Purchase order generator

How to use it

1. Fill in your details, the vendor’s, and the delivery address if it differs from billing.
2. Give the order a PO number and a deliver-by date.
3. Add the items with quantities and prices, then tax and shipping.
4. Press “Save as PDF” to open your browser’s print dialog, and choose Save as PDF there or print it.

A purchase order is the buyer’s document

An invoice comes from the seller and asks for money. A purchase order goes the other way: you raise it, you number it, and you send it to your vendor to say precisely what you are ordering, at what price, to arrive by when. Once they accept it, the two of you have agreed on all of that in writing before anything ships.

The PO number is the thread that ties the rest together. Your vendor quotes it back on their invoice, your delivery note carries it, and your accounts payable can match the three to each other without anybody remembering a conversation. That match — order, delivery, invoice — is the whole reason purchase orders exist.

Why ship-to is separate from bill-to

Goods and paperwork go to different places more often than not: stock to a warehouse and the invoice to an office, or a drop-shipment straight to a customer. So this form has a delivery address of its own. Leave it empty and it prints as unfilled rather than silently repeating your billing address, because a vendor guessing which address you meant is how a pallet arrives at an office.

Tax, shipping, and which order they come in

Here, tax is charged on the goods and shipping is added afterwards. That is a choice rather than a universal rule — a number of jurisdictions tax delivery whenever the goods themselves are taxable, and a few tax it regardless. If yours does, enter the carriage as a line item and it will be taxed with everything else, which is also how your vendor will usually bill it.