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Purchase Orders – Shipping Containers


Overview

Sellercloud helps you organize receiving processes for a larger number of Purchase Orders by putting them into Shipping Containers. Once a Shipping Container has arrived, the associated POs will be automatically updated with the relevant shipping information.


Manage Shipping Containers

Client setting Enable Shipping Containers For PO must be enabled for this workflow. To enable the setting, navigate to Settings > Client Settings > General Client Settings > Purchasing > Advanced.

Create a Shipping Container

  1. Go to Purchasing > Shipping Containers.
  2. In the bottom right, click the green plus icon. Shipping Container New Icon
  3. Complete all the required fields.
    The Container Name must match the container ID your vendor has provided you with. The Receiving Warehouse for the Shipping Container should also match the warehouse on the linked PO(s). If the Warehouse is bin enabled you must also specify a Bin Name.
  4. Once completed, click Create.New Shipping Container Dialog Box

Add Items to a Container

You can fill up a container with items one-by-one or in bulk via a file import. Follow the below steps to add items to a container.

  1. Go to Purchasing > Shipping Containers > Container.
  2. Click the plus icon on the Items panel header.Add Items to Container
  3. Search for the requested item. You can search by items or filter by Purchase Order ID. To filter, click the Add Filter button. When the correct item appears, select the relevant checkbox.
  4. Enter the quantities, and click Add & Close. Alternatively, click Add Selected to keep searching.Select Items per Container

Import Items in Bulk

To import products to a Shipping Container in bulk, follow the steps below.

  1. Go to Purchasing > Shipping Containers > Container.
  2. On the Items panel header, click the Upload icon.sellercloud upload new items
  3. If a sample template is needed, click the Download icon to save it to your local computer and populate the following columns.
    COLUMN HEADER DEFINITION
    POID The number of a Purchase Order
    POItemID The line item ID for the product on the PO. When adding new products, an ItemID will automatically be generated. You can use that same ItemID to update existing items in the Shipping Container.
    ProductID The SKU of a product
    QtyShipped The quantity of an item shipped in a container

Receive Shipping Containers

  1. Access Purchasing > Shipping Containers > Container.
  2. In the upper right, click Actions, and select the appropriate receive option. See the definitions for these options below.Receive Shipping Containers
    RECEIVE OPTION DEFINITION
    Receive Full Container Select to log a whole container as received
    Receive Selected Container Items Select to log selected products as received
    Receive Container Items (Custom Quantity) Select to log a specific quantity of a product as received
  3. Alternatively, to receive multiple containers, go to Purchasing > Shipping Containers > Select the requested container(s).
  4. In the bottom right, click the Action icon, and select Receive Containers.Receive Containers Option
  5. Specify the Warehouse the shipment will be received in. Fill in the Bin Name if receiving in a bin-enabled warehouse.

    Receive Full Container
  6. Click Receive.
  7. The process request will go to the Queued Job. Once processed, the received inventory will appear in the selected warehouse, and the relevant POs will update with either the Partially Received or Fully Received status.

Container Costs

Container shipping, duties & tariffs as well as other expenses can be averaged and divided into an item’s cost.

Advanced Client Settings Enable Shipping Containers For PO and Use PO Adjusted Price for Container Unit Cost must be enabled for this workflow (Show me where!). A method of cost distribution must be selected in Divide Container Cost for Cost Adjustment Using: Equally Per Unit, Weight Ratio, CBM Ratio!

Refer to the table below for a detailed description of each distribution type.

DISTRIBUTION TYPE DEFINITION
Equally Per Unit The costs will be divided equally among the units.
Weight Ratio The cost will be distributed in proportion to the items’ weights, and then divided per unit based on that. Note: All items in the container must have their weight entered.
CBM Ratio The cost will be distributed in proportion to the items’ cubic meters, and then divided per unit based on that. Note: All items in the container must have their CBM fields populated. Default values can be configured on the items’ Purchasing page (Show me where!).

Add Cost Information to the Container

In the Cost Info section, enter your Shipping Cost. Other costs and fees related to the container (e.g Harbor Maintenance Fee) that also need to be divided can be entered as Cost Based Fees. These costs will be divided among each item based on the distribution type you chose. The Total CBM In Container and Duties & Tariffs are populated based on the values entered on your products (Product > Toolbox > Purchasing > Import Information), however, they can also be added/edited in the container grid.

