Wholesale operations
Can you import a customer's purchase order into Shopify?
Not directly. Shopify has no built-in way to take the PO file a store sends you (a PDF, a spreadsheet, an email or a photo of a paper form) and turn it into an order. Its Purchase orders screen is for the other direction: stock you buy from your own suppliers. A buyer's PO becomes a Shopify draft order, and there are five common ways to get it there.
Key takeaways
- Shopify's Purchase orders are for buying inventory from your suppliers. An order a store sends you is a sales order, and in Shopify it starts as a draft order.
- Shopify can't read a buyer's PO file by itself. The PO gets into Shopify by retyping it, a CSV import app, a wholesale portal where the store orders itself, a data-entry service, or a tool that reads the PO for you.
- Whatever route you pick, check every line against your catalog (product, option, quantity, price) before you send the invoice.
Why Shopify's "Purchase orders" don't fit a buyer's PO
The words are the same, but the direction is opposite. In Shopify, a purchase order is something you send to your supplier to buy stock, and receiving it adds inventory. A wholesale purchase order from a boutique, gift shop or grocery store is the store buying from you. For you it is a sale, so it belongs in Shopify as an order, usually starting life as a draft order you can check, price and invoice.
| Shopify Purchase order | A store's wholesale PO | |
|---|---|---|
| Who sends it | You, to your supplier | The store's buyer, to you |
| What it changes | Incoming stock | A sale and an invoice |
| Where it goes in Shopify | Products, Purchase orders | Orders, Drafts |
What are the ways to get a buyer's PO into Shopify?
- Retype it into a draft order. Open a new draft order, pick the store as the customer, add each product and variant, set quantities and wholesale prices, and add the PO number in the notes. Free and reliable for a few POs a month, slow and error-prone when a season's orders arrive at once. Our step-by-step guide covers it.
- Convert it to CSV and import it with an app. Shopify's own product and customer CSV imports don't create orders, so this needs an import app. It works when POs arrive as clean spreadsheets with your SKUs, and breaks down with PDFs, photos and buyers who write "the blue one, mediums".
- Have stores order through a wholesale portal. A B2B storefront or wholesale app lets stores place the order themselves, so there is nothing to retype. It works for stores that will log in, but many still email a PO out of habit, and those still need entering.
- Send it to a data-entry service or virtual assistant. Someone else retypes it. That moves the work rather than removing it, and adds a wait and another person handling your buyers' details (more on that trade-off).
- Use a tool that reads the PO and builds the draft. You upload or forward the PO, the tool reads each line, matches it to your products and variants, and creates the draft order for you to check. The good ones flag anything unclear instead of guessing.
Which route fits which brand?
| Situation | Usually fits |
|---|---|
| A few POs a month, small catalog | Retype into a draft order |
| Buyers send clean spreadsheets with your SKUs | CSV import app |
| Most stores are happy to log in and reorder | Wholesale portal |
| POs arrive as PDFs, emails and photos, in bursts | A tool that reads the PO, or a data-entry service |
Many brands mix them: a portal for repeat stores, and a PO reader or retyping for everyone who emails.
What has to be right before the PO becomes an order?
However the PO gets in, the same things go wrong. Check each one before the invoice goes out:
- The right variant. Size, color, scent, flavor, shade, weight or pack size, exactly as the store asked. "Lavender 8 oz" is not "Lavender 12 oz".
- Units versus cases and packs. "2 cases of 12" is 24 units, or 2 of a 12-pack variant, depending on how your store is set up. Apparel prepacks multiply out the same way.
- The wholesale price. Use your wholesale price, and question any price on the PO that differs from it.
- Dates and terms. Ship date, cancel date and payment terms (such as Net 30) from the PO.
- The PO number, so the store's bookkeeper can match your invoice.
Our 10-point PO checklist goes through each in detail.
Orderseam is one of the tools in option 5. You upload or forward a store's PO (PDF, Excel, Word, CSV, email text or a phone photo), it matches every line to your Shopify products and variants in any category, and anything unclear is flagged for you instead of guessed. When you approve, it creates the draft order, and it can make the Net-terms invoice from it. See how it works or try the demo inbox with sample POs.
Common questions
- Can Shopify import a PDF purchase order from a customer?
- Not by itself. Shopify can't read a PDF, spreadsheet, email or photo of a PO and turn it into an order. You retype it into a draft order, import a clean spreadsheet with an import app, or use a tool that reads the PO and creates the draft order for you to check.
- Are Shopify purchase orders the same as wholesale orders from stores?
- No. A Shopify purchase order is what you send your own supplier to buy stock. A wholesale PO from a store is a sale to you, and in Shopify it becomes a draft order and then an order.
- Should a wholesale PO be a draft order or an order in Shopify?
- Start with a draft order. It lets you check products, quantities and prices, add the PO number and terms, and send the invoice before anything is final. When the store accepts or pays, the draft becomes an order.
Skip the retyping
Upload or forward a store's PO and get a checked Shopify draft order back, with every line matched to your products and anything unclear flagged. Your first 10 POs are free, up to 30 days, with no card and no contract.
Start free: 10 POs, no card