Creating a sale
If you have less than 500 customers you can create a sale by clicking Sales->Create new from the main menu, then choosing the customer, otherwise follow the steps as below:
- Search for the customer using the quick search box.
- Hover over the “menu” text at the right of the screen and click “new order” – an empty quote will be created.
- To add items to the quote, click the “add items” link.
- Choose a category or search for the items to add and a list will appear on the left of the screen.
- Click the items you wish to add to the order, and amend the name/price on the right for each line.
- Click “add to order” at the bottom right of the screen.
Note
The quote will be created using the customer’s currency and price group. The price group on the order will define the products that you can add to the order; for example you can only add items for which a trade price exists to an order which is set to trade price. If you have multi-region pricing turned on, then the same applies for delivery region (you can only add items to an order being delivered to France if a French price exists). The same also applies for currencies; a US Dollar price needs to exist at the price group and delivery country for a product to appear when adding to an order.
Order edit - the “Address Info” tab
The three addresses here are used for customer details, billing address and delivery address respectively. If a billing email address exists, then the customer will automatically be emailed an invoice when it is raised (when the order is posted to accounts).
If an email address exists in the shipping email address box, then the customer will receive email updates as their order progresses through various statuses.
Order edit - the “Product Info” tab
If the products are set to “yes” manage stock, then Pearl will check the quantity in stock and set the product row colour appropriately. Red rows indicate there is insufficient stock to fulfil the order. If required you can split the order into two, by clicking the “split to back order” link. This will move either all deficit rows, or all deficit items to a new order. Green rows indicate that there is enough stock to fulfil the order, and blue rows indicate that the item is a bundle (stock is not checked). White rows indicate that the item has been set to “no” manage stock.
You can change the products’ prices, quantity and names on this screen. As you make the changes you can see the order total changing at the same time. Click “save” when you have made changes.
To remove items from an order, set the quantity to zero then click “save”. Any of the save buttons on the page will save the order.
Setting a discount on the product info tab will apply that discount to the list price when the page is saved, regardless of the net price you enter. The list price is the price that is pulled from the product information when using the Add to order screen, and can be changed before clicking “add to order”.
Order edit - the “Other/Payment Info” tab
This tab contains the currency, tax date, payment due date, price group and so on. If you wish (Office Pro only) you can assign this sale to a certain department or project.
Order edit - the “Attachments” tab
If required you can attach files to the order for internal staff reference only. Perhaps the customer has sent you a fax purchase order, this is where you should attached the scanned file for future reference.
Click the “attach files” button, upload a file and click the “attach” icon, or just click the “attach” icon for a file already existing in your Pearl system. Once you have attached a file, it will only show in the list the next time you load the page.
Order edit - the “Status history” tab
As changes are made to the sale, it is a good idea to put comments in here so that both you and other staff members can see exactly what is going on. If you tick the “notify customer” box then an email will be sent to the delivery email address. The format of this email (along with every other system generated email) can be edited in the “Documents” area of Pearl.
If you change the status to “packed”, then Pearl will prompt you to choose a shipping method. If any predefined text has been set for that shipping method it will be entered into the comments box automatically; useful for comments including tracking details.
Order edit - Order totals
As you add and change items on the sale, you’ll see the order totals changing. If on the other hand you would like to fix the total value and let the individual lines settle to match it, you can do so. You will need to work out the correct tax amount, and enter both the total and the tax in on the right hand side. Pearl will then work out the difference in total order value [since the last page save] and spread this difference across all the lines on the order.
VAT codes
You can set a different tax code for each line on the sale. T1 is standard 17.5% VAT rated – for more information on tax codes please see the Help link on the main menu.
Sales nominal codes
By default all sales are made with the 4000 account code. If required, you can add a column to the Product Info tab which will allow you to set a different account code per sale row. This is on the Setup->Company defaults screen.
Payment methods
If you have a card processing method setup such as SECPay, setting the payment method to SECPay and saving will show you further options for processing the card within Pearl. To allocate the sale to a customer’s account for later payment, then select “account” as the payment method.
For more information on sales and payments, please read the “Accounting” information pack.
Sending quotes
At any point until the order has been posted to accounts, you can automatically email or print a quote. Simply click “email/print quote” when in the order. You can use the standard Pearl Quote template, or create any number of your own templates.
As soon the order has been posted to accounts then this link will allow you to email or print the invoice.
Sales reports
You can view sales reports in a number of ways. To view a chart of gross revenue including VAT, click “Sales->Sales chart” from the main menu. This chart can then be limited in a number of ways. To display sales to a particular customer, see below.
