Guide

What to Check on a Customer Purchase Order Before You Start Work

Zigaflow25 August 20264 min read

Purchase Orders12 open

Midocean UK - Polo shirtsPO-0237In Production

PF Concept - Tote bagsPO-0235Part Received

LALTEX Group - Water bottlesPO-0233Awaiting PO

Ralawise - HoodiesPO-0231Received

Midocean UK - LanyardsPO-0229Awaiting PO

When a customer sends you a purchase order, most businesses save it and start work. But once you accept a PO, its terms are legally binding. Five checks before you respond can prevent the disputes that appear weeks later.

When a customer emails over a purchase order, most businesses do the same thing: save the file, note the reference number, and tell the team to get started. The PO arrived - that is the green light.

The problem is that a purchase order is not just a filing document. Under UK law, once you accept a customer's purchase order - whether you send a formal acknowledgment or simply begin fulfilling it - the terms it contains become legally binding. The delivery date the customer wrote in is now your delivery date. The payment terms they specified are now the terms you operate under. Any penalty clauses in the document become your liability.

Taking two minutes to check five things before you respond will protect you from the disputes that surface three weeks later.

Does the Price Match Your Quote?

The most basic check is also the one most often skipped. Compare every line on the customer's PO against the quote you sent. Check unit prices, any setup fees or run charges, and the total.

Customers sometimes raise POs from an earlier version of your quote, or from their own internal cost estimates that do not reflect the final price you agreed. If you accept the PO without checking, you have agreed to the number on their document, not yours. A short reply flagging the discrepancy - and asking them to reissue or confirm in writing - takes minutes. Unwinding a price dispute after delivery takes considerably longer.

This is exactly where Zigaflow's quote versioning earns its keep: when a customer raises a PO, you can check it against the specific quote version they accepted, not just the most recent one.

Is the Specification Right?

Check that what the PO describes matches what you agreed to supply. For a promotional merchandise distributor this means confirming the product, quantity, decoration method, and color specification. For an AV integrator or furniture dealer, it means verifying equipment codes, quantities, and configuration details. For a contractor, it means checking that the scope aligns with your quotation.

A vague or incorrect description on the PO creates a gap. When delivery day comes and the customer says "that is not what I ordered," the PO is the document they will point to.

What Do the Payment Terms Say?

Your standard terms and a customer's PO terms do not always match. A corporate buyer might raise a PO referencing their company's standard purchasing terms - 60 days from month-end, for example - rather than the 30-day net terms you quoted. If you start work without checking, you have implicitly agreed to their terms.

Note what the PO specifies, compare it to your quote, and flag any difference before you confirm. This is a straightforward conversation before work starts. It becomes a harder one after you have delivered.

Can You Actually Hit the Delivery Date?

Customers often write delivery dates on purchase orders that reflect when they need the goods, not the lead time they discussed with you. Check the date on the PO against your confirmed schedule. If it is not achievable, say so now. Accepting a PO with an unrealistic delivery date means you are in breach the moment you miss it - particularly if the document includes a penalty clause for late delivery.

Are There Any Penalty Clauses You Did Not Agree To?

Before you confirm a PO from a corporate or public sector customer, scan the document for liquidated damages, chargeback provisions, or late-delivery penalties. These clauses sometimes appear in standard purchasing templates that customers send without specifically discussing them.

If you spot a clause you did not negotiate, query it. You are not required to accept the buyer's terms as written. A brief acknowledgment confirming your acceptance subject to your own standard terms is entirely reasonable, and is the cleaner approach if your own terms conflict with theirs.

Send a written acknowledgment

Reply to every customer PO with a short written response that confirms the PO number, your agreed delivery date, the price, and your payment terms. This creates an unambiguous record of what both parties committed to.

Keep the Documents Together

File the customer PO, the original quote, and your acknowledgment in the same job record. If a dispute arises later - about the spec, the price, or the delivery date - you need all three documents in one place, not spread across email threads. In Zigaflow, the paper trail stays attached to the job throughout: the team doing the work can see exactly what was sold, at what price, and on what terms, without needing to ask.

The five minutes spent reviewing a PO before you accept it is rarely wasted. The hours spent resolving a dispute you could have prevented always are. Related reading: Five Things Every Purchase Order Should Include.

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