How to receive a supplier invoice into Shopify inventory

Before you start

Have the invoice (PDF, photo or the supplier's spreadsheet), the packing slip if it's separate, and the freight, duty and broker bills if they came apart from the invoice. Count the delivery against the packing slip first: you receive what arrived, not what was billed.

The manual way in Shopify admin

1. Check the arithmetic. Quantity × unit price for each line, lines against the subtotal, subtotal plus charges against the total. Mistakes on supplier invoices are common, and this is your moment to catch them.
2. Match lines to products. Find each line's product and variant by SKU, barcode or name. Keep a note of the supplier's item codes next to your SKUs so next time is quicker.
3. Add the stock. Receive against a purchase order in Products → Purchase orders, or adjust available quantities at the receiving location in Products → Inventory.
4. Work out landed cost. Spread freight, duty and fees across the lines with the landed cost calculator.
5. Update cost per item on each variant to the weighted average of old and new stock (how).
6. File the invoice with a note of what you changed, so you can trace or reverse it.

For a 30-line invoice this is easily half an hour, and most of it is retyping.

The faster way

A3E Receive does the same six steps inside Shopify admin:

1. Upload the invoice: PDF, phone photo, CSV or Excel.
2. It reads every line and flags any that don't add up to the invoice's subtotal and total.
3. It matches lines to your products by SKU, barcode, supplier codes it has learned, or name, and you confirm anything it isn't sure of.
4. You choose the location and approve. It rechecks stock, adds the units and sets cost per item, including freight and duty.
5. If something was wrong, you undo the whole invoice in one click.

Questions

Can Shopify read a supplier invoice PDF?

Not by itself. Shopify admin has purchase orders and receiving, but you type the lines in. Apps such as A3E Receive read the PDF, photo or spreadsheet for you.

Should I receive what was billed or what arrived?

What arrived. Count the delivery against the packing slip, receive those units, and take short or damaged items up with the supplier.

Where do freight and duty go?

Into cost per item, spread across the invoice lines as landed cost, not as a separate product.