A buyer sends a purchase order that differs from your quote

A wholesale buyer sends a purchase order and asks you to proceed. Your quote specifies one assortment, but the document lists another. Before the team turns that request into packing instructions, identify the differences and ask the authorized people to confirm one current version.

This is a practical document-reconciliation workflow for small sales teams. Whether a particular purchase order forms a binding agreement depends on the actual documents and applicable circumstances; this checklist does not decide that legal question. It helps prevent a salesperson from concealing an unresolved discrepancy.

Match references before matching totals

Record the buyer’s purchase-order reference, the relevant quotation reference and version, and the date of the comparison. Confirm that the document belongs to the same buying entity and intended order. A familiar contact can send a document for a different branch or purchasing project.

Shopify’s B2B draft-order documentation provides a place for a purchase-order number alongside customer and company-location details. Its process also treats invoicing and payment as separate actions. That illustrates a useful record structure; it does not establish what either party has legally accepted.

Compare five decision areas

• Product lines: SKU, specification, variant and packaging reference.
• Quantities: each line, unit of measure and any permitted pack multiples.
• Commercial figures: currency, unit prices and which charges the stated total includes.
• Timing and destination: requested dispatch or delivery date and the actual ship-to location.
• Approval conditions: current authorized payment terms, exceptions and the action required before operational release.

A matching grand total does not prove the lines match. Different quantities and unit prices can produce the same amount. Compare the terms that change the actual product or obligation, then ask finance or the responsible commercial owner about discrepancies outside sales authority.

Send a small exception list

Hypothetical example: the approved quote lists 40 blue units and 20 gray units. The buyer’s PO lists 30 blue and 30 gray. Both total 60 units, but they request different assortments. If gray availability or variant pricing differs, processing the total alone can create an avoidable problem.

A useful response names the two affected lines and asks whether the intended mix is 40/20 or 30/30. If the buyer requests the new mix, obtain the applicable stock and price approval, then issue the updated order confirmation under one reference. These numbers are an illustration, not a real purchase or proof of a product result.

Keep the buyer’s original document intact. Record the proposed correction and the eventual confirmation beside it rather than silently changing the source. If the quotation itself needs revision, the quantity-change checklist explains how to recheck the offer.

Distinguish the document from the next action

HubSpot’s quote-property reference lists a PO number, signing status and payment status as separate properties. That supports keeping different kinds of evidence in different fields. A populated PO reference is not a payment receipt.

Use your own approved process to record what has been confirmed, what remains pending and who may authorize release. If someone asks to start production or dispatch despite a discrepancy, send the specific exception to the responsible owner. Do not invent a universal rule that all POs require advance payment.

Use AI to prepare the reconciliation

Give HireSalesAI approved product and offer information so it can clarify changed requirements and prepare a focused handoff. This guide does not assert automatic PO-file extraction, legal review or order-system writes. A person should verify document details when that capability has not been established.

The useful output is a short difference list, a current reference and the buyer’s required decision. Review resolved discrepancies and actual release records. Count payments only from the authorized payment evidence, rather than from a promising document arriving in the conversation.