This article details the process for handling sales of for new Products that have not yet been created in Back Office e.g. selling products straight from your supplier catalogue.
Typically these sales are referred to as "Special Orders", however this shouldn't be confused with the Retail Express dedicated Special orders feature for stock sourced directly sourced for the supplier (this process requires products to be created in Back Office first).
The process involves:
- Creating a "Miscellaneous" product in Back Office
- Selling the product at POS, allowing you to capture the customer and Product details
- Creating the new product in Back Office, including Product details and pricing (stock on hand value will be zero)
- Ordering the product from your Supplier
- Edit the original sale to reflect the correct new Product
This feature is not compatible with web store integrations, as the product will exist as a single product online (not customisable).
Related: You can create Special Orders for products sourced directly from the Supplier using the Special Orders; however please note this process requires the products to exist in Back Office first.
The creation of a Miscellaneous Product is only required once during the initial setup. The Miscellaneous Product is simply used as a placeholder to allow you to create the special order sale at POS and gather the customer and product information.
📋 Note: This single Product is designed to be used in the future for all orders without existing products. You don't need to create a new Miscellaneous Product each time a similar style sale is processed.
Create a new miscellaneous Product, and enter the basic information as below:
| Field | Details |
| Short Description | This should be Miscellaneous Product or Special Order so that it is easy to search for at POS |
| Supplier SKU | This should be MISC (or something similar) to ensure it is easy to search for POS |
| Product Type | Set this field to any Product Type, however using something like MISC allows you to exclude this Product Type (and Product) from reporting if required. |
| Supplier | Set this field to any supplier, however using something like MISC allows you to exclude this Product from reporting if required. |
For detailed information on creating a Product, please see: How to create a Product manually
To create the sale in POS, you'll need to use the newly added Miscellaneous product. This allows you to process the sale immediately, reducing the risk of losing the customer.
- Create a sale in POS
- Add the Miscellaneous product to the sale.
- Double click the product to access the Edit Product screen
Note: If using a touchscreen laptop or tablet you will need to press and hold
- Update the description with the relevant details of the order e.g. name of the product from the Supplier
- Click Done
- Click into the Price field and enter the Special Order price
- The Products tab will now reflect the edited Product description and price
- Go to the Customer tab and enter the customer details
- Go to the Fulfilment tab and set the Fulfilment Method to Layby
Note: by setting the Fulfilment Method to Layby you ensure the ability to update the Product on the sale at a later time.
- Finalise the sale
- Provide the customer a receipt (this will display the product details entered in step 4 for the Miscellaneous product with the correct information)
Create the special order Product in Back Office and order it from your Supplier.
For detailed information on creating a Product, please see: How to create a Product manually
Tip: You may wish to wait until you've actually receipted the special order Product before editing the sale to ensure the COGS, retail price and SOH information is correct.
Once the special order Product is available, you can process a credit/return of the original invoice number. This allows you to remove the MISC Special Order Product and add the actual Product.
Process a return / credit using the normal procedure.
For more information on returns please see: How do I refund / return a product at POS?
- Enter the Layby Qty to cancel
- Click Next and proceed with creating the Refund
- The return will display on the screen. The original Special Order product will have a line crossed through it to indicate the cancellation/refund.
Tip: you can choose to hide refunded (zero item) Products from the customers invoice and receipt, however they will continue to display on your POS screen; refer to the
Invoice & Receipt settings option "Show zero quantity order lines on Invoices and Tax Receipts" for more information.
- Now add the new true Product to the sale.
Tip: Remember to update the Fulfilment Method if required
- Finalise and Update the sale to complete.
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