Purchase Order Template

A purchase order (PO) is the document a buyer sends to a supplier to formally request goods — specifying what's being ordered, how many, at what price, and when it should arrive. This page covers what every field in a PO means, a filled-in sample, how to build a template in Word, Excel, or Google Sheets, the difference between a PO and an invoice, and how ecommerce sellers automate the whole process with Ordoro.

What Is a Purchase Order?

A purchase order is an official document issued by a buyer to a supplier before any goods change hands. It creates a formal record of what was requested, at what price, and under what terms — protecting both parties if anything goes wrong with the order.

How the PO lifecycle works:

1. Buyer identifies a need — stock is running low or a new product is being sourced
2. Buyer creates and sends the PO — the supplier receives a formal request with all order details
3. Supplier reviews and confirms — they verify they can fulfill the order as specified
4. Supplier ships the goods — on the schedule and to the address in the PO
5. Buyer receives and inspects — goods are checked against the PO quantities and specifications
6. Supplier sends an invoice — a separate document requesting payment, matching the PO terms
7. Buyer pays — according to the payment terms agreed in the PO

What's in a Purchase Order

Every PO should include these fields:

• PO Number — a unique identifier for tracking, used to match the PO to the delivery and eventual invoice
• Date — the date the PO is issued
• Buyer information — company name, address, contact details
• Supplier information — vendor name, address, contact details
• Item descriptions — what's being ordered: product name, SKU, specifications
• Quantities — how many units of each item
• Unit price — agreed price per unit
• Line totals — quantity × unit price per item
• Order total — sum of all line totals
• Payment terms — when and how payment is due (e.g., Net 30)
• Delivery date — expected arrival date
• Delivery address — where goods should be shipped
• Authorized signature — buyer's approval signature

Purchase Order Sample

Here's a filled-in example showing all the fields in use:

```

Acme Corp

123 Market Street, New York, NY 10001

Phone: (555) 123-4567

PURCHASE ORDER

PO Number: PO-2024-0892

Date: October 26, 2024

Supplier:

Global Supplies Inc.

789 Commerce Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90001

Phone: (555) 987-6543

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Item SKU Qty Unit Price Line Total

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Kraft mailer 6x9 KM-069 500 $0.18 $90.00

Bubble wrap roll 12" BW-12R 20 $12.50 $250.00

Packing tape 2" PT-200 100 $1.75 $175.00

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Order Total: $515.00

Payment Terms: Net 30

Delivery by: November 10, 2024

Ship to: Acme Corp Warehouse, 456 Fulfillment Dr., Newark, NJ 07101

Authorized by:

```

Purchase Order vs Invoice

These two documents are often confused — they travel together but serve opposite purposes.

Purchase Order:

• Issued by the buyer
• Created before goods are delivered
• Requests goods at agreed terms
• No immediate financial impact on accounting

Invoice:

• Issued by the supplier
• Created after goods are delivered
• Requests payment for delivered goods
• Creates an accounts payable liability

Example: Acme Corp sends PO-2024-0892 to Global Supplies on October 26. Global Ships on November 3. Global then issues Invoice #INV-4471 on November 3 referencing PO-2024-0892, listing the same items and totals. Acme pays within 30 days of the invoice date.

Can you invoice without a purchase order? Yes — for small purchases or ongoing relationships with trusted vendors, many businesses skip POs. The risk is disputes over what was actually agreed. A PO gives both parties a written record before anything ships.

Sales Order vs Purchase Order vs Invoice

Three documents, three perspectives on the same transaction:

• Purchase order — created by the *buyer*, sent to the supplier. "We want to buy this."
• Sales order — created by the *supplier* to confirm they can fulfill the purchase order. "We confirm we'll supply this."
• Invoice — created by the *supplier* after delivery. "We delivered this; please pay."

In practice, many small supplier relationships skip the sales order — the supplier just fulfills the PO and sends an invoice.

Purchase Order Template in Word, Excel, and Google Sheets

Microsoft Word:

1. Open Word → File → New
2. Search "Purchase Order" in the template gallery
3. Select a template, replace placeholder text with your details
4. Save as a new document each time, or keep a master template with your company info pre-filled

Microsoft Excel:

1. Open Excel → File → New
2. Search "Purchase Order"
3. Excel templates include built-in formulas — Column D can auto-calculate line totals with `=B2*C2`
4. The spreadsheet format makes it easy to add rows and auto-sum the order total

Google Sheets:

1. Open Google Sheets → Template Gallery
2. Search "Purchase Order"
3. Advantage: shareable via link — useful for sending to suppliers who can view but not edit

For free downloadable templates: Microsoft Office Templates, Vertex42, and Smartsheet all offer well-formatted PO templates in multiple formats.

