How do transfer orders work in Luminous, and how do they connect to reconciliations, FBA, and WMS fulfillment channels?

What is a transfer order?

A transfer order (TO) moves inventory from one warehouse to another when there is any lead time between shipping and receiving. Unlike an instant inventory transfer (found under Manage → Locations), a transfer order:

Tracks inventory in transit during the shipping window
Automatically creates a linked purchase order (for the receiving/destination side) and a sales order (for the shipping/source side)
Updates your incoming and pending inventory counts immediately upon posting
Transfers the FIFO cost layers of moved items to the destination warehouse

Use a transfer order any time stock will not arrive at the destination on the same day it leaves the source.

How to find and create transfer orders

Navigate to Inventory → Transfer Orders and click Add New Transfer Order.

Required fields

Field	Notes
Fulfillment Source	The Fulfillment Channel (with an associated warehouse group) that provides the inventory. Must have a warehouse group and default warehouse set.
Delivery Destination	The warehouse that will receive the stock.
Shipping Method	Required — the form will not save without it (e.g., Freight, LTL).
Order Date / Arrival Date	Arrival date drives auto-receive if that option is enabled.

Optional automation checkboxes

Three checkboxes control how Luminous handles the receiving and shipment side:

Auto-Receive Transfer Order on Arrival Date — Luminous automatically creates a receiving report entry for the linked PO on the arrival date.
Open Receiving Report Form on Close — Opens the receiving report form immediately after saving, for same-day or manual receiving.
Auto Mark Sales Order as Shipped — Marks the linked SO as shipped automatically. If you leave this unchecked, you must manually mark the SO as shipped before inventory deducts from the source warehouse.

Adding line items

You can add line items three ways:

Manually — Click Add Multiple Line Items, search for SKUs, and set quantity and unit cost.
CSV upload — Download the template, fill in SKUs and costs, and upload.
Scan mode — Scan barcodes or type SKUs directly in real time.

Saving and posting

Click Save Order, then Mark as Posted to finalize. Posting is what triggers the automatic creation of the linked PO and SO and updates inventory counts — a saved-but-unposted TO does not move any numbers.

Note: The purchase order automatically generated by a transfer order is an internal tracking object. It does not sync to QuickBooks Online.

How transfer orders connect to WMS (3PL) fulfillment

When your destination warehouse is a third-party logistics provider (3PL / WMS), posting a transfer order can automatically create an inbound shipment in the WMS if the destination warehouse group has auto-push enabled. This is called Push to WMS.

The typical workflow:

Create and post the TO — Luminous creates the linked PO (for the 3PL to receive against) and the linked SO (for the source warehouse).
Push to WMS — Luminous automatically creates a PO shipment and sends an inbound shipment notification to the 3PL (if auto-push is configured on the warehouse group).
Ship the source SO — Mark the linked sales order as shipped to deduct inventory from the source warehouse. If you enabled Auto Mark Sales Order as Shipped, this happens automatically.
3PL receives the goods — When inventory physically arrives, the 3PL logs it. Import their inbound shipment data into Luminous and reconcile it against the transfer order (not the original purchase order, since the PO was already received at the source).

How transfer orders connect to Amazon FBA / AWD

For Amazon FBA or AWD destinations, the flow is different — you do not use Push to WMS. Instead, you use reconciliation to link the transfer order to Amazon's inbound shipment plans.

The typical workflow (commonly used from Shipment Planning):

Create the TO with a FBA/AWD destination — In Shipment Planning → Ready to Ship, select finished goods and click Create Transfer Order, setting the destination to your FBA or AWD warehouse.
Link inbound shipments at creation — In the Create Transfer Order modal, expand Link Inbound Shipments (Optional). Use filters to find your Amazon inbound shipment(s) and match quantities. You can link one TO to multiple Amazon shipment IDs (Amazon often splits a single logical shipment into multiple plans).
Post the TO — Click Mark as Posted to execute.
Ship to deplete source inventory — Ship the associated sales order when goods leave the origin warehouse to deduct inventory from the source.
Verify reconciliation — On Posted TOs, reconciled FBA shipments show a green reconciled indicator with the FBA reference number and shipment details visible.

Key difference: FBA destinations use the reconciliation link — not Push to WMS — to maintain the connection between Luminous and Amazon's inbound shipment records.

Receiving inventory at the destination

Regardless of whether the destination is a 3PL or FBA warehouse, you have three paths for receiving:

Auto-receive on arrival date — Luminous creates the receiving report automatically on the arrival date you set.
Open receiving report on close — The receiving form opens immediately after saving the TO.
Manual receiving — Go to Inventory → Receiving → Create Receiving Report, search for the linked PO, enter quantities received, and save. Use this for partial shipments — repeat until all quantities are received.

Summary: WMS push vs. FBA reconciliation

	WMS / 3PL	Amazon FBA / AWD
Connection method	Push to WMS (auto-creates inbound shipment)	Reconcile to Amazon inbound shipment plan
Set up at posting?	Yes, if auto-push is enabled on the warehouse group	Yes, link inbound shipments in the TO creation modal
Inventory depletion trigger	Linked SO marked as shipped	Linked SO marked as shipped
Receives in Luminous via	Receiving report against TO's linked PO	Reconciliation status + Amazon sync
Reconcile against	Inbound shipments imported from 3PL	Amazon FBA/AWD inbound shipment IDs