Price tiers and the mistakes keyed orders hide
· 2 minute read · Tim
The price printed on a customer’s purchase order is their price. Your ERP has their tier. Keyed orders copy the wrong one more often than people think.
A price tier is the price that customer is supposed to pay in your ERP. The number printed on their purchase order is whatever their system, their buyer, or last year’s spreadsheet still says. Keyed orders copy the printed number. The gap shows up late.
The price on the PO is their price
Buyers build a PO from their item master. If you put them on a new tier in March, their next PO may still carry February’s price. If a rep quoted a one-off, the PO may carry the quote and your tier may not. If they key from an old acknowledgement, the PO carries that. None of this means they are trying to underpay. It means two systems disagree, and the person retyping the order is the one who has to notice.
Where the mistake shows up
It rarely shows up on the way in. The line posts. The warehouse picks it. Then invoicing, or the customer, finds eight lines on the old tier. Credit notes, re-invoices, and a conversation you did not need. The order entry looked finished at 3pm. The cost arrived on Friday.
Catching it in the ERP after the sales order exists is better than catching it after the invoice. Catching it before the sales order exists is the point. The line is either the tier price, or it is a variance someone has accepted.
Check the tier before anyone posts
OrderWiz compares each line with that customer’s price tier before a sales order is posted. A price that does not match sits in needs review, next to any line that did not map to your catalog. Nothing posts until you confirm.
A variance is not automatically a reject. It might be a quote you honoured, a promotion, or a typo on their side. The review is there so a person makes that call with the original PO still in view, which is the subject of reviewing an order before it posts.
If this is how orders still land on your team, tell us how they come in.
Written by Tim, who built OrderWiz after working in wholesale distribution.
