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Free Purchase Order Template

Fill in your company, the supplier, where it ships and what you are ordering. The totals work themselves out, the PO updates as you type, and you print it, save it as a PDF to email, or download a CSV.

What a purchase order includes

  • PO number and date

    A number the supplier puts on the invoice, the delivery note and every box, so receiving and accounts can match them. The generator suggests one like PO-20261003-01.

  • Buyer and supplier

    Your company with address, email and phone, and the supplier's company, contact and address. Add your logo and it looks like the rest of your paperwork.

  • Ship to and bill to

    Where the goods go (a site, a dock, a job) and where the invoice goes, when that is not the same address.

  • Line items

    SKU or part number, description, quantity, unit and unit price for each line. The part number is what stops the wrong item turning up.

  • Totals

    Subtotal, any agreed discount, tax, shipping and the total, worked to the cent, so the invoice can be checked against it.

  • Terms and signature

    Delivery date, payment terms, the supplier's quote number, instructions, and the name of the person who authorized the order.

From quote to purchase order

The usual order of paper is: the buyer asks for prices (often an RFQ), the seller sends a quote, the buyer sends a purchase order that accepts it, the seller confirms the order, ships, and invoices against the PO number. The quote is the seller's document; the purchase order is the buyer's.

A clean PO names the quote it accepts. Put the supplier's quote number in the order details and copy the lines, quantities and prices from it. If the PO changes the price, the quantity or the terms, treat it as a new proposal the supplier still has to confirm, and ask for that confirmation in writing.

For reps on the selling side, the same template is a way to help a customer order: fill it in from your quote, send it as a PDF, and the buyer only has to check it, add their PO number and sign.

Writing the seller's side? Use the quotation generator to send the quote this PO will accept.

New to requests for quotes? Read what an RFQ is and how to answer one.

Purchase order, quote and invoice

Quote
The seller's offer: what they will supply, at what price, until when.
Purchase order
The buyer's order: what they are buying, at what price, delivered where and by when, under which payment terms.
Order confirmation
The seller's reply to the PO, confirming items, price and delivery date.
Invoice
The seller's bill after delivery, quoting the PO number so it can be matched and paid.

Tips for a PO that goes through first time

  • Use the supplier's part numbers

    A description alone invites a substitute. The part number from the quote or catalog is what the warehouse picks.

  • Give a date, not "ASAP"

    A deliver-by date the supplier confirms is something you can chase. "ASAP" is not.

  • Check ship-to and bill-to

    Most mis-deliveries are an old address. Name the site or the dock, and the person who signs for it.

  • Ask for the confirmation

    The notes ask the supplier to confirm the order and date within two business days. Chase it if it does not come.

More for distributor and manufacturers' reps: distributor sales, the RFQ template, the wholesale sales rep.

The PO is the paper. The meeting decided what is on it.

Quantities, the delivery date and the price you agreed were settled in a conversation with the customer. Record that meeting in ParrotNotes and get the summary and next steps, so the PO matches what was agreed. Free for 100 minutes of recording a month.

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Purchase order questions