Layaways, Special Orders, Sales Orders, and Shipping

Making The Sale

In Artisan POS version 4.X, there are several ways of creating pending transactions.

1. Layaway
2. Special Order
3. Sales Order
4. Manually marking shipped orders delivered.

To select the different types of sales, choose the pull-down at the top of the “Sales” screen, in the middle.

All of these transactions will split the sales screen and show in the top section. They will also appear in the pending order status screens.

Click on “Order Status” from the “Main Menu.”

Each of these types of transactions can have a deposit amount from 0 to 100%.

We will cover various scenarios and how to use these tools to achieve the best method in Artisan.

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It is important to note that for ALL of these scenarios when a customer is also purchasing merchandise to take with them, a separate transaction is required. There are no circumstances where you should mix take-home merchandise with merchandise for later to be on the same transaction.

If the customer wants to pay for everything with one check or one credit card payment, then there are several ways to accomplish this. The easiest way to do this is to put the special order transaction sale in and finalize it with zero deposit. You may have to set security controls to allow the override for this, or you can set the default order deposit amount to zero. Then you start a new sale, selecting the customer. Put on the items they are taking with them and then make a payment on the order using the “PAY” button. This will collect the total for both transactions.

Another way is to overpay the normal transaction by the amount of the special order transaction. First enter in your special order transaction and note the total due. Start a new sales window and enter in the normal transaction. Finalize the transaction and enter the total for both transactions in the amount paid. When you save the sale, you will be prompted for the change due. Choose “Store Credit” and then you can apply that store credit on the special order transaction.

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Scenario Examples

1. A customer wants to purchase something in stock that they do not have the money for at the moment. Assuming that you don’t want to extend credit using “Accounts Receivable” functions, it is best to use the Layaway Feature.
   Use a Layaway when:
   1. You have the item in stock, available to sell to this customer.
   2. The customer does not have the money with them or can’t afford to pay for the item all at once.
2. A customer wants to order something that you do not have in stock, but you can order for them. In this case you should use special order.
   Use a Special Order when:
   1. Everything on the sale needs to be ordered, even if you have it in stock.
   2. You don’t have the items already on order.
3. A customer wants to order something that you do not have in stock AND they want to purchase something you do, but they want to pick up all the items at the same time. In this case you should use Sales Order.
   Use a Sales Order when:
   1. At least one item on the sale needs to be ordered.
   2. There are other items that you have in stock that will be given to the customer with the special order.
4. Outbound Shipping: You regularly ship items, and you want to track them in Artisan and mark them as shipped as you ship them. This helps you keep track of outstanding orders, especially in the cases where you have to order or make the items you are shipping. This will work automatically when you change a configuration setting in “Shipping Options.”

To get to “Shipping Options,” click on “Tools,” “Program Options,” “Business & Financial Settings…,” and “Shipping Settings.”

Creating Inventory Records

It is very important to setup inventory records correctly for special situations. Here are some common scenarios.

1. Normal Special Order: This is where you have an item that you have already entered into Artisan that you no longer have, or you just order on demand. There usually isn’t anything special you need to do. Make sure that Inventory Tracking is ON.
2. New Item for Special Order: For example, you have a catalog you can order from, and a customer has picked something out. You can do this 1 of 3 ways.  You can: 1) make an item record for it immediately, 2) use a generic item record (see below), or 3) use a generic item record and after the customer has left the store, create a new item record, and then recall the sale and switch out the generic item with the real item. When you make the inventory record for it, you can do it as normal, except you may want to set its availability to “Not a Stock Item (Special Order)” if this is an item that you don’t want to stock.
   
3. Generic Item Record for Special Order: A generic item for ordering is very similar to a Department Code, but “Inventory Tracking” is turned “ON.” If you don’t turn on “Inventory Tracking,” then a purchase request will not be generated. Set the “Pricing Model” to “FILL IN PRICE.” You may also want to leave the description blank or use something short and click on the “Fill in (Append) on Sale” box to move the cursor to the description after this item is entered on the sale.
   
4. CUSTOM ORDERS: You have an item that is made from raw materials such as a Birthday Cake, Custom Work such as Jewelry, Art, Furniture, etc. The key with this group is that the price may fluctuate. 
   Make sure you put the item in a category that has “SPECIAL HANDLING” set for “Customization.” This will force Artisan to make the order custom.
   
   Make an item record that the “Pricing Model” is set to “FILL IN PRICE” and make sure that “Inventory Tracking” is “ON.” Artisan will turn this off when you change the pricing model. You may have to enable “Custom Orders” in the “Optional Features” section in “Program Options.”