Overview

When a supplier uses their portal link to request an additional charge — such as freight, handling, or a duty fee — the request lands on the purchase order for your team to review. Nothing changes on the order, and no money moves, until you explicitly approve it.

Where to find cost requests

  1. Open the relevant Purchase Order.
  2. Click the Supplier Response tab.
  3. Scroll to the Costs they've asked for section.

Each pending request shows:

  • The cost name and total amount
  • The breakdown (quantity × unit price)
  • An optional supplier reference number
  • Who submitted it and when
  • Any note the supplier left

Approving a cost

  1. Find the pending cost under Costs they've asked for.
  2. Click Approve and add.
  3. A confirmation dialog opens, telling you the exact dollar amount that will be added to the order.
  4. Optionally type a note (up to 1,000 characters) — this is recorded against the decision for your own records.
  5. Click Approve and add in the dialog to confirm.

What happens next: The charge is immediately added to the purchase order as an extra cost. It flows through the normal costing pipeline — proration across receipts, cost layers, and bill reconciliation — exactly as if you had entered it yourself. The request is then marked added to the order with the timestamp and any note you entered.

Refusing a cost

  1. Find the pending cost under Costs they've asked for.
  2. Click Refuse.
  3. A confirmation dialog opens.
  4. Enter a reason in the Why won't you pay it? field — this is required and the supplier will read it, so explain what they should do next.
  5. Click Refuse cost to confirm.

What happens next: The purchase order is untouched. The request is marked refused with your reason and the timestamp. You do not need to enter a reason when approving, but you must provide one when refusing.

Notifying the supplier

Deciding and notifying are two separate steps by design — you can work through all pending items first, then send one notification.

Once you have finished reviewing, click Notify supplier of decisions at the top of the Supplier Response tab. This sends the supplier a single email covering every decision you have made since the last notification.

Things to know

  • A request is not money until approved. While a request is pending it has no effect on order totals, cost layers, or any vendor bill.
  • Each request can only be decided once. Once you approve or refuse a cost, the decision cannot be changed from this screen. If you approved by mistake, you can remove the resulting extra cost from the purchase order's extra costs section.
  • Decided requests stay visible at the bottom of the Costs section for your records, showing their final status, timestamp, and any note.
  • A cost request is independent of the supplier's order-level response. A supplier can request additional charges even if they have not yet accepted or responded to the order itself.