Zoho Inventory

Zoho Inventory

Zoho Inventory manages sales, purchase, and inventory operations across channels. Track stock levels, fulfill orders, and manage warehouses.

Multi-Organization

Many Zoho accounts have multiple organizations. Call the list-organizations tool first to get the organization_id, then pass it to every subsequent call. Single-org accounts work without it, but multi-org accounts fail without it.

Data Model

• Contacts — customers and vendors with addresses and outstanding balances. Use contact_type to distinguish customer vs vendor.
• Items — SKU master data with selling rate, purchase rate, stock on hand, and reorder levels.
• Item Groups — composite or grouped items for bundles/kits (read-only listing).
• Sales Orders — outbound fulfillment commitments tied to customer contacts and inventory items.
• Purchase Orders — inbound replenishment orders tied to vendor contacts.
• Invoices — billing documents generated from sales orders (read-only via API).
• Credit Notes — credit adjustments issued to customers (read-only listing).
• Packages — shipment packages with tracking info tied to sales orders (read-only listing).
• Transfer Orders — stock movements between warehouses (read-only listing).
• Inventory Adjustments — manual stock corrections with reasons (read-only listing).
• Warehouses — storage locations with names and addresses (read-only listing).
• Users — team members with roles (read-only).

Workflow Patterns

1. Sell to a customer: list contacts → find/create customer → list items → create sales order with customer_id + date + line_items → (system generates invoice).
2. Restock from vendor: list contacts → find/create vendor → create purchase order with vendor_id + date + line_items.
3. Add new product: create item with name + rate → optionally set purchase_rate, SKU, initial_stock.
4. Track stock: list items (check stock_on_hand) → list item_adjustments for correction history.
5. Multi-warehouse: list warehouses → list transfer orders to see stock movements.

Important Constraints

• Sales orders require date: Zoho rejects null dates. Always provide date in yyyy-mm-dd format.
• Purchase orders need vendor contacts: The vendor_id must reference a contact with contact_type="vendor".
• Invoices are read-only: Generated from confirmed sales orders. Cannot be created or modified via API.
• Items need rate: The selling rate is required when creating items.