You can send Image Star an order three ways: through our team by email or phone, on the imagestar.com portal, or straight from your own system through Auto‑PO. If you place a few orders a week, our team or the portal is all you need. If your purchase orders already live in your ERP and keying them is a daily job, use Auto‑PO. It connects through a prebuilt integration if you run a common industry ERP like ECI e‑automate or VARstreet, through our open API for XML and REST calls, or through traditional EDI. Whichever route you pick, the order lands in the same queue and ships the same way.
This post is for dealers, VARs, and MSPs who buy from Image Star or are thinking about it. It covers what each ordering route is, how the three compare, when the simplest one is the right one, and what to sort out before you choose.
Our team. Email support@imagestar.com or call 888‑632‑5515, and one of our people places the order with you. It’s the right route when an order needs a conversation, such as a part you can’t pin down, a rush, or a special shipping instruction.
The portal. Someone on your team signs in to imagestar.com, checks live pricing and real-time stock, cross-references a part number if needed, and places the order. The same site handles RAs and MSDS sheets.
Auto‑PO. Auto‑PO is our name for every system-to-system way to order from us. If you run a common industry ERP like ECI e‑automate or VARstreet, a prebuilt integration sends the purchase order you already created straight to us. For other ERPs, webstores, and platforms, our open API accepts XML or REST calls, and we also support traditional EDI.
| Our team | Portal | Auto‑PO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How the order reaches us | You email support@imagestar.com or call, and we place it | A person places it on imagestar.com | Your system sends the PO you already created |
| Your system | Any | Any | Common industry ERPs like ECI e‑automate or VARstreet through a prebuilt integration; any other system through the open API (XML or REST) or traditional EDI |
| What it takes to start | A dealer account | A dealer account | A dealer account, plus a one-time integration setup |
| Best fit | Orders that need a conversation: a part you can’t pin down, a rush, special instructions | Light volume, or orders that need a stock or cross-reference check first | Steady daily PO volume, or orders that start in a webstore |
Integration is worth doing when it removes real work. If one person places a few orders a day, and most of those orders need a stock check or a cross-reference anyway, connecting systems saves very little. The portal is fast, it shows you live pricing and inventory before you commit, and it takes nothing to set up beyond an account. When an order needs judgment, our team is a better route than any screen. Plenty of dealers order only these two ways.
Neither goes away after you connect. Cross-references, RAs, and MSDS sheets live on the portal, and our team is still there for the orders that need a person.
The case for Auto‑PO is double entry. Someone creates a PO in your system, then someone retypes it into a distributor’s website, an email, or a phone call. Every retyped order is a chance to key the wrong SKU or quantity, and each mistake turns into a return, a credit, or a reshipment that somebody has to chase.
Auto‑PO takes the retyping out. The PO you already built is the order we receive. For a dealer sending us orders every day, it’s the most direct route there is.
It saves the lookups, too. Your system can check our price and stock before the order goes out and pull tracking after it ships, so nobody has to sign in somewhere else or call to ask where a box is.
Whichever way you connect, Auto‑PO lets your system do three things:
Invoice data is coming next, so your system will be able to pull our invoices the same way.
If you run a common industry ERP like ECI e‑automate or VARstreet, start with the prebuilt integration. It’s built for that system, so setup is configuration, not development.
If you already trade documents with suppliers over EDI, use traditional EDI. Your existing EDI setup sends us orders the same way it sends them to your other suppliers.
If your system has neither, use the open API. It takes orders as XML or REST calls, which covers most modern ERPs and webstores. It also suits orders that start in your own webstore, where nobody should have to rekey them.
Be realistic about the open API. It depends on your system being able to make those calls, and on someone who can set it up, whether that’s your IT team, your ERP vendor, or a developer. If neither is in place yet, use the portal or our team for now and revisit the connection when it is.
The route you choose changes how the order reaches us. It doesn’t change what happens next.
If the first three answers point to real volume and real errors, Auto‑PO is worth the setup. If they don’t, the portal and our team will serve you well.
Yes. Any dealer with an account can order on imagestar.com, or email support@imagestar.com or call 888‑632‑5515 and have our team place it.
Auto‑PO covers all of Image Star’s system-to-system ordering: prebuilt integrations with common industry ERPs like ECI e‑automate and VARstreet, an open API that accepts XML and REST calls, and traditional EDI. Through any of them, your system can check price and inventory, place orders, and pull tracking information.
Common industry ERPs like ECI e‑automate and VARstreet connect through prebuilt integrations. Dealers already set up for EDI can send orders that way. Other ERPs, webstores, and ordering platforms connect through the open API, as long as the system can send orders as XML or REST calls.
No. Every order goes to the same two warehouses, follows the same 4:30 pm local cutoff for same-day shipping, and can ship blind to your customer.
Yes. Blind dropship is available on any order, however it reaches us.
A few orders a week, or orders that need a check or a conversation first: the portal or our team. Steady PO volume in your own system: Auto‑PO, through a prebuilt integration, the open API, or EDI.
If you also keep your customers’ printers stocked, our post on automated toner replenishment covers the program that handles it.
Tell us which system you run and roughly how many orders you place a week, and we’ll tell you which route makes sense.
Email sales@imagestar.com →Or call 888‑632‑5515 · 8am–8pm EST