A sales order is the seller's record of an order a customer placed: what they want, how many, at what price, by when, and on what terms. It comes after the customer's purchase order and before anything ships. The purchase order is the buyer's document, the sales order is yours, the packing slip goes in the box with what shipped, and the invoice bills for what shipped. Keeping the sales order separate matters most when an order doesn't ship complete: the sales order still says 20 cases were ordered, the packing slip says 18 went, and the invoice bills 18, with the other 2 on backorder. In the example below, a hot sauce maker turns a grocer's emailed order into a sales order, ships it short, and keeps all four documents in step.
The short version
- A sales order is your record of the customer's order, made before you ship.
- Purchase order: the buyer's. Sales order: yours. Packing slip: what shipped. Invoice: what you bill.
- On it: your order number, the customer and their PO number, dates, terms, each line's item, quantity and price.
- When an order ships short, the sales order keeps what was ordered; the backorder is the difference.
- Invoice what shipped, not what was ordered.
- TaroStack keeps sales orders with what's shipped and what's still to go. More below.
What goes on a sales order
| Part | What to write |
|---|---|
| Sales order number | Your own, in sequence: SO-2026-0412 |
| Customer | Name, bill-to and ship-to addresses |
| Their PO number | So their accounts team can match it |
| Order date and requested delivery | When it came in, when they want it |
| Terms | Net 30, cash on delivery, prepaid |
| Lines | Item code, description, unit (each or case), quantity, unit price, line total |
| Totals | Subtotal, delivery, tax if your state requires it, total |
| Notes | Substitutions, backorders, delivery instructions |
What the buyer's side of the same order should carry is in what should a purchase order include. The form a store fills in to order is in wholesale order form template.
An example: a grocer's order, shipped short
Blue Ridge Hot Sauce, a made-up hot sauce maker in Roanoke, Virginia, got an email from Valley Market in Harrisonburg on October 8: PO VM-2210, three sauces, delivery by the 14th. The sales order:
| Item | Description | Ordered | Case price | Line total | Shipped Oct 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORG-5 | Original hot sauce, 5 oz, case of 12 | 10 | $54.00 | $540.00 | 10 |
| SMH-5 | Smoked habanero, 5 oz, case of 12 | 6 | $60.00 | $360.00 | 4 |
| GRC-5 | Green chile, 5 oz, case of 12 | 4 | $57.00 | $228.00 | 4 |
| Total | 20 | $1,128.00 | 18 |
Only 4 cases of smoked habanero were on the shelf, so the packing slip, PS-2026-0412, lists 18 cases and the 2 missing ones as backordered. The invoice bills the 18 that went, $1,008.00, and the 2 cases of smoked habanero, $120.00, go on their own invoice when the next batch is bottled. Nothing is billed twice and nothing is forgotten, because the sales order still holds the full 20. What went in the box is in packing slip template, and how backorders are tracked in backorder template.
Get the template
Download the sales order template. One sheet: shaded cells for your order number, the customer, their PO number, the dates and terms, and each line's item code, description, unit, what shipped, quantity and price; the line totals, subtotal and total work themselves out, with a note line for backorders. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
One sales order is easy. Fifteen open orders, three of them part-shipped, and a shelf that has to cover all of them, is where a spreadsheet stops telling you what you can promise the next customer.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each sales order with what's shipped and what's still to go.
Sales orders. Each order records the customer, the lines and the dates, and an order shipped in part shows as partly shipped until the rest goes.
One picking list. Open orders pick from one list, and each shipment takes the lots that expire first, so the delivery note shows the lots that went.
Stock that's really there. Shipping can't take stock below zero: the app says what's there and asks for a count first, so a backorder is found before the box is packed, not after.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| What's still to ship on an order | Compare the order with the slip | Shown as partly shipped |
| What to pick for today's orders | One order at a time | One picking list |
| Lots in each shipment | Written on the slip | On the delivery note |
| Whether stock covers the order | A guess | What's on hand, by lot |
Sales orders, picking lists and delivery notes are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.