Creating a purchase order
A purchase order (PO) is the order you send to a supplier asking for stock. In Stash, POs are how you track what you've ordered, from whom, when it's expected, what it cost, and — once it arrives — how much actually came in. Receiving a PO automatically updates your inventory.
You can create a PO from scratch, from a low-stock alert, from the Order Planner, or by duplicating an existing one.
Who can do this
Only Admins can create, edit, and send purchase orders. Members can view them.
Before you start
You need at least one supplier set up. See Adding a supplier.
The items you want to order must already exist in your inventory. See How to add your first inventory item.
How to create a PO from scratch
From the sidebar, open Purchase Orders.
Click New Purchase Order.
Pick the Supplier. Stash auto-suggests an expected delivery date based on their lead time — adjust if needed.
Pick the Ship to location. This is where the stock will arrive. The address is taken from the location's setup.
(Optional) Pick a different Bill to location if your billing address differs from your shipping address.
Click Add items and select what you want to order. For each item, set:
Quantity ordered
Unit cost (defaults to the item's saved cost price — change if your supplier has a new price)
(Optional) Add Discount, Tax, and Shipping cost. Stash calculates the total automatically.
(Optional) Add Notes for the supplier or your team.
Click Save as draft.
Your PO is now in Draft status. It's saved in Stash but hasn't been sent to the supplier yet, and your inventory hasn't changed. When you're ready to send, see Sending a purchase order to a supplier.
Other ways to start a PO
From a low-stock notification
Open the notification, click Reorder. The PO is pre-filled with the item, the supplier, and the item's reorder quantity. You add anything else and send.
From the Order Planner
The Order Planner groups suggested reorders by supplier and date. Click any supplier card on a date and choose Create PO. The PO is pre-filled with all suggested items and quantities. See What is the Order Planner?
By duplicating an existing PO
Open any past PO, click the menu (⋯), choose Duplicate. A new draft is created with the same supplier, ship-to, items, and quantities. Useful for recurring orders.
Good to know
The PO total is locked once items are added
The subtotal, tax, and total are calculated from your line items — you can't manually override them. To change the total, change the quantities or unit costs.
Currency
POs use the currency set on your organization. If you order from suppliers in multiple currencies, Stash currently shows everything in your default — manual conversion is on you. See Setting your currency.
Item snapshots
When you save a PO, Stash takes a snapshot of each item's name and image. So if you later rename an item, old POs still show the original name — useful for audit.
Related articles