How to run purchase orders for an online store
From supplier order to stock count.
To run purchase orders for an online store, give each supplier order its own number, send it, track what is still on order, and receive each delivery in full or in part against it. On the Pro plan, GoatLabels does this for sellers who also ship parcels.
Numbered orders to your suppliers
On the Pro plan, raise an order of up to 200 lines, email your supplier a PDF link when the supplier has an email address, and see what is on order.
Receive a delivery, in full or in part
Received units go into stock with a link back to the order. A short shipment leaves the balance on order.
When does a small seller need purchase orders, and when is email fine?
Email is fine while you buy from one or two suppliers, reorder a few times a year, and can say from memory what is on the way. You need numbered purchase orders once orders overlap, deliveries arrive in pieces, or you reorder before the last order has landed.
On this page a purchase order is the order you send to a supplier for stock you plan to sell, which is different from the order a business customer sends to you.
Purchase order facts, checked
- GoatLabels purchase orders belong to the Operations hub, which is included with the Pro plan with no separate add-on fee (GoatLabels plan data, checked November 5, 2026).
- Plans on that date: Free is 50 shipments a month; Pro is $40 a month with unlimited shipments (GoatLabels plan data, checked November 5, 2026).
- ShipStation's pricing page lists purchase orders on its Premium plan, shown at $349.99 a month at 50 shipments (ShipStation pricing, accessed November 5, 2026).
- Ordoro's pricing page lists purchase orders on its Inventory Premium app at $499 a month (Ordoro pricing, accessed November 5, 2026).
- Veeqo's help center documents receiving purchase orders, and neither that article nor its pricing page says which plan includes them (Veeqo help, Receive Purchase Order and Veeqo pricing, accessed November 5, 2026).
Those rival plans bundle other features this page does not compare.
Checked
What goes on a purchase order?
A purchase order needs seven things: who you are ordering from, a unique number, the dates, where to deliver, the lines, the totals, and any terms.
| Field | What to put | In GoatLabels, on the Pro plan |
|---|---|---|
| Supplier | The supplier's name and the email or phone you will chase. | Pick a saved supplier. A supplier stores a name, email, phone, lead time and notes. |
| Order number | One unique number per order, never reused. | Numbered for you, in the form PO-0001, counting up from your highest number. |
| Dates | The date you place it and the date you need the goods. | An expected date, printed on the order as Requested by. A sent or part-received order past that date is flagged overdue. |
| Ship-to | Where the goods should be delivered. | A warehouse you track, or the unassigned location. Received units go there. |
| Lines | SKU, item name, quantity and agreed unit cost, one line per product. | Up to 200 lines, each a product already in your Products list. A product cannot appear on two lines, so combine them. |
| Totals | Total units and the order subtotal, so both sides can check the sum. | Units and subtotal are worked out from the lines. |
| Notes | Payment terms, carrier, packing or labelling requests. | A free-text notes field, up to 2,000 characters. |
Checked 2026-11-05. The first two columns work on any tool, including a spreadsheet.
How do you number a purchase order and send it to a supplier?
Use one running sequence, give each order its own number, and send the order in a form the supplier can quote back. A plain sequence such as PO-0001, PO-0002 is enough. Never reuse a number.
- Choose the supplier, the ship-to location and the date you need the goods.
- Add one line per product with the quantity and the agreed unit cost.
- Check the units and subtotal, then send it.
- Ask the supplier to confirm quantity, price and ship date in writing.
On the Pro plan, GoatLabels fills in the number for you and emails your supplier a link to a PDF of the order, with the lines in the message, when the supplier has an email address. Replies go to your account email address. If the supplier has no email address, the order is marked sent and nothing is emailed, so you send the document yourself. A draft can still be edited. After you send, the lines can no longer be edited, and the order takes receipts, a close or a cancel.
The PDF link expires after 60 days, so keep a copy of the PDF for your records. There is no supplier portal: your supplier gets an email and a PDF, and replies by email.
How do you track what is on order?
What is on order for a product is the quantity ordered minus the quantity received, summed across every order you have sent that is not yet finished. Check that number before you reorder, or you will order the same stock twice.
In a spreadsheet, keep one row per order line with the order number, supplier, SKU, quantity ordered, quantity received, quantity outstanding and due date, then sum the outstanding column by SKU.
On the Pro plan, GoatLabels counts sent orders and part-received orders as on order. A draft does not count as on order. It does stop the same product appearing again in the suggested reorder list. A closed or cancelled order stops counting. The low-stock alert says what is already on order. The reorder list shows the products that are low with nothing on order, grouped by the supplier of the last order that carried the product, and starts a draft order for each supplier. When a sent or part-received order passes its expected date with units still open, it is flagged overdue and you get one alert.
How do you receive a delivery in full or in part?
Count what is in the box, compare it with the order and the packing slip, and record the quantity that arrived on each line. Receiving inventory adds the counted units to your stock.