To display sales revenue for a particular product, find the product and then click the sales chart icon.
If you are using the Pearl accounting module, then you can also view reports using the Accounts->Search accounts screen or the Accounts->Nominal activity chart (which will show net values, ex tax)
Refunds & credit notes
To create a refund in EPOS, please see the “Retail” information pack. To create a refund in the administration area, create a sale exactly as normal, but enter a negative quantity in the Qty column. Just as entering a positive number of products to the order will decrease your stock levels, entering a negative number will increase your stock.
If the customer is not returning stock for the refund, then add a “Misc Item” to the order. The stock of Misc items is not checked, so this item can be used to adjust sale values up or down, or simply to add comment rows with zero value.
If required you can create your own equivalent of the “Misc item” – perhaps “Refund” – which you can then trace later to report on the value of refunds you are giving. Ensure that when you create the product to set “manage stock” to “no”.
When this order is posted to accounts, a credit note will be raised as per invoices for sales above. Credit note references generated by Pearl are in the form “SC-123448”.
You can enter both positive and negative product quantities into an order, so for example if a customer is returning an item for the exchange of another at the same price, you must perform a sale to amend your stock and update your accounts appropriately:
| 1 x | Tee shirt (large) |
£20.00 |
| -1 x | Tee shirt (small) |
£20.00 |
| £0.00 | ||
In this example the customer is returning a small tee shirt for a large, and paying no price. 1 Small tee shirt will be returned to stock, and 1 large tee shirt will be removed from stock. If you then choose to destroy/write off the returned item you must create a sale to do so.
Deposits
If a customer makes a deposit you can enter this in a number of ways:
Create a sale for the product, and enter the deposit amount in the “Paid” box under the order totals. Set the order to “Stock allocated” if the stock has not left your company, or “Closed:Other” if it has. When the order is posted to accounts then the remaining balance to pay will show on the customers account (Accounts->Customers->Customer debt), and the amount paid to date will show in your accounting reports.
Payment methods
When an order is posted to accounts, an invoice is raised, and emailed automatically if a billing email address exists. The invoice total will be added to the “Customer debt” in your accounting. Depending on which payment method is chosen and the amount in the “paid” box, Pearl will clear this invoice from the appropriate account.
If, for example you have set up your payment method “cash” to allocate payments into your “Current Bank Account”, then invoice will be raised and immediately cleared with a cash payment into your bank account record in Pearl. To set up your payment methods click Setup->Payment methods from the main menu.
Writing off stock
To reduce your stock levels due to items lost, damaged or stolen, you need to create a sale to record the loss correctly. It is a good idea to create “customers” specifically for this purpose so that you can later track the products lost/stolen/damaged etc.
For example to mark an item out stolen, create an order for your “Items stolen” customer, add the items and set the price to zero (no revenue received, but stock is being reduced). Post the order to accounts; as the order total is zero, no invoice will be raised but the stock will be updated appropriately. You can then display a report for sales to this customer:
- Find the customer using the contacts quick search box
- Hover over “menu” on the right of the screen
- Click the “sales chart” icon to show a chart
- Tick the “cost of goods sold” box
Prizes and gifts
To reduce your stock levels because you are giving away prizes or gifts, create a sale as per writing off stock above. It is important that you do this, even though the sale value is zero, for a number of reasons:
- Your stock levels will be amended automatically
- You will be able to trace the date and staff member that arranged the gift/prize
- Your “cost of goods sold” account will be updated to affect your profit reports
- You will be able to display a report on the cost of marketing through prizes and gifts
Delivery notes
Pearl creates a delivery note number for each order that leaves your building, this is the numerical order number, and is not related to the invoice reference (e.g. SI-132434). Each price group has a different delivery note template (see Documents->System templates), allowing you to choose whether prices are displayed or not. For example you may sell directly to the end user through your website, and wish to show the price they have paid on the delivery note, since the invoice (raised at the end of the day, perhaps) may not be raised until after the product has left. You may not wish to show prices on delivery notes for trade customers for a number of reasons, so include in the template for price group 2 (trade) the reference packingProducts instead of invoiceProducts.
Invoice and Quote layout
You can modify the design and layout of your templates, including images, via the Documents->System templates screen. If you wish you can create a number of additional templates in the Documents->Mailmerge templates screen, and choose which one to use at the point of sending or printing the quote/invoice. Automatic invoices are always sent using the default invoice on the system templates screen.
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