Inventory glossary

What is Partial receipt?

Partial receipt is when you receive less than the full quantity ordered on a purchase order in one delivery, leaving the rest still outstanding.

Suppliers often ship what they have ready and send the rest later, especially during busy seasons or when a product is backordered on their end. If you treat a partial delivery as the whole order, your stock counts will be wrong and you may think an item is fully restocked when half of it is still in transit.

Tracking partial receipts properly means logging exactly what arrived against the PO and keeping the remaining quantity open until it shows up. This keeps your on-hand numbers accurate and tells you what to chase up with the supplier if the rest is late.

Example

A candle store orders 200 units of a jar candle from a supplier. The supplier ships 120 units now and says the remaining 80 will follow in two weeks. The store receives 120 units into Shopify, leaves the PO open for 80 units, and follows up with the supplier before the two weeks are up.

Common mistakes

  • Marking the whole PO as received when only part of it arrived.
  • Not following up on the outstanding balance until a customer asks why a product is out of stock.
  • Creating a brand new PO for the missing units instead of keeping the original PO open, which makes it hard to track supplier performance.

Partial receipt and SteadyShelf

SteadyShelf lets you receive a purchase order in parts, so the quantity you actually got updates Shopify stock right away while the rest stays visible as still incoming.

SteadyShelf is launching on the Shopify App Store. Join early access to get the install link first.

Related terms

Purchase order · Receiving · Incoming inventory · Backorder · On order inventory

Full inventory glossary

FAQ

Does a partial receipt close the purchase order?

No. The PO stays open for the remaining quantity until it is received or the order is cancelled or adjusted.

Why do partial receipts happen?

Usually because the supplier is short on stock, ships in batches, or splits the order across multiple shipments for logistics reasons.

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