Ordering on a purchase order: how institutional accounts work
A growing share of our orders come from university and CRO procurement rather than a card at checkout. Here is what setting up a PO account actually involves.
A researcher ordering on their own card and a procurement team raising a purchase order are two different customers with two different sets of requirements, even when they are buying the same product. Institutional orders now make up a meaningful share of our volume, and the process for them looks nothing like checkout — it runs through accounts payable, cost centres and paperwork that never touches the person doing the research.
Setting up a net-terms account
New institutional accounts go through a short credit application — department details, a billing contact in accounts payable, and either trade references or an initial order paid up front while the account is established. Once approved, standard terms are net 30 from invoice date, with invoices matched against the PO number your department raised.
What your PO needs to include
- A PO number we can reference on the invoice and delivery note.
- A cost centre or project code, if your institution requires one for reconciliation.
- A delivery address matching a registered department or lab — not a residential address, which most institutional finance teams won't authorise regardless of who is receiving it.
- The name of an authorised buyer, matching whoever is listed on your procurement system.
Getting onto an approved-supplier list
Larger institutions run their own approved-supplier lists or eProcurement catalogues, and getting listed is a separate process from simply accepting an order. It typically means submitting standard terms and conditions, proof of business registration, and current insurance certificates to the procurement office, sometimes alongside a short supplier questionnaire. We keep this documentation current so it can be forwarded on request rather than assembled fresh each time.
Invoicing and reconciliation
Invoices are itemised by lot number and matched to both the PO and the delivery note, and they go to accounts payable rather than to the researcher who placed the order — which is usually the point where informal card-based ordering breaks down at scale. A monthly statement is available on request for departments running multiple concurrent orders.
If your department already has a supplier onboarding form or a standard PO template, send it across and we will complete it rather than asking you to adapt to our process.