Picking up goods from a supplier with a courier in SamBooks (pickup order and automatic transport)

What happens, step by step, when you have a carrier or courier pick up the goods: from the pickup order all the way to the automatic generation of the transport-cost purchase order to the carrier, with the right VAT depending on their country — and why, with ShippyPro, that order isn't created today.

What this is for

When a purchase order has carriage Carriage forward (recipient pays) — you organize the transport — SamBooks lets you hand the pickup to a third-party carrier or a ShippyPro courier through a pickup order. This guide isn't about "how to create" the pickup order — for that see Creating a pickup order from a purchase order — it's about what happens afterward: how the document that records the transport cost to the carrier is generated by itself, with the right VAT rate depending on where the carrier is based, and how it behaves with ShippyPro.

The point to keep in mind: the pickup order itself does not generate the transport cost. It's issuing the purchase delivery note — the document that actually loads the goods into the warehouse — that triggers, if a pickup order is linked to the purchase order, the automatic creation of a purchase order to the carrier for the transport charge. And the pickup order merely existing isn't enough: it has to carry both a carrier-supplier and a transport price greater than zero.

Before you start

• You need a carriage-forward purchase order that already has a pickup order assigned to a carrier — a supplier in your registry flagged as a carrier/courier — with an agreed price greater than zero. Own-account transport triggers nothing, and today neither does ShippyPro: step 5 explains why. If you haven't created the pickup order yet, start from Creating a pickup order from a purchase order.
• You need to know how to receive the goods: the automatic generation depends on issuing the purchase delivery note, covered in Receiving goods from a supplier.
• The Manager, Administrative or Logistics role for the pickup order and the delivery note; the transport purchase order generated from here follows the same rules as any ordinary purchase order.

How it works, step by step

1. The starting point: a pickup order with a carrier

Quick recap (full detail in the dedicated guide): you confirm the carriage-forward purchase order, find it in the Orders to plan worklist under Shipments with a Purchase badge, create the pickup order choosing Carrier and entering the agreed price: that's the mode that feeds the automation described here (for ShippyPro, see step 5). The pickup order is created as Assigned. At this point no transport purchase order has been created yet: it's only a logistics document.

2. Receive the goods: the purchase delivery note

When the goods arrive, you record the purchase delivery note for the order (from the purchase delivery notes page, "From order", picking the same order — see Receiving goods from a supplier for the wizard's detail). As long as the delivery note stays in draft, nothing automatic happens: it's issuing it (the "Issue (load)" button, which actually loads the warehouse) that triggers the next step.

3. On issuing the delivery note: SamBooks looks for the order's pickup order

The moment you issue the delivery note, SamBooks checks whether that purchase order has an active pickup order. If there isn't one (a direct delivery note, no pickup order), nothing else happens. If there is, and the pickup order carries both of the things an order needs — a linked carrier-supplier and a transport price greater than zero — SamBooks automatically generates a new purchase order to the carrier, with a single line: "Goods transport — pickup order {order number}", quantity 1, amount equal to the pickup order's transport price, on the seeded "Transport charges" service (so the cost account and the service's master data stay consistent, not a free-text line). The order's notes reference the pickup order and the delivery note that generated it.

With Own account, no order is ever created: it's internal transport, there's no supplier to pay.

4. The VAT rate adapts to the carrier — it's never fixed at 22%

The most important thing to know: the line's VAT rate is never fixed upfront, it depends on the carrier-supplier's tax profile:

• Italian carrier — the rate is the one on the "Transport charges" service (22% by default, but it's still an editable value before confirming the order).
• EU or extra-EU carrier — SamBooks recognizes that the transport is provided by a foreign party and applies reverse charge (a VAT-free taxable amount on the line's total, with the reverse-charge VAT nature) instead of applying the Italian 22% anyway.

The same reverse-charge detection logic used for the self-invoice applies here: it's not a new mapping, it's the same rule. Two clarifications on how it actually behaves. The check is on the carrier-supplier's country — any country other than Italy counts as foreign, EU or not — but the VAT nature set on the "Transport charges" service matters too: if that service carries a reverse-charge nature (N6.x), reverse charge kicks in even with an Italian carrier. What stays outside the automatic detection are the non-taxable transports of art. 9 DPR 633/72 — among others, transports of goods being exported or in transit, and transports of imported goods whose charges are already included in the customs taxable base: that's a case you correct by hand on the line.

5. With ShippyPro, today, the transport order isn't created

This is the automation's most important limit, and it's worth knowing before you pick ShippyPro for a pickup: a ShippyPro pickup order never reaches the conditions in step 3.

• No carrier-supplier is recorded on the pickup order: choosing ShippyPro in the wizard, there is no Carrier field to fill in, because ShippyPro picks the courier when the label is generated. Without that supplier, the purchase order wouldn't even have a recipient.
• The rate you pick in the comparison isn't written back as the pickup order's transport price: it stays the label's price at the courier.