To add Cost Information, follow the steps below:

  1. Navigate to Purchasing > Shipping Containers.
  2. Select the appropriate Container.
  3. In the upper right, click Edit.
  4. Fill in your desired values in the Shipping Cost and Cost Based Fees fields.
  5. Save.

In the container grid, you will see your Shipping and other costs broken down and the total amount will be displayed in the Total extra costs column.

Apply Costs to Products

Once the container is received and all of the costs have been filled out, you can apply the cost adjustment to your products. The adjustment amount will be the Total Extra costs divided between all units currently in stock and factored in towards the average cost of the products. To do that:

  1. Navigate to Purchasing > Shipping Containers.
  2. Select the appropriate Container.
  3. Go to the Actions Menu.
  4. Select Apply Extra Costs to Items.
To update Shipping Costs after an adjustment was already applied, edit the cost value fields to reflect the changes and use the Apply Extra Costs to Items Action again. This will update the existing average cost movement with the new values.

Track PO Shipping by Received Containers

The status of a Purchase Order will automatically update once it is received by the associated Shipping Container. The relevant shipping information appears under the PO’s Shipping Containers toolbox.

PO Received Status


Overview

Sellercloud helps you organize receiving processes for a larger number of Purchase Orders by putting them into Shipping Containers. Once a Shipping Container has arrived, the associated POs will be automatically updated with the relevant shipping information.


Manage Shipping Containers

Container Management is useful for merchants who receive multiple POs in single or multiple containers. With this feature, the items can be received directly from the container, negating the need to separate the items by PO. When receiving the container, the related PO will be updated accordingly.

The vendor will typically send the merchant a container file that provides detailed info on the containers and their contents. Use that information when creating the containers in Sellercloud.

Create a Shipping Container

Client setting Enable Shipping Containers For PO must be enabled for this workflow.
  1. Go to Inventory > Purchasing > Shipping Containers.sellercloud purchasing shipping containers
  2. Click Create new container.
  3. Enter a container name. This typically should match the container ID that has been supplied to you by the vendor.
  4. Complete the fields as needed > Save Container.sellercloud create new container

Add Items to a Container

Items can be added to a container manually or in bulk through a file upload. To do this, the items must be added to a PO.

Manually

  1. Go to the Container detail page > Add Items.
  2. Enter a PO# > Search. All items in the PO will be returned. If you enter the ProductID and the related PO#, the search will return that product only.
  3. Fill in the quantity per product. This information should be on the container file sent to you from the vendor. Repeat the process for all applicable POs and products.
  4. Click Add Selected Items > Save Container.

Through a file upload

  1. Open a Container > Download Sample.
  2. Populate the columns as follows:
    • PO ID
    • POItemID— the line item id for the product on the PO. This unique is required because a SKU may be added more than once to any PO.
    • ProductID— SKU
    • Qty Shipped— the qty of the item shipped in this container.
    • Qty Received— Leave blank until items are received. See below.
  3. Save the file > Return to Sellercloud.
  4. Click Choose File > Select your file > Upload File. sellercloud add items in bulk

Receive Containers

Sellercloud offers the ability to receive individual containers or multiple through a file upload.

Receiving individual containers

  1. Open a Container > Select items > Select Action.
    • Receive Full Container— Will receive whole container
    • Receive Container Items— Will receive selected items
    • Receive Container Items (Custom Quantity)— Lets you control quantity received per item
  2. Save Container. If nothing is added for a line item, the entire shipped quantity of that line item will be received in Step 4.
  3. Go to the Shipping Containers page > Select a Container > Select Action > Receive Containers > Go.
  4. Select a WarehouseID and enter a Bin Name.
    1. The selection Default will receive the inventory to the receiving warehouse set on the PO. Selecting a warehouse will override what has been set on the PO.
  5. Click Receive Container. The inventory will be received to the defined warehouse and the PO will be updated with the received item(s). The statuses will update as either Partially Received or Fully Received.sellercloud receive container

Receive Containers in Bulk

  1. Open a Container > Download Sample.
  2. Populate the Qty Received field > Save the file.
  3. Return to Sellercloud > Choose File > Upload File.
  4. The container will be received and the PO will be updated with the received item(s). Its status will update accordingly as Partially Received or Fully Received.

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