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How do I use Purchase Orders?

Use Meadow's Purchase Orders (PO) to keep track of your inventory, product costs and outstanding invoices.

Updated over 4 months ago

What is a purchase order?

A Purchase Order (PO) is a document between a buyer and a seller that outlines the details of a transaction, including:

  • The products purchased

  • The agreed-upon rate (cost/unit or wholesale price)

  • The quantities purchased

  • A breakdown of applicable excise taxes

In Meadow, a Purchase Order is essential for adding new inventory into your system. It should be the primary method your store uses to track and manage incoming inventory.

You can create a Purchase Order:

  • Ahead of time to keep track of products you’ve ordered.

  • Upon product arrival from an incoming transfer to ensure the details match what you’ve physically received.

BEFORE CREATING A PURCHASE ORDER, make sure all of your products have been created.


Create a Purchase Order from an Incoming Transfer

  • Receive the transfer in the METRC website after confirming that all quantities you received physically and digitally are correct.

  • Once you hit "receive" in METRC, the packages will flow into Meadow within minutes.

  • In Meadow - Click the METRC tab > Select Incoming Transfers.

Find the transfer you want to create a Purchase order from by identifying the Manifest number, or by recognizing the packages.


💡 Is your transfer taking a long time to sync with Meadow? Click sync transfers.


  • Once you’ve located the correct transfer, click the three dots in the upper-right corner of the transfer details.

  • Select "Create Purchase Order from Transfer" from the dropdown menu.


  • For each METRC package in the transfer, select one line that corresponds to the package.

  • Match the Package Name from METRC with the correct Meadow Product in the product selector.

    • The product selector will automatically populate options by brand and/or product name to help you find the correct match.


  • Click "Start Purchase Order" to begin.

  • Fill in the following details:

    • Vendor

    • Expected At Date

    • Payment Terms

    • Notes

  • The quantities are automatically pulled from the transfer in METRC. There is no need to adjust these values unless there’s a discrepancy.

  • Enter the cost/unit pricing based on your external invoice.

💡 Tip: Ensure the total on your invoice matches the total in Meadow. This is critical for accounting purposes.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

  • If the totals don’t match, check the following:

    • Did you enter the cost/unit pricing correctly?

    • Do the product quantities (pulled from the METRC Manifest) match the quantities listed on your invoice?

    • Are there any non-METRC tracked items (e.g., accessories) that need to be added manually?


Click "Create Purchase Order" to save your progress.

  • Once saved, you can make edits by navigating to the "Order Details" page.

  • Shipping/Handling Charges:

    • If applicable, add any shipping or handling fees at the bottom of the Purchase Order.

  • Excise Tax Adjustments:

    • Excise tax is calculated automatically. If you need to adjust it, make changes in the relevant field.

  • Upload a copy of your external invoice file to ensure records are complete and accessible.


Continuing onto the Receptions tab:

This is your last chance to confirm, before you receive products, that you have an accurate total on the Order Details page, because after the Receptions tab you cannot adjust the figures on Order Details.

  • Match the correct line item with the correct package.

  • Insert expiration date

  • Select inventory location you would like to receive the product into

    • What if you make a mistake? Once a product has been received on the receptions tab, it is considered non-editable/final inside Order Details.

    • Delete the reception by clicking the RED X. You can only do this with an open Purchase Order, and before that package has been sold or transferred to a new inventory location.

PO Statuses: Open or closed, Paid or Unpaid

  • Purchase order can be closed once everything has been received, no further adjustments need to be made (besides future payments, you can always come back and add this update!💰 ) and a user wishes to close the ability to edit.

  • Purchase order is open if you are waiting for a delivery or still working on receiving products

Speaking of Payments... 💰

  • Add payments here, and Meadow will record who submitted a payment and on what date.

  • Autofill if paid in full

  • Add Vendor Credit

  • Add notes

  • Paid, Partial, or Unpaid will populate in the Purchase order title.


Create a Purchase order for Accessories/Non-METRC items, or Create a PO ahead of time.

  • Inventory tab > Purchases > New purchase

  • Select vendor

  • Begin to add your products

  • For accessories, excise tax is $0


🤷 Common Mistakes

"I assigned the wrong package to the wrong product"

  • Re-open the purchase order

  • Delete reception on Receptions tab by clicking the Red X

  • Head back to Order Details, click the red X, and manually enter the new product you wish receive that package into.

If the Purchase Order does not let you delete the reception of that product, it is because that package has been transferred to another inventory location, or an adjustment to that package has been made through a sale. In this case, the best option is to Void the Package.

Void a package if you have made a package reception error or if you would like to remove a package from Meadow.

  1. Find the package in Meadow and click the "View" button

  2. Click the three dots in the top right corner and select "Void Package."


 3. Enter the reason for voiding the package.

Set recreate as ready to yes if you would like to receive the package under a different product in Meadow. Set to No if you would like the package to be gone from Meadow.


4. If the package is recreated in Meadow, it will be put in the "Ready" state and the package quantity will be updated to match Metrc. You can now receive the package again using a purchase order, this time to the correct product.

Please note:

  • Packages can't be voided if they are on an order that hasn't been reported to Metrc or an open PO. If you see such a warning, remove the package from any unreported order or close any open PO first, then void the package.

  • Voiding a package can't be undone. If you select "No" for recreate as ready, the package will disappear from Meadow.


“I'm supposed to receive 40 units from my Distro but the transfer only says 39!”

There are a few options here:

  • Reconcile in/out: Only for small adjustments because this counts against your shop’s variance
    💡 What is a variance?

    • Create purchase order entirely

    • Select product that needs to be adjusted

    • Inventory > New Reconciliation

  • Adjust Initial Amount

    • Before beginning your Purchase order, locate Package inside METRC tab and select it.

    • Click the 3 dots in the right hand corner. Select Adjust initial amount.

    • Select Metrc Adjustment Reason from the drop down menu.

For large changes, or for adjustments that you want the Distro to handle, send an outgoing transfer and ask them to resend a new package with the accurate amount.


"Distro sent me 20 1/8ths for retail and 1 1/8th as a sample, but the package reflects 21 total."

You have a few options here:

  • Create a new package (see above) and split the 21st off

  • Reconcile as Display sample

Tip 💡 Tell your distributors what you prefer and they should be able to accommodate you on your next order.


❎ Can I delete a Purchase Order?

  • No, you cannot delete a purchase order, but there are some workarounds

    • Recycle ♻️

      • Open a PO you want to delete

      • Remove all receptions

      • Add new products to it and continue through the process

    • Zero it out

      • Zero out the receptions

      • Remove amounts

      • Close with unreceived line items

Can I combine a Purchase Order with another?

  • No, you cannot combine a purchase order, but there is one work around

    • Create purchase order from incoming transfer

    • Manually add the products from the other transfer on the Order details page

    • Search and select packages to match them manually on the Receptions tab

      • If you’ve already completed both Purchase orders separately, one would need to be zeroed out/eventually recycled, then follow these steps.


📈 Reporting

  • Inventory > Vendors > Select the vendor and view your most recent purchase orders and outstanding balances.

    • Search by specific vendor

  • Purchase Orders Report

    • Reports > Purchase orders > Enable macros

    • Column L is outstanding balances

    • Sort by vendor, alphabetical, highest outstanding amount, date, etc.

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