Adding costs during a bulk PO import
When you import purchase orders via Tools → Imports → Procurement → Purchase Orders, each row supports a per-line UNIT_COST field:
| Column | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
UNIT_COST | Yes | The per-unit cost for that SKU |
Luminous multiplies UNIT_COST × QUANTITY to calculate the Line Total, which rolls up into the PO's Total.
Important: Additional (landed) costs — such as freight, duties, or handling fees — cannot be added through the bulk import file. The import sets any such costs to zero. You must add them to each PO individually after the import completes (see below).
Adding additional / landed shipping costs to a PO (after import)
Once your POs have been imported and appear in the system, you can attach one or more extra cost entries to each PO:
- Go to Inventory → Purchase Orders, open the PO you want to update, and click Edit.
- Go to the Add Purchase Order Items step. Below the SKU lines, in the Extra Costs section, click Add Item(s) → Add 1 Item.
- Fill in the new extra-cost row:
- Reference # — optional reference (e.g., a freight invoice number).
- Item — a description of the cost (e.g., "International freight").
- Type and Cost Allocation — how the cost is allocated across the PO's products (e.g., Value Based Allocation).
- Qty and Unit Price — the amount of the cost (Line Total is calculated).
- Add as fee — check this box if you want the amount included in the PO total; unchecked entries are estimates that are not in the PO total.
- Click Next and save the PO on the Review and Save step.
You can add multiple entries per PO (for example, one for freight and one for duties). All entries are listed in the Extra Costs section of the edit screen (and on the PO's Extra Costs tab), and can be deleted individually with the trash icon while editing.
Once shipping costs are recorded on a PO, a TOTAL SHIPPING COST row appears in the line-item totals section of the PO detail view (highlighted in amber so it's easy to spot).
Cost columns on PO line items
When viewing or editing the line items inside a purchase order, the following cost-related columns are shown:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Unit Cost | The per-unit cost agreed with the supplier |
| Downpayment | Any per-line downpayment amount |
| Line Total | Unit Cost × Quantity (calculated automatically) |
Below the line-item grid, the totals section shows:
- TOTAL — sum of all Line Totals across all SKUs
- TOTAL SHIPPING COST — sum of all additional shipping cost entries (only shown when greater than zero)
Cost columns on the PO list page
On the Inventory → Purchase Orders list, you can toggle the following cost-related columns on or off using the Columns control:
| Column | Notes |
|---|---|
| Total Cost | Sum of all line totals (requires cost-viewing permission) |
| Total Paid | Amount recorded as paid against the PO |
| Total Received | Line total for units already received into inventory |
If a PO has any additional shipping costs recorded, a shipping icon and the cost amount appear inline on that PO row in the list.
Tips
- One shipping cost entry per charge type — add separate entries for freight and duties so you have an itemized audit trail.
- Use the Item and Reference # fields to label each cost entry clearly; this makes reconciliation easier later.
- If you bulk-imported many POs and need to add the same landed cost to all of them, you will need to update each PO individually — there is no bulk update for additional shipping costs via import.