Short deliveries
Invoiced for twelve, nine arrived. You’d pay for goods you never got, then run out early.
Invoice scanning
Invoice scanning software that checks every delivery
Photograph the driver's invoice and Esplanda matches every line to your order, showing only short shipments, price rises and credits owed.
Invoice scanning and receiving are part of the free Esplanda POS: no monthly fee, no setup fee, no contract. See Esplanda pricing.
Maple & Oak Wine & SpiritsDelivery check · 35 linesChecked
Bourbon 750ml · 24Invoiced $19.75, ordered $18.40+$32.40
Imported lager 12-packInvoiced 15, arrived 12$63.00
Vodka 1L2 bottles broken$28.40
Mixers 24-pack2 cases not ordered$19.20
Everything else31 linesMatched
Flagged on this delivery$143.00
Illustrative example
What it catches
What a line-by-line check catches
Invoice scanning software, also called invoice OCR software, reads a supplier invoice from a photo and turns it into lines: item, quantity, pack size, unit cost and line total. Esplanda checks each line against what you ordered and what you last paid.
Price rises
Each unit cost is compared with the last cost you actually paid, with the old cost, the new one and the margin it takes.
Substitutions
A different size, a different pack or an item you never ordered, priced as if it were what you asked for.
Credits owed
Damaged and short lines open a credit that stays open, by supplier and by age, until the credit note arrives.
Only the last of these is about trust. The other three are ordinary warehouse error, and they happen to every store on every route.
Receiving
How to check a delivery with a phone, step by step
Receiving is checking what arrived against what you ordered and what you’re charged, before the delivery becomes stock and the invoice becomes a payment. Esplanda is your inventory receiving software too, for distributor deliveries at a liquor store or vendor drops at a convenience store.
Snap it at the back door
Photograph the sheet the driver hands you, before the pallet is broken down.
Esplanda reads the lines
Item, quantity, pack size, unit cost and line total become a list.
It matches the order
Line by line against the order from our purchase order software: quantity, pack size and unit cost.
You see the exceptions only
Short quantities, changed costs, items you didn’t order and dropped lines. On a clean delivery, the screen is empty.
You confirm the flagged lines
Check the flagged lines while the driver is still in the lot. Esplanda tells you which lines to count, so you count only the ones that matter.
Confirm, then post
Stock goes up by what arrived, costs update and any credit owed is opened, so inventory management for small business starts from the truth.
Invoice OCR
How invoice capture works, from photo to stock
Invoice capture software turns a supplier invoice into lines you can check. Esplanda reads it, checks the math and matches every line to your catalog before you look.
Every way an invoice arrives
Photograph a paper invoice, even one that runs to several pages, upload a PDF or image, or forward an emailed invoice to your store’s own address.
The math checked
Each line total and the invoice total are worked out again from the quantities and costs, so a sum that doesn’t add up is caught.
Matched to your catalog
By barcode first, then the supplier’s item code, then description, size and pack. A new item comes back filled in, ready to add in one tap.
Freight and deposits kept apart
Freight and fees are spread across the lines they paid for, and bottle deposits stay out of item cost, so margin starts from the real landed cost.
Unclear lines flagged
A smudged or unreadable field comes to you to key in instead of a guess, so every quantity and cost comes from the invoice or from you.
Every supplier scored
Short lines and late deliveries feed each supplier’s fill rate and lead time in our supplier scorecard software.
| Question | Typing invoices in | Accounts payable automation | Esplanda |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Whoever has time after closing | A finance team approving and paying bills | The person checking the delivery at the back door |
| When the check happens | Days later, if at all | When the bill reaches the finance team | While the driver is still there |
| What it updates | Whatever you typed | The bill to pay | Stock, item cost and margin, with any credit owed opened |
Short deliveries
Short lines stay open, credits don’t get forgotten
Receive what arrived and leave the rest open. Missing goods are never treated as if they were sold.
- Why it matters. When a short delivery is received as complete, the system believes in stock that doesn’t exist, the shelf empties early and the next order starts from a false number. One unchecked delivery can throw off the next month of ordering.
