The Sales and Order screen is the center of activity in Artisan. From here, you’ll record sales, returns, create layaways, special orders, accept payments, apply credits, and more.
- Sales Screen Sections
- Normal Sale
- Customer Types
- Cashiers and Sales Reps
- Adding Items
- Discounting Items
- Tax
- Returning Items
- Voiding Items
- Operations Menu
- Completing the Sale
Sales Screen Sections
There are several different sections to look at on this screen, all designed to help speed up the checkout process while displaying the info you need. You’ll also notice that a lot of these areas are customizable, from adding quick discount buttons to showing item images on the screen, and other options. We’ll go over those later. For now, we’ll focus on the basics of this screen.
The Sales screen automatically propagates as a Normal Sale with a Retail Customer and sets the Sale Date/Time. You can then immediately add products to the sale, which we’ll go over in this article.
You may drag and drop a line or header to move the order of columns, as well as utilize the “Configure Column” option to add and remove other fields (right-click, “Configure Columns“). If you use a barcode scanner, please leave “Item Code” as the first field.
The drop-down menu allows the selection of these different types of transactions/sale types, from Normal Sale, Special Order, and others. To switch to a different sale type, just select it from the dropdown list. We’ll focus on a Normal Sale for now, but feel free to read these articles to learn about other types. Some areas, like Auto Billing, are more advanced, so we recommend practicing with the Sales Screen beforehand.
- Layaway, Special Orders, and Sales Orders
- Rental Reservation (Not yet available)
- Rental Check-In (Not yet available)
- Internal Use
- Donation
- Return to Vendor
- Breakage
- Buy From Customer (Instructions coming soon)
- Auto Billing
Sale Date/Time
Artisan automatically sets the date and time of the sale for the moment you entered the sales screen.
Sales Tabs
You’ll also notice the Sales Tabs to the left of the screen. The button will turn gray to indicate which screen you’re currently on.
Shipping
This tab is used if you’re shipping an item to a customer. If the customer’s contact information is already included in their customer record, it will populate here. If not, you can input it here, or make any changes if necessary.
Misc Info
This tab is optional, and is most likely relevant if you’re shipping an item that is a special order or custom order that needs some time to arrive, or craft. You can also make note of the purchase order or external invoice, if there is any related to this sale.
Custom
Artisan allows you to make custom fields throughout various areas of the program, from the item record screen to the sales screen. You can even add a memo to the order, like an important note.
Normal Sale
A sale in Artisan is very customizable. You have the ability to add as little or as much information to the sale as you want. For example, you can attach a customer to a sale. You can do this in a variety of ways. You can either have Artisan prompt you to attach a customer to a sale before it even begins, wait and attach the customer later, or never attach a customer at all.
Adjustments to the Cashier and Sales Rep are accessible in the top right of this screen. “Select Customer” brings you to the “Customer Records” screen, where you can search for a customer, or create them in the system.
Artisan has a section dedicated to controlling how the program behaves during a sale. To access these settings, go to “Tools,” “Program Options” and look for “Miscellaneous Program Options.” From there, you have a variety of options to tweak the sales screen as you see fit.
Customer Types
Another important note when selecting a customer is the “Customer Type.” This is especially useful if you serve a variety of customers that fit into definable categories – especially those that warrant special discounts. This field is definable via a dropdown box at the top-right of the sales screen. This field is customizable, meaning you can add, edit, and delete customer types. To learn more, click here. Simply select the drop-down menu to choose your customer type.
Cashier and Sales Reps
Just like adding a customer to a sale, two buttons exist for assigning cashiers to a sale. To select a cashier, press Ctrl-F5 or click the button where the cashier’s name is listed. To select one or multiple sales representatives, select the button where the representative’s name is listed or press Ctrl-S.
When adding multiple sales representatives to a sale, another screen exists where you are able to select a button labeled: “Add Another Sales Rep.”
Adding Items
You can add items to a sale a few different ways. You may enter their item numbers, scan barcodes, search for the items, or load scans from our portable data terminal, ScannerPal. Learn more about ScannerPal here.
To save even more time, you can add items to the Quick Pick menu, located by selecting the “Quick Pick” button or pressing F11 on your keyboard.
Here, you can select from categories or products themselves. This is a great way to add commonly purchased items to sales.
Once an Item is selected on the sale, you have a few options. Firstly, enter a quantity in the “quantity” field. When adding an item, Artisan will automatically default the quantity to zero.
Simply adjust the quantity ordered by typing in the amount or hitting the plus or minus “numeric” keys on your keyboard.
Discounting Items
If you need to, you may discount items altogether or individually. Type the discount in the “Discount” column.
Or select a “Quick Discount Button.” To set those up, click here.
Tax
You can also change the Tax to a relevant bracket or choose “None (Non-Taxable)” if the Item or Service is not taxable.
If None (Non-Taxable) is selected, a new drop-down menu may appear in the top middle of the screen prompting for “Tax Exemption Type.” Subtotal, tax, and total price are all live and will reflect as you make adjustments without the need to update. To configure sales tax settings, click here. To set up tax exemptions, click here.
Returning Items
Along the bottom menu of the Sales & Order Entry screen, there is a Return (Cntrl-R) button that can be selected once the item is highlighted in the transaction.
The Return function will not work unless an Item has been selected or highlighted on the transaction. Once the item is selected, selecting the Return function will adjust the item Qty down by Negative One (-1). Hitting the function multiple times will adjust the Qty down by the number of times the function has been selected.
Learn more about returning items here. Learn about exchanging items during a return here.
Voiding Items
Selecting the Void (Cntrl + V) function brings this menu up, allowing both the Void Item and Discard New Sale options. Void Item will void out the currently selected Item on the transaction, while Discard New Sale will void the entire sale.
Operations Menu
The “Operations Menu” contains several options, some with their own keyboard shortcuts, such as accessing previous sales through Recall Sale, and No Sale to pop open a register without finalizing a transaction.
Completing the Sale
Once you are ready to accept payment for items on a sale, select the green button labeled “Finalize,” at the bottom-right of the screen, or press F10.
This button will take you to the payment screen. Here is where you will choose the payment type and process the sale.
Processing a Sale without Split Tenders
Processing a sale with a single tender is easy and straight forward. Click on the “Amount” field and type in the amount you would like for the first payment type. Then, select the payment type to the right. If the amount has been paid in full, you can now select “Save” to complete the sale. If the customer has a balance due, read the next section.
Processing a Sale with Split Tenders
With the first payment taken, it is now time to enter the second payment type. Enter the amount paid with your first tender type, then select your tender type. Enter the amount paid by the second tender type, and then select the tender type. If you have more than two tender types, just repeat the process described above.
Once the balance has been paid in full, select “Save.” REMEMBER, if using cash as one of the payment types, use it as last payment type so Artisan can calculate change due if any.