How to keep a supplier's price list

A price list is what this supplier charges you. Set it once and every order to them starts from the right number instead of from memory — and you stop discovering the price only when the invoice arrives.

1. 1

   Open the supplier's price list

   Go to your suppliers, open one, and open its Price list. It shows how many products are on the list. An empty list tells you to add a category to get started.

2. 2

   Add the products you buy from them

   Bring across the products you actually order from this supplier. There is no value in a list of your whole catalog — the point is the subset this supplier sells you.

3. 3

   Record their code, not just yours

   The Supplier code column is what they call the product on their side. Filling it in is what turns an order into something a supplier can read without translating, and it is what makes their invoice checkable against your order.

4. 4

   Set the cost and the minimum quantity

   Cost is what they charge you per unit. Min. qty is the smallest amount they will sell — a supplier who only sells screens in boxes of five belongs on the list as five, so nobody orders three and waits for a phone call.

5. 5

   Mark the preferred supplier

   When two suppliers sell the same part, Preferred says which one to reach for. That is the flag that makes a reorder a decision you already made rather than one you make again every time.

6. 6

   Find the gaps

   Filter by Missing a price to see what is on the list with no cost recorded, and the page tells you how many on it still have no price. Those are the lines that will surprise you at invoice time.

7. 7

   Search by either code

   The search takes your product name or the supplier's code, so you can look something up from their catalog or from your shelf.