On the Pro plan, you open the order and receive per line. You can type the quantity or scan the SKU barcode (a GTIN does not match at this step), and you can enter a new unit cost if the price changed. Each receipt is a line in the stock ledger, linked to the order, and the units land in the order's ship-to location.
| What happened | What to do | Order status after |
|---|---|---|
| Everything arrives as ordered | Receive each line at the quantity ordered. | Received |
| Short shipment: fewer units, or a line missing | Receive only the units that arrived. The rest stay on order. | Partially received |
| The supplier ships the balance later | Receive again against the same order when it lands. | Received once every line is complete |
| The supplier will never ship the balance | Close the order short. The unreceived balance stops counting as on order. If nothing has arrived at all, cancel the order instead. Settle credit or a refund with the supplier. | Closed or cancelled |
| Over-receipt: more units than ordered | Receive the quantity you keep. GoatLabels accepts a quantity above the order. | Received once every line is complete |
| A delivery arrives before you pressed Send | Receive it against the draft. It counts as sent from then on. | Partially received or received |
Checked 2026-11-05. Statuses are GoatLabels order statuses on the Pro plan: draft, sent, partially received, received, closed and cancelled.
Receive only units you will sell, and settle damaged or wrong units with the supplier outside the count. If you accept an over-receipt, tell the supplier so the invoice matches.
On the Pro plan, stock comes off when you buy a label whose line carries a SKU that matches a tracked product, so use the same SKUs on the order and on the sale.
How does supplier lead time feed a reorder decision?
Lead time sets how early you must order. A common rule is reorder point = average daily sales x lead time in days + safety stock. Measure lead time from your own last few orders and use the longer typical figure instead of the supplier's promise.
Example, with invented numbers: a product sells 6 units a day, the supplier takes 14 days, and you want 3 days of sales as a buffer.
| Example line | Value | How |
|---|---|---|
| Average daily sales | 6 units | From your own order history. |
| Lead time | 14 days | Days from sending the order to receiving it. |
| Demand during the lead time | 84 units | 6 x 14 |
| Safety stock | 18 units | 3 days of sales: 6 x 3 |
| Reorder point | 102 units | 84 + 18 |
| On hand today | 95 units | Below the reorder point, so it is low. |
| Restock level in GoatLabels | 204 units | Twice the reorder point: 2 x 102 |
| Suggested quantity, nothing on order | 109 units | 204 - 95 |
Illustration with invented numbers. Your own sales and lead times set your numbers.
If the supplier's lead time grows from 14 to 28 days, the same rule moves the reorder point from 102 to 186 units. Lead time is stored on the supplier and is not used in the reorder maths, so you raise the product's reorder point yourself.
The suggested quantity is a fixed formula: restock to twice the reorder point, minus what is on hand and what is on order. It ignores sales speed and seasons, so treat it as a first draft and change the quantity before you send. The low-stock alert tests each warehouse's count against the reorder point, while the suggested list adds the warehouses together, so the two can disagree when you hold stock in more than one place.
What does GoatLabels do and not do for purchase orders?
On the Pro plan, GoatLabels raises numbered purchase orders of up to 200 lines, emails your supplier a PDF link when the supplier has an email address, shows what is on order, and receives a delivery in full or in part.
The limits. Purchase orders are part of the Operations hub on the Pro plan; a Free account sees an upgrade card.
- The PDF link expires after 60 days.
- There is no supplier portal.
- GoatLabels is not a party to the order. The order is your document to your supplier, and terms, payment and disputes stay between the two of you.
- Lead time is stored on the supplier and is not used in the reorder maths.
- The suggested quantity is a fixed formula, restock to twice the reorder point. It is not a forecast.
- Receiving at a new cost overwrites the product's unit cost. A product has one current unit cost, with no average or landed cost.
- It tracks counts. GoatLabels does not store your goods, and it is not a warehouse management system.
If you buy from one supplier a few times a year, email and a spreadsheet do the job and you do not need Pro for this. Compare the Free and Pro plans.
Purchase orders for an online store: FAQ
- Do I need purchase order software for a small online store?
- Not at first. Email and a spreadsheet work while you buy from one or two suppliers. Purchase order software starts to pay off when orders overlap, deliveries arrive in pieces, or you reorder before the last order has landed. On the Pro plan, GoatLabels raises numbered purchase orders and tracks what is on order.
- What does receiving inventory mean?
- Receiving inventory means checking a delivery against the order and adding the units you counted to your stock, at the unit cost you paid. Units you have not received are still on order, not on hand.
- What happens if a supplier ships less than I ordered?
- Receive only the units that arrived. In GoatLabels the order becomes partially received and the balance stays on order. If the supplier ships the rest, receive again. If it never will, close the order so the balance stops counting as on order.
- Does GoatLabels use supplier lead time to decide when to reorder?
- No. GoatLabels stores a lead time on each supplier, but the stored number is not used in the reorder maths. The suggested quantity is a fixed formula, restock to twice the reorder point, and it is not a forecast. Use lead time yourself when you set each product's reorder point.
- Can I use purchase orders on the Free plan?
- No. Purchase orders are part of the Operations hub, which is included with the Pro plan with no separate add-on fee. A Free account sees an upgrade card where the hub would be.
Related reading: the Operations hub, how to calculate a reorder point, how to set low-stock alerts, how to sync stock to Shopify and WooCommerce, how to calculate landed cost per order, how to set up scan-to-pack, how to make a pick list, how to calculate shipping cost per SKU, how to record shipping costs in QuickBooks and Xero, bookkeeping for shipping costs, GoatLabels plans and pricing.
Know what is on order
before you reorder.
On the Pro plan, raise numbered purchase orders, email your supplier a PDF link, and receive deliveries into stock.
Purchase orders are included with Pro, with no separate add-on fee.