In this guide, we’ll walk through how suppliers can send updates to your Purchase Orders (POs) after you’ve shared them, including changes to price, quantity, or even item names, and how those updates appear and are managed in Ply.
➡️Creating and Sending a PO
Let’s start by creating a new PO from scratch:
Go to your Purchase Orders section and click Create PO.
Enter your PO number and select:
A warehouse (shipping address will default to that location).
A requested date.
A supplier.
Add the item(s) you want to order and the quantity (for example, 5 units).
Once ready, click Create & Send PO.
After sending it, the supplier will receive an email notification with a PDF copy of the PO.
➡️ What the Supplier Sees
The supplier’s email includes:
A link to view the PO.
A PDF attachment with details like item name, quantity, and total cost.
For example, the PO might show:
White candle – Qty: 5 – Cost: $20 – Total: $100
If the supplier wants to update the price or details, they can reply directly through Ply by sending a New Quote, for example, including the cost to $50 or adjusting the quantity.
To do that, they just need to reply to the email and attach the file with the changes.
✏️ Three Types of Changes Suppliers Can Submit
💰 Price | 📦 Quantity | 📋 Item Name |
Supplier adjusts the unit cost — e.g. $20 → $32 due to a price increase or correction | Supplier updates the quantity — e.g. they can only fulfill 3 of the 5 units ordered | Supplier uses a different name for the same product — Ply lets you remap it to your catalog item |
⚠️ Two hard requirements for this to work:
The change must come as a PDF attachment, plain text email replies with pricing changes are not processed.
The supplier must reply to the original PO email thread, not forward it or start a new email, so Ply can match the update to the correct PO.
See How to submit PO price updates as a Supplier for the full supplier-facing walkthrough, including these two rules in more detail.
➡️ Receiving Updates from the Supplier
Once the supplier sends an update:
Ply will process the change automatically.
After a few minutes, you’ll see a notification banner on the PO that says:
“This PO has been updated by the supplier.”
You’ll also receive an email notification letting you know that the supplier has made updates.
➡️ Reviewing and Approving the Changes
When you open the updated PO, you’ll see this:
You’ll also see which fields were changed, for example, the cost might have been updated from $20 to $50, or the quantity from 5 to 10.
Review the changes carefully.
If everything looks good:
Click Approve & Send to confirm the new details and notify the supplier.
If you need to make adjustments (for example, the supplier used a slightly different item name):
Click the link icon (🔗) next to the updated material.
Select the correct item from your catalog (e.g., replace White Cardboard Box with White Candle).
Save and send your approval.
This ensures the correct material remains linked to your catalog.
🚨 Critical step before approving: link every "New Item" first.
Supplier item names almost never match your catalog names exactly. If you click Approve All without linking a "New Item" to the matching material already in your catalog, Ply creates a brand-new duplicate catalog entry, even if the material already exists under a slightly different name.
To link a new item:
Click the link icon (🔗) or the + icon next to the new/updated material.
Use the search bar to find the matching material from your catalog (e.g., replace White Cardboard Box with White Candle).
Click Link to connect them.
Repeat for every new item listed, then save and send your approval.
Action | Description |
✅ Approve All | Accepts all proposed changes — price updates, quantity changes, and newly linked items. The PO updates automatically and the supplier gets a confirmation email. |
❌ Reject | Declines all proposed changes. The PO remains as originally sent. Contact the supplier directly to discuss and request a corrected update. |
⚠️ Note | Approve All and Reject act on all changes at once — there's currently no way to approve individual line changes while rejecting others. |
➡️ Supplier Confirmation
Once you approve and send the updates, the supplier will receive a new email showing the final version of the PO, including all accepted changes (price, quantity, item name, etc.).
Event | Description |
Supplier receives confirmation | A new email goes to the supplier with the final PO showing all accepted changes — price, quantity, and item names. |
PO Activity tab is updated | The approval is logged in the Activity tab as "Supplier Update Approved" with timestamp and your name. |
Catalog cost updated | If the supplier changed a unit price, the Cost to Business on that catalog material updates automatically to reflect the new price. |
➡️ And That’s It!
That’s how supplier updates work in Ply. Each time a supplier edits or responds to a PO:
You’re notified right away.
The changes sync directly into your Ply account.
You have full control to review, approve, or adjust before finalizing.
➡️ Best practices
✅ Always link new items before approving.
This is the single most important habit for this feature; skipping it is the #1 cause of duplicate catalog entries from supplier updates.
✅ Make sure your suppliers know they can reply with edits.
The PO email itself doesn't currently spell this out, see Common issues & fixes below.
✅ Ask suppliers to reply, never forward.
A forwarded email or a fresh message won't get matched to the PO automatically.
➡️ Common issues & fixes
"A PO showed 'Contains Updates' and I had no idea how the supplier submitted a change."
This is a known gap: the PO email notification sent to suppliers doesn't include instructions explaining that they can download the PDF, edit pricing, and reply to the same email to trigger this workflow. If you want your suppliers to use this feature, you may need to explain it to them directly for now (or point them to How to submit PO price updates as a Supplier). There's an open feature request to add these instructions directly to the PO email, you can add your vote here: Add Supplier Instructions for PO Price Update Workflow.
"I approved a supplier's update and now I have a duplicate material in my catalog." This happens when a "New Item" from the supplier's updated PDF is approved without being linked to the matching material first. Go to your catalog, identify the duplicate, and either merge it into the correct material or delete the duplicate and manually correct the original, reach out to support if you'd like help sorting this out
.
"I want a report of all POs that are still unpaid or unreceived by supplier."
This isn't currently a built-in report, there's no self-serve view that shows all outstanding POs (unpaid, unreceived, or ones that should be cancelled/cleaned up) grouped by supplier on an ongoing basis. There's an open feature request for this — you can add your vote here: Run Reports on Purchase Order Status - Show all POs not Received or unpaid by Supplier. In the meantime, you can review outstanding POs by filtering the Purchase Orders board by status (Sent, Confirmed, Partially Received) per supplier.
"My supplier's order number and invoice number are different from the PO number, and I need to track all three."
There's currently no dedicated field on the PO for the supplier's own order number or their invoice number separate from the Ply PO number. This makes matching packing slips and invoices to the right PO harder for accounting reconciliation. There's an open feature request for this, you can add your vote here: Add Supplier Order# and Invoice # to the PO. For now, we'd recommend noting these numbers in the PO's comments/notes field so they're at least searchable.
"Shipping on this PO is billed by a separate vendor, and it's not landing correctly in my item costs when I reconcile."
Today, a PO is tied to a single supplier, so there's no built-in way to allocate a second vendor's shipping charge proportionally across the item costs on that same PO. There's an open feature request for this, you can add your vote here: Additional/Second Supplier on single PO for Shipping costs - Landed Cost. If you're using Landed Costs, see Why isn't my Cost to the Business updating after reconciling a PO? for how shipping/duties are currently prorated into item cost.
➡️FAQs
Can the supplier update just one line item and leave the rest as-is?
Yes on their end, but on your end, Approve/Reject applies to all proposed changes in that update at once, not line by line.
What if I reject the supplier's update by mistake?
Reach out to the supplier and ask them to resend their update (reply to the original PO email again with the PDF attached); the PO simply stays at its last approved state until then.
Does this affect my Cost to the Business automatically?
Yes, once you approve a price change, the Cost to Business on that catalog material updates automatically to reflect the new price.
Still need help? Contact Support!
Questions about supplier PO updates or the approval flow? We're happy to help.