Purchase Receive

Last updated: June 20, 2026

Goods receive records stock arriving from a supplier against a purchase order, and is the gate through which purchased goods enter your inventory. It is the purchase-side mirror of the delivery order, with one difference that matters: it carries an inspection step, so goods can be checked before they count as stock.

What you will learn
  • What goods receive captures
  • Its distinctive expecting and inspecting states
  • How completing it feeds inventory
  • How partial receipts work against an order

Anatomy of the screen

  • Vendor and order – the supplier and a link to the purchase order being fulfilled.
  • Document – the receive number, date, the needed-by date and the deliver-to location.
  • Receive items – the stock items and quantities, with the unit and the stock location they land in.
  • Notes and attachments.

How it behaves

Expecting and inspecting

A goods receive runs Draft, then Expecting (raised as soon as the vendor gives dispatch dates, before anything physically arrives), optionally Hold, Verify, then Inspecting (a quality-control hold where the delivery is checked), and finally Completed, with Cancel available. The expecting and inspecting states are the distinctive ones: you can anticipate a delivery, and quality-check it, before it is allowed to become available stock.

The handoff to inventory

On completion, the receive converts the ordered quantities into the stock unit and brings the goods into inventory at the chosen location, where they become countable, sellable stock. This is the point where Purchase hands off to the stock ledger: from here the goods live in Inventory, explained by the receive that brought them in.

Against the order

Each receive links to its purchase order, and one order can have several receipts as the vendor ships in parts. The order's received tally is the sum of them, which is one of the three numbers the purchase invoice is matched against.

Worked example

The vendor confirms dispatch of 300 units, so you raise a goods receive in Expecting. When the pallet arrives you move it to Inspecting and check the condition; it passes, you Complete the receive, and 300 units appear in the main warehouse ready to use.

Edge cases and good practice

  • Use Expecting to anticipate deliveries you know are coming, so the warehouse is ready.
  • Inspect before completing anything you are not sure of; only completed receipts become available stock.
  • Receive in parts against one order as shipments arrive.

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