Managing Vendors

What a vendor is

A vendor is a reusable profile for anyone you pay — suppliers, contractors, subscriptions, landlords. Vendors are the counterpart to customers: customers owe you, vendors are who you owe. You attach vendors to expenses and bills.

What a vendor profile holds

• Vendor name (required).
• Billing email and Phone.
• Tax number — the vendor's registration number for your records and input-tax-credit tracking.
• Payment terms (days) — the default due window on their bills (inherits your Settings default if blank).
• Currency — defaults to your base currency; override per vendor.
• Remittance address — where you send payment.
• Status — active, dormant, or archived.
• Notes — internal notes.

Step-by-step: add a vendor

1. Open the Vendors tab and choose New.
2. Enter the Vendor name (for example Maple Ridge Print Co.).
3. Add Billing email, Phone, and Tax number.
4. Set Payment terms and Currency, or inherit your Settings defaults.
5. Add a Remittance address if you mail payments.
6. Keep Status as active.
7. Save.

Why status matters

Only active vendors can be attached to new expenses and bills. A bill requires a vendor, and an expense may optionally reference one. Use dormant or archived to retire a vendor while keeping its history.

Worked example

Northlight Coaching starts using a print supplier:

1. In Vendors → New, add Maple Ridge Print Co., terms 30, currency CAD.
2. Save (status active).
3. When the supplier's invoice arrives, enter a Bill against Maple Ridge Print Co. with the line items and a due date 30 days out — it now appears in your payables.

Tips

• Record the vendor's tax number so your Tax Summary can track the tax you paid (input tax credits) cleanly.
• Set payment terms per vendor to match each supplier's terms; your bills' due dates follow automatically.
• Use a vendor even for recurring subscriptions (software, hosting) so your expenses roll up by supplier.
• Prefer dormant over deletion to preserve bill and expense history.

FAQ

What's the difference between a vendor on an expense versus a bill? On an expense, the vendor is optional context for money already spent. On a bill, the vendor is required because a bill is an amount you still owe them.

Can a vendor also be a customer? They're separate profiles. If a business both pays you and bills you, create a customer record and a vendor record for them.

Can I pay vendors inside StretchBooks? StretchBooks tracks what you owe (bills and their due dates). It records payables and their aging; it does not move money to vendors on your behalf.