When a Purchase Order (PO) is sent to a supplier, they have the ability to suggest price updates directly through email. Here's how the workflow works:
➡️ How It Works
When a PO is created and sent, the supplier receives an email notification containing the PO details along with a PDF attachment of the purchase order.
If the supplier needs to update the pricing on any of the materials, they can do so by following the steps below.
➡️ Steps for Suppliers
Open the PO email you received from Ply.
Reply to the same email with your new quote/PDF attached.
The system will automatically capture the updated information and apply it to the PO in Ply.
➡️ What Happens Next (For Ply Users)
Once the supplier submits the updated PDF, the PO status in Ply will change to "Contains Updates." Click View Changes to review the proposed modifications.
Changes will appear under two sections:
Updated Items - Materials from the original PO with modified pricing or quantities.
New Items - Materials that were not part of the original PO but were included in the supplier's updated PDF.
⚠️ Important: Match New Items Before Approving
When a supplier returns an updated PDF, the system will display item names exactly as they appear in the supplier's file, and these names will often not match the names already in your catalog. If you approve without addressing this, the system will create duplicate items in your catalog.
Before approving, you must link each new item to its corresponding material in your existing catalog. Here's how:
Click the + icon next to the new item.
2. Use the search bar to find the matching material from your catalog.
3. Click Link to connect them.
4. Repeat this for every new item listed.
🚨Do not click "Approve All" until every new item is linked
Supplier item names almost never match your catalog names exactly. If you approve a "New Item" without linking it first, Ply creates a brand-new catalog entry as a duplicate; even if the material already exists under a different name.
✅ Approve All - Accept all proposed changes and update the PO.
❌ Reject - Decline the changes if they are incorrect or need further discussion.
Action | Description |
✅ Approve All | Accepts all proposed changes — price updates, quantity changes, and newly linked items. The PO updates automatically and the supplier receives 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. |
⚠️ Important Note | Both Approve All and Reject act on all changes at once. There is currently no option to approve individual line changes while rejecting others — it's all or nothing. |
➡️ Alternative Option
If you already have an updated quotation document from the supplier, you can also submit it directly on the PO in Ply using the upload option. This will update the PO details for your review.
➡️ Important Notes
The system currently only captures PDF documents - plain text emails with pricing changes will not be processed automatically.
Make sure the supplier replies to the original PO email so the system can link the update to the correct order.
Rule | Description |
PDF attachments only | Plain text email replies are not processed. The supplier must attach an edited PDF — no exceptions. |
Must reply to original PO email thread | If the supplier creates a new email rather than replying, Ply cannot match it to the PO. Ask suppliers to always use Reply — not Forward or a new email. |
Link before approving — always | New items in the supplier's PDF will never match your catalog names exactly. Link every new item before clicking Approve All or duplicates will be created. |
➡️ Best practices
✅ Tell your suppliers the two hard rules up front: PDF attachment only, and reply (never forward). This avoids the most common reason updates don't get captured.
✅ Always link new items before approving, even if you're in a hurry, a duplicate catalog entry is much more work to clean up later than pausing to link it now.
✅ Decide up front whether you want your supplier's pricing visible on the PO PDF, since this can't be changed once the PO is sent (see Common issues & fixes below).
➡️ Common issues & fixes
"I sent a PO without realizing pricing wasn't visible to the supplier (or vice versa), and now I can't fix it."
The toggle controlling whether supplier-facing pricing shows on the PO's PDF can currently only be set at creation, and only edited while the PO is still unsent. Once a PO is sent, this setting is locked. There's an open feature request to allow editing it after sending — you can add your vote here: Allow editing the "show prices to supplier" toggle after a PO is sent. For now, if you catch this before the supplier acts on the PO, cancel and recreate it with the correct setting.
"My supplier applied a discount on their updated quote, and I don't see anywhere to capture that on the PO."
Correct, there's currently no dedicated discount field on a PO. The common workaround is to note the discounted amount in the PO's comments section so it's at least on record, even though it won't adjust the line-item totals automatically. There's an open feature request for a real discount field, you can add your vote here: Supplier PO Discount Field.
"I cancelled/edited a PO during internal testing, and it still emailed the supplier, I didn't want that."
Today, Ply automatically sends an email notification to the supplier for these kinds of PO adjustments, with no way to suppress it on a per-action basis. There's an open feature request to add a toggle (or confirmation prompt) for this, you can add your vote here: Add option for cancellation PO to not send to supplier. If you're testing or making internal-only adjustments, keep in mind the supplier will likely be notified regardless.
"I can select multiple saved contacts when I manually choose a supplier, but not when using Preferred Supplier or the standalone Email PO modal — why the difference?"
This is a known inconsistency. The searchable, multi-select contact field only appears in the "Choose Supplier" flow when you manually pick the supplier — it doesn't currently appear when the supplier is auto-assigned via Preferred Supplier, or in the standalone Email PO send/resend modal (which only has a single free-text email field). There's an open feature request to bring that same multi-select experience to both of those flows — you can add your vote here: Bring "Select Supplier's Contact Email" Multi-Select to Preferred Supplier / Email PO Flow (Parity Request). In the meantime, if you need multiple recipients on a Preferred Supplier PO or a resend, you can manually type each additional email into the free-text field.
I can select multiple supplier contact emails on desktop, but not from the mobile app."
Correct, the multiple-contact-email selection is currently a desktop-only capability; it's not available yet on mobile. There's an open feature request for parity here, you can add your vote here: Multiple Supplier Emails.
"I added our internal Supplier UPC to a material, but the price didn't automatically show up under Prices & Suppliers."
Adding a Supplier UPC on the Information tab and having that supplier/price populate automatically in Prices & Suppliers are two separate steps today — adding the UPC doesn't auto-create the Prices & Suppliers entry for you. There's an open feature request to connect these, you can add your vote here: Suppliers UPC and Price. For now, add the supplier and price manually under the material's Prices & Suppliers tab as a separate step.
"A supplier sent updated pricing for a Consumable item, but I don't see the same Prices & Suppliers / Smart Supplier options I get on regular Materials."
That's expected, Prices & Suppliers (and Smart Suppliers) is currently built for Materials only, and doesn't extend to Consumables. There's an open feature request for this; you can add your vote here: Have Prices per Supplier also for Consumables. For Consumables, you'll need to track supplier pricing manually for now.
➡️FAQs
Can a 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.
Is there another way to submit an update besides replying to the email?
Yes, see "Alternative Option" above; you can upload the supplier's updated quote directly on the PO in Ply.
Still need help? Contact Support!
Questions about submitting or reviewing PO price updates? We're happy to help.