Free Shipping Mark and Carton Label Generator
Do not type 120 carton labels one by one: enter the carton range and let the tool do the numbering. No sign-up, no watermark. Nothing you type is sent to a server — everything is generated inside your browser.
Side mark (page 2)
The PDF is vector — it stays sharp at any size and prints cleanly on every printer. Libraries are served from our own server; no request goes to a third-party CDN.
What is a shipping mark?
A shipping mark is the identifying information printed on the outside of an export carton. Its purpose is one sentence: anyone should be able to tell whose the carton is, which order it belongs to and which carton in the shipment it is, without opening it. In the warehouse, at the customs yard and at the buyer's premises, this is what separates one carton from another — not the line on the bill of lading, but the writing on the box.
There is no single mandatory international format — the content is usually dictated by the buyer or by the terms of the letter of credit. But there is a core set that has settled in practice, and that is what this tool produces.
Which fields belong on a carton label?
| Field | On the label | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Consignee | CONSIGNEE | Whose carton it is. Under a letter of credit the consignee name is expected to match the documents to the letter. |
| Order number | P/O NO | The buyer's own reference. This is the field that ties the carton to the order at goods-in. |
| Carton number | C/NO 7 / 120 | The critical one. It answers "how many cartons arrived"; a missing carton is only noticed if this numbering exists. |
| Item number | ITEM NO | In a mixed load, shows which carton carries which product. |
| Net / gross weight | N.W. / G.W. | The carrier and customs read the gross, the buyer reads the net. They must agree with the packing list. |
| Measurements | MEAS | For volumetric freight calculation and stowage planning. Usually length × width × height in cm. |
| Origin | MADE IN … | Required on import in many countries. The accuracy of the origin you print is your responsibility — see the note below. |
| Destination | DESTINATION | On a transhipment route, shows where the carton is meant to come off. |
Main mark and side mark
Traditional practice prints on two different faces. The main mark — the shipping mark proper — goes on the front and carries identity: consignee, order number, carton number, destination, origin. The side mark goes on the side and describes the contents: goods description, quantity per carton, net and gross weight, measurements.
Tick the "side mark" box in the tool and a second page is produced for every carton; the PDF then runs main mark / side mark / main mark and so on. If you print on one face only, leave it unticked and every field is gathered on a single label.
Handling symbols (ISO 780)
Handling symbols say how the carton must be treated without relying on language — a dock worker may not read your label but will recognise the symbol. The standard is ISO 780, and the symbols deliberately carry no text. The tool draws them as vectors; you can optionally add a caption underneath in the language you choose.
| Symbol | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Fragile | Glass, ceramics, delicate electronics. The symbol does not protect anything; it asks for care. The real protection is the packaging. |
| This way up | Anything that spills, leaks or crushes when laid on its side. Essential for liquids and for goods stacked upright. |
| Keep dry | Cardboard, textiles, paper, electronics. Container sweat is a real risk, and so is waiting in an open yard. |
| Do not stack | Cartons that crush under load. It directly affects the container stowage plan. |
| Keep away from sunlight | Goods affected by heat and UV: adhesives, paint, plastics, food, cosmetics. |
| Centre of gravity | Large cartons whose weight is not centred. It tells the forklift or crane operator where the lifting point is. |
Does the position of a symbol change its meaning?
For most of them, no. "Fragile", "keep dry", "do not stack" and "keep away from sunlight" are instructions; where they sit on the carton does not matter as long as they are seen. This tool prints them in a fixed strip at the foot of the label, and that is correct.
Two symbols fall outside that rule, and they do so for different reasons.
This way up. There is no harm in a fixed position — its meaning comes from the direction of the arrows, not from where it sits. But it carries one condition: the label itself must be applied the right way up. A label stuck on sideways produces a "this way up" whose arrows point sideways, and the symbol then says the opposite of what it means. This symbol is also expected to appear on all four vertical faces of the carton; if you label only one face, the others still need it.
Centre of gravity. Here there is a real problem. This symbol's job is not to say "this carton has a centre of gravity" — everyone knows that. Its job is to show where the centre of gravity is, which means the position of the symbol is the information. Printed in a strip at the foot of a label, beside the other symbols, it says nothing, and it can lead a crane operator to lift from the wrong point. So read this one as a reminder while using the tool: appearing on the label is not enough — it must also be marked on at least three faces of the carton, level with the real balance point. If your shipment does not call for that, leave the symbol unticked.
What size should you print?
