Make a purchase order
The document that turns a conversation with a supplier into an order.
A purchase order is what your supplier quotes against, delivers against and invoices against, and what your accounts team matches when the bill arrives. It needs an order number, the exact specification of what you are buying, the agreed price, when it must arrive and where it goes. This produces that document, numbered and ready to send, with terms that ask the supplier to quote your order number back on the invoice.
How to make a purchase order
- 1
Choose Purchase order
The layout changes to an order: you are the buyer, and the other party is the supplier.
- 2
Specify exactly what you are ordering
Part numbers, sizes, grades. Vague lines are how the wrong thing arrives and nobody is at fault.
- 3
Set the delivery date and address
Deliver by, ship to and payment terms. Then download and send it.
Why three documents must agree
Order, delivery note, invoice. When all three carry the same number and the same lines, checking a bill takes seconds. When they do not, it takes a phone call and an argument.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need purchase orders for a small business?+
Once more than one person can commit money, yes. An order number is the only practical way to know what was ordered, by whom, and whether the invoice matches.
What number should I use?+
Any consistent sequence. The point is that it is unique and appears on the invoice and the delivery note, so the three can be matched.
Is a purchase order a contract?+
Once the supplier accepts it, it usually forms one on the terms stated. That is why the specification and the terms on it matter.
Is my order data uploaded?+
No. Supplier names, prices and quantities stay in your browser.