Purchasing · Daily operations · 8 min read

Using the supplier portal

What a supplier can do after signing in: quote, bid, acknowledge orders, announce shipments, send invoices, answer early payment offers and update details.

Before you begin

• The supplier has a login created by your administrator (see Onboard suppliers), linked to an active supplier. A login with no link shows 'This login is not linked to a supplier in this company.'
• The supplier sees only its own records. Another supplier's order or tender returns 'Record not found.'
• Share this article with your suppliers.

Steps

Home

1. Sign in. Home shows counts of open calls for tenders, orders to acknowledge and shipments in transit, with shortcuts.

Quote on a call for tenders

1. Open Calls for tenders and select the invitation.
2. Price each line. Enter Priced per, Base units in it, Price and Tax %, or tick No bid.
3. Press Save draft, or Submit quote. A submitted quote is read-only; press New version to change it. In a sealed tender you see only your own quote.

Bid in an auction

1. Open Auctions and select the live auction.
2. Enter a price on every line and press Bid. Your total must be at or below the opening price and the minimum drop below your last bid.

Acknowledge an order

1. Open Purchase orders and select an order.
2. Type your order confirmation reference and press Acknowledge order.

Announce a shipment

1. In the same order enter On this shipment per line, your shipping notice number, Carrier, Tracking and Arrives on.
2. Press Send shipping notice. The notice appears under Shipping notices and in the buyer's Inbound shipments.

Send an invoice

1. In the order enter the quantity per line under On your invoice, your invoice number, Invoice date and Invoice total with tax, and attach the PDF, PNG or JPEG (under 10 MB).
2. Press Send invoice. It appears under Invoices sent as Received - being checked, then Accepted when the buyer posts it, or Rejected.

Follow the money

1. Bills and payments lists posted bills with total, paid, outstanding and retention held.
2. Early payment offers: Accept or Decline with a reason.

Update your details

1. Open My details, change a field and press Send change. The buyer reviews it; nothing changes until approval. To add a bank account, enter the bank name, holder, IBAN or account number, and SWIFT.

What happens next

• Invoices become draft bills in the buyer's system, linked line by line to the order. The buyer matches and posts them.
• Acknowledgements and notices are visible to the buyer on the order's Procurement tab and in Shipping notices.

Good to know

• Quote after closing: 'The call for tenders is closed; no quote is submitted after its closing time.'
• Bid rules: 'The opening price is 2,500.00; bid at or below it.', 'Each bid must be at least 0.5% below your last (2,000.00): 1,990.00 or less.', 'The auction is not open for bids.'
• Shipping: '<code>: 150 announced, but only 100 is still to come.' Arrival before shipping: 'The goods cannot arrive before they ship.'
• Invoice: if the total does not match the lines, the invoice is refused: 'Your invoice total 4000.00 is not what its lines add up to (4200.00 with tax). Check the quantities and prices.' Nothing is left behind.
• 'Attach the invoice as a PDF, PNG or JPEG.', 'Keep the invoice file under 10 MB.', 'That file is empty.'
• An invoice number already on a live bill of yours is refused.
• Change requests: 'A change you sent is still waiting for review; withdraw it first to send another.' and 'Nothing differs from what we hold; change a field before sending.' Withdraw a waiting request with Withdraw.
• Tax numbers cannot be blanked: 'A supplier keeps its tax number; send the new one rather than a blank.'
• An amended order still shows as acknowledged. Ask the buyer if you need to confirm the new version.
• Bank numbers are always masked for the supplier.