Turn what you need to build into what you need to buy, place the orders, and receive them into stock. PartsBox builds a purchase list from the projects you plan to build: it combines their BOMs by build quantity, removes duplicates, and subtracts what you already have. What is left is the shortfall. Add parts by hand, too — the parts your low-stock report flags, or anything else you want on the same order.
Review the offers on each line, and adjust quantities to meet a minimum order quantity, reach a price break, or round up to a full reel. Substitutes stay open until you order: you keep the freedom to pick a specific manufacturer part for a meta-part or an approved substitute, so a shortage on one part never blocks the list.
A purchase list also controls which stock counts. A contract manufacturer buying for one client filters to that client's storage locations, so another client's consigned parts are never counted; a company with a quarantine shelf leaves it out and buys the full quantity. Purchasing sees stock the same way builds do.
Group the list by vendor — vendor rules decide which distributors are used — and PartsBox turns each group into an order carrying the selected offers: the right SKU, quantity, and price on every line. Split a list across several vendors when that is cheaper. Place an order by uploading the cart to the distributor, by copy and paste or as a CSV file, then mark it ordered and set an expected delivery date.
PartsBox tracks each order as Open, Ordered, or Received, along with the fields you refer back to later: the distributor's order number, your own PO number, the invoice number, the delivery date, and the invoice PDF as an attachment. Parts on order are visible as incoming stock, so nobody re-orders what is already on the way.
Receiving goes fastest by scanning: scan a distributor barcode and PartsBox reads the part, the quantity, and the price from the label, then receives that line against the order into a storage location. Place a DigiKey order with ID Anything™ codes in the cart, and scanning the incoming boxes matches each one to the right order line automatically. Partial deliveries are normal: receive what arrived, and the rest stays open until it comes. A part bought by length, weight, or volume arrives as whole vendor packages, and PartsBox converts each into the part's own unit — receiving two spools of 10000 mm adds 20000 mm of stock. With lot control, each receipt becomes a lot linked to its order, so the source of every part is on record.
PartsBox records what you ordered and received. It is not an accounting system: it does not track payments, and it does not version orders — it records the present reality.
Purchasing and receiving start on the Essentials plan.