product page or a review request, keep it under two inches and test it with a real phone camera before printing a hundred.
A Free, Print-Ready Workflow
The fastest path for most small stores: keep a simple CSV of your day's orders, paste them into a browser-based generator, and print the resulting PDF on half-letter or A5 sheets to save paper. The Packing Slip Generator on TinyTool produces clean, print-ready PDFs entirely in your browser — your customer data never leaves your device, which matters when you're handling names and addresses. Pair it with the QR Code Generator for a review or reorder link, and the SKU & Barcode Generator if your warehouse workflow needs scannable item codes on the picker copy.
Small Details That Make You Look Bigger
The difference between a hobbyist shipment and a professional one is almost always in the small details. Use a consistent font (a single sans-serif is fine — Inter, Helvetica, or Arial are safe defaults). Align the line-item table with clear column headers. Print your return address in the same corner on every slip. Add a one-line thank-you in your voice, not a canned “Thank you for your business” line. These are free changes that compound across hundreds of orders — and they're the fingerprints that turn a first-time buyer into someone who remembers your store the next time they need what you sell.