A sales order is an internal document a seller creates once a quote is accepted or a purchase order is received. It confirms exactly what the seller has agreed to fulfill: the items, quantities, agreed prices, and terms. Unlike a quote (which is an offer) or a customer PO (which is the buyer’s request), the sales order is the seller’s own authoritative record that drives picking, shipping, and invoicing.
How it works
A typical flow runs quote to acceptance to sales order. When a buyer accepts your quote or sends a PO that matches it, you convert that agreement into a sales order. It locks in negotiated pricing, discounts, and quantities so warehouse and finance teams work from one confirmed source. The sales order then becomes the reference for the packing slip, the shipment, and the final invoice.
Why it matters
The sales order is where a sales conversation becomes an operational commitment. It prevents the common B2B problem of the warehouse shipping at list price when the customer was quoted a negotiated rate, or fulfilling the wrong quantities. It also gives you a clean audit trail from offer to cash.
On Shopify
Shopify does not have a separate “sales order” object, so the equivalent is usually a draft order or an order carrying the agreed line items and prices. In a quote-driven workflow, an accepted quote can convert into a Shopify draft order that holds the negotiated pricing, then becomes a real order the buyer pays through native checkout. That draft-to-order record plays the sales order role: it confirms what ships and drives invoicing. See the B2B quoting glossary for related terms like quote, purchase order, and draft order.