Create a Customized Commercial Invoice & Certificate of Origin Form

As we know, NetSuite is woefully inadequate when it comes to international shipping forms. Yes, depending upon your shipping integrator, NetSuite does offer a few options for generating and printing commercial invoices, but they're typically either out of date (e.g. UPS still uses the old NAFTA format instead of the new USMCA forms in place since 2020, etc.), or display limited fields.

However, I've been able to create my own customized combination commercial invoice and certificate of origin form that incorporates the individual item's weights, value, origin criteron, etc.

Once a given sales order has been "shipped", the form can be accessed by going to Print Checks and Forms > Invoices

1. Start by customizing the standard invoice form which can be found with the other PDF template forms at Customization > Forms > Advanced PDF/HTML Templates > Standard Invoice PDF/HTML Template

2. Click "Customize" to open the template

3. Click "Source Code" on the upper right-hand portion of the template. The HTML should now be visible.

4. Replace the existing text with the code below.

5. Save the template as a new name of your choice. Do not click the "Template is Preferred" box.

6. To print the template go to Print Checks and Forms > Invoices and select a previous shipment and click "Print". The form should display, ready for printing.

Supress Inventory Level Warning

Need to get rid of that annoying "Inventory Level Warning" pop-up when entering an item on a sales order?
This is a user-selectable setting. To supress the warning, simply go to Home > Set Preferences > Transactions
and deselect "Inventory Level Warnings"

Add Items to Quick Create List

If you frequently create new Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, Expense Reports, etc., here's a way to make them one click away...

Add the Customer's Purchase History to Customer Dashboard

Although there are several ways of viewing a customer's purchase history, here's one of the quickest ways to get your results using standard lookup applet in the customer's dashboard. If it doesn't already exist, add a new "List" portlet to the customer dashboard page, and set the List Type to "Transaction" (you can have up to 3 List portlets per page)

Add the Customer's Return Authorization History to Customer Dashboard

Here's another quick way to view a customer's RMA status (note: in NetSpeak, "Pending Refund", etc. can also mean the item is in "Under Repair" status). If it doesn't already exist, add a new "List" portlet to the customer dashboard page, and set the List Type to "Transaction" (you can have up to 3 List portlets per page)..

Here's the Completed Customer Dashboard

Add the Purchase History to Vendor Dashboard

1. View any vendor page and click "Dash" (dashboard);
2. Add a new List applet (if one doesn't already exist), or change an existing one;
3. Move the List applet to the top of the dashboard;
4. Set the List applet's view to "PO Lookup"
5. Sort the list by clicking the header of any field (Date, Document Number, Status, etc.)

Customize the Sales Order Form (Advanced PDF)

Among others, the following HTML code makes the following improvements to the stock Sales Order Form;
1. Displays the applicable payment and PO number details
2. Displays applicable discounting
3. Displays the contents of the sales order's note field
4. Moves the form barcode to the top of the page

COPY the following code and paste it into the 'Source Code' of your existing Sales Order PDF/HTML template (CAUTION: Its highly recommended that you make a copy of your existing source code prior to making any changes to the form);

Create a Commercial Invoice (Advanced PDF)

Although the current version of NetSuite (2022.1) does offer a commercial invoice advanced-PDF form, its essentially only availble for use with FedEx shipments. If you're system is integrated with UPS you're essentially out-of-luck, and likely must create your commercial invoice using either UPS Worldship, or a standalone document outside of NetSuite.

However, you can create a commercial invoice in NetSuite that can be printed no matter which shipment carrier you're using. The only caveate is that you'll need to print the invoice after you've completed any fulfillment tasks in NetSuite.

Here are the steps;
1. Copy the code below and save it as a new Invoice document (e.g. "Commercial Invoice", etc.) in the Advanced PDF menu in NetSuite (make sure its not indicated as a "Preferred" form);

 
2. To use the form, fulfill an international order.
3. Navigate to Transactions > Management > Print Checks and Forms > Invoices
4. Select the form you saved in step 1 above.
5. Select Print next to your selected invoice.
6. Click Print. Your formatted commerical invoice should display, ready for printing.