Inviting Vendors to Register

Instead of typing in a new vendor’s information and then emailing back and forth for their W-9, you can have the vendor fill out their own profile and upload their own documents. This applies whether you’re onboarding a brand-new vendor or refreshing an existing one’s paperwork.

Sending an Invitation

Click New Vendor and choose Invite Vendor to register
Enter the vendor’s name and email address
Select which documents you need (W-9, certificate of insurance, workers’ comp certificate, and so on — you can request more than one)
Click Send Request

The vendor receives an email with a secure link. They don’t need to create an account or log in — they open the link, fill in their name, EIN, and address, and upload every document you requested. They can’t submit the form until every requested document is attached, so you never end up with a half-finished record.

As soon as they submit, BeeKeeper:

Creates the vendor in your organization
Runs auto-matching against your existing journal entries and imported transactions
Emails you (the person who sent the invitation) to let you know it’s done

Requesting an Update from an Existing Vendor

The same secure-link process works for a vendor you already have on file — handy when a W-9 is missing, an insurance certificate has expired, or you just need current contact information.

Open the vendor and click Request Update
Select which documents you need
Click Send Request

The vendor gets an emailed link pre-filled with what BeeKeeper already knows about them. They review and update their information and upload the documents you asked for. When they submit, their existing vendor record is updated and the new documents are added to their Documents panel — see Vendor Documents & Compliance.

A vendor can only have one pending request open at a time, and the vendor’s page shows the pending request (who it was sent to and when) right below their name until it’s resolved.

Managing Pending Requests

Every invitation and update request you send stays Pending until the vendor completes it or you cancel it:

On the Vendors list, a Pending Invitations panel shows every outstanding invitation to a brand-new vendor
On an individual vendor’s page, a pending update request appears directly on the page
From either place you can Resend the email (using the same link) or Cancel the request, which immediately deactivates that link

Common Questions

Does the vendor need a BeeKeeper account to register or update their info? No. The link BeeKeeper emails them is unique to their request and doesn’t require a login. Nobody else can use it, and it works only until the request is completed or canceled.

What if the vendor doesn’t upload all the documents I asked for? They can’t submit the form at all until every requested document is attached — it’s all-or-nothing, so you won’t end up with a partial submission.

Can I change what documents I’m requesting after I’ve sent the link? Cancel the pending request and send a new one with the documents you need. Canceling deactivates the old link immediately.

See Vendors for how to create and manage vendors generally, and Vendor Documents & Compliance for what happens to documents once they’re uploaded.