Send and receive a purchase order

Create a purchase order, send it when its product, quantity, cost, and receiving details are ready, then receive all or part of the order and verify the resulting inventory state. Receiving is asynchronous: submitting a receipt starts a request, so the durable status and quantities are the evidence that the receipt is complete. Who does this: Purchasing or receiving operator. Who else is involved: A product or catalog administrator may resolve an identity or configuration issue; an owner, manager, or support contact handles a committed failed receipt or a correction that needs a reversal decision. These labels describe workflow responsibilities, not distinct receiving-specific permissions. Current AIM access determines which surfaces and actions are available; a named responsibility does not by itself grant a receiving-specific permission.

Before you start

You have access to the Purchase Orders workspace.
The vendor, ordered quantities, unit costs, product/variant identity, and box condition are known.
A receiving location is assigned before you receive. A draft may be saved without one, but the receipt cannot be completed without the required location.
Any product or variant configuration issue is resolved before receiving. If the item is new to AIM, stop and use the existing-versus-custom product path to establish the correct identity.
If AIM asks for a pricing review before receiving, finish that review first.
For a Pre-owned line, the quantity and condition grade meet the intake rules. Treat each Pre-owned item as its own unit rather than pooling it with an ordinary variant line.

What this touches: The purchase order and its line items, inventory units and unit costs, receiving-event evidence, and business-action audit evidence. A connected Shopify sync may be a separate follow-up state; receiving alone does not establish listing or publication.

Steps

Step	Role	AIM surface	Action	Expected state
1	Purchasing operator	Purchase Orders	Create a purchase order with the vendor, purchase type, expected date, lines, quantities, and unit costs. Save as a draft while information is incomplete.	A draft is available for correction. Its receiving location may still be blank at this point.
2	Purchasing operator	Purchase Order details	Confirm product/variant identity, condition, ownership, location, and configuration. Add or correct the receiving location, then send the order.	The order is ready for receipt, normally in a sent state. If validation or configuration fails, the draft remains available for correction.
3	Receiving operator	Purchase Order receive	Select the lines and quantities to receive. For a partial delivery, receive only the quantity that arrived; record condition and an optional sublocation when prompted.	AIM accepts a request for the selected quantity, subject to configuration, pricing-review, duplicate-request, and inventory checks.
4	Receiving operator	Receive status	Keep the request and operation identifiers when AIM shows them, then check the receive status until it reaches a durable terminal state.	Queued or processing means work is still in progress. A completed state must be supported by the line quantities and inventory evidence, not by closing the dialog.
5	Receiving operator	Purchase Order and inventory records	Compare the received quantity with the physical delivery, inspect the resulting units and unit cost, and separately check any connected sync or listing workflow.	The PO status and quantities describe what was received; inventory units and cost evidence describe what was recorded. Listing, publication, and marketplace pricing remain separate checks.

Variants

Partial delivery. Receive the quantity that arrived and leave the remainder open. The order and line quantities should show the partial state; receive the remaining quantity later when it arrives. Do not mark the order complete merely because the vendor has sent an invoice. Pre-owned or unit-tracked item. Use one unit per Pre-owned item and supply the required condition grade and notes. Verify the unit identity and condition before treating it as available for a later workflow. New, custom, consigned, or uncertain identity/ownership. Stop before sending or receiving when the product identity, variant, condition, or ownership is not settled. Resolve the correct product path first; this workflow does not silently convert an unknown item, assign consignment ownership, or repair a wrong identity after receipt. Multiple lines for the same ordinary variant. AIM can distribute a receipt across remaining ordinary cost-line capacity. Pre-owned lines are handled separately, so do not assume the same distribution for them.

When it does not go to plan

What you see	What it means	What to do	Where it is explained
AIM asks for a location, configuration, or pricing review	A prerequisite for this receipt is not satisfied.	Correct the prerequisite and retry from the Purchase Order surface. Do not bypass the gate.	See Before you start.
AIM says the request is duplicate or already in progress	The request identifier or an equivalent receive operation is being processed or has already been recorded.	Check the durable receive status and line quantities before taking another action.	See Check it worked.
AIM reports a negative-inventory conflict	The receipt needs an explicit inventory-resolution choice.	Stop and choose the approved resolution with the responsible inventory owner; do not guess between preserving a deficit and resetting it.	See What was recorded.
The result is failed or partially completed, with some quantity or units committed	Clearing the request does not undo committed inventory.	Preserve the request/operation identifiers, review the PO and inventory effects, and contact an owner, manager, or support contact before retrying.	See What was recorded.
The delivered item has the wrong identity, condition, or ownership	The receipt would record the wrong business object or boundary.	Stop. Do not receive the item under a convenient substitute; resolve the identity/condition/ownership path first.	See Before you start.
A committed receipt is wrong and someone asks you to reverse it	A correction may affect units, costs, reservations, or downstream syncs; this page does not establish a universal reverse-receive procedure.	Stop, preserve the audit identifiers, and escalate to the responsible owner or manager for a supported correction decision. Do not clear, retry, or reverse from this workflow by assumption; this guide does not promise that a reversal endpoint is available.	See What was recorded.

A queued or processing request is not proof that inventory has been recorded. Verify the durable receive status, line quantities, units, and costs before moving to a downstream workflow.

Check it worked

Open the purchase order and confirm the received quantity against the physical delivery. A partial delivery should leave an amount remaining; a complete state should have no remaining ordered quantity.
Inspect the resulting inventory units and unit cost, including condition and sublocation where those details were entered.
Check the receiving status and retain the request or operation identifier if a later review is needed. If Shopify or another publication workflow is connected, verify that workflow separately.
Do not infer that received inventory is listed, published, or repriced. Use the appropriate inventory or marketplace workflow for that decision.

What was recorded

A receipt records the purchase order, selected line quantities, unit-cost and condition context, receiving location/method, and the receiving operator. AIM also keeps durable request/operation state and business-action evidence, and links inventory units to the receiving event when the unit ledger is committed. A connected Shopify sync or label job has its own status and must not be used as the receipt’s completion proof.

Purchase orders — the adjacent purchase-order workspace.
Existing versus custom products — resolve product identity before receiving.
Inventory numbers — understand unit and quantity evidence.
Product, inventory, and listing — keep receipt and publication decisions distinct.
Print labels — run the separate label-job workflow when labels are needed.

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Reference

Send and receive a purchase order

Before you start

Steps

Variants

When it does not go to plan

Check it worked

What was recorded

​Before you start

​Steps

​Variants

​When it does not go to plan

​Check it worked

​What was recorded

​Related

Before you start

Steps

Variants

When it does not go to plan

Check it worked

What was recorded

Related