Discounts Solver

Discounts don't work--what could be wrong?

Be sure that the Discount field is ticked in Stock Groups.
A common mistake is to confuse the customer Discount field with the Discount Formula field. Check that this has not occurred.
If you have activated multi-location stock control, remember that products with the same product code may have different discounts depending on where they are located.

If there are multiple discounts set for a customer or product in what order will they be applied?

Many problems that relate to discounts not being applied or the "wrong" discount being applied, occur when more than one discount system is operating. The discount rule that the operator assumes will apply may not be what the computer selects. To be sure that this does not occur, ensure that you understand CAPITAL's selection sequence:

1. Customer Stock Item Pricing discounts override all other discounts.

2. The Customer Discount Formula overrides all other discounts if no Customer Stock Item Pricing Discounts apply. There is one important exception to this: If the product being discounted is assigned to a stock group that has its Discounts field unticked. If this is the case, the Discount Formula is ignored.

3. Customer Special Pricing discounts override all other discounts except for those mentioned above. Please keep in mind that the Customer Special Pricing table has a set of ordering rules all of its own. (These are generally controlled by the price rule's item number.)

4. The customer Discount setting is applied if this is a number between 1-9. It is only applied if the product being discounted is assigned to a stock group that has its Discount field ticked.

Keep in mind that you can also apply a discount default for all customers via the INSTALLATION Workshop program. The setting is found under Install|Invoicing|Other Options and is called the Default Discount Rate. If this has been set, it will be applied to any customer account not assigned a specific discount.

5. The system default price is applied. This is set in the INSTALLATION Workshop program under Install|Invoicing|Cost & Sell Prices.

If you are using box pricing, then if a box quantity is sold, the box price applies/overrides the unit price. The box price only applies if you have set CAPITAL to maintain a unit price and a "package" or unit of original purchase price. This is useful if you sell at one price in certain units, but sell at a different price in, say, cartons. Cost and sell prices can also be established for different product dimensions using the Box Dimension Table.

Discounts don't calculate properly for early payments...

Check the following:

Specify the early payment discount in customer or supplier accounts via the Settlement Terms discount.
Specify the Early Settlement in days. The applicable discount period is between the transaction date up to and including the settlement terms days.
When CAPITAL calculates a discount it will NOT issue a discount unless the amount entered PLUS the discount calculated will FULLY PAY the transaction. In other words, amounts partly allocated to invoices are not entitled to a discount. You may specify in the INSTALLATION Workshop program a lesser degree of "exactness" to ensure that the customer still receives a discount, especially when the difference is small. See the field Allow Discount Within found under Install|Invoicing|Other Options.

When I specify a supplier or stock group range under Customer Special Pricing, CAPITAL issues the discount even if I did not specify that the discount applied to that particular group.

CAPITAL sorts stock and supplier groups in strict alpha-numeric sequence. For example, the stock group range: A1-A9 also includes groups A10, A11, A100 and A1050! This is because the "1" in the second position of the code is less than the "2" in A2. It is therefore important to enter your codes correctly. For example, A1 should have been entered as A01, A001 or A0001 depending on the number of groups you need to work with, and so on. By making the codes the same length, most confusions can be avoided.

Stock entered in the Service Manager does not have the same prices as stock invoiced.

Each job card has its own Discount Rate field. If this is not the same as the standard customer discount then pricing will be different.

Can I calculate a discount based on a specified list price?

Yes. Use the price variable LP. For example, this formula:

LP * .50

Which would apply a 50% discount off the list price of the item instead of the unit price.

Hints & Tips

If you wish to issue a discount that disagrees with what the computer automatically calculates, you may do this by entering a SEPARATE transaction (specify "discount" as the transaction type and be sure to enter the amount as a negative number). Discounts entered separately should be entered the same way a payment would.
If you can't see why a customer is getting a particular price when invoicing, print a Customer Special Price Report which will list all applicable discounts related to that customer.

When inside a transaction and you wish to see which discount applied to a particular stock item, press the Info tab button and look at the Discount Applied entry.

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