Business customers often do not expect to pay for every order immediately at checkout. Instead, their purchasing process may use a purchase order agreed with the seller. In WooCommerce, the Purchase Order Gateway supports this type of offline B2B checkout by adding a payment method and a field for the customer’s purchase order number.
The important distinction is that a PO reference is part of the order workflow, not automatic proof of payment or authorization. After checkout, the order is placed On hold and requires manual review. This guide explains how to configure the gateway, how customers submit the PO number, why the status is expected, and how store staff can verify and handle the order before fulfillment.
What the WooCommerce Purchase Order Gateway Does
The WooCommerce Purchase Order Gateway adds a Purchase Order payment method to checkout. It also adds a checkout field where the customer can enter a purchase order number. The documented use case is a business arrangement in which the seller and business customer already follow a manual, contractual, or otherwise agreed PO process.
After the customer submits the order, the PO number is recorded with the order information. It is also displayed on the invoice generated for that order. This gives store staff a reference to use during the internal review, while giving the business customer a clear connection between its purchasing document and the WooCommerce order.
PO reference versus payment confirmation
A purchase order number should be treated as a reference within the store’s B2B process. Entering a number does not, by itself, prove that the buyer is authorized to purchase, that the customer identity has been confirmed, or that payment is guaranteed. It also does not replace the store’s own commercial, accounting, procurement, or legal procedures.
The gateway therefore supports the submission of information for an offline payment workflow. It does not turn the PO number into automatic payment confirmation. The order still needs store-side review before the business decides whether to proceed with fulfillment.
Before You Install: Requirements and Workflow Decisions
Before changing the production checkout, confirm both the technical prerequisites and the internal process that will govern PO orders. The extension documentation lists WooCommerce 6.8 or higher, WordPress 5.8 or higher, and PHP 7.2 or higher as requirements. These values should be checked against the current extension documentation before installation, because product requirements and administration labels can change.
Technical compatibility is only one part of preparation. The documentation does not define a complete B2B credit-control process, approval authority, credit-limit policy, tax validation process, procurement integration, or legal requirement for purchase orders. Those decisions belong to the store’s own operating policy.
Technical prerequisites
Check the documented versions of WooCommerce, WordPress, and PHP before installing the Purchase Order Gateway. Do not extend the listed requirements into unsupported compatibility claims about other extensions, themes, or custom checkout configurations. A staging-site test is a practical way to review the checkout, the resulting order status, the displayed PO reference, and the invoice before using the workflow in production.
Store policy decisions
Define who reviews PO orders and which internal records staff should use. The store should also decide what must be confirmed before an order can move forward. Possible review points, applied according to the store’s own policy, include:
- The customer account and business details.
- The submitted PO reference and the order value.
- Billing details and available stock.
- Internal approval and fulfillment conditions.
These are practical controls for a store policy, not universal WooCommerce requirements. The key decision is to keep the order awaiting review while required confirmation remains incomplete.
How to Add Purchase Order to WooCommerce Checkout
For the documented Purchase Order Gateway workflow, first install and activate the extension. Then open the WooCommerce administration area and go to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments. Select the Purchase Order payment method and enable it for checkout.
The configuration lets the administrator adjust the customer-facing checkout title and description. These texts should explain the store’s own PO process clearly enough for a business customer to understand that the order will follow an offline review path. The settings also include an optional thank-you note, which can be configured when it fits the store’s workflow.
Payment settings configuration
Review the configuration in the following order:
- Confirm that the Purchase Order method is enabled.
- Check the checkout title shown to customers.
- Review the description explaining the payment method.
- Add an optional thank-you note if the store needs one.
- Test the complete submission flow on a staging site before applying it to production.
This setup path is specific to the documented Purchase Order Gateway. Other purchase order extensions may use different menus, fields, or workflows, so their configuration should not be assumed to match this one.
How Customers Enter and Staff Find the PO Number
Once the Purchase Order method is enabled, the checkout displays a field for the customer’s purchase order number. The customer enters the number associated with the seller’s agreed B2B purchasing process and submits the order through the normal checkout flow.
Customer checkout entry
The PO number becomes part of the submitted order information. The field is intended for a reference issued or agreed within the business relationship between the seller and the customer. The store should not describe this field as an automatic authorization check or as confirmation that the customer has already paid.
