Overview
When a supplier receives a portal link for a purchase order, they can accept it, decline it, or accept it with proposed changes to individual lines (quantity, unit price, or ship date). Those proposals are held for your review — nothing on the purchase order changes until you act on them.
There are two places to work with supplier responses:
- Supplier Responses Page — a cross-order queue showing every order that still needs a decision from you.
- Supplier Response tab on the purchase order itself — where you actually apply or decline each change.
Step 1 — Find orders waiting on your decision
- In the left sidebar, under Inventory, click Supplier Responses..
- The queue lists every purchase order where a supplier has replied with Accepted with changes or Declined the order, and still has at least one change you haven't decided on. The Needs a decision column shows how many changes remain.
- Click Review (or click anywhere on the row) to open that purchase order.
If the queue shows Nothing waiting on you, all supplier responses are fully decided.
Step 2 — Open the Supplier Response tab on the purchase order
Inside the purchase order, click the Supplier Response tab. A yellow badge on the tab label tells you how many undecided changes are waiting.
At the top of the tab you'll see:
- A status chip — Accepted, Accepted with changes, or Declined — and the name and date of whoever responded.
- An overall note if the supplier left one.
- A count of changes still needing your decision.
Step 3 — Review each proposed line change
For every line where the supplier proposed something different, you'll see:
- The product name and your internal SKU.
- A before-and-after table showing what you ordered vs. what they proposed (e.g. Quantity 200 → 180, Unit price $5.00 → $5.50, or Ship date).
- Any note the supplier left for that line.
To accept a proposed change
Click Apply to order. The purchase order line is updated immediately to reflect the supplier's proposed value.
To reject a proposed change
Click Decline. A dialog opens asking for a reason — this is required. Your reason is sent to the supplier when you notify them (see Step 5). The order line stays exactly as originally placed.
Once you've decided on a line, it shows a green Applied or red Declined chip with a timestamp. You cannot undo a decision, but you can edit the purchase order directly if needed.
Step 4 — Handle any cost requests
Below the line changes, a Costs they've asked for section appears if the supplier has requested additional charges (for example, freight or a handling surcharge). Each cost request shows the name, quantity, unit price, line total, and any note.
To approve a cost request
Click Approve and add. A confirmation dialog shows the amount that will be added to the order as an extra cost. You can add an optional note, then confirm. The cost is added to the purchase order.
To refuse a cost request
Click Refuse. A dialog asks for a reason, which is required. The order total is not affected.
Step 5 — Notify the supplier of your decisions
After working through the proposals and cost requests, click Notify supplier of decisions at the top of the tab. This sends one email summarising every decision you've made, along with your decline reasons. A fresh portal link is included so the supplier can review the outcome.
Work through all the changes first, then send one notification — rather than sending an email per line.
Supplier Response tab not visible?
The Supplier Response tab only appears on purchase orders when the Supplier Portal is enabled for your account. If you don't see it, contact your Luminous admin to confirm the portal is turned on under Settings → Purchase Orders.
Managing portal access
At the bottom of the Supplier Response tab, the Who has a link section lists everyone who was sent a portal link for this order, when they last opened it, and whether their link is still active.
If you need to cut off access — for example, if a link was forwarded — click Revoke access. This immediately invalidates every live link for this order. Send a new portal link when you're ready for the supplier to re-enter.