Create & edit a supplier
A supplier record does two jobs: it holds who the supplier is (contacts and addresses), and it holds the purchasing defaults — lead time, pricing tier and currency, payment term, minimums — that pre-fill every purchase order you raise against them. Creating a supplier takes a five-field dialog; everything else lives on the supplier's Settings tab.
To create or update many suppliers at once, use the spreadsheet importer instead.
Before you begin
- You need the suppliers.create permission to add a supplier and suppliers.update to edit one. Archiving and deleting are gated separately (suppliers.archive, suppliers.delete).
- Supplier names are globally unique — two suppliers can't share a name.
Create a supplier
- Go to Contacts → Suppliers.
- Click Add Supplier (top right). The Add Supplier dialog opens.
- Choose the Type:
- Product Supplier — supplies inventory/products you purchase via purchase orders.
- Service Provider — for service charges like freight, customs, and brokerage, which you record as landed costs. Service providers can't be used on purchase orders.
- Enter the Name (required). Company Name, Email, and Contact Name are optional — you can fill them in later.
- Click Save. The new supplier appears in the list as Active.
The dialog is deliberately minimal — a new supplier starts with your account's defaults already applied (lead time, minimum order quantity, default stock level, submission format, a default pricing tier that carries the supplier's currency, and a default supplier warehouse). Fields inherited from an account default show a Default chip on the Settings tab, and an overridden field offers Restore Default to return to the account value.
Open a supplier
Click the supplier's name anywhere in the list. The detail page opens on the Overview tab, with tabs for Overview, Payables, Purchase Orders, Performance, Products, Settings, and Activity, and header actions for Record Payment, New PO, Edit, and More.
Edit a supplier
- Open the supplier's Settings tab.
- Click Edit (top right) or press E. The whole tab switches to an editable form — the header shows Cancel (Esc) and Save (⌘S), and an Editing indicator tracks unsaved changes.
- Change any fields, in any section.
- Click Save. To back out instead, click Cancel — if you have unsaved changes, a Discard changes? prompt asks you to confirm.
What's on the Settings tab
| Section | What you set there |
|---|---|
| Profile & Contacts | Name, company name, primary contact, email, Purchase Order Email (separate multiple addresses with commas), website, phone, fax. |
| Addresses | The office address, with an address search and country/postal fields. |
| Purchasing Defaults | Store, Default Pricing Tier (carries the supplier's currency), Lead Time, minimum order quantity, Minimum Purchase Order Value / Quantity, shipping method, default stock level, Default Tax Rate, and Default Payment Term (you can create a new payment term inline). |
| Payment & Banking | Payment details (pre-fill this supplier's payment requests and back the payment-details verification check), Default Deposit % (pre-filled on new deposits), and Auto-apply Deposits to Bills. |
| PO Automation & Submission | Submission Format, the supplier's Timezone (localizes automation schedule times), and toggles to automate dropship fulfillment, dropship PO submission, and backorder PO generation. |
| Invoice Reminders | Whether SKU.io automatically chases this supplier for outstanding invoices — Use account default, On, or Off. Applies to all of the supplier's purchase orders; an individual PO can still override it. |
| Warehouses | The supplier's ship-from locations. Every purchase order is stamped with one (the default pre-fills new POs), dropship orders are fulfilled from it, and lead times can differ per location. A warehouse referenced by existing orders can't be deleted. |
The supplier minimums in Purchasing Defaults aren't just labels: demand forecasts and PO creation can warn or block when a PO doesn't meet them, when the matching Enforce minimum toggles are set on the forecast configuration.
Archive or delete a supplier
Open the supplier and click More (top right):
- Archive removes the supplier from the Active list without losing history. The list's All / Active / Archived toggle (bottom left) shows archived suppliers again.
- Delete supplier permanently removes the record — a confirmation warns that it can't be undone, and deletion is blocked if the supplier has purchase orders, landed costs, or other usage.
The More menu also offers Request Invoices (chase outstanding POs awaiting an invoice), Export Statement (open the vendor statement for export), and Merge into… (combine duplicate suppliers).
Next steps
- Import suppliers from a spreadsheet — bulk-create or bulk-edit suppliers.
- The suppliers list: columns, filters & inline edit — edit common fields straight from the list.
- Manage a product's suppliers — link products to this supplier from the product side.
- Create a purchase order — see the purchasing defaults do their job.
Video transcript
Suppliers hold the contacts and purchasing defaults that pre-fill every purchase order. To manage them, go to Contacts, then Suppliers. To add one, click Add Supplier. Product suppliers can go on purchase orders. Service providers cover services like freight and customs, recorded as landed costs. Give your supplier a unique name, then click Save. The other details are optional — you can add them any time. Search for your new supplier, and click its name. The Overview tab summarizes payables, purchase orders, and key details at a glance. Everything else lives on the Settings tab. Profile, addresses, purchasing defaults like lead time and payment terms, automation, and the supplier's warehouses. To change anything, click Edit, or press E. Every section becomes editable. Make your changes, then click Save to return to the read-only view. The More menu holds the rest. Request invoices, export a statement, merge duplicates, or archive. Your supplier is ready for purchase orders.