For that reason, customer-facing instructions should set an accurate expectation: the PO number identifies the business purchase request, while store staff still need to review the order under the store’s B2B policy.
Administrative record
After checkout, staff can find the submitted PO number in the order information. The same reference appears on the invoice generated for the order. These locations make it possible to compare the WooCommerce order with the store’s internal records without treating the number alone as sufficient approval.
Order information and invoices should be shared only with the intended customer through appropriate channels. They should not be published or exposed publicly.
Why PO Orders Are On Hold
A Purchase Order order is placed in the On hold status because payment is not confirmed automatically through the PO submission. This is expected behavior for the documented workflow, not necessarily a checkout error.
WooCommerce describes On hold as a status used when an order is awaiting payment confirmation. Offline payment methods generally require manual verification before the administrator changes the order status. The Purchase Order Gateway follows this principle by leaving the order available for review rather than treating the submitted reference as completed payment.
Expected offline-payment behavior
The gateway does not provide immediate payment confirmation merely because the customer entered a PO number. On hold is therefore a control point for checking the order and applying the store’s agreed B2B process.
Keep the order On hold while required payment or commercial checks remain incomplete. Changing the status solely because a PO number was entered would remove the distinction between a purchase reference and confirmed payment or approval.
Manual B2B Order Review and Fulfillment
Manual handling is central to this workflow. Open the order, review the submitted PO number together with the order details, and apply the store’s documented B2B policy. The extension documentation states that the order remains On hold until the store owner manually marks it Completed.
The store’s review policy should determine what evidence is sufficient. WooCommerce and the gateway do not themselves provide legal, accounting, credit-insurance, or procurement approval advice. The following sequence is therefore practical store guidance rather than a universal product requirement.
A practical review sequence
Begin by comparing the submitted PO and customer information with the store’s internal records. Then review the conditions that affect the ability to fulfill the order:
- Confirm the customer account and the business details used for the order.
- Compare the PO reference with the information available in the store’s agreed B2B process.
- Review the order value and billing details according to internal approval rules.
- Check stock availability and the conditions required for fulfillment.
- Record the verification decision in the order history or notes where appropriate.
The exact checks depend on the store’s own process. A PO number alone should not be used as proof of customer authorization, identity, payment, or enforceability of a commercial agreement.
When to complete the order
Leave the order On hold if required checks or payment confirmation are still pending. According to the extension documentation, the store owner manually marks the PO order as Completed after the applicable review. In practice, the status should change only when the store’s documented approval and fulfillment conditions have been met.
This approach keeps the WooCommerce status aligned with the actual state of the order. It also gives staff a clear control point between checkout submission and fulfillment. Any additional approval stages introduced by internal procedures or other extensions should be treated as custom workflow decisions, not as automatic behavior supplied by the gateway.
Troubleshooting and Important Limitations
If a PO order remains On hold, first check whether the manual review is complete. The status is expected while payment confirmation or commercial checks are pending. If the checkout does not show the method or the PO field, review whether the gateway is enabled in WooCommerce > Settings > Payments, then test the configuration on a staging site.
After relevant updates, retest the checkout, order status, PO number in the order information, invoice display, and staff review process. Current product documentation should be confirmed before installation or configuration changes.
Payment links are not a substitute for PO approval
WooCommerce documents payment-link flows mainly for Draft and Pending payment orders. These include documented options such as an invoice email link, a customer account payment action, or an administrator-shared customer payment page. Those flows should not be presented as an automatic payment solution for every On hold PO order.
A payment link does not remove the need to determine whether the customer and PO are accepted under the store’s process. Do not expose payment links, invoices, PO numbers, or order details publicly. Share them only with the intended customer through appropriate channels. Keep the distinction clear between WooCommerce’s documented payment behavior and any custom approval workflow supplied by the store or another extension.
In summary, the WooCommerce Purchase Order Gateway adds a Purchase Order payment method and collects the customer’s PO number during checkout. Configure it under WooCommerce > Settings > Payments, then test the complete workflow before production use. Expect submitted PO orders to remain On hold because payment is not confirmed automatically. Review the customer, PO reference, order details, billing information, stock, and internal approval conditions according to the store’s policy. Move the order forward only when those conditions are satisfied, and never treat the PO number alone as proof of payment or authorization. Explore our WordPress plugins, WooCommerce extensions, themes and membership plans to find the right tools for your website.