How to fill out a purchase order
A purchase order is your offer to buy. In most jurisdictions it becomes the contract the moment the supplier accepts it, either by confirming or simply by shipping. Whatever is printed on it generally governs the sale. That is an advantage if you use it, and a liability if you send a bare order and inherit the supplier's terms instead.
The 20 fields on a purchase order
Taken from the document itself, in the order it prints them.
- Document No.
Your reference, and the number every later document should quote back. The supplier's invoice, packing list and transport document should all carry it, which is how you match a delivery to an order six weeks later.
- Date
- Quotation No.
The quotation this order accepts. Naming it is what turns a price you were given into a price you are contractually paying, and it settles arguments about which version of the quote applied.
- Incoterms
The single most consequential field. It decides who pays freight, where risk passes, and who clears customs at each end. Always with the named place: FOB Yantian, DAP Rotterdam. A bare code is not a term.
- Payment Terms
When you pay and against what. \u201c30 days from bill of lading date\u201d is a term. A bare \u201cnet 30\u201d, with no trigger, is an argument waiting to happen on a shipment that spends five weeks at sea.
- Currency
- Buyer
- Supplier
The legal entity you are contracting with, not the sales office you email. On a dispute this is who you would be pursuing, and a trading name with no registered address is a problem you want to discover now.
- Ship To
Where the goods physically go, which is often not the buyer's registered address. Where they differ, this is the warehouse and the buyer field is the contracting party.
- Delivery Terms
Anything the Incoterm does not cover: whether partial shipment is acceptable, packing requirements, labelling, whether transhipment is permitted.
- Lead Time
Expressed as a period from a trigger rather than a fixed date: \u201c35 days from receipt of deposit\u201d survives a delay in payment, where \u201cready 14 March\u201d does not.
- Place of Delivery
- Discount
- Freight
- Insurance
- Other Charges
- Special Instructions
The field that earns its place. Documentation you require with the shipment, inspection before dispatch, certificates the destination demands. Anything not written here was not ordered.
- Name
- Title
- Date
The line-item columns
One row per product. Columns can be hidden, renamed or added in the generator.
- Item #
- Description
Specification, not a part number. Material, dimensions, grade, finish. This is what you are contractually buying, and \u201cItem 4471-B\u201d gives you nothing to argue with if the wrong thing arrives.
- HS Code
Ask the supplier to state it, and check it. The classification decides your duty rate. As importer of record you answer for it, not them.
- Qty
- Unit
- Unit Price
On the stated Incoterm. A price without the term attached is not a comparable number, and comparing an EXW quote to a CIF one has misled more buyers than any other mistake in sourcing.
- Amount
A working purchase order, prefilled with a sample shipment. Every field above is editable here, and it downloads as a PDF.
| Item # | Description | HS Code | Qty | Unit | Unit Price (USD) | Amount (USD) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Parties, ports, container and line items carry across every document.
The battle of the forms
You send an order carrying your terms. The supplier acknowledges with a sales confirmation carrying theirs. Both of you assume your own apply. Which set governs depends on jurisdiction and on the sequence of documents, and the honest answer is that nobody knows until a court decides. On anything material, agree one set in a sales contract rather than discovering the question after a rejection.
Ask for the ISF data in the order
For US-bound ocean cargo the importer security filing is due 24 hours before loading at the foreign port. Several of its ten elements are known only to the supplier: manufacturer, container stuffing location, consolidator. Requesting them in the purchase order is how you have them in time. Requesting them when the filing is due is how filings go late.
State what documents you need
Certificate of origin, inspection certificate, packing declaration for timber, whatever the destination requires. A supplier will send what they always send unless told otherwise, and discovering a missing certificate when the container is already at the port is a problem with no cheap solution.
+Is a purchase order legally binding?
It becomes binding when the seller accepts it, which they can do by confirming in writing or simply by shipping. Before acceptance it is an offer you can withdraw.
+Do I need a contract as well?
For repeat business on modest values, an order carrying your terms is usually enough. For a first order with a new supplier, high value or custom manufacturing, put a sales contract in place. That is where governing law and dispute resolution live.
+Who is the importer of record?
Normally the buyer, and that is who answers for the customs entry. A supplier's error on a document you never saw becomes your penalty at destination, which is the argument for reviewing their paperwork before shipment.
+Should the purchase order show HS codes?
Yes, if you know them. It gets the classification agreed before the goods move rather than debated after, and it lets you check your own duty exposure before committing.
Try it with a real shipment.
Everything above is already on the form. Fill it in and download the PDF — no account needed.
Open the purchase order generator