Purchase order vs invoice: the difference, with a PO template

Updated 2 November 2026 · DELLI

A purchase order (PO) is the buyer's request: what they want, how many, at what price and where to send it. An invoice is your bill for what you sent, with the amount due and the date to pay by. The PO comes before you dispatch, the invoice comes after, and the delivery note sits in between. This guide sets out the purchase order vs invoice difference in a table, gives you a purchase order template and a wholesale order form checklist, and shows how the three documents match up so your invoices get paid without queries.

1. Purchase order vs invoice: what is the difference?

Both list products, quantities and prices, which is why they get mixed up. The difference is who writes each one, when, and what it asks for.

Plenty of small shops never send a document called a purchase order. An email saying "6 of the night cream and 6 of the cleanser, same as last time" is still the order, and you should treat it with the same care. Pharmacy groups, department stores and larger grocers usually send a formal PO with their own number, and their accounts team may refuse to pay an invoice that doesn't quote it.

2. Purchase order meaning: what goes on a PO

The purchase order meaning is in the name: it's the buyer's written order to purchase. It tells you exactly what to pick, pack and send, and it gives both sides a reference to point to if something turns up short, late or at the wrong price.

A complete PO includes:

• PO number and date. The buyer's own reference. Copy it onto your delivery note and invoice.
• Buyer details. Business name, contact name, and the email address that invoices should go to.
• Delivery address and window. Which shop or warehouse, and any days or times they can take deliveries.
• Product lines. For each one: your product code, name, size, quantity and agreed unit price.
• Totals. A subtotal, with VAT shown separately if it applies.
• Terms and instructions. Payment terms, the date they need it, and anything else such as booking-in rules or labelling on the outer box.

Brands write POs too. When Kindred Skin, a skincare brand in Leeds, orders amber jars and lids from its packaging supplier, Kindred Skin is the buyer and sends the PO. Using the same habits in both directions keeps your costs as easy to check as your sales.

Before you accept a stockist's PO, check it against your current price list and your stock. A PO priced at last year's rates, or for a size you've stopped making, is far easier to fix before dispatch than after the invoice has gone out.

3. A purchase order template you can copy

Use this purchase order template for orders you place with your own suppliers, or send it to a stockist who asks what information you need from them. The fields work in a spreadsheet, a document or your accounting software.

The last instruction does the most work. When the supplier quotes your PO number on the delivery note and invoice, you can match all three in seconds when the bill arrives.

4. Wholesale order form template: a checklist

Many independent stockists don't have a PO system, so a simple order form gets you the same information without asking them to change how they work. It can be a PDF, a spreadsheet or a form on your trade page. A wholesale order form template should capture:

• Business name, trading address and contact name
• Delivery address, if different, with delivery days and any times to avoid
• Phone number and the email address for invoices
• Their PO number, if they use one
• Each product with your code, size and case size
• Quantity ordered, in cases rather than single units
• Trade price per unit and per case, so the total is clear before they send it
• Requested delivery date
• Your minimum order value and payment terms, printed at the bottom

Ordering in cases avoids awkward quantities. Wildfire Chilli Co, a chilli sauce maker in Bristol, packs its sauces in cases of 6. A form with a "cases" column stops a deli ordering 5 bottles of one flavour and leaves no question about what to pick.

Orders through wholesale marketplaces arrive with the marketplace's own order record, so you don't need a form for those. Our page on bringing Faire orders into DELLI AI explains how they sit alongside direct orders.

5. How POs, delivery notes and invoices match up (three-way match)

Before paying a supplier, larger buyers check three documents against each other. Accountants call this a three-way match:

1. The purchase order: what the buyer asked for.
2. The delivery note: what you sent, which the buyer checks against what arrived.
3. The invoice: what you're charging.

If all three agree, the invoice goes into the next payment run. If one doesn't, the invoice is usually held until someone sorts it out, and that someone is often you, weeks later, when you chase a payment you expected to have received.

A few habits keep the match clean:

• Invoice what you delivered, not what was ordered.
• Quote the buyer's PO number on the delivery note and the invoice.
• Use the same product names and codes as the PO, so each line is easy to tick off.
• Record any shortage on the delivery note and tell the buyer before the goods arrive.
• If a price has changed since the PO, agree it in writing before you invoice.

If an invoice is already late, our guide to chasing unpaid wholesale invoices has a reminder schedule and emails you can copy.

6. When the purchase order and invoice don't match

These are the mismatches you're likely to meet. Deal with each one the same way every time.

A credit note reduces what the buyer owes on an invoice you've already sent. It keeps a clear record of what changed and why, which matters when you or your accountant look back at the account months later.

Keeping every order, delivery note and invoice in one place makes these checks quicker. Our guide to wholesale order management covers how to set that up, starting with a spreadsheet.

Questions about purchase orders and invoices

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