Buying and receiving

Buying lives under Purchase Transactions in the menu. Suppliers themselves live under Organization → Suppliers, and paying them happens over in Financials.

The short version

Most shops only ever need two of these:

• Buying something over the counter and paying there and then? Use an Instant Purchase. One screen, done.
• Ordering from a supplier who will deliver later? Raise a Purchase Order, then a Good Receipt when the goods arrive.

Everything else on this page is for larger operations.

Which document for which job

You need to	Use
Buy over the counter and pay now	Instant Purchases
Order goods for later delivery	Purchase Orders
Book in goods that have arrived	Good Receipts
Ask your head office for permission to buy	Purchase Requisitions
Get prices from several suppliers before choosing	Requests for Quotation
Agree a year’s price and draw down on it	Blanket POs
Send faulty or wrong goods back	Supplier Returns
Have a supplier post straight to your customer	Drop-Ship Orders
Record who you buy from, and what they charge	Suppliers

The one rule that explains everything

Only a Good Receipt changes your stock and your accounts

A purchase order is a promise. Raising one, sending it, and even having it approved moves no stock and posts nothing to your accounts.

Stock arrives on your shelf, your cost is recorded and money is owed to the supplier at exactly one moment: when you post a good receipt (or post an instant purchase, which is a receipt and a payment rolled into one).

A practical consequence worth knowing early: an order you have placed does not show anywhere as stock on its way to you. If you are wondering why an ordered item still looks out of stock, that is why.

The order you do things in

For a full procurement chain — most shops use only the last two steps:

1. Requisition — someone asks to buy something. Approved internally.
2. RFQ — you collect prices from suppliers and award a winner.
3. Purchase order — you place the order. (← most shops start here)
4. Good receipt — the goods arrive and you book them in. (← stock and accounts move here)
5. Vendor invoice and payment — you pay, over in Financials.

Each step can be skipped. A good receipt does not need a purchase order; a purchase order does not need a requisition.

Plans

	Plan
Instant Purchases, Suppliers	All plans
Purchase Orders, Good Receipts, Supplier Returns	Growth
Requisitions, RFQs, Blanket POs, Drop-Ship, Supplier Scorecards	Professional

Requisitions are hidden below Professional even though the server allows them

The server treats requisitions as a Growth feature, but the menu hides them until Professional. On a Growth plan the menu entry simply will not appear.

Two things to know before you start

1. Buying screens need an internet connection. Unlike the till, nothing in Purchase Transactions works offline — you cannot save, post or cancel a purchase document without a connection. You can still browse products.
2. Almost every document can only be edited while it is a draft. Once you send a purchase order or post a receipt, the way to change it is to cancel and start again.