The situation
Goods were received last week; the carrier's invoice arrives today and it's different from your estimate (or was never entered). You need the real number in your landed costs — without breaking anything.
What to do
- If nothing has been received against the shipment yet — just update the extra cost on the PO shipment. Future receipts pick it up automatically.
- If receipts already exist — update the cost on the receiving report(s) directly. The system recalculates the landed cost of stock from that receipt that is still on hand. See How to Add Costs Upon Receiving in Luminous and Creating and Managing Receiving Reports.
What updates automatically — and what doesn't
| Stock state | What happens when you correct the cost |
|---|---|
| Still on hand from that receipt | Revalued automatically with the corrected cost |
| Already sold or consumed | Not changed. COGS keeps the cost recorded at the time of sale |
| Receipts already reconciled against the shipment | Editing the shipment's costs does not push into them — edit those receiving reports directly |
How corrections ripple through inventory valuation is covered in How Receiving and Inventory Adjustments Affect Cost Layers in Luminous and What happens if a transaction is canceled or adjusted?.
If a large correction affects past sales
When a significant charge was missed and much of the stock has already sold, correcting historical COGS is a separate, support-assisted process. Contact support with the receiving report and the corrected amounts. Background: What happens to cost layers when we sell or use inventory? and Understanding Variance Cost Layers in Luminous.
Avoiding this next time
- Put an estimated freight cost on the PO or shipment up front — a close estimate beats zero, and you only adjust the delta later (Where to enter extra costs: PO vs shipment vs receiving report).
- Let a cost rule add the estimate automatically so it is never forgotten (Automatically add freight, duty, and handling charges to purchase orders).
Related questions this answers
- "Can I add freight to a PO that's already been received?"
- "Will updating a receiving report fix the cost of items I already sold?"
- "Why didn't editing my shipment's freight change my receipt?"