Hi,
There have been lots of questions about a Purchase Order API and the replies from Shopify have always been non-committal. Please can we have a defiinitive answer about if there will be a Purchase Order API available in the next 12 months?
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There’s nothing to share on this right now, I’m afraid.
Hi, @Liam-Shopify this is also an API that our Merchants are requesting now that the transfer API is live
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Same here @Liam-Shopify
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+1 Bumping this request up.
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Do you have any updates on this now that Stocky is being retired?
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I’d been keen to know if theres any updates from Shopify’s side for this.
I’m super curious on this as my app is basically Purchase Orders on steroids. I’m not concerned about Shopify making something better, but having the ability to integrate to a useful implementation of purchase orders (right now they’re woefully NOT useful at all) would still be beneficial.
One concern is that merchants will begin to move from Stocky to the built-in PO feature soon, but without an API for us to integrate with, that could leave them with a disrupted workflow for (potentially) several months.
Given the API release schedule (April, July, Oct), a hypothetical API introduced in the July version, for example, means we can only integrate with the built-in PO feature 60 days ahead of the deadline. I’m not sure whether to recommend merchants hold off on the migration until as late as possible. We’re getting asked about it almost every day.
I would suggest to Shopify to postpone the deadline until an API is released, so we can support both modes for a while. That would ease the transition for sure.
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Everyone please reach out to your Shopify Support about this issue. This is a big deal!
Shopify has not given enough time to plan for this change. If the Shopify PO’s were not lacking so many features, then it would make sense to switch. The PO’s have not improved much since they launched them.
Without an API endpoint there is no way to import/export any data. This is the biggest reason to not make the switch.
So don’t do it. Do not switch. Instead reach out to your Shopify Support via email or chat and inform them the Shopify PO’s will not be a viable option for your store. Maybe in the future once they have added the same or more functionality as Stocky. Once the functionality in place, then they could look ahead at a future sunset date that gives stores a reasonable amount of time to prepare for this. Please keep Stocky up and running until Shopify PO’s are ready!
I reached out to Shopify to see if API access was on the roadmap before August 31st. Support was unable to answer this. For now, we are waiting to see where Shopify is going with the PO’s before making the switch.
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Why pitchfork this? There are alternatives to Stocky that are out there for merchants to bridge the gap. I’ve mentioned my app here, but I’m sure there are things it does not do. So, what are those things that Stocky users are going to miss so badly that everybody needs an API for that you can’t find in other apps (i.e. FyreTrail)?
Ahh. We have a saying…. “There’s an App for that!”. Well of course there is! And how much more is this going to cost us?
Remember, Stocky was once a 3rd party app. And then Shopify bought the app. They took over the development of the app and then started recommending it as a solution to Purchase Orders.
We have tried 3rd party apps in the past and they have not worked out. Is Stocky perfect? No. However, it works well with Shopify.
The shop retail world starts with the Purchase Order. Everything happens from there. Receiving, Billing, Inventory, Orders, POS, etc. Managing Purchase Orders is a root functionality that I do not want to trust to anyone but Shopify. @Doug_P I’m sure you app is great but you asked and that is why. I mean who knows how long you will continue to maintain and update your app? What happens when you are done? Now we have to find another solution that impacts the entire chain of the business workflow?
Thanks @drewboater .. Well… there IS an app for that and it’s going away… so where’s the heartache of replacing it with another app?
Also, I’m not sure you answered the question other than “money” and “trust” which clearly you’re indicating is a negative towards Shopify’s app store in general. You face the other issues like supportability and longevity with any solution - including Shopify as a system, really. At any rate, the point is I’m just getting started and I’m already providing a solution with that ENTIRE retail workflow you’re calling out. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s likely NOT perfect for every scenario (YET), but my goal is to support as many retail stores as possible with this and so far it covers a great many.
BUT… if you want a solution that’s free that solves your issues simply by having an API I think you’re going to be disappointed - especially as these things evolve over time. Shopify is going to have a hard time supporting all the things that shops need simply because it’s not geared to do so. I do think they’ll have a PO API long before August though.
Landing costs, forecasting, importing and exporting would ideally be addressed before forcing stores to switch. A Supplier list would be really nice too. This post sums it up… Why Stocky should remain
I will not be disappointed when I am able to backup Purchase Orders because you can now export them. I will not be disappointed when you can import them (we do this for purchase orders with many line items). I would not want to re-create all of the Purchase Orders that are currently in Stocky by hand into Shopify.
Shopify should at least mirror the functionality of Stocky before forcing the switch. That’s all I’m hoping for.
