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Creating a Purchase Order

You can create a purchase order (PO) directly in Shopify and submit it to a publisher or distributor via Pubnet EDI. The app handles the EDI formatting and transmission — you fill in a standard order form inside Shopify Admin.

Before you start

Make sure you have:

  • Connected your Pubnet credentials and configured your location SANs in Settings > Providers > Pubnet (see Pubnet Setup & Credentials)
  • Selected at least one supplier in Settings > Providers > Pubnet > Suppliers
  • An established Pubnet trading relationship with that supplier — selecting a supplier in the app is not enough; the relationship must exist at the Pubnet network level before the supplier can accept your orders

If this is your first time, the Emersoft team will confirm your Pubnet setup is ready during onboarding.

Creating a new purchase order

  1. In Shopify Admin, go to Apps > Emersoft Books > Purchase Orders.
  2. Click New Purchase Order.
  3. Enter a name or reference number for the PO (e.g. "Weekly restock — May").
  4. Select the supplier — the publisher or distributor you are ordering from. Only suppliers you have selected in Settings > Providers > Pubnet > Suppliers appear here. If a supplier is missing, go to Settings and select them.
  5. Select the destination — the Shopify store location you are ordering stock for. Only locations with a SAN configured in Settings > Providers > Pubnet are available. The destination you select here is where your Shopify inventory will update when the shipment is received.
  6. Add titles to the order by clicking Browse Products. This opens a search overlay across the products already in your Shopify store — search by title, author, or ISBN, and add each title with its quantity.
  7. Set the quantity for each title on the PO.
  8. Click Save Draft to save progress without submitting.

Only products already in your Shopify store can be added to a PO

The PO uses products from your existing Shopify catalog — not from the Ingram browse catalog. If a title you want to order is not yet in your store, you need to import it first:

  1. Go to Apps > Emersoft Books (the catalog search view)
  2. Find the title and import it to your store
  3. Return to the PO and add it

See Searching the Catalog and Import a Single Book.

Build a PO throughout the week

Many booksellers build purchase orders incrementally — adding titles throughout the week as they identify what needs replenishing. Save the PO as a draft and return to add more titles before you are ready to submit. Drafts are not sent anywhere until you explicitly submit them.

  1. When the order is ready, review it in full, then click Submit PO.

Submitting a PO cannot be undone from inside the app

Once a PO is submitted, it is transmitted to the publisher via Pubnet EDI and cannot be cancelled or modified from within Emersoft Books. If you need to cancel or amend a submitted PO, contact the supplier directly using your usual ordering channel.

The PO is transmitted to the publisher via Pubnet EDI (document type 850). The PO status updates to Submitted.

Editing a draft PO

You can continue adding or removing titles from a draft PO at any time before submission.

  1. Go to Apps > Emersoft Books > Purchase Orders.
  2. Open the draft PO.
  3. Add or remove line items, adjust quantities, and save.

Once a PO has been submitted, it cannot be edited in the app.

PO statuses

Status Meaning
Draft PO is being built — not yet submitted to the publisher
Submitted PO has been transmitted to the publisher via Pubnet EDI — awaiting their response
Accepted Publisher has reviewed the PO and sent a response (855 received) — see below for what this means
Shipped Publisher has dispatched the order and sent an advance ship notice (856 received)
Completed All shipments received — inventory and cost updated in Shopify

Understanding a publisher's response (Accepted status)

After you submit a PO, the publisher reviews it and sends back an EDI 855 response. When this arrives, the PO moves to Accepted status. Open the PO to review the full response.

The publisher's response groups the line items into sections:

Section What it means
Accepted Publisher will fulfil these titles. Shows the quantity you ordered and the quantity the publisher confirmed — these may differ
Backordered Titles the publisher will ship when stock is available — listed separately with the expected availability details
Rejected Titles the publisher cannot fulfil, with a reason (e.g. title discontinued, not available through this supplier)
Cancelled Line items the publisher has cancelled, with a reason

For accepted titles where the publisher has confirmed a different quantity than what you ordered, compare the Ordered and Confirmed columns to understand exactly what will be shipped.

For rejected or cancelled items, the reason is shown on the line — use this to decide whether to source the title elsewhere.

PO activity

Every PO includes an Activity section showing a timestamped log of all actions and events: when the PO was created, when it was submitted, when the publisher's response arrived, when the ship notice was received, and when shipments were confirmed. Use this as a reference when following up with suppliers or reconciling order history.

Viewing open purchase orders

Go to Apps > Emersoft Books > Purchase Orders to see all POs with their current status. Click any PO to see:

  • Line items with ordered and confirmed quantities, grouped by response status
  • EDI documents received (855, 856) and their timestamps
  • Expected delivery date (from the ship notice, if the publisher sent one)
  • Activity log

Cancelling a purchase order

Draft POs can be deleted from the purchase order list before submission.

Once a PO has been submitted to a publisher, cancellation must be handled directly with the supplier — contact them via their standard ordering channel. The app will reflect any cancellation response the publisher sends back via EDI.

Your own negotiated terms apply

When you submit a PO via Pubnet using your own Pubnet account, the order is placed under your established trading terms with the supplier — your negotiated discount, your account number, your credit terms. The app transmits the order on your behalf using your credentials; it does not create a new commercial relationship or alter your existing terms.