A dropshipped item is an item that is shipped directly from a supplier to a customer.
This is a common fulfilment method used for online stores as you’ll never need to keep items stocked in a warehouse or other location.
This guide covers the following steps in the dropshipping process:
Setting up dropshipping in your Erply account
Creating a dropshipped order
Apply payment to dropshipped invoice
End the dropship process: Receive purchase order
Setting up dropshipping in your Erply account
In the back office, navigate to the Settings module and press Configurations.
Check off the boxes labeled:
Enable purchase waybills and purchase invoices as separate document types
Print received payments and due amount on invoices and invoice-waybil
We do this because waybills move inventory. Drop shipped orders do not move inventory from your stock -- the supplier directly ships products to the customers.
By default, Erply attaches invoices and waybills. Turning on these settings allows you to create a purchase invoice, and have the customer’s payment printed as a receipt on the invoice.
Click on the Inventory module and select Delivery conditions.
Click New to create a new delivery condition. Name your new condition “Dropship”
Creating a dropshipped order
Click on the Sales module and locate Orders. Click the plus sign button (+) next to Orders to create a new dropship order.
Select a customer, fill out any additional information, and select items to include in the order.
Locate the Delivery information section on the left-hand menu. Click on the dropdown menu next to Type of delivery and select your newly created “Dropship” option.
Confirm the order when you are finished.
Erply will notify you there is not enough stock to fulfil the order. Check off the highlighted lines and click Add items to purchase orders.
Erply will direct you to create a purchase order. Fill in the supplier information and customer information, then Confirm the PO.
Note: Hitting Confirm is as far as ERPLY goes with the order. The system will assume that you have communicated the order to your supplier through normal channels and the order has been placed.
Next, we need to create an invoice from the sales order. Navigate to the Sales module and select Orders.
Locate the order that you just created and click the More button on the line item. Select Create invoice.
Erply will open an invoice for this order. On the left-hand menu, you’ll see the invoice’s Type is set as an invoice-waybill.
Click this and change the type to invoice.
Confirm the invoice when you are done.
Apply payment to dropshipped invoice
You can apply partial or full payments to the customer's invoice in Erply.
Go back to the list of sales orders and locate your newly created order. Click the More button and select New sales invoice from the dropdown bar.
Select the customer and Confirm the invoice.
At this point, any prepayment captured on the sales order will automatically be moved to the sales invoice.
Click the Payments $ button on the bottom menu bar.
You also can insert a payment by going to the Sales module and selecting Invoices. Insert a payment to an invoice line item via the More tab.
Fill in payment information, including:
Payment amount
Date of payment
Payment method
Save the invoice when you’re done.
If submitting a partial payment, you may repeat these steps every time payment is received.
End the dropship process: Receive purchase order
Dropships don’t actually receive inventory, this step is strictly for
Record keeping
Closing out the dropship process
Navigate to the Purchase module and select Purchase orders.
Locate and the PO for your dropshipped item. You can search or filter through existing POs if needed.
Press the More button on the PO’s line item and click Receive PO.
Make sure the document Type is set as Purchase invoice.
Fill in the invoice number provided from the supplier.
Confirm if everything looks correct, then Save and Confirm the PO.