The result: issuing the delivery note creates no transport purchase order, and no error appears either — nothing simply happens. You handle the courier's cost when their invoice arrives, recording it as an ordinary purchase invoice; if you need an order upstream, create it by hand from the Purchase orders page.

6. One order per pickup order, never a duplicate

The generation is idempotent: once the transport purchase order for a pickup order has been created, trying again (for example, if you cancel and reissue the same delivery note) doesn't create another one — the link between the pickup order and its transport order stays unique.

7. What to do with the generated purchase order

The order is created as an ordinary draft purchase order to the carrier-supplier: you'll find it in the Purchase orders list. It is fully editable before confirmation — it isn't a fiscal document, just a record of the agreed cost — so you can fix the rate, the amount, or add lines if needed. When the carrier's real invoice arrives, you record it like any other purchase invoice (see Recording a purchase invoice), linking it to this same order as you would with any confirmed purchase order.

When the automation does NOT trigger

• Own account: never, by definition — there's no carrier to pay.
• ShippyPro: never, today, for the two reasons in step 5.
• A Carrier pickup order with no transport price: the wizard makes the agreed price mandatory, but a pickup order created by asking Sam can end up without one (the field is optional there). In that case no order is created.
• Delivery note still in draft: the automation only triggers on issue, not on creating the delivery note or the pickup order.

In every one of these cases the silence is total: no message, no warning, nothing in red. It's the classic case of believing you've done something that never happened — if you expected the transport order and can't find it under Purchase orders, open the pickup order and check that both the carrier and a price greater than zero are there.

Ask Sam instead

The whole flow — creating the pickup order with a carrier or with ShippyPro, receiving the goods and issuing the delivery note — is also available by talking to Sam: "create a pickup order for purchase order 14/2026 with carrier Trans Italia at 180 euros", then "issue the purchase delivery note for order 14/2026". The transport purchase order is still generated on its own at issue, regardless of whether you used chat or the form — as long as the pickup order has a carrier and a price. One difference worth knowing: when you ask Sam, the agreed price is optional, while the wizard requires it, so make sure you state it in your sentence.

If something goes wrong

• I don't see the transport purchase order after issuing the delivery note — open the pickup order: it needs a linked carrier and a transport price greater than zero. With Own account and with ShippyPro the order isn't created by design (see above).
• I'm not convinced by the VAT rate on the transport order's line — it's editable before confirming the order: fix it there if the real case (for example, a non-taxable international transport) doesn't fit the automatic domestic/foreign distinction.
• The carrier is Italian but I still see a rate other than 22% — the "Transport charges" service may have a different default rate if someone already changed it in the registry: check it under Warehouse items, Services tab.

Frequently asked questions

How do I record the carrier's cost for picking up from a supplier? If the pickup is handed to a carrier with an agreed price, you don't record it by hand: when you issue the purchase delivery note linked to that pickup order, SamBooks generates the purchase order to the carrier by itself, with the agreed amount. With ShippyPro you do: you record the courier's invoice yourself.

Does the system create a transport charges order by itself? Yes, but only when you issue the purchase delivery note linked to a pickup order handed to a carrier with a price greater than zero — not when the pickup order is created, and not with own account or ShippyPro.

Is inbound transport taxed at 22% VAT? Only if the carrier is Italian (and nobody changed the "Transport charges" service's default rate). If the carrier is EU or extra-EU, SamBooks applies reverse charge instead of 22%.

What happens if the carrier is foreign? The transport order's line is created VAT-free (reverse charge, reverse-charge VAT nature) instead of with the Italian rate: SamBooks recognizes this from the country registered on the carrier-supplier.

Do I have to confirm the transport purchase order myself, or does it start confirmed? It's created as a draft: you confirm it whenever you want, and you can fix the rate or amount first if needed. It never starts confirmed on its own.

How do I connect ShippyPro for a supplier pickup? With the same account connection used for sales shipments: from the Shipments page or the Integrations entry in the menu. Once connected you can also choose ShippyPro in the pickup order wizard, bearing in mind that such a pickup order doesn't produce the transport purchase order.

Where do I see the purchase orders to pick up in the worklist? In the "Orders to plan" tab of the Shipments page, Purchase badge — see Creating a pickup order from a purchase order for the full path.

What is carriage forward on a purchase order? It means the transport is on your account, not the supplier's: the confirmed order enters the pickup-planning worklist, from which you can create the pickup order described in this guide.

What exactly is a pickup order? The logistics document that organizes the pickup at the supplier. How to create it is in the dedicated guide; here you'll find what happens afterward, when you actually receive the goods.

Related features

• Creating a pickup order from a purchase order — the step-by-step wizard for creating the pickup order.
• Receiving goods from a supplier (purchase delivery note) — where you issue the delivery note that triggers the automation.
• Managing shipments and loading orders — the same ShippyPro engine, on the sales side.
• Recording a purchase invoice — where you record the carrier's real invoice against the generated order.