PotoSales practical guides
WooCommerce Purchase Order Plugins: Which Workflow Do You Need?
By PotoSales · Updated 10 October 2026 · Public release 0.3.3
“Purchase order plugin” can describe three very different jobs. Start by identifying who sends the document and what should happen next.
| Your situation | Workflow to look for | Expected result |
|---|---|---|
| A buyer checks out online and supplies a PO number. | Purchase-order payment gateway | A checkout order with a PO reference for later billing. |
| You buy stock from a supplier. | Supplier purchasing and receiving | A supplier PO and a goods-receipt workflow. |
| A customer sends a PDF that your team retypes. | Customer PO to sales-order entry | A reviewed sales order in your store. |
Purchase-order payment at checkout
The WooCommerce Purchase Order Gateway lets customers enter a PO number during checkout. It records the reference for offline billing; it does not read an incoming PDF into product lines. This is useful when buyers already place their order through your storefront.
Supplier purchasing and stock receipt
PurchaseDesk describes a supplier purchasing workflow: raise a PO, receive goods and update inventory and costs. That addresses what your store buys. A customer's incoming PO describes what your store sells.
Incoming customer PDF to sales order
PotoSales addresses staff entering orders from customer documents. Upload a PDF or image in the store dashboard, review extracted information, match products, then confirm the WooCommerce order. The buyer does not need to change how they send purchase orders or install a plugin.
Human review is required. PotoSales 0.3.3 does not monitor an email inbox, create orders unattended, convert currencies or calculate tax automatically. It is not a replacement for supplier inventory management or a checkout payment gateway.
Questions to ask before choosing
- Does the tool read product lines, or only attach the PDF?
- Can staff check the original next to the draft?
- How are customer item codes matched to store products and variations?
- Who confirms quantities and amounts before creation?
- Where is document data processed, and is that acceptable for your store?
These tools can serve complementary jobs. Select on the workflow you need, then verify current requirements and terms on each vendor's page. This comparison was checked on 10 October 2026 and is written by the maker of PotoSales.
If incoming customer PDFs are your problem, follow the worked order-entry tutorial or watch the demonstration.
Try one complete order.
Upload, review and confirm in your own WooCommerce store.