- Credits stay open. Most owners spot the problem at the back door and lose the money three weeks later, when nobody remembers to chase it. With open credits listed by supplier and by age, “they owe us something” becomes a number you can put in front of a rep.
- Canceled balances come back. If the supplier cancels the rest instead of back-ordering it, the shortfall goes into your next draft order, so it gets bought rather than forgotten.
Each correction is recorded with what it was worth; see how we measure results. A corrected cost becomes the item's current cost only when you accept it. Read why Esplanda is safe to trust.
Costs
Price rises caught before they eat your margin
Costs go up quietly, one item at a time, buried in the middle column of a sheet you’ve seen fifty times.
- A rise doesn’t go away. A short or broken line is money you can claim back once. A price rise is a new cost you now have to price against on every case, so it’s better found on the day it arrives than next quarter.
- Costs kept current. Accept a corrected cost and it becomes the item’s current cost, so margin comes from what you paid this week.
- Was the old cost fair? An invoice only shows what you paid. Esplanda shows whether your landed cost on an item is rising faster than the index for comparable businesses in your region, as your place in a distribution and never another buyer’s price, and only when the group is big enough to stay anonymous. See retail benchmarking.
- Repricing, with your say. Items that fall below your margin floor are flagged with the new cost, the current shelf price and the resulting margin. A price move near your floor always waits for you.
- Sharpest on Esplanda POS. Keep the register you have, or use ours. On Esplanda POS a posted delivery updates stock and cost in the system that sells the item. Keeping your register works too, with its items paired to Esplanda’s in the matching queue. Both paths stay open: the POS system with inventory management or our POS integrations.
See how your shelf prices compare nearby with competitor price tracking.
Questions
Invoice scanning questions owners ask
What is invoice scanning software?
Invoice scanning software reads a supplier invoice from a photo or scan and turns it into structured lines, such as item, quantity, pack size, unit cost and line total, so nobody has to type them in. Esplanda also matches each line against your purchase order and your last cost, and shows only the lines that disagree.
Can I scan supplier invoices with my phone?
Yes. Photograph the delivery sheet the driver hands you and Esplanda reads the lines and matches them against the purchase order. You only key in a line if it needs correcting. It works on printed invoices, dot-matrix sheets and reasonable handwriting.
Can I upload PDF invoices or forward emailed ones?
Yes. Photograph a paper invoice, upload a PDF or image, or forward an emailed invoice to your store's own Esplanda address. Every invoice, however it arrives, gets the same line-by-line check against your order and your last cost.
How do I check a delivery against my purchase order?
Compare three things on every line: quantity delivered against quantity ordered, pack size against the pack size ordered, and unit cost charged against the cost you agreed. Esplanda does that comparison for you and shows only the lines that disagree, so you can check them while the driver is still there.
How do I catch a supplier charging me more than last time?
Esplanda compares the unit cost on every invoice line with the last cost you actually paid for that item and flags any increase, with the old cost, the new cost and what it does to that item's margin. Small increases slip through most often, because nobody reads the middle column of a familiar invoice.
What if the invoice photo is blurry or handwritten?
Esplanda reads the clear lines and flags any unclear one for you to key in, instead of guessing. A poor photo of a forty-line invoice usually means correcting two or three lines, not retyping the sheet. Every quantity and cost comes from the invoice or from you.
What happens if only part of my order arrives?
Receive what arrived and leave the rest open. Esplanda adds the delivered quantity to stock, keeps the missing lines open on the purchase order, and opens a credit for anything you were charged for but didn't get. If the supplier cancels the balance, the shortfall goes back into your next draft order.
How much does invoice scanning software cost with Esplanda?
Nothing. Invoice scanning and receiving are part of the free Esplanda POS, where scanned costs land directly, with no setup fee and no contract. A Square, Clover, Lightspeed or KORONA register connects too. Coding bills and receipts into your books, with a monthly profit and loss, is the separate Books & Expenses line, our expense tracking software for small business.
Stop paying for goods that never arrived
Start free today, or book a demo and we’ll walk through Esplanda on a store like yours.
Esplanda POS and your website are free to start, with no card needed. Add paid tools only when you want them. When a supplier raises a cost, the free price check shows what comparable stores near you charge.