A practical rule: the label should be no smaller than a third of the carton's widest face, and readable from two metres. A5 (148 × 210 mm) is the right size in most cases on a standard export carton; go to A4 on large ones. If you print on a thermal label printer, the 100 × 150 mm option matches the most common roll size.
Two cautions. First, carton labels get wet: on a rainy container yard an inkjet print runs, a laser print survives. Second, do not run tape over the label — if you printed a barcode, even clear tape causes glare and defeats the scanner.
What this label is not
This tool produces a shipping marking, not an official document.
What you produce is not a delivery note, e-delivery note, invoice, albarán, packing list or customs declaration, and it replaces none of them. You alone are responsible for the accuracy of the origin ("MADE IN …"), weight and content statements you print, and for meeting the marking rules of the destination country; the tool prints your text as typed and validates nothing.
Where does my data go?
Nowhere. What you type on this page is never sent to our server. The label drawing and the PDF are produced entirely in your browser; there is no endpoint on the server that accepts form data. You can verify this in your browser's network tab.
The page uses no cookie and no local storage to remember your entries either — reload it and the fields are empty. That is deliberate: when nothing is stored, no consent question arises. Like any web server, ours keeps access logs (IP address and timestamp) for 90 days.
When you enter your consignee's name and address, you are the controller of that data. Privacy Policy and KVKK Information Notice explain the detail.
Frequently asked questions
How do I print labels for 120 cartons at once?
In the "Carton numbering" section put 1 as the first carton and 120 as the last, then press "Download all cartons as PDF". You get a 120-page PDF: the same details on every page, with C/NO 1/120, 2/120 … 120/120 in turn. At most 500 cartons are produced in one go.
Why is there no separate field for the total?
Because the total is the last carton number. A separate field creates two sources for the same number, and it is very easy to update one and forget the other: someone who set the last carton to 120 but left the total at 40 printed 120 labels reading "7 / 40", with no warning. On a shipping document that means the carton count does not agree with the paperwork.
What if I need to reprint a single carton?
Put the same number in both fields — 47 and 47, say. One label is produced and it reads "47 / 47". If you need the original total to show ("47 / 120"), enter 47 as the first carton and 120 as the last, then print only the first page of the PDF.
Can I export the labels to Excel?
Yes — the "Excel (.xlsx)" button produces one row per carton: carton number, total, consignee, order number, item, quantity, destination, origin, net, gross, measurements and the barcode text if you enabled one. The label image is not embedded; this sheet's job is not to copy the label but to give you data you can total and filter — it doubles as a draft packing list. For the visual label, use the PDF or PNG.
Why do Print and PNG sometimes give one file and sometimes many?
All four cover the whole carton range you entered. "Print" sends every label in the range to the printer as its own page. PNG is a single-image format, so when there is more than one label the files arrive inside a ZIP (named 0001.png, 0002.png, and 0001-side.png where you asked for a side mark). PNG rasterises each label separately, so it is capped at 200; use the PDF for bigger runs.
Should the label be in English or my own language?
For export, print in English — the consignee, the carrier and customs will read the carton and none of them needs to speak your language. That is why "Label language" defaults to English and is independent of the page language. The Turkish and Spanish options are for domestic shipments.
Do accented and Turkish characters survive in the PDF?
Yes. We embed a font (Roboto) in the PDF, so ş, ğ, İ, ı, ñ and á print correctly. This is a common trap in free PDF tools: most rely on the PDF built-in fonts and turn those letters into empty boxes or question marks.
What is the barcode for?
So the carton can be scanned with a handheld at goods-in. It prints the order number, the item number or your own text as Code 128; with "append the carton number" ticked, every carton gets a unique code (PO-4417-7). It is not a retail barcode (EAN-13) — that number must be allocated to you by GS1.
Is it free — any watermark or item cap?
It is free, needs no account, adds no watermark and asks for no email address. The only limit is technical: at most 500 cartons in one run.
Does this replace a delivery note?
No. A carton label is an identifying marking; the delivery note, e-delivery note, invoice and packing list are separate documents and none of them is satisfied by this. See the responsibility note above.
The edges get cut off when printing — what do I do?
In the printer dialog set scaling to "Actual size / 100%" and turn off "fit to page". The PDF page is exactly the label size you chose; any shrink-to-fit pushes the border into the margin.
If you retype this on every shipment
This tool is enough for one-off jobs. But printing carton labels is only the first step of shipping work: the real question is being able to prove that the carton you labelled actually went onto that vehicle. Smartifie Logistic generates carton labels from order lines automatically, scans every carton during loading so short and over-shipments are caught as they happen, and produces the packing list and the delivery note from the same data — so the weights and carton counts agree across documents by construction, not by luck.