Overview

When a transfer order (TO) is posted, Luminous automatically creates a linked purchase order (PO) for the destination warehouse and a linked sales order (SO) for the source warehouse. "Receiving" the transfer order means completing a receiving report against that linked PO — this is what officially adds the inventory to the destination warehouse.

There are three ways to trigger receiving, depending on how the TO was configured when it was created.

Before you can receive

Two things must be true before inventory can land at the destination warehouse:

  1. The transfer order must be posted. A saved-but-draft TO has no linked PO, so there is nothing to receive against. If you haven't posted yet, open the TO and click Mark as posted.
  2. The linked sales order must be marked as Shipped. Shipping the SO deducts inventory from the source warehouse. Auto-receive will not run until the SO is shipped, and the receiving report form will not have items to pre-fill until the SO has shipped.

Method 1 — Auto-receive on arrival date (hands-off)

If the "Auto-receive transfer order on arrival date" checkbox was checked when the TO was created, Luminous handles receiving automatically:

  • Every day, Luminous scans for TOs that have this option enabled and whose arrival date falls on or before today (up to 30 days in the past).
  • When the linked sales order is in Shipped status and no items have been received yet, Luminous automatically creates and submits the receiving report for the full ordered quantity.
  • The inventory is added to the destination warehouse at its default receiving location.
  • If the sales order is not yet shipped at the time the job runs, Luminous will retry on subsequent days until the SO ships or the 30-day window passes.

Note: If you manually receive the items before the auto-receive job runs, the job will skip the TO and will not create a duplicate receiving report.

Method 2 — Receiving report form opens on save (manual, immediate)

If the "Open receiving report form on close" checkbox was checked when the TO was created, the receiving report form opens automatically as soon as you save or close the TO. You can fill in the received quantities, any extra costs, and confirm to complete the receipt.

If you closed that dialog without completing it, use Method 3 below to receive at any later time.

Method 3 — Manually create a receiving report (any time)

This is the most common path when you need to receive at a later date, receive a partial shipment, or if no auto-receive option was configured.

  1. Go to Inventory > Receiving.
  2. Click Create Receiving Report (top right).
  3. In the receiving report form, search for and select the linked purchase order associated with your transfer order. TO-linked POs are internal records — the destination warehouse will be pre-filled automatically.
  4. Review the line items and quantities. Adjust quantities if only a partial shipment has arrived.
  5. Enter any extra costs (e.g., shipping cost carried over from the TO) if applicable.
  6. Click Save to finalize the receiving report.

Once saved, the received quantities are added to the destination warehouse's on-hand inventory.

Partial receipts

If your shipment arrives in multiple deliveries, you can create multiple receiving reports against the same linked PO — one per batch. Each report adds only the quantities you enter, and the PO tracks how much has been received versus what is still outstanding.

FAQs

Why isn't auto-receive running even though the arrival date has passed? Check that the linked sales order is in Shipped status. Auto-receive requires the SO to be shipped before it can create the receiving report. If the SO is still open, mark it as shipped first.

Can I still manually receive if auto-receive is enabled? Yes. If you create a receiving report manually before the auto-receive job runs, the job will detect that items have already been received and skip the TO automatically — no duplicates will be created.

The linked PO doesn't appear when I search in Receiving — what should I check? Confirm the TO is posted (not just saved). An unposted TO has no linked PO. Also verify you are searching by the correct PO reference — TO-generated POs typically carry the TO's order number.

Will receiving the TO generate a vendor bill? No. Purchase orders created automatically by a transfer order are internal tracking records and do not generate vendor bills or sync to QuickBooks Online.

What happens to cost layers when I receive? The FIFO cost layers from the source warehouse transfer to the destination warehouse when the TO is fully received. You can review the updated cost layers on the SKU's Costs tab after receiving is complete.