Multiple suppliers per item: own purchase price, item number and package

If you buy the same item from two suppliers — the cola sometimes from the drinks wholesaler, sometimes from the cash & carry —, each has its own price, its own item number and often a different package. In Univents you add several suppliers to the item for this. Booked items and orders then use the purchase price of the supplier you actually buy from.

Requirement: Additional suppliers are available from the Growth plan. An item's one supplier stays in every plan. After moving to a smaller plan, suppliers you added keep calculating, but you can only remove them.

Where to find the suppliers

1. Open Inventory > Catalog and click the item.
2. Switch to Price & Stock on the left.
3. Below the purchase price you find the Suppliers section.

At the top is the preferred supplier. This is the supplier the item has always had: you choose it under Supplier and enter its item number below under Supplier item no.. Its purchase price is the item's Purchase price / cost further up in the same tab, its package the one under Unit, content & package. Both are saved with Save on the item.

If you only maintain one supplier, you work exactly as before — supplier and item number are just here now instead of under Backoffice.

Add another supplier

1. Save the item with its preferred supplier.
2. In the Suppliers section, click Add supplier.
3. Choose the supplier from your contacts. Contacts with the business relationship Supplier are listed first.
4. Enter what is different at this supplier:
   • Supplier item no. — the number from their catalogue,
   • Package and the quantity per package — for example a tray of 12 bottles instead of a crate of 24,
   • Purchase price / cost — per unit or, if a package is set, per package. Univents works out the price per unit and shows it below.
5. Click Save.

If you leave the purchase price empty, the item's purchase price applies for this supplier. The card then says so explicitly.

Each additional supplier appears as its own card with name, purchase price per unit, item number and package. Use Edit to change the details and Remove to take the supplier off the item after a confirmation. Existing orders and documents stay unchanged.

In the inventory list, items with more than one supplier carry a note such as 2 suppliers.

New purchase price from a set date

If a supplier has a new price list from 1 January, click Purchase price from … on its card and enter the date and the new price — just like the price from a set date on the item. Items from that day on use the new price for this supplier. If the supplier sends you a whole price list, import it in the price inbox — applying it enters the new prices for that supplier in the same way.

For the preferred supplier, use the New purchase price from block on the item itself.

Change the preferred supplier

Click Make preferred on the card of an additional supplier. It becomes the default for new booked items and orders, and its purchase price, item number and package become the item's. The previously preferred supplier stays as an additional supplier with its values.

If you have just changed something on the item without saving, Univents asks you to save first — otherwise your changes would be lost by the switch.

If instead you choose a completely different contact at the top under Supplier, it replaces the previous supplier — exactly as before, when an item only knew one supplier. If you remove the preferred supplier, the additional supplier that was added first takes its place.

Which purchase price is used

• Booked item without its own supplier: the preferred supplier applies, i.e. the item's purchase price — as before.
• Booked item with a different supplier: that supplier's purchase price applies. If it has a new purchase price from a set date, that counts from that day. Without its own purchase price, the item's applies.
• Changing the supplier on a booked item: the purchase price follows in open document drafts. Sent documents stay unchanged, and a purchase price you entered by hand is never overwritten.
• Supplier order: the order shows the item number and package of the supplier you order from and stores its purchase price on every line. More on this under Supplier orders.
• Demand per supplier: the overview shows each supplier's own item number, see Demand per supplier over a date range.

Payroll items have no additional suppliers. For bundles and recipes whose purchase price is calculated from their ingredients, additional suppliers have no purchase price of their own.

Import, export and AI assistant

• Import: the item import knows, for each additional supplier, the columns Supplier 2, Supplier 2 item number, Supplier 2 cost price, Supplier 2 cost basis, Supplier 2 package and Supplier 2 units per package (then Supplier 3 and so on). An import adds suppliers but never removes one and never changes the preferred one. Details under Importing products.
• Export: Export products writes the same columns as soon as an item has more than one supplier. The file can be imported again unchanged.
• AI assistant: say for example “Add Bergquell as a second supplier for cola at €0.89”. The assistant adds the supplier and shows you all suppliers with their purchase price for every item.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to enter a purchase price for every supplier? No. Without its own purchase price, the item's purchase price applies for that supplier.

What happens to existing documents when I remove a supplier? Nothing. Sent documents and orders already sent stay as they are.

Where do I enter the supplier if I only have one? At the top of the Suppliers section under Supplier — the field used to be under Backoffice.