A proforma invoice (PI) is the seller’s pre-shipment statement of what will be delivered, on what terms, for what price. It is issued before production, before deposit, before any commitment. The buyer reviews, accepts (sometimes after negotiation), and pays the deposit against it. The PI then governs the order until the commercial invoice is issued at shipment.
The 12 fields a complete PI must show
| Field | What to verify |
|---|---|
| Seller (full legal name and address) | Must match the bank account name in the payment instructions |
| Buyer (full legal name and address) | Importer of record on the destination side |
| PI number and date | Unique identifier, used on the deposit T/T reference |
| Product description | Substance name, CAS, grade, specification reference |
| Quantity and unit | Weight, volume, drum count, IBC count |
| Packaging | Drum / IBC / bulk bag / ISO tank type and size |
| Unit price | Price per kg or per MT |
| Total value | Quantity × unit price |
| Incoterm | FOB / CIF / EXW / DDP plus the named port |
| Port of loading | Shanghai, Qingdao, Nanjing, etc. |
| Port of discharge | Houston, Sydney, Rotterdam, etc. |
| Payment terms | 30/70 T/T or L/C at sight, with bank details |
Plus, for DG cargo: UN number, hazard class, packing group. These appear on the PI at the contract stage so any DG-handling premium is priced in.
The deposit-fraud signal
The single most important PI verification is the bank details against which the buyer is asked to wire the deposit. A legitimate Chinese chemical factory’s PI shows:
- A Chinese mainland bank account (Bank of China, ICBC, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank, China Merchants Bank, etc.)
- Account name identical to the seller name on the PI
- Account branch in the same city as the factory’s registered address
- SWIFT code matching the bank’s published SWIFT registry
Red flags that should stop a deposit T/T cold:
- Hong Kong or Singapore account name different from the China-mainland seller name. Common deposit-fraud setup. Either the PI is from a trading agent (acceptable but should be disclosed) or the request is fraudulent (not acceptable).
- Personal account name instead of corporate. Stop. No legitimate factory invoices to a personal account.
- Account name with a typo different from the seller name on the PI. Banks will sometimes process anyway, but this is a classic phishing setup where the fraudster intercepts the PI and substitutes their own bank details.
- Last-minute bank-detail change sent by email after the PI was originally issued. Highest-risk scenario in the trade. Always verify by phone using a number you found independently, not the number in the email, before wiring against changed bank details.
How the PI flows into the L/C
Under L/C terms, the PI is the source document the L/C application is built on. Every field on the PI flows into the L/C terms, port pair, Incoterm, quantity tolerance, latest shipment date, document requirements. Errors on the PI compound into errors on the L/C. Get the PI right before applying for the L/C.
Practical sourcing notes
For every order we run, the PI crosses our desk before the buyer sees it. We verify the seller bank details against our records of that factory’s banking, we verify quantities against the factory’s MOQ, we verify the Incoterm matches what the buyer requested, and we verify the latest-shipment date is consistent with the factory’s stated production lead time. The PI is not a casual document, it is the contract before the contract. Sloppy PI review is where most order disputes start.
Related terms
Commercial Invoice replaces the PI at shipment with final shipped quantities. T/T deposits are paid against the PI. L/C applications are built from the PI fields.