Tips for Managing Back Orders

Sometimes, your supplier can't send everything you requested. Update your POs and shipments in RestockPro to keep them accurate.

It's important to update your POs and shipments when their status or quantities change so that RestockPro will show you accurate restock suggestions based on what's on order, inbound, and available in local inventory. If you order 20 widgets and your supplier can only ship 15 for now, you need to tell RestockPro that only 15 were received and decide how to handle the other five that are backordered.

There are several ways to handle this in RestockPro.  The best choice will depend on how you want to handle the PO tracking and whether you plan to ship partially received POs.

Tip: Use the tiles at the top of the POs and Shipments page to quickly filter for orders of a particular type that are still in an open or active status.  You may also use the search and custom filters to find sets of orders.

Choose the best option for handling back orders based on your order type or restock model:

Direct PO/Shipment: 

Update quantities on both tabs of the order (PO and Shipment Plan) to reflect what the supplier will be shipping to Amazon. If necessary, create a new order for items that will be shipped at a later date.

Local PO/Shipment:

There are two options to choose from with regard to the PO:

  • Split the orders: Update the PO quantities to match what the supplier actually has, then create a separate PO to track the items still on backorder:
    1. Update the PO quantities.
    2. Create a new PO. If the list of SKUs is long, you may want to export the original PO as a CSV, modify the CSV, and import it as a new order (learn how to create an order via CSV).
  • Continue with one PO: Keep updating the original PO by marking units or SKUs as received until the PO is fully received. Or, if some of the items you ordered will not be received anytime soon, use the Close/Partial button to indicate that any outstanding quantities should be ignored by RestockPro.

For the shipment, simply ship received items from your local inventory as you normally would.

Tip: Use the Archive button to keep your list of orders and shipments clear of completed orders. RestockPro will ignore any outstanding quantities in archived orders and shipments.