Product Purchase Order and Return Order

To apply for this and any of SHOPLINE POS's features, please contact our Online Merchant Success Team.

Purchase orders for your online store and retail stores can be added or managed in SHOPLINE Admin. You can export purchase and return product records in SHOPLINE Admin as well. 

In this article, you'll find:

• How to create a purchase order
• Receive products and complete purchase order
• How to create purchase return
• Calculation of the cost of purchase and return
• Export purchase or return product record

⚠️ Note: Hong Kong merchants should own the "Advanced Procurement, Inventory" module to use this feature.

1. How to create a purchase order 

Step 1

Go to SHOPLINE Admin > [Inventory Management] > [Purchase Order]. Click Create on the top right.

Select Purchase Order in the pop-up window.

Bulk create/update purchase order

If you wish to create purchase orders for multiple stores at the same time, you can use the "bulk create/update purchase orders" feature to boost operational efficiency. For more details, please refer to Bulk Create/Update Purchase Order｜POS Admin.

[Coming Soon] Step 2  

Choose "Selected store" or "Selected warehouse" as the purchase method.

Selected store

Assign purchase orders to a specific retail or online store. The store must be linked to a warehouse to process the orders. You must then select a "Purchase Store".

Selected warehouse

Assign purchase orders to a warehouse, even without linked sales channels. You must then select a "Purchase Warehouse".

*Notes:

• "Purchase Store" includes your online store and retail stores.
• "Purchase Method" and "Purchase Store/Warehouse" are required fields. 
• Purchase orders for the selected warehouse can only be created/viewed in the store Admin. It will not appear in the POS app.

Step 2

Fill in the information for "Purchase Store", "Staff", "Scheduled Arrival Date", "Other Fee", and "Custom ID". You can specify the arrival date to facilitate inventory management. 

 *Notes:

• "Purchase Store" includes your online store and retail stores.
• "Purchase Store" and "Staff" are required fields. For the "Staff" field, you can select the currently logged-in staff member or the POS staff members.
• "Custom ID" can only be set in the store Admin. It cannot be set, edited, or viewed on the POS app.

Then, click Select purchased products at the bottom.

Add a supplier

In the "Purchase Order Information" section, you can select a supplier. The supplier field is optional and supports only one supplier.

If you set up a supplier, the system will automatically filter and display products from that supplier when selecting purchased products.

You can also select products from another supplier by switching the "Supplier" drop-down menu.

*Notes:

• When the order status is "New" or "Received", you can modify the "Supplier" information.
  
   
• For the partially received purchase order, the system will import the supplier information from the original purchase order when you continue the purchase order.
   

Step 3

In the following window, select the product that needs to be restocked. Click View Selected Products at the bottom left to view all selected purchased products. Click Select at the bottom right to complete this step.

*Note: The purchase limit for a single product variant is 30,000; the total number of product variants is limited to 500.

*Tip: You can search products by their product categories and suppliers. 

After your products have been selected, input the Purchase quantity and Cost. 

• Click Select purchased products again to reselect purchased products. 
• Click the "trash bin" icon to remove the product. 

Click Create purchase order to complete this step. 

*Notes:

• If the purchase order products include "same price as main product" variations and the merchant adjusts the cost during purchase, the cost will be recalculated and applied to all the product variations after the products arrive.
• The price display order of the "Purchase Order Products" is as follows: [Coming Soon] Store-specific Price > Retail Store Price > Sale Price > Regular Price.  When a price for the previous rank is not set, the next-ranked price will be displayed, and so on.

Step 4 

After creating a purchase order, the purchase order details conclude the following: 

• Order / Arrival status: Appears "New" and "None arrived", respectively.
• Expected / Actual cost: The expected cost is the cost price of the products + other expenses; the actual cost is the total cost after the goods arrive. 
• [Coming Soon] Store / Warehouse: If you choose "Selected store" as the purchase method, the name of the online or retail store will appear. If you choose "Selected warehouse" as the purchase method, the name of the warehouse will appear.
• Click Edit to modify purchase details, including target store, [Coming Soon] warehouse, (in storage) staff, other fees, scheduled arrival date, and remarks. *Editing the target store allows the system to re-obtain the latest product price.
• Click Export to duplicate or delete this purchase order. 
  *Note: If the products have already been in storage, the administrator can select whether they want to delete the inventory altogether.

[Coming Soon] 

• Choose "Selected store" as the purchase method

• Choose "Selected warehouse" as the purchase method

Under the  "Purchase Order Products" field, you can find the "Purchase Quantity", "Price", "Cost", and "Total Cost". Click Edit to modify the purchase quantity and cost.

