# How to create a purchase order

A purchase order records what you bought from a supplier and what you paid. When the delivery arrives, mark it received and the stock is added, each lot costed at what this order cost you, shipping and tax included.

Source: https://www.prophitable.io/help/run/purchase-orders (updated 2026-10-29)

## Create a purchase order

1. Go to **Purchase Orders** and click **Add Purchase Order**.
2. Under **General Information**, pick the **Supplier**. Prophitable fills in the **PO Number**, the **Expected Arrival** from the supplier's lead time, and the tax and shipping from the supplier's **Order Settings**.
3. Under **Purchase Information**, click **Add Resource** and pick what you're buying, as a single unit or a case. Only items you buy from this supplier are listed. To buy something new from them, click **Add Resource** inside the list to create it.
4. Enter the **Quantity** and check the **Price**. It starts at the price you last saved for this supplier.
5. Click **Save**.

If a price differs from the one saved for this supplier, you'll be asked **Update price?** first (more below).

## Receive the delivery

1. Open the purchase order.
2. Under **General Information**, set **Status** to **Received all**.
   - Only part of it came? Choose **Received some**, tick the lines that arrived and click **Receive Stock**. Each line is received whole.

On the **Purchase Orders** list, a row's menu also has **Receive All**. To receive several at once, tick them and click **Receive All** above the list. If any prices changed, you're asked **Update price?** once, for all of them.

## Update price?

When what you paid differs from the price saved for this supplier, **Save**, **Received all** and the list's **Receive All** ask **Update price?**:

- **Update Price** saves the new price on the item. Your recipes, packaging and products are re-costed with it.
- **Save Without Updating** keeps the saved price. This order still uses what you paid.
- **Cancel** saves nothing.

## What you'll see

![A received purchase order's lines: brownie crisp, almond butter and dates at what was paid, adding up to a total cost of $26.45](https://www.prophitable.io/_astro/purchase-orders-items.UMSvnF4p.png)

Each received line becomes a lot in stock, numbered like L2026-10-FLO3 and dated the day you received it. An ingredient's lot expires after the ingredient's shelf life.

Each lot costs what you paid on this order, plus its share of the shipping and fees, and of the tax if the item is taxed. Make orders that use it are costed from that.

The order's status moves from **Not received** to **Partially received** to **Received**. A received order is locked, apart from its **Tax** and **Shipping**. You can only delete an order that's still **Not received**.

> [!TIP]
> Prices creep up a few cents at a time, and a recipe costed at last year's flour price looks more profitable than it is. Receiving each delivery at what you actually paid, and updating the price when it moves, keeps every cost built on it honest.