How to Receive a Purchase Order in VNDLY: 5 Steps [2026]

Receiving a purchase order sounds simple until you do it at scale. A box arrives. You open it. You check the contents against what you ordered. You update your stock. Done.

Except it is never that clean. The supplier sends 80 of the 100 units you ordered. Three items have the wrong SKU. The freight bill does not match the quote. Your warehouse team updates a spreadsheet that nobody else can see. And your Shopify store still shows the old stock level, so you keep selling products that are not actually on the shelf.

This guide walks through the exact goods receipt workflow inside VNDLY. By the end, you will know how to receive a PO from start to finish, handle partial shipments, track serial or lot numbers, and allocate freight costs so your margins stay accurate.

What This Guide Covers

VNDLY's purchase order flow has five statuses: Draft, Confirmed, Partly received, Received, and Cancelled. This guide focuses on the transition from Confirmed to Received (or Partly received), which is where most of the real work happens.

We will cover:

• How to open the Receive Inventory dialog
• How to choose a destination location
• How to enter quantities and handle partial shipments
• How serial and lot tracking work during receipt
• How freight cost allocation affects your landed unit cost
• What happens to stock levels, supplier metrics, and connected storefronts after you click receive

If you have not created a purchase order in VNDLY yet, read the complete wholesale purchase order guide first. This post assumes your PO is already confirmed and the goods are on their way.

Step 1: Confirm the PO Is Ready to Receive

Before you touch a single box, open the purchase order in VNDLY and check its status. Only POs with a status of Confirmed or Partly received show the Receive inventory button. If the PO is still in Draft, click Confirm first. If it is Received or Cancelled, there is nothing left to do.

The PO detail page shows everything you need at a glance:

• PO number and current status badge
• Supplier name, email, and phone
• Expected delivery date
• Line items with SKU, quantity ordered, and quantity already received
• Freight cost and freight allocation method (if configured)

Check the expected delivery date against today's date. If the shipment is early or late, note the variance. VNDLY tracks actual delivery date and calculates delivery days variance automatically after you complete the receipt, which feeds into your supplier performance metrics.

Step 2: Open the Receive Inventory Dialog

Once you have verified the PO status, click the blue Receive inventory button at the top of the page. This opens a dialog titled "Receive inventory for {PO number}" with the description: "Select the destination location and confirm quantities received for each line item."

The dialog is designed to be used on a laptop in the warehouse office or on a tablet at the receiving dock. Everything happens in one screen. You do not need to jump between pages.

If you have already received part of this PO before, the dialog pre-fills the pending quantities for each line. For example, if you ordered 100 units and received 60 last week, the quantity field defaults to 40. This saves time and reduces data entry errors.

Step 3: Choose Your Destination Location

The first field in the dialog is Destination location (required). Open the dropdown and pick the warehouse or storage area where the stock is going. Locations display as "{code} - {name}" so you can tell them apart quickly if you have multiple sites.

This step matters more than most people think. If you receive stock into the wrong location, your pick-and-pack team will look for products that are not there. Your stock projection charts will show the wrong location has stock. And if you are syncing inventory to Shopify or WooCommerce, the wrong location might be the one connected to your store.

If you only have one warehouse, the choice is easy. But if you run multi-location inventory, make sure the person receiving the goods knows which location code to select.

Step 4: Enter Quantities and Track Details

This is the core of the workflow. The dialog lists every line item from the PO with the following fields:

• Line number
• SKU
• Product name
• Quantity ordered and quantity already received
• Quantity to receive (editable input)

For each line, enter the actual quantity you are receiving right now. If the supplier sent everything, the default value is correct. Just verify and move on. If they sent a partial shipment, adjust the number.

Partial Shipments

VNDLY handles partial shipments natively. If you receive 80 of 100 units, enter 80 and click Receive inventory. The PO status changes to Partly received. The line shows 80 received and 20 pending. Next week, when the remaining 20 arrive, open the same PO, click Receive inventory again, and enter 20. The status then flips to Received.

This is a big deal for small businesses. Most inventory tools either force you to close the PO in full or make you create a whole new document for the backorder. VNDLY keeps it on one PO with a clear audit trail.

Over-Receive Guard

VNDLY will not let you accidentally receive more than you ordered. If you try to enter a quantity that exceeds the pending amount, the dialog throws an error: "Cannot receive {qty} units for line {number}. Only {pending} units pending."

This sounds obvious, but it saves you constantly. Warehouse teams are under pressure. A distracted click or a typo can create phantom stock that throws off your counts for weeks. The guard catches it before the data hits your system.

Serial Number Tracking

If a product is configured to track serial numbers, the dialog shows a text area where you enter one serial number per line. VNDLY validates three things before it lets you proceed:

1. The count of serial numbers must match the quantity you are receiving.
2. You cannot enter more serials than the pending quantity.
3. Duplicate serial numbers are rejected, both within the batch and against your existing inventory.

If a serial number already exists in your database, the dialog stops you with: "Serial numbers already exist in inventory: {list}." This prevents the same unit from being counted twice.

Serial tracking is available on all VNDLY plans, including Starter. If you sell electronics, appliances, or anything with a warranty, this is essential. Learn more in the barcode scanning guide.