*Notes:

• The purchase quantity must be greater than zero. 
• If you modify the product's price in the Admin > [Products & Categories] > [Products] upon the creation of the purchase order, please note that the price of the existing "Purchase Order Product" and newly added "Purchase Order Product" will be affected differently.
  • Existing Purchase Order Product: The "Price" field will still maintain the price when the purchase order is created. If you would like to sync the price to the latest, please edit the target store on the purchase order to refresh the data, and the latest product price will be displayed.
  • Newly added Purchase Order Product: When you edit the purchase order: The "Price" field will display the latest product price.

The purchase order list will also show the system's preset purchase order number, custom ID, order status, arrival status, and other relevant information about the purchase order.

Filter the purchase order by entering the purchase order ID, Custom ID, or by selecting the order/arrival status condition.

*Note: When searching the order using the ID, please input the exact wordings (case sensitive) and numbers for successful search results. The search logic is as follows: 

• ID consisting of Chinese / English - If the Custom ID is "HOT2022最新潮流耳環"
  Please enter the exact wording. Entering parts of the ID (e.g.: "HOT", "2022", "hot", "hot2022", "HOT2022", "潮流", "耳環" or "潮流耳環") will not display search results.
• ID consisting of English / numbers - If the Custom ID is "Shopline-12345"
  The order can be found when entering "Shopline" or "12345" since the letters' numbers are separated by a dash (-). "Shopline" and "12345" are recognized independent phrases. Entering "line" or "345", however, will not display search results. 
• ID consisting of symbols - If the Custom ID is "20211228/Handmade"
  As the letters and numbers are separated by the slash (/), orders can be found when entering "20211228" and "Handmade". However, search results will not display when entering "2021", "1228", "Hand", "made" or "handmade". 

[Coming Soon] Filter feature for Purchase Order

In addition to existing filters (e.g., Purchase order ID, order status), you will soon be able to filter purchase orders by "Product SKU", "Arrival status", "Supplier", "Store" and "Warehouse". 

*Notes:

• When filtering purchase orders by product SKU, you must enter the full SKU.
• You can enter up to 10 SKUs, separated by commas.
• If you change the product SKU after creating a purchase order, you must still use the SKU that was in place at the time the order was created to filter successfully.
• If you choose "Selected warehouse" as the purchase method, you will be unable to filter purchase order by "Selected store". Please filter by "Store" instead.

2. Receive products and complete purchase order 

Step 1

Click the Received Products button in the top right corner. 

i. Receive part of the products 

When the actual quantity of the product received is less than the ordered quantity, the merchant can use the "Partial arrival" feature.

Enter the actual received quantity in the Received Quantity field. The Inventory field will then automatically add the newly added quantity. Click Receive after updating. 

After receiving part of the products, the order status will change to Received, and arrival status will change to "Partial arrived". The actual cost will be updated based on the arrival quantity. Click Received Products to modify the arrived product quantity.

*Note: The product quantity will not be added to the existing inventory right after clicking "Received Products". Merchants have to click "Complete Purchase Order" to update the product quantity in the inventory.

ii. Receive the whole batch of products

In the "Received Products" window, either enter the full quantity of purchased products or click All arrived at the bottom. The inventory will automatically add the newly-added arrival quantity, and then click Receive to complete. 

After receiving the whole batch of products, the order status will appear "Received", and the arrival status will appear "All arrived". Click Received Products if you need to modify the quantity. 

*Note: The product quantity will not be added to the existing inventory right after clicking "Received Products". Merchants have to click "Complete Purchase Order" to update the product quantity to the inventory.

iii. Product in stock

Merchants cannot modify the inventory after confirming Complete Purchase Order.

A window will pop up when the merchant clicks Complete Purchase Order. Complete the step by clicking the button. 

After the confirmation, the order status will change to Completed and the arrival status will change to All arrived, meaning the completion of the inventory update. 
*Note: After completing the purchase order, only "staff", "in storage staff" and "remarks" can be modified.

iv. Cancel and delete purchase order

The drop-down menu under Export changes under different order and arrival statuses. 
*Note: The order will no longer appear after confirming delete. Please double-confirm before deletion. 

1. Duplicate or Delete for "New"/"Received" order status + "None arrived" arrival status. 
   
    

2. Duplicate or Cancel Purchase Order for "Completed" order status and "All arrived" arrival status. 
   
   A pop-up message will appear after you click Cancel Purchase Order, and you can choose whether to revert the inventory.

   

*Note: After clicking "Cancel Purchase Order", the system will check the current inventory quantity of all the products in the purchase order. If the inventory quantity of the products is insufficient after the replenishment, the reminder window of "Cannot replenish quantity" will pop up.

3. Duplicate or Delete for "Cancelled" order status and "Returned" arrival status.

*Note: Merchants can check the inventory replenish progress by checking the order and arrival statuses:

• If the order status is "Cancelled" and the arrival status is "Returned": inventory reverted successfully to the quantity before the purchase order.

• If the order status is "Cancelled" and the arrival status is "Arrived": stock remains unchanged to the quantity after the arrival. 

