Lay-bys & The Cash Order System

The Lay-by and Cash Order Management System is designed for retailers who process lay-bys and other types of businesses that need to manage customer deposits. It allows you to accept part payment for goods and services and then receive additional payments periodically from your customers.

Some key points to consider about lay-bys include the following:

The cost of goods on a lay-by transaction is normally calculated as a sale cost as soon as it is raised and this is reflected in your sales reporting.
The price and quantity of items on a lay-by will be listed on the transaction, but CAPITAL does not charge for items that have product codes. You should add a comment line to the bottom of the invoice that indicates a deposit has been taken and enter the deposit amount against it. Since a comment line does not have a product code, CAPITAL will only invoice this amount.
Stock that is on lay-by is normally "allocated" in Stock Control. It will still appear as in stock, but invoicing will warn you of a stock shortage if you attempt to invoice goods reserved for lay-bys.

Lay-By & Cash Order Maintenance

To create a new lay-by go into the invoicing system and select lay-by as your transaction type.

If you do not have a lay-by transaction type you can assign one to an unused transaction type as follows:

1. Start the INSTALLATION Workshop program and from the main menu select Install|Advanced|Transaction Sequences...

2. Use the arrow keys or mouse to select the transaction you wish to change and under the Transaction column type: Lay-by

3. Press the Finished button.

4. From the main menu select Install|Invoicing|Transaction Behaviour...

5. Under Lay-by select the transaction type you have created in step 2.

6. Press the Finished button.

7. From the main menu select File|Exit and save your changes.

To manage existing lay-bys, select from the CAPITAL main menu Transaction|Lay-by & Deposit Payments.

Press the Find button to locate a lay-by. You may search by receipt (transaction/lay-by) number, date or customer name. Note that the customer name is as it appears on the invoice, not as it appears on the customer account.

To list all payments made against a particular lay-by, highlight the transaction you select using your keyboard or mouse and press the List button.

To add additional payments against a lay-by, select it with the keyboard or mouse and press the Add button. The payment date, next available invoice/receipt number and the default transaction type will be displayed and can be changed if necessary.

Next enter the amount of the payment. If you wish to print an invoice/receipt acknowledging the payment, leave the Print Receipt option ticked. Once a lay-by has been fully paid it will normally disappear from the Lay-bys, Cash Orders & Deposits window.

The INSTALLATION Workshop program can be used to set the lay-by system to retain fully paid lay-bys for further reference. To activate this option do the following:

1. Start the INSTALLATION Workshop program.

2. From the main menu select Install|Invoicing|Lay-bys & References.

3. Untick Clear Paid Orders/Lay-bys.

4. Press the Finished button.

5. From the main menu select File|Exit and save your changes.

If you need to cancel a lay-by press the Reverse button. A screen similar to Add Payments will appear, with the balance paid so far as a negative value. You may refund the full or a lesser amount.

To print a report listing the original lay-by, all down-payments so far and the balance remaining, highlight the lay-by using the keyboard or the mouse and press the Print button.

If you need to change the name or address details of the original transaction, highlight the lay-by with the keyboard or mouse and press the Edit button.

All stock must be tax inclusive as GST is not added onto lay-by payments. If you need to keep track of tax some other way, back order the goods instead.

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