You create a special order when you need to order an item you normally do not stock. The item may or may not be in Inventory Maintenance or your Electronic Catalog (if on your system).
A special order is very similar to a sale, but you have more flexibility as to when to ship the merchandise, or when to invoice the customer for the merchandise. When you create and maintain a special order, you may receive full payment, partial payment (a deposit), or no payment at all.
When you create a special order, the quantities you place on order are committed. The system calculates the quantity available by subtracting committed quantity from quantity on hand.
For example: You place 2 of SKU 123 on an order. The quantity available of SKU 123 decreases by 2 and the committed quantity increases by 2.
With special orders, you can automatically create purchase orders for the items on the special order immediately or later. For more information about how to create POs from special orders, click here.