Endorsement refers to recording relevant matters on the back of the bill of lading in order to transfer the rights of the bill of lading. There are two ways: blank endorsement and registered endorsement. Blank endorsement means that the endorser signs the back of the bill of lading without indicating the name of the endorsee; A registered endorsement means that the endorser must indicate the name of the endorsee in addition to signing the back of the bill of lading. Where a bill of lading endorsed by name needs to be transferred again, it must be endorsed again. At present, the most widely used bill of lading in practical business is "blank endorsed", which is customarily called "blank endorsed bill of lading", that is, the so-called "double blank" endorsement.

The bill of lading can only be transferred after endorsement, and the seller can only obtain the bill of lading, that is, the ownership certificate of the goods, and the payment can only be obtained after endorsement and transfer.