Stocked, Replenishment or special order: which purchase method should each EBMS item use?

Use Stocked (Standard) for items you keep on the shelf and reorder from stock levels, Replenishment for items you rebuy one for one as they sell, and Drop Ship, Sync Quantities or Associated for items you buy only after a customer orders them. You set the default on each item's Count tab and can override it on a sales order line.

This guide is for buyers using EBMS ERP by Koble (formerly Eagle Business Software). It follows Koble's current online help as we read it on 2026-10-01; the pages do not name an EBMS version. For the bigger picture, see how to automate purchasing in EBMS.

What purchase methods does EBMS offer?

EBMS groups buying into three paths: stock levels, replenishment of what sold, and special orders bought for a specific sale. The Purchase Method field picks the path for each item.

When should an item use Stocked (Standard)?

Use Stocked for anything you sell often enough to keep on hand. It is the most common method and the only one the Minimum, Maximum and Reorder Increment drive.

The Purchasing page suggests an order when Net Ordered (Count plus Purchase Orders minus Sales Orders) drops below the Minimum. If you have the Advanced Inventory Management module, its forecasting can calculate predicted minimum and maximum levels, but only for items whose purchase method is Stocked. Our guide to how the EBMS Purchasing page decides what to order has a worked example.

When should an item use Replenishment?

Use Replenishment when you want to put back exactly what sold, one for one, instead of working to a Minimum and Maximum. The stock level settings are ignored for these items.

When a Replenishment item sells, you can right-click the line and create a purchase order straight away, or let it collect on the Special Orders tab of the Purchasing page and buy in a batch. Note that EBMS does not link the sale to the purchase, because the purchase is a replacement rather than a special order. Replenishment fits steady, low-volume items with a fixed shelf quantity. It fits poorly when demand is growing or seasonal, because it only ever rebuys the past.

When should an item use a special order method?

Use Drop Ship, Sync Quantities or Associated when you do not stock the item and buy it only after a customer orders it. The sale starts the purchase.

• Drop Ship. The vendor ships straight to your customer, and the sales order lines carry over to the purchase order.
• Sync Quantities. The item comes to you, and the received quantity on the PO is synced with the shipped quantity on the sales order, so it does not touch your On Hand count.
• Associated. The item comes to you and is received in a separate step from shipping, so On Hand is briefly affected.

Koble groups Sync Quantities and Associated together for configure-to-order items. Special order methods also work without an inventory item ID, for one-off products you never plan to stock. Our guide to special orders and drop ships in EBMS covers buying and receiving them.

How do you set or change an item's purchase method?

Open the item from Inventory > Product Catalog, go to the Count tab and set Purchase Method. That is the default; anyone entering a sales order can change it on the line.

1. Open Inventory > Product Catalog and double-click the item.
2. Select the Count tab and choose the Purchase Method.
3. For Stocked items, fill in the Minimum, Maximum and Reorder Increment on the same tab.
4. To change one sale only, open it under Sales > Invoices and S.O.s and change the Purchase Method column on that line.
5. Turn the special order options on or off under Inventory > Options, General tab.

What are the best practices for choosing purchase methods?

Decide by how the item sells, review the choice once or twice a year, and keep each item on one path. Mixed signals, such as a special-order item that also has a Minimum, make it unclear which path buys it.

• Stock the steady sellers. If an item sells most months, Stocked with realistic levels is usually right.
• Special-order the rare and the custom. If an item sells a few times a year to specific customers, a special order method avoids dead stock.
• Use Replenishment sparingly. It suits fixed shelf quantities, not items whose demand moves.
• Watch line overrides. A stocked item sold as a special order on one line will not count against your shelf, which is right, but review overrides so habits do not drift.
• Revisit after demand changes. An item that moved from occasional to steady should move from special order to Stocked, with levels to match.

Where does ReorderOwl fit with EBMS purchase methods?

ReorderOwl is a purchasing agent for EBMS that covers the stocked side: it tells you what to reorder and how much, and prepares the purchase orders. You ask in Slack or ChatGPT.

It reads EBMS read-only, including three years of sales history, stock on hand, open purchase orders, the EBMS Minimum and vendor lead days. Its default forecast checks each item's sales pattern: items that sell most months get a trailing average, and items that sell only now and then get a method built for sporadic demand. That helps with the judgment this guide is about, because the Excel workbook it returns explains the forecast method for every line, so slow, spotty items stand out. Its overstock figures also show where stock is sitting above target.

When you approve, it saves the purchase orders in EBMS. Nothing goes to a vendor until someone on your team sends it. See ReorderOwl for EBMS.

Frequently asked questions

What is the default purchase method in EBMS?

Each item's default is set on its Count tab. Stocked (Standard) is the usual choice for inventory you keep on hand, and the default can be overridden on individual sales order lines.

Does Replenishment use the Minimum and Maximum?

No. Koble's help says the stock level settings are not used for Replenishment items. EBMS rebuys what sold, one for one.

What is the difference between Sync Quantities and Associated?

With Sync Quantities, the received quantity on the purchase order is synced with the shipped quantity on the sales order, so On Hand is not affected. With Associated, receiving and shipping are separate steps, so On Hand changes briefly.

Can I special order an item that is not in my EBMS catalog?

Yes. Drop Ship, Sync Quantities and Associated can be used on a sales order line without an inventory item ID.

Does EBMS forecasting work with every purchase method?

No. The forecasting in the Advanced Inventory Management module calculates predicted levels only for items whose purchase method is Stocked.

Sources

1. Purchasing and Special Orders Overview, Koble Systems, accessed 2026-10-01
2. Replenish Stock Based on Sales, Koble Systems, accessed 2026-10-01
3. Special Order and Drop Shipment Overview, Koble Systems, accessed 2026-10-01
4. Purchasing Special Orders, Koble Systems, accessed 2026-10-01
5. Creating Purchasing Parameters, Koble Systems, accessed 2026-10-01
6. Inventory Forecasting Management, Koble Systems, accessed 2026-10-01