What is Three-way match?

For a small Shopify store, three-way match catches billing errors before money leaves your account. If a supplier invoices you for 100 units but you only ordered 80 or only received 75, the mismatch shows up immediately instead of getting buried in your books.

In practice this means comparing three documents line by line: the purchase order (what you agreed to buy), the invoice (what the supplier is charging for), and the receiving record (what actually showed up). If quantities and prices match across all three, you approve payment. If they don't, you investigate before paying, not after.

Example

A candle store orders 200 units of a jar candle at $4 each, for a purchase order total of $800. The supplier's invoice also says 200 units at $4, totaling $800. But the receiving record shows only 190 units arrived. The three-way match fails on quantity, so the store contacts the supplier before paying the full $800, and either asks for the missing 10 units or a $40 credit.

Common mistakes

• Paying invoices on receipt without checking them against the original purchase order.
• Only comparing invoice to purchase order and skipping the actual received quantity.
• Assuming small discrepancies are rounding errors instead of checking them every time.

Three-way match and SteadyShelf

SteadyShelf keeps the purchase order and the receiving record in one place, so you have two of the three pieces ready to check against the supplier's invoice.

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

Related terms

Purchase order · Receiving · Supplier · Incoming inventory

Full inventory glossary

FAQ