Supplier Prices
You can set up prices for an item based on the supplier from whom you purchase the item. When you enter a purchase order, the system can retrieve the unit cost for an item for the supplier. You must set up the purchase price level so that the system retrieves unit costs for purchase orders based on suppliers. If you maintain supplier prices at the branch/plant level, you must enter a branch/plant when you add an item to a catalog. You can enter a different branch/plant for each item in a catalog.
A catalog is a group of items along with the price for each item. Each catalog is unique to a supplier. You must enter supplier prices by catalog. You can enter all of the items that you purchase from a supplier in one catalog, or you can create multiple catalogs to classify a supplier's items by seasonal changes, different product lines, and so on. You can enter the same item at different prices in multiple catalogs with different effective dates for each price. Additionally, you can specify price breaks based on the quantity purchased.
If you enter item prices for a supplier without specifying the name of a catalog, the system automatically creates a default catalog for the supplier. You might want to use default catalogs if you plan to maintain only one catalog for each supplier. When you enter an item on a purchase order, the system searches the supplier catalogs to retrieve the unit cost. It searches the default catalog first (if it exists) and then all other catalogs in alphabetical order. After the system locates a unit cost, it verifies the effective dates. If the current date falls within the effective dates, the system enters the unit cost on the purchase order.