Lot and Batch Tracking

For products that track lots (but not serials), the dialog shows additional fields:

• Lot number
• Lot quantity (must match the receive quantity)
• Expiry date (optional)
• Manufactured date (optional)

Lot tracking is also available on all plans. It is critical for food, cosmetics, supplements, or any product with a shelf life. If you try to receive a lot-tracked product without entering a lot number, VNDLY blocks the receipt with: "Lot number is required for lot-tracked products."

Freight Allocation

If your PO has a freight cost, VNDLY allocates it across the received lines using the method set on the PO: even (split equally), by quantity, or by value. The allocated freight is added to each line's landed unit cost, so your margin calculations reflect the true cost of getting the product into your warehouse.

This happens automatically during the receipt. You do not need to open a spreadsheet and do the math.

Step 5: Complete the Receipt and Verify Stock

Once you have entered all quantities, serials, lots, and selected the location, click Receive inventory. The button shows "Receiving..." while VNDLY processes the transaction.

Behind the scenes, VNDLY runs a single atomic database transaction that does the following:

1. Updates each PO line with the newly received quantity.
2. Creates inventory events to add the stock to the selected location.
3. Inserts serial numbers (if tracked) into your serial registry.
4. Upserts lot records (if tracked) with expiry and manufactured dates.
5. Updates the PO status to Partly received or Received.
6. Records the actual delivery date and calculates delivery variance.

If the receipt succeeds, the dialog closes and the page refreshes. You will see updated quantities on each line and the new PO status badge.

What Happens After Receipt

Three important things happen automatically after you receive a PO in VNDLY:

Stock levels update instantly. The inventory in your selected location increases by the received quantity. Your stock projection charts recalculate immediately. If this receipt pushes a product above its reorder point, the stockout warning disappears.

Supplier performance stats refresh. VNDLY updates your supplier's lead time accuracy and on-time delivery rate based on the actual delivery date versus the expected delivery date. Over time, this data helps you identify which suppliers are reliable and which ones consistently miss their commitments. You can read more about supplier management in the supplier relationship guide.

Connected storefronts sync automatically. If you have Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or Squarespace connected to VNDLY, the new stock levels are pushed to those platforms within moments. Your online store stops overselling. No manual export. No CSV upload. No waiting.

Tips and Edge Cases

Receiving Damaged or Wrong Items

VNDLY's receipt dialog does not have a separate "damaged" field. If part of a shipment is damaged or incorrect, enter only the good quantity in the receive dialog. Leave the damaged quantity unreceived. The PO stays in Partly received status, which reminds you to follow up with the supplier for a replacement or credit note.

If the supplier issues a credit note, create it in VNDLY under the Invoices section. This keeps your financial records clean and linked to the original PO.

Receiving Against Multiple Locations

If a single PO needs to be split across two warehouses, you need to receive it in two batches. Run the Receive Inventory dialog twice, selecting a different location each time. VNDLY tracks the quantity received per batch, so the audit trail stays intact.

Barcode Scanning During Receiving

If you use the VNDLY Scanner app on iOS or Android, you can scan barcodes or QR codes during stock counts and PO receiving. While the main web receiving dialog is designed for keyboard or tablet input, the mobile app is built for the warehouse floor. Scan a barcode to pull up the product, enter the quantity, and confirm. NFC tags are also supported.

Freight Cost Changes After Receipt

If the freight bill arrives later and the cost is different from what you estimated on the PO, edit the PO's freight cost field. VNDLY does not retroactively adjust landed costs on already-received lines, but the updated freight cost will apply to future receipts on that PO.

Related Features and Next Steps

Receiving a PO is just one link in the chain. Here is what to set up next:

• Stocktakes. After receiving goods, run a stocktake to verify that what is on the shelf matches what VNDLY thinks is there. Catching drift early prevents big surprises at year-end.
• Demand planning. With accurate stock levels from proper receiving, your demand planning reports become reliable enough to trust for ordering decisions.
• B2B portal. If you sell wholesale, set up the VNDLY B2B portal so your customers can place orders directly into your system. The orders flow into sales orders, which pull from the same stock levels you just updated. VNDLY is built for wholesale inventory management with features like customer-specific price lists and self-serve ordering.

If you are comparing VNDLY to other systems for purchase order management, read the VNDLY vs Cin7 Core comparison or the best purchase order software list.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I receive a purchase order in multiple batches?

Yes. VNDLY supports partial receipt natively. Each time you receive part of a PO, the status updates to Partly received and the remaining quantity stays open. You can receive as many batches as needed until the full order is in.

What happens if I try to receive more than I ordered?

VNDLY blocks it. The dialog shows an error message telling you exactly how many units are still pending for that line. This prevents over-receiving and phantom stock.

Does VNDLY track serial numbers during receiving?

Yes. If a product is set to track serial numbers, the receive dialog shows a text area where you enter one serial per line. VNDLY validates the count and checks for duplicates against your existing inventory.

Can I receive stock into multiple locations from one PO?

Yes, but you need to run the Receive Inventory dialog multiple times, selecting a different location each time. VNDLY tracks the quantity received per batch so your audit trail stays complete.

Does receiving a PO update my Shopify or WooCommerce stock?

Yes. After you complete a receipt, VNDLY automatically pushes the updated stock levels to any connected Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or Squarespace store.