Turn Staples Business Advantage into an API

What you can build on Staples Advantage

• Get purchase history

  Build this

  Reads the Purchase History page, opened from the Account icon, with every order your account can see in the date range you give.

  Takes

  From date, to date, PO number (optional)

  Returns

  Order number, order date, PO number, cost center, ship-to, order total, delivery status

• Track an order

  Build this

  Opens one order's Order Details page and its Track these items link: the delivery timeline, carrier and tracking number, and who signed once delivered.

  Takes

  Order number

  Returns

  Order number, delivery timeline, carrier, tracking number, delivered on, signed by, proof of delivery image

• Get spend by user and location

  Build this

  Reads your account's online reporting for a period: spend by user, by location and by product.

  Takes

  From date, to date, group by (user, location or product)

  Returns

  Group, spend

• Place an order with Quick Order

  Build this

  Enters item numbers and quantities in Quick Order, reviews the cart at Review & Checkout and submits the order with your shipping and payment details.

  Takes

  Item numbers and quantities (up to 10), PO number, packing slip note (optional)

  Returns

  Order number, items, quantities, expected delivery dates, order total

Automate Staples Advantage with a workflow

A workflow runs your methods as one process, with nobody at the screen. A schedule or a call from your own system starts it, the steps run in order, and the result arrives in your inbox or in the systems you already use.

• Recent orders still on their way

  Build this

  Starts

  Every weekday at 8:00

  Step 1

  Get the purchase history for the last two business days.

  Step 2

  For each order, track it and keep the ones with no delivery date.

  Step 3

  Email you the list with order number, PO number, carrier and tracking number.

• Proof of delivery for new deliveries, for receiving

  Build this

  Starts

  Every weekday at 17:00

  Step 1

  Get the last 7 days of purchase history and track each order.

  Step 2

  Keep the orders delivered since the last run.

  Step 3

  Post order number, PO number, cost center, delivered on, signed by and the proof of delivery link to your webhook.

• Monthly spend by location, for finance

  Build this

  Starts

  On the 1st of every month at 7:00

  Step 1

  Get last month's spend on staplesadvantage.com grouped by location.

  Step 2

  Get the same month's spend grouped by user.

  Step 3

  Summarize the biggest changes against the last run and email you both tables.

You can run a workflow by hand on every plan, Free included. Schedules and webhook triggers come with the paid plans, from $29 a month.

Once built, one call from your code

Once you have built a method, it is one POST to /v1/runs from your backend, or a tool an AI agent calls over MCP. This is what “Get purchase history” would look like.

curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "staplesadvantage.com/get_purchase_history",
    "input": {
      "from_date": "2026-11-02",
      "to_date": "2026-11-11"
    }
  }'

{
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "orders": [
      {
        "order_number": "7351048822",
        "order_date": "2026-11-10",
        "po_number": "NW-4471",
        "cost_center": "FAC-210",
        "ship_to": "Northwind, 2nd floor receiving",
        "order_total": 412.86,
        "delivery_status": "Shipped"
      }
    ],
    "count": 1
  }
}

An example with invented data, not a ready-made endpoint. The method exists in your organization once you build it, and its name, inputs and fields follow your request.

Staples Advantage’s own options

Staples connects organizations' purchasing systems to Staples Business Advantage: it says it is integrated with more than 170 eProcurement systems, with a Staples sales engineer who manages each integration from start to finish. Its public pages describe no self-serve developer API. Everything else happens on StaplesAdvantage.com or in the mobile app.

Read on November 12, 2026: Staples Business eProcurement integrations, Staples Business AutoRestock, A better way to manage your whole workplace (Staples).

Signing in to Staples Advantage

Staples Advantage asks for your User ID first, then your password. A forgotten User ID or account number is emailed to you on request. With Fous you sign in once through the site's own sign-in with your own account: the login is sealed with AES-256, never returned by the API, and code and AI agents never see it.

Worth knowing

Next-day delivery has a 3 PM cut-off

Staples delivers in-stock items the next day when you order by 3 PM, excluding weekends and holidays. A check for undelivered orders is best run the morning after that cut-off.

Missing items are not back-ordered

A buyer's ordering guide for Staples says items are not back-ordered: an item on your requisition that is missing from the packing slip has to be ordered again. Compare quantity ordered with quantity shipped.

Punchout users start in their procurement system

Where your organization orders through an eProcurement integration, people reach Staples from that system, for example its supplier marketplace, so orders also carry that system's requisition or PO number.

Reporting depends on your program

Staples lists online reporting of spend by user, location and product among its tools, and notes that features may apply only to select items and customers. A method sees what your account sees.

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