When Manual Templates Aren't Enough

A Word or Excel template works when you have a handful of suppliers and reorder occasionally. It breaks down when:

• You're ordering from multiple suppliers at once and need separate POs per vendor
• You want inventory to update automatically when stock arrives against a PO
• You need to track partial shipments on the same PO
• You want supplier cost data to feed into margin calculations automatically

How Ordoro replaces the template workflow:

1. Identify what needs reordering. Each SKU can have a reorder point. When stock falls below that threshold, the SKU appears in Ordoro's low-stock report — no manual checking required. Watch: How to Use the Low Inventory Filter in Ordoro
2. Create the PO. Select the low-stock products, assign them to a supplier, and Ordoro generates the PO with product details and pre-filled costs. No template to fill out. Watch: How to Add Products to Purchase Orders in Ordoro
3. Send to the supplier. Email the PO directly from Ordoro in one click — with product images included if your supplier needs visual confirmation. No PDF export, no separate email thread. See: How do I email a Purchase Order to a supplier?
4. Receive against the PO. When stock arrives, scan barcodes to record receipt. Inventory updates automatically — no manual adjustment. If the supplier ships in batches, receive partial quantities and Ordoro tracks what's still outstanding. See: How do I receive items from a PO and increase your inventory quantities?
5. Costs update automatically. Supplier costs from each PO update the product's weighted average unit cost (WAC) for margin tracking — no separate accounting entry.

For businesses ordering from multiple suppliers at once, Ordoro also supports bulk PO creation — generating separate POs per supplier from a single workflow rather than building each one manually. See: Can I create Purchase Orders in bulk in Ordoro?

See: Purchase Order Management Software

How My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe Replaced Manual PO Workflows at 100 Suppliers

My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe sells fabrics, patterns, and quilting supplies through WooCommerce and Shopify, fulfilling 9,000 orders per month from a warehouse with 8,000+ SKUs. Their purchasing operation runs across 100 suppliers — a scale where manual PO templates become unmanageable. Every reorder cycle meant tracking down supplier contact details, copying product information into a document, and following up across scattered email threads.

After switching to Ordoro, purchase orders are created directly from low-stock reports, sent to suppliers by email from within the platform, and received against when stock arrives. Inventory updates on receipt — no separate adjustment. The full purchasing cycle, alongside shipping, inventory, and manufacturing, runs from one system.

"It's great to have all these workflows — shipping, inventory management, purchasing, manufacturing — all under one roof." — My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe

Read the full case study: My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe and Ordoro

Customer Support

Ordoro is run by a small, dedicated team. When you have a question, you reach a real person — by phone, email, or screen share — not a support bot or ticketing queue. Phone support runs Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM CST.

Every new account gets a structured onboarding: five weekly calls with a dedicated onboarding specialist to get your channels, warehouses, suppliers, and purchasing workflows set up correctly from the start.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a purchase order?

A formal document sent by a buyer to a supplier specifying the goods being requested, quantities, agreed prices, and delivery terms. It creates a record of the order before any goods ship.

What's the difference between a PO and an invoice?

A PO is created by the buyer before delivery and requests goods. An invoice is created by the supplier after delivery and requests payment. The PO comes first; the invoice follows.

What is a PO number?

A unique identifier assigned to each purchase order for tracking. It's used to match the PO to the supplier's shipment and eventual invoice — so when the invoice arrives, you can confirm it matches what was ordered.

Does Excel have a purchase order template?

Yes. Open Excel → File → New → search "Purchase Order." Excel templates include formulas to auto-calculate line totals and order totals.

What fields should a purchase order include?

PO number, date, buyer and supplier contact information, item descriptions with SKUs, quantities, unit prices, line totals, order total, payment terms, delivery date, delivery address, and an authorized signature.

What's the difference between a purchase order and a sales order?

A purchase order is issued by the buyer to request goods. A sales order is issued by the supplier to confirm they'll fulfill the request. They're two sides of the same transaction — the buyer creates a PO, the supplier creates a corresponding sales order.

Does Ordoro have a purchase order template?

Ordoro doesn't use templates in the traditional sense — you don't fill out a document. Instead, POs are created directly in Ordoro by selecting products and a supplier. Product details, SKUs, and supplier costs pre-fill automatically from your existing records. The result is a formatted PO you can email to your supplier in one click. See: Purchase Order Management Software

How does Ordoro send purchase orders to suppliers?

By email directly from within Ordoro. You don't export a PDF and send it manually — you click send from the PO screen and the supplier receives it with all line items, quantities, costs, and your contact details. You can optionally include product images, which is useful when ordering by SKU code rather than product name.

Does Shopify have a purchase order template?

Shopify added native purchase orders in 2026. You can create POs in Shopify, but sending them to your supplier requires exporting a PDF and emailing it separately. Ordoro emails POs directly to suppliers from within the platform, connects receiving to barcode scanning and automatic inventory updates, and syncs stock across all channels when goods arrive.

Does QuickBooks have a purchase order template?

Yes. QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced include native PO functionality, as does QuickBooks Desktop Pro, Premier, and Enterprise. QuickBooks POs work well for accounting workflows. They don't connect to ecommerce inventory writeback or multichannel stock sync. Many ecommerce merchants use Ordoro for purchasing and inventory, and QuickBooks for accounting — with purchase order data syncing from Ordoro to QuickBooks automatically.

What payment terms are standard on a purchase order?

Net 30 is the most common — payment due 30 days after the invoice date. Net 15 and Net 60 are also used depending on the supplier relationship. Some suppliers offer early payment discounts (e.g., 2/10 Net 30 — 2% discount if paid within 10 days). Payment terms on the PO should match what you've agreed with the supplier.

How do I move from PO templates to a proper PO system?

Import your product catalog and supplier records into Ordoro, set reorder thresholds, and create POs from Ordoro's low-stock reports going forward. The system emails POs to suppliers directly, receives against them by barcode scan, and updates inventory automatically on receipt — replacing every manual step in the template workflow. Ordoro's onboarding team walks through setup across five weekly calls. Schedule a demo to see it before committing.