E.  Purchase order activity log

Below the purchase information and purchase goods, you can find all activity records of the purchase order. This includes purchase order creation, product receiving and stocking, edited product details, expected arrival dates, and [Coming Soon] warehouse adjustments. 

3. How to create purchase return

Step 1

On the "Purchase Order" page, click Create and select Purchase Return. 

[Coming Soon] Step 2

Choose "Selected store" or "Selected warehouse" as the return method.

Selected store

Assign returned orders to a specific retail or online store. The store must be linked to a warehouse to process the orders. You must then select a "Return Store".

Selected warehouse

Assign returned orders to a warehouse, even without linked sales channels. You must then select a "Return Warehouse".

*Notes:

• "Return store" includes your online store and retail stores.
• "Return Method" and “Return store/warehouse" are required fields. 
• Returned orders for the selected warehouse can only be created/viewed in the store Admin. It will not appear in the POS app.

Step 2

Fill in the information for "Return Store", "Return Staff", "Scheduled Purchase Return Date", "Custom ID", and "Other Fee". You can specify the return date to facilitate inventory management. 

*Notes:

• "Return store" includes your online store and retail stores.
• "Return store" and "Return Staff" are required fields.

Add a supplier

In the "Purchase Return information" section, you can select a supplier. The supplier field is optional and supports only one supplier.

Step 3

Click Select Purchase Return Products and select the products to be returned. Edit the return quantity and cost in the corresponding fields. Click Returned Products to complete. 

*Notes:

• The return quantity must be greater than zero and less than the store inventory. 
• The inventory will not be deducted until you click the "Complete the purchase return" button.

Step 4

In the newly created purchase return order, the order status appears "New" and the arrival status appears "None returned". 

A pop-up message will appear after you click Complete the purchase return. Inventory will be deducted only after you click the button. 

After completing product return, the order status will change to "Completed" and the arrival status will change to "Returned". The return amount will be calculated by the cost of the product after deducting other fees. 

Click the blue Edit link to modify the order details. Click the drop-down menu under Export for deleting the product return order. 

As the order will no longer appear in the Admin after deletion, please double-check before deletion. 

*Note: Return quantity and cost cannot be modified after clicking "complete the purchase return". 

Product return activity log 

Below the return information and return goods, you can find all activity records of the return order. 

4. Calculation of the cost of purchase and return

Purchase cost

1. Products with no variation

Formula: (Positive inventory quantity of purchased product in each warehouse in total*Product cost) + (Purchase quantity*Purchase cost) / (Positive inventory quantity of purchased product in each warehouse in total + Purchase quantity)

Example:

Purchase cost = (5*100+10*80)/(5+10)

2. Product with variations, and the price of each variant differs from the main product price

Formula: (Positive inventory quantity of the variant in total*Cost of the variant + Purchase quantity of the variant*Purchase cost of the variant) / (Positive inventory quantity of the variant in total + Purchase quantity of the variant)

Example:

Price of the main product: $150, Price of Variant B (B): $120,

Quantity of B before purchase: 3, Cost: $90, Purchase quantity: 15, Purchase cost: $50

Purchase cost of B = (Inventory quantity of B*Cost of B + Purchase quantity of B*Purchase cost of B) / (Inventory quantity of B + Purchase quantity of B)

Example:

Purchase cost of Variation A = Inventory is a negative number. Take the purchase cost into account = 80

Purchase cost of Variation B =(3*90+15*50)/(3+15)

Purchase cost of Variation C = Inventory is zero. Take the purchase cost into account = 60

Purchase cost of Variation D = Inventory is a negative number. Take the purchase cost into account = 40

3. Product with variations, while all variant prices are the same as the main product price 

Formula: (Positive inventory quantity of each variant in total*Product cost of the main product + Purchase quantity of each variant*Purchase cost of each variant) / (Positive inventory quantity of each variant in total + Purchase quantity of each variant) 

Example:

Purchase cost of all product variants = (3*100+5*80+15*50+5*60+7*40)/(3+5+15+5+7).

Return cost

• The calculation method of the return cost is roughly the same as that of the purchase cost. The only difference is to change the pluses (+) of purchases to the minuses (-) of returns.
• Formula = (Total positive inventory quantity of returned product in each warehouse*cost) - (Return quantity*Return cost) / (Total positive inventory quantity of returned product in each warehouse - Return quantity)
   

5. Export purchase or return product record

i. Export the record 

Select the tab between "Purchase Order" and "Purchase Return" and click Export/Import > Export Purchase Order at the top right. 

Select the export range in the pop-up window.

[Coming Soon] Export purchase order report

In addition to the fields available above, the purchase order report will also include the product name, SKU, price, etc.

There is also a field for "Supplier", [Coming Soon] "Store" and "Warehouse".

ii.  Export a single product purchase/return record

Click on the specific purchase/return order and click Export at the top right corner.

Read more

• Cost of Sales | Product
• Introduction to Purchase Order | POS app