Choosing tools
How to choose an app that turns wholesale POs into Shopify draft orders
A growing number of apps read the purchase orders stores send you and turn them into Shopify draft orders. On a demo they all look alike: a tidy PDF goes in, a draft comes out. The difference shows on your POs, with your variants, your buyers' shorthand and your packs. These 10 questions and one short test tell them apart.
Key takeaways
- Judge a PO-to-draft-order app on your own messiest PO, not the demo file. Every app handles a clean PDF.
- The most important question is what it does when it isn't sure. A good app flags the line for you; a risky one guesses and puts a wrong item on the draft.
- Check that it matches your kind of variants (sizes, scents, flavors, shades, weights, case packs or prepacks), uses your wholesale prices, and never sends anything to a buyer without your approval.
What does a PO-to-draft-order app actually do?
It replaces retyping. You forward the buyer's email or upload the PO file, the app reads each line (product, variant, quantity, price), matches it to your Shopify catalog, and creates a draft order for you to check and send. Some also handle what comes next, such as the invoice and payment reminders. If you are new to draft orders, start with how a buyer's PO gets into Shopify.
10 questions to ask before you choose
- Which formats can it read? PDF and Excel are table stakes. Ask about Word files, CSV, the text of an email, scans, phone photos and handwritten order forms, if your buyers send those.
- What happens when it isn't sure? The best answer is: the line is flagged and held until you decide. Ask to see a flagged line. Ask whether a doubtful line can ever reach the draft on its own.
- Does it understand your variants? Apparel brands need size runs and prepacks ("3 packs 1-2-2-1"). Candle and home brands need scents and sizes. Food, coffee and beauty brands need flavors, net weights, shades and case packs ("2 cases of 12"). Jewelry needs metals and ring sizes. Test the ones you sell.
- Where do the prices come from? It should use your wholesale prices (a price list, a saved wholesale price or a percentage of retail) and flag a PO price that differs, not copy the buyer's number silently.
- Does it know the store? Ask whether it attaches the right customer or B2B company, so that store's terms and addresses apply.
- Does it remember shorthand? Repeat buyers write "the green" or "same as last time". Ask whether a choice you make once is remembered for that store.
- How does it handle a revised PO? Buyers send a "rev 2" with changed quantities. You want the existing draft updated with the changes shown, not a duplicate order.
- What does it do after the draft? If you invoice on Net terms, ask whether it can make the invoice from the approved order, track payments and send reminders, or whether that stays a separate job.
- What leaves your hands without approval? Nothing should be confirmed, charged or emailed to a buyer unless you say so. Read the privacy policy too: which services process your POs, whether your data trains AI, and when it is deleted.
- Who helps you set it up, and who answers? Ask whether a person helps map your catalog and your buyers' PO layouts, and how fast a real person replies when an order is stuck.
How to test one in about 20 minutes
Most apps offer a free trial or demo. Don't test with their sample file. Use three of your own POs: a clean PDF, a messy spreadsheet or email, and your hardest one (a phone photo, a handwritten trade show form, or one full of shorthand). Then compare every draft line against the PO.
| What to count | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Lines right on their own | Time saved |
| Lines flagged for you | A click each, and safe |
| Lines wrong and not flagged | The costly ones: wrong goods shipped, credits, an unhappy store |
| Anything sent to the buyer without asking | Should be zero |
An app that flags more but never gets a line silently wrong is usually the safer pick than one that looks fully automatic on the demo.
Is a wholesale portal or B2B app a substitute?
Partly. A wholesale portal, quick-order form or B2B storefront lets stores order themselves, which removes retyping for stores that use it. It does nothing for the stores that still email a PDF, send a spreadsheet or hand you a paper form at a trade show. Many brands run both: a portal for repeat stores, and a PO reader for everything that arrives by email. A PO reader should work alongside your wholesale app, not replace it.
Orderseam is one of these apps, so here are our own answers. It reads PDF, Excel, Word, CSV, email text and phone photos; matches any Shopify option (size, color, scent, flavor, shade, metal, weight, pack size), expands prepacks and case packs, and flags anything unclear instead of guessing; uses your wholesale prices and flags a PO price that differs; remembers each store's shorthand; updates the draft when a revised PO arrives; and makes the Net-terms invoice and payment reminders from the approved order. Nothing reaches a buyer without your approval, our team sets it up with you, and a person answers in US business hours. It is new, so try it on your own POs in the demo inbox or the free pilot and judge for yourself.
Common questions
- What is the best app to turn purchase orders into Shopify draft orders?
- The best one is the one that gets your own POs right. Test two or three apps with your messiest real POs and count the lines that were wrong without being flagged. Also check that it understands your kind of variants (sizes, scents, flavors, weights, case packs or prepacks) and uses your wholesale prices.
- Can an app read handwritten or photographed purchase orders?
- Some can. Ask before you choose, and test with a real photo of a trade show form. Smudged or unclear quantities should be flagged for you to check, never guessed.
- Will a PO app send anything to my buyers automatically?
- It shouldn't unless you turn that on. Look for an app that only creates draft orders and sends confirmations or invoices to buyers only after you approve them.
Test it on your messiest PO
Send Orderseam one of your real POs and check every line of the Shopify draft order it makes. Your first 10 POs are free, up to 30 days, with no card and no contract.
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