Stampli is a good tool. It's just not built for cannabis.
I want to be upfront about something: Stampli is a well-built AP platform. Their invoice processing is solid. The approval workflows are clean. Their ML layer that learns from your coding patterns is genuinely useful. If I were running a distribution company or a manufacturing business with normal banking relationships, Stampli would be on my shortlist.
And that's exactly the point. Stampli was built for normal businesses. Businesses that receive invoices, match them to POs, route them for approval, and cut a check or fire off an ACH. The workflow is straightforward because the business is straightforward. You order something, it shows up, you get a bill, you pay it.
If you're running a normal business with normal banking, Stampli works. But cannabis is not a normal business. The supply chain is different. The compliance layer is different. The banking situation is different. The vendor relationships are different. And those differences aren't edge cases — they're the entire operating reality for every licensed dispensary in the country.
Where generic AP falls apart for cannabis dispensaries
The moment you try to run a cannabis dispensary's accounts payable through a generic platform, you hit walls that no amount of configuration can fix. These aren't feature requests. They're structural gaps.
No Metrc integration. Every cannabis delivery in a regulated state flows through Metrc. The manifest data — what was shipped, what was received, package IDs, quantities — lives in Metrc. If your AP system can't read Metrc, it can't verify that what a vendor invoiced you for actually showed up at your door. You're back to trusting the invoice, which is exactly how dispensaries end up overpaying their vendors by tens of thousands per year. We recently caught a $4,873 duplicate invoice at a multi-location retailer — the kind of cross-entity billing error that's invisible without a system checking.
No consignment support. A significant portion of cannabis inventory moves on consignment. The vendor puts product on your shelf, you sell it, and you settle up based on what sold. That's not an invoice workflow — it's a settlement workflow. It requires tracking sell-through by package, applying profit splits, calculating aging discounts, and producing settlement reports that both sides agree on. Stampli has no concept of this because consignment barely exists outside cannabis and a few other niche industries.
No credit recovery. Dispensaries are owed credits from vendors constantly — for returns, expirations, damaged product, promotional commitments that were fulfilled. These credits should offset future payments, but they slip through the cracks because they require a different workflow than invoice processing. We routinely find $8,000 to $25,000 per month in recoverable credits during our first evaluation of a new client. A generic AP tool has no mechanism for this.
No Check 21 payments. Cannabis businesses have limited banking options. Many vendors can't accept ACH. Many dispensaries can't send it. Check 21 compliant checks — digital checks that can be printed at home and deposited via mobile — are how a huge portion of cannabis vendor payments actually move. Stampli doesn't generate checks. It assumes you have a functioning banking relationship that supports electronic payments. For cannabis, that assumption is wrong more often than it's right.
No cannabis-specific vendor communication. Cannabis vendor relationships are high-touch. There are credit disputes, consignment questions, delivery discrepancies, promotional commitments, and licensing updates happening constantly. A generic AP platform gives you an approval workflow. It doesn't give you an AI that can draft a credit request email to a vendor with the Metrc manifest attached, which is exactly what ShelfiQ does — handling 95% of routine vendor communications so your team doesn't have to.
It's software, not a service. This might be the biggest gap. Stampli gives you tools and expects you to run them. You still need someone on your team processing invoices, managing approvals, chasing credits, reconciling deliveries. For a cannabis operator already stretched thin across compliance, inventory, and daily operations, "here's more software to run" is not a solution. It's another burden.
ShelfSpace — built on Metrc, managed for you
ShelfSpace exists because I spent a decade running cannabis operations and couldn't find a platform that understood the actual workflow. So we built one. Not a generic AP tool with cannabis features bolted on — a system designed from the ground up for how dispensaries actually pay their vendors.
Metrc-native. ShelfSpace connects directly to your Metrc account with read-only access. We see every transfer, every package, every manifest. When an invoice arrives, we don't just parse the line items — we match them against the Metrc delivery data. If the invoice says 50 units and Metrc says 47 were received, we flag the discrepancy before you pay. This is delivery verification that's impossible without a Metrc integration.
Invoice parsing that actually works for cannabis. Upload an invoice or forward it to your dedicated ShelfSpace email address. Our AI extracts the line items, matches them to Metrc deliveries, checks for duplicates, and cross-references open credits. The invoice is verified and ready for your approval — not just scanned and coded.
ShelfiQ handles your vendor emails. Our AI agent reads incoming vendor communications, drafts responses with real data from your account, and handles 95% of routine correspondence — credit requests, payment status inquiries, delivery confirmations, settlement questions. Your team reviews the exceptions. ShelfiQ handles the volume.
Credit recovery is built in. We don't just track credits — we find them. Every evaluation we run uncovers $8,000 to $25,000 per month in credits that weren't being tracked or applied. Returns that were processed in Metrc but never invoiced back. Expirations with credit terms in the vendor agreement. Promotional commitments that were fulfilled but never claimed. ShelfSpace tracks every one and deducts them from the next payment.
Consignment and AP in one system. If you have vendors on consignment, their settlements flow through the same platform as your standard AP. Weekly settlement reports calculated to the penny, with profit splits, aging discounts, and sell-through data pulled directly from your POS and Metrc. One system for every vendor, whether they're invoicing you or settling consignment.
Managed service — we do the work. ShelfSpace isn't software you have to run. Our team processes your invoices, reconciles your deliveries, manages your credits, and prepares your payments. You review a clean weekly summary and approve the payment run. That's your entire AP workload. We handle everything else.
Cannabis and non-cannabis vendors. Your dispensary doesn't just pay cannabis vendors. You pay landlords, utilities, security companies, packaging suppliers, and a dozen other non-cannabis vendors. ShelfSpace handles all of them. One platform, one payment run, one approval process — for everyone you pay.
Who should use what
Not in cannabis? Stampli is a solid choice. Their platform handles standard AP workflows well, the ML features are impressive, and they integrate with the major ERPs. If your business has normal banking and straightforward vendor relationships, you'll be well served.
Running a cannabis dispensary? ShelfSpace is built specifically for you. Metrc integration, consignment settlements, credit recovery, Check 21 checks, AI vendor communication, and a managed service that takes the work off your plate. Every feature exists because a cannabis operator needed it.
Currently using Stampli for cannabis? You're running a general-purpose tool for a specialized operation. You're probably managing Metrc reconciliation in spreadsheets, missing credits, and spending hours on vendor communication that ShelfiQ could handle in seconds. It might be worth a conversation.
We'll run a free evaluation on your vendor payments — show you the credits you're missing, the discrepancies you're not catching, and exactly what Stampli can't see. No commitment, no pitch deck. Just data.