Add Purchase Order Line Items from a CSV

You can add line items and quantities to a draft purchase order in bulk by uploading a CSV file. Each row in the file becomes a line item on the purchase order, matched to one of your Shopify variants. Rows that cannot be matched or are invalid are returned to you in a separate error file so you can fix and re-upload them.

Before You Start

• The purchase order must be in Draft status. Line items cannot be imported once a purchase order has been ordered, received, or cancelled.
• The variants you reference should already exist in your catalog (they are synced from Shopify). Rows that do not match a known variant are reported in the error file.

CSV Format

The first row of the file must be a header row. The following columns are supported:

Column	Required	Description
SKU	Yes*	The variant SKU. This is the primary way items are matched.
Barcode	No	Reserved for future use — see note below.
Supplier SKU	No	Your supplier's SKU for the item. Used to match the item when SKU is blank or unmatched.
Quantity	Yes*	Whole number greater than 0. If left blank, defaults to 1.
Cost	No	Unit cost. If left blank, a default is used (see "Defaults" below).
Tax	No	Tax percentage for the line. Defaults to 0 if blank.

* The SKU and Quantity columns must be present in the header row. Individual cells may be blank (Quantity defaults to 1; a blank SKU can still be matched by Supplier SKU).

Extra columns are ignored. Any column not listed above (for example Product, Variant, Available, or Price) is simply skipped when building line items, so you can upload a report-style export without trimming it first. Column names are matched case-insensitively and a trailing * is allowed (e.g. SKU*). Note that if a row fails, the error file echoes back all of your original columns — including the extra ones — plus a Reason column, which makes it easy to identify the failed rows.

A simple example:

SKU,Barcode,Supplier SKU,Quantity,Cost,Tax
TSH-728-TEA,,SUP-1001,3,12.50,5
MUG-114-BLK,,,2,,0
,,SUP-2002,,,

How Items Are Matched

Each row is matched to a variant using the following order:

1. SKU — matched against your catalog variant SKUs.
2. Supplier SKU — if the SKU is blank or does not match, the system looks up the Supplier SKU against the supplier assigned to the purchase order.

If neither matches a single variant, the row is added to the error file with the reason.

Barcode matching is coming soon. The Barcode column is part of the template today but is not yet used for matching. For now, a row that has only a barcode (no SKU and no resolvable Supplier SKU) will be reported in the error file. Barcode-based matching will be supported in a near-future release, after which barcode-only rows will resolve automatically.

Defaults

To make uploads easier, blank values are filled in automatically:

• Quantity — defaults to 1 when blank.
• Cost — when blank, the system uses the supplier's catalog price for the item if one exists; if not, it falls back to the supplier's last cost. If neither is available, the line is added with no cost.
• Tax — defaults to 0 when blank.

Merging With Existing Lines

If a row matches a variant that is already on the purchase order, the imported quantity is added to the existing line rather than creating a duplicate. Likewise, duplicate rows within the same file for the same variant are combined into a single line.

When merging into an existing line, only the quantity changes. The existing line's unit cost and tax are kept as-is — any Cost or Tax value in the CSV row is ignored for lines that already exist. (The line total is recalculated from the existing unit cost and the new, larger quantity.) If you need to change the cost of an item that is already on the purchase order, edit that line directly rather than re-importing it.

The Response and Error File

When the upload finishes, you receive a summary of what happened:

• processed — number of rows read from the file.
• added — number of new line items created.
• updated — number of existing line items whose quantity was increased.
• errors — number of rows that could not be applied.

If any rows failed, the response includes a link to an error file. The error file contains only the failed rows — each with its original columns plus an extra Reason column explaining why it was skipped. Successful rows are not included. Fix the listed rows and re-upload just those.

Rows that succeed are always applied, even if other rows in the same file fail — a few bad rows do not block the rest of the import.

Common Error Reasons

Reason	What it means
Invalid quantity ...	The Quantity value was not a whole number greater than 0.
Could not resolve variant by SKU ...	The SKU did not match any variant in your catalog.
Could not resolve variant by Supplier SKU ...	The Supplier SKU did not match any item for this purchase order's supplier.
Ambiguous SKU ...	The SKU matched more than one variant, so it could not be applied automatically.
SKU required to resolve variant (barcode support coming soon)	The row had only a barcode. Add a SKU or Supplier SKU for now.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I import into a purchase order that has already been ordered?

No. Line items can only be imported while the purchase order is a draft.

What if I leave the Cost column blank?

The system fills it in from your supplier's catalog price, then the supplier's last cost. If neither exists, the line is created without a cost and you can edit it later.

Will re-uploading the same file create duplicates?

No duplicate lines are created for the same variant — quantities are added to the existing line instead. If you only want to fix the failed rows, upload a file containing just those rows.

Does this change anything in Shopify?

No. The import only adds line items to the purchase order in Bookkeep.