Two things about a supplier change every order: the least they will ship, and how long it takes to arrive. Know both before you build an order, and keep them on the supplier in Seller Sync so they're there for every catalog from that supplier.
Minimum orders
Suppliers set minimums in a few ways:
- A dollar minimum for the whole order, such as $500, often higher on a first order.
- A minimum per product, such as 2 cases or 24 units.
- Full cases only: you can't buy a part case.
The PO Assistant's suggested quantity is always whole cases, and at least 1 case when the product sells at all. A per-product minimum above that is yours to apply: if the supplier wants 2 cases and the suggestion is 1, decide whether the second case still sells inside the days an order should last, or pass.
Short of a minimum
The suggested quantities are sized to the market, not to the supplier's minimum, so the products worth buying can add up to less than it. You then have a few choices:
- Add products yourself: one more product that clears your minimums is better than extra cases of one that already has enough.
- Wait for another catalog from the same supplier and order both together.
- Ask the supplier to waive it, often easier on a repeat order than a first one.
- Fill it with more cases of your best products, best first. A fill buys more than the market alone would, so keep each product within a few weeks of the days an order should last.
Ask can help: on any product with a read, tell it the minimum and it can suggest which cases to add, and you apply each change with a click. Once a read is showing, the order's line on the rail shows the supplier's minimum.
Lead time
The lead time is the days from your order to the supplier shipping it. Allow about 10 more days for the stock to reach Amazon and be checked in. The PO Assistant draws Arrives on the side rail's chart at today plus the supplier's lead time, or 14 days when none is set, and carries the Usual range forward to it. Read the chart at that day, not today: the price, the sellers, the season. A long lead time makes a falling price or a season ending a bigger risk.
Set each supplier's lead time on the supplier in Suppliers, so the Arrives mark is right for every catalog from them.
Terms
Payment terms change how much you can buy as much as the minimum does. Many suppliers want prepayment on a first order and give net 30 after a few. A supplier's page shows its rep, payment terms and lead time when they're on file.
A worked example
A supplier asks for $750 on a first order. You run the PO Assistant on the 4 products worth buying, and their suggested quantities come to $612, $138 short. On the last one you ask Ask which cases to add. It suggests one more case of the best product, $96, and one of the next, $54, for $762, and you apply both with a click. Each still sells out in under two months at your share of its sales.
The lead time is 21 days. Ordered today, October 1, the Arrives mark sits on October 22, and with about 10 days to be checked in the stock goes on sale around November 1. A product whose season ends in October gets little from this order, so size it for the slow weeks after.