And if you are correct, and they add an API for Purchase Orders and the ability to import before August, then I will make the switch to Shopify PO’s. However, there is no clear answer to this. Even if they do upgrade the API before August, that will not leave much time for stores to make the change.
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I’m with you - that is a GREAT post! And, as much as I would like to say otherwise, I admit - do not meet all of things in that post. Let’s be clear as I can on this. My app supports retailers who buy from vendors/suppliers who have invoices or PO’s through their PDFs, portals or somehow already provide details to the buyer/shop owner - it saves the shop owner from having to manually go through the hoops that Shopify currently requires them to do so. What it does not support (yet) are vendors/suppliers who do not have docs/portals/etc. and wish to receive purchase orders (i.e. mostly re-orders) via email or hardcopy. Other than that I think it does quite a bit on that post already, but hard to say with a few of them.
Anyway, I’M NOT OPPOSED to supporting “mail-to” suppliers. I just need to know more about that process in general and hopefully I get a partner that is willing to ride that wave with me. I’m all about supporting the entire retail process, but I can’t fight the trust and money issues - I can offer trust built over time, but “free” just isn’t a thing that echoes through the cloud systems necessary to support an app (like mine) that in turn supports all of this.
As a rule, we are really committed to leveraging the tools that are offered by Shopify (Advanced, not Plus). We want to use the built-in Purchase Order process as much as possible and NOT add YAFA that keeps it’s own copy of our purchase orders/products. So many apps are not embedded, and unless the functionality is critical AND unavailable to a “built for shopify” app, we skip it.
We are writing our own, internal app, that will take the PDF generated from the PO and parse that to our suppliers so we can track where our shipments are and when to expect them.
When Shopify goes into remission from the cranial/anal inversion they’re suffering from regarding POs and finally surface some of the PO data, we’ll be ready.
I realize that having your own portal makes it much easier to offer your app to other platforms, it’s kind of a make-or-break for us. We live in Admin and hate it when we can’t pin an app.
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I’m not sure if you’re referring to my reply or not, but I’m going to assume you are.
Why are you sticking to “Built for Shopify” apps only? I wonder if there’s some misconception about what that actually means. I chose not to do this as an app builder because really, it’s mostly the look and feel that is the difference and I wanted my branding to persist instead of Shopify’s.
Building your own app is a bit costly - especially in the ongoing maintenance aspects (backups, upgrades, security packages, etc.). If you are committed to doing this, then great, but most would see this as a cost inhibitor. That being said you get to make the choices so there’s that too. FyreTrail does already read PDF PO’s for suppliers that we’ve built parsers for. Since you’re doing this though, I recommend you have AI read it/parse it then save the data. This will be a feature I finish and implement shortly too because it saves the problematic parsers - and they are with PDFs, especially with page breaks - thanks for nothing Adobe.
Now, about that “portal” - our primary usage is embedded in Shopify Admin - and you most certainly can pin FyreTrail. We do offer an external access portal so you can fully take advantage of the stock take module in FyreTrail (i.e. multiple users taking stock at the same time). But yeah, embedded usage in Shopify Admin is the recommended usage.
Don’t get me wrong - this is not an argument. I’m merely trying to understand usage/decisions and provide a really solid solution to them.
Our desire for “Built for Shopify” (i.e., Polaris) is to maintain a consistent look and feel and matching interactions across all the apps we use. There’s still a wide variety of interaction variance even across the “Built for Shopify” apps. With our staff, every app introduces a new “Oh, with this one, you have to store THIS way”, all because the app designers felt their way was better.
Any time you use an interface, you have to get a bit into the head of whomever designed it to understand how you are expected to interact. When you have a ton of apps, that’s a ton of heads. A great example is the Microsoft suite. Generally, regardless of the app you use, once you know one, you know them all. The “Shopify App Design Guidelines” doc is woefully deficient as compared to, say, the HI Guidelines from Apple.
So, pretty much any app that pulls us out of Admin is skipped over.
Just my 2 cents, here.
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Ok, thank you for that. So if I am understanding correctly, no matter how well an app (any app) meets your needs or how well it fits, your stance is that if it doesn’t have that Polaris look and feel you won’t even look at it? It’s good feedback for me because it lets me know there are actually shops out there that put such a high level on it, despite how much value an app creates.
I get the admin thing for sure… which is why I decided making it embedded in Shopify Admin as the primary usage. I’m very happy with that decision and I hope people like you are as well.
+1 for this, ai graph QL endpoint makes complete sense in 2026 and gos inline iwth updated to inventory management that shopify is doing.