Europa Foundry

Sending orders

Describe an order in plain language

Type a phone or counter order in ordinary words and let PO Autopilot turn it into a reviewable purchase order.

Updated

Not every order arrives as a document. Phone orders, counter orders and “can you add two more cases to that” all end up as something someone writes down. Describe order is where you write it down.

Describe an order

  1. Go to Orders and choose New order.
  2. Switch to the Describe order tab.
  3. Type the order into Order description.
  4. Choose Review order.

The Describe order tab, showing the order description field

It is then treated exactly like an uploaded document: read, matched against Shopify, and presented for review.

What to include

Write it the way you would tell a colleague. There is no syntax to learn. What helps is including the things a purchase order would have carried:

  • Who it is for — the company name, or an account number if you use one.
  • What they want — quantities, and either your SKUs or product names.
  • The unit, if it is not singles. Cases, boxes and dozens all mean something specific.
  • A PO number, if the buyer gave you one over the phone.

Examples

A straightforward one:

Create an order for Mountain Supply.

10 cases of A12

5 each of B14

PO verbal-829.

Using product names rather than codes, which works when the names are close to your catalogue:

Order for Northline Outfitters, Ottawa location. Two alpine touring packs and one trail pack. No PO number, phone order taken by Sam.

Referencing an account number, which is a good habit if you have mapped one:

Acme Sports, account AC-4471. 3 cases of ACME-WAX-CS.

What happens next

The same review screen as any other order. Expect to answer slightly more questions than you would for a clean PDF the first few times — a typed description has no letterhead, no account number block and no ship-to address, so there is less for the buyer match to work from.

That improves quickly. Once you have mapped a company to an account number or an item code, describing an order for that buyer resolves as cleanly as a document would.

If the description does not name a company in a way Shopify recognises, you will be asked to choose one. Use Remember this buyer? while you are there — see What happens after you confirm a match.

Things to know

  • Write plainly. Elaborate formatting does not help and sometimes hurts.
  • Ambiguous quantities become questions. “A few boxes” cannot be turned into a number, and you will be asked.
  • If you have the buyer’s own document, upload it instead. A real PO carries more identifying detail than a description usually does.
  • Upload an orderSend a purchase order file to PO Autopilot from the Orders screen.
  • Supported order formatsThe file types PO Autopilot accepts, the size limits that apply, and what to do with a format that is not on the list.
  • Understand the review screenWhat each part of the review screen is for, and how to tell what still needs you.
  • How product matching worksThe order in which a purchase-order line is matched to a Shopify product variant, from remembered mappings down to ranked suggestions.

Learn what PO Autopilot does