The quick answer
With a PunchOut SuiteApp, open the Punchout Ordering tab in Employee Center, choose the supplier, confirm the Ship To Location and select Select Items. Add the product on the supplier's own web store, then select Checkout on its Checkout Instructions page. In the demonstrated account, the integration returned to NetSuite and opened purchase order PUR00002518 for the supplier, with a Summary total of 24.50. The supplier's page had shown 26.46 with tax, so compare the order's lines, tax and total with the cart before you approve, receive or send the order to the supplier.
This is an account-specific example of a commercial PunchOut SuiteApp. PunchOut is not a native NetSuite feature. The names of the center tab, portlets, buttons, subtab and statuses, what the SuiteApp creates when the cart returns, and how it handles tax and approval, are configuration of that SuiteApp and can differ by version, supplier, account, role and approval setup. The supplier's store is the supplier's own site. Replace every name, number, status, amount, field and button shown here with what your account shows. Person, company and supplier names in the screenshots are fictional example data.
Before you start
You need a PunchOut SuiteApp (record the installed name and version) with an active connection to the supplier. That connection depends on the protocol your supplier supports, usually cXML or OCI, and on its endpoint, credentials and item mapping. You also need an Employee Center role that can see the Punchout Ordering tab and create purchase orders through the SuiteApp, an employee record with the supervisor, purchase limit and approval setup your process needs, and a valid ship-to location. Also confirm how the SuiteApp maps the supplier to a vendor record, which subsidiary and currency it uses, how it treats tax, whether it can create items that are not mapped, what approval method applies, and whether an approved order is sent to the supplier. Start with a test order, and find out what a timeout, an abandoned cart or a refresh does before real users rely on it.
The counts and values below are example data, not what your account will show. The example uses the supplier Northline Office Supply, the location 01: Denver and one product, Gel Keyboard Wrist Rest, at 24.50. The cart's tax is 8.00%, or 1.96, for a cart total of 26.46. Nine earlier punchout orders already exist in the list.
01. Choose the supplier
In the demonstrated SuiteApp, open the Punchout Ordering tab. Its Punchout to PO portlet shows one tile for each configured supplier. Below it, Punchout: POs Created Via Punchout lists the orders earlier punchouts created. The total reads 9, and the Type and Employee filters narrow the list. Select the Northline Office Supply tile.
02. Start the order for a ship-to location
On New Punchout Purchase Order, the SuiteApp requires a Ship To Location, here 01: Denver. Confirm that it is the location the goods should go to, then select Select Items. If the connection and session start properly, the SuiteApp opens the supplier's own web store.
03. Add the product on the supplier's site
The store opens with the buyer named in its welcome line. From here you are on the supplier's site, not in NetSuite, so its layout, product names and buttons belong to the supplier and will differ. Find Gel Keyboard Wrist Rest and select Add To Cart.
04. Send the cart back with Checkout
The store shows Checkout Instructions in place of its normal payment checkout. It lists the product, a quantity of 1 at 24.50, tax of 1.96 at 8.00% and a total of 26.46, and it says the checkout button sends the cart to the portal. In this integration, Checkout returns the cart to NetSuite. Another supplier may label that action Return Cart, PunchOut or something else, so confirm that yours returns the cart and does not take payment. Before you select it, compare the part, description, quantity, unit, rate, tax, freight and total on the page. Select Checkout.
05. Read the purchase order
In the demonstrated account, the integration returned to NetSuite and opened the new purchase order, PUR00002518, for Northline Office Supply. Another integration may create a requisition or a draft order first. The status reads Approved by Supervisor/Pending Receipt, Supervisor Approval is checked and Location is 01: Denver. The Summary total reads 24.50, the cart's pre-tax line total, not the 26.46 the supplier showed with tax. Confirm the order's tax detail and total instead of assuming which figure is payable. Approved and pending receipt describe this account's saved state. They do not show that a supervisor reviewed the order, and they do not mean the goods were received, billed or paid.
The record carries a Punchout subtab added by the SuiteApp. Items lists the returned line, a quantity of 1 at 24.50. Before you approve, receive, bill or send the order to the supplier, open your own order and confirm the vendor, subsidiary and currency, the supplier part, description, quantity, unit, rate and tax on Items, any item the SuiteApp mapped or created, the shipping address as well as the location, any supplier cart reference, and whether the order was transmitted to the supplier.
Common questions
Is PunchOut a built-in NetSuite feature?
Not as a standard purchase order screen that looks the same in every account. The resulting purchase order can be a native transaction, but the supplier connection, the center tab, the cart return and the way the cart becomes a transaction come from the specific SuiteApp or integration. Which one you have decides the screens and what is created, and an integration may create a requisition or a draft order first.
Why is the purchase order total 24.50 when the supplier showed 26.46?
In this example 24.50 is the pre-tax line amount and 1.96 is the supplier cart's tax, which makes 26.46. The returned order showed 24.50 in its Summary. The integration may leave the tax out, map it separately or recalculate it with NetSuite's tax setup. Compare the order's subtotal, tax and total with the cart, and reconcile the supplier's invoice when it arrives.
Why did the order come back as Approved by Supervisor/Pending Receipt?
That was the saved status in the demonstrated account. It is not a universal PunchOut result. Whether a punchout order needs approval depends on the approval routing, the employee's supervisor and purchase limits, any workflow, scripts and the SuiteApp's setup. A checked Supervisor Approval box does not by itself show that a supervisor reviewed the order. Pending receipt means the order is approved and waiting for goods, not that anything has arrived.
What does Ship To Location do?
In the demonstrated account the chosen value appeared in the order's Location field. A location can affect receiving, inventory and accounting, and it is not necessarily the supplier-facing delivery address. Check the order's shipping address, any line-level location and any ship-to field the SuiteApp adds.
What does a PunchOut SuiteApp need before an employee can use it?
It depends on the SuiteApp, but it normally includes an installed and deployed integration, an active connection to each supplier, the protocol the supplier supports (cXML, OCI or another method), the supplier's endpoint and credentials, vendor mapping, item and unit mapping, tax behavior, and subsidiary and currency rules. The employee needs Employee Center access and permission to create purchase orders through the SuiteApp, plus the approval and receiving setup your process requires. Confirm whether the integration creates a purchase order directly, creates missing items, and sends approved orders to the supplier.
Will every account show these screens?
No. The tab, buttons, subtab, fields, statuses and transaction outcome belong to the demonstrated SuiteApp. What you see depends on the installed SuiteApp and version, the supplier connection, enabled features, your role, workflows and customizations. Treat the screenshots and values as an observed example, not a universal NetSuite procedure.