Creating an inventory transfer for your purchase order
After you create a purchase order and mark it as Ordered, you can create an inventory transfer directly from the purchase order to track the physical movement of goods from your supplier to your store. The transfer is pre-populated with the same supplier, line items, and quantities as the purchase order. The purchase order records the commercial agreement, and the linked inventory transfer handles shipments, receiving, and cost adjustments in your Shopify admin. This works in a similar way to how an order and its fulfillments are tracked separately. One record captures the agreement, and the other tracks the physical movement of goods.
Linked transfers use the same workflow as inventory transfers between your locations, which gives you multi-shipment tracking and a single place to manage inventory movement in your Shopify admin. Each purchase order supports one linked inventory transfer at a time.
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Create an inventory transfer from a purchase order
You can create an inventory transfer for a purchase order that you marked as ordered. The transfer sets your supplier as the origin and includes the line items from the purchase order.
You don't always need a purchase order to receive inventory from a supplier. You can also create a standalone inventory transfer that sets a supplier as the origin, without linking it to a purchase order. If you don't want to specify an origin, then you can leave the origin location blank.
After you save the transfer, you can process the transfer to reserve and receive inventory. Shopify automatically creates a shipment when you process the transfer. If you need to manage multiple shipments or add tracking information, then you can manage shipments separately.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Purchase orders.
Click the purchase order that you want to create an inventory transfer from.
Click Create transfer.
Select a destination location for the inventory transfer. The origin and line items are pre-populated from the purchase order.
Click Save.
Receive inventory from a purchase order
Receiving happens on the inventory transfer that's linked to your purchase order, not on the purchase order itself. This keeps the commercial agreement separate from the actual inventory movement.
After your inventory arrives at the destination location, you can receive the items. To receive an item, you confirm that it arrived, evaluate it, and then accept or reject it. You can do this manually, or you can use a barcode scanner to receive items.
You can accept or reject items in bulk, or enter specific quantities. The Receive items dialog displays a progress summary with the total received items. Accepted inventory becomes available at the destination location. Rejected inventory is recorded on the transfer and doesn't add to the available quantity at any location. After all items are received, the transfer status changes to Transferred. If you only receive some items, then the transfer remains In progress until you receive the remaining items.
If your supplier ships items in multiple shipments, then you can receive each shipment individually as it arrives.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Transfers.
Click the inventory transfer linked to your purchase order.
Click Receive items.
Accept and reject items:
- To accept items in bulk, select the items that you want to accept, and then click Accept selected.
- To accept specific item quantities, in the Accept column, enter the item quantities that you accept for each item.
- To reject items in bulk, select the items that you want to reject, and then click Reject selected.
- To reject specific item quantities, in the Reject column, enter the item quantities that you reject for each item.
Click Save.
Add shipping costs and fees to a shipment
Shipping costs, customs duties, and other fees often aren't known when you create a purchase order. You can add these as cost adjustments to individual shipments on the linked inventory transfer.
The Cost summary on the inventory transfer aggregates all shipment adjustments, so you can compare the agreed cost on the purchase order with the actual cost to receive the goods.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Transfers.
Click the inventory transfer that is linked to your purchase order.
In the shipment section, click the
button, and then click Edit shipment.In the Cost summary section, click Manage.
Select an adjustment type, such as Shipping amount or Customs duties, and enter the amount.
Optional: Click Add adjustment to add more cost adjustments.
Click Save.
Managing linked purchase orders and inventory transfers
After you link or create an inventory transfer from a purchase order, a Linked transfer card is displayed in the purchase order sidebar. The card lists the inventory transfer number, its current status, and an expandable shipment preview with received items and quantities per shipment. Click the card to view the transfer's details, manage shipments, or receive inventory.
The inventory transfer sidebar includes a matching Linked purchase order card with the purchase order number, status, and order total. Expand the total to view a cost summary with product costs and taxes, or click the card to return to the purchase order.
You can link and unlink from either side, and update each independently. Link and unlink events are captured in the timeline on both records.
After you create or link an inventory transfer, it operates independently of the purchase order. You can add items to the transfer that weren't part of the original purchase order, and changes to one record don't automatically update the other. If you unlink a transfer, then you can continue to receive inventory and manage costs on it. Unlinking doesn't undo any receiving or cost adjustments.
Link an existing inventory transfer to a purchase order
If you already have an inventory transfer from the same supplier, then you can link it to a purchase order instead of creating a new one. The transfer must have the same supplier as origin, and only one transfer can be linked at a time.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Purchase orders.
Click the purchase order that you want to link an inventory transfer to.
Click Link transfer.
Select the inventory transfer that you want to link to the purchase order.
Click Save.
Link a purchase order from an inventory transfer
You can also link a purchase order to an inventory transfer from the transfer side. The purchase order must have the same origin and at least one matching item.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Transfers.
Click the inventory transfer that you want to link a purchase order to.
In the Linked purchase order section, click the edit icon.
Select the purchase order that you want to link.
Click Save.
Unlink an inventory transfer from a purchase order
If you need to remove the connection between a purchase order and an inventory transfer, then you can unlink them. Unlinking an inventory transfer doesn't delete the inventory transfer or the purchase order.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Purchase orders.
Click the purchase order with the linked inventory transfer.
In the Linked transfer section, click the
button.Click Unlink.