Selling
Customer accounts and change owed
Keep track of change you owe customers when there are no small notes, and pay it back.
For: Owner, Manager, Sales Person
When you have no small notes or coins, you can keep a customer's change on their account instead of handing it over. iTrade remembers exactly how much you owe each customer, so they can spend it next time or collect it later.
A customer's balance is money the shop owes the customer, not money they owe you.
Add a customer
- On the Apps page, open Customer Accounts.
- Click + Add New.
- Type the customer's Name. Phone, email, address and notes are optional.
- Click Save.
Phone numbers, emails and addresses are stored encrypted. The customer list can only be searched by name, so use a name you will recognise, for example "Farai Moyo (Mbare)".
The three kinds of entry
Every change to a customer's balance is an entry on their account:
| Entry | What it means | Balance |
|---|---|---|
| Change Given (IOU to customer) | You kept their change instead of handing it over. | Goes up |
| Redeemed Against a Purchase | They used the money they are owed to pay for something. | Goes down |
| Paid Out to Customer | You handed them the money, in cash or by EcoCash. | Goes down |
A balance can never go below zero. iTrade won't let you redeem or pay out more than the customer is owed.
At the till (the usual way)
Most entries are made from the sale itself, so the receipt and the account always agree:
- Keeping change: on the sale, pick the customer, enter the amount tendered and tick Keep the change on the customer's account. A "Change Given" entry is added for the change due.
- Spending what they're owed: on the sale, pick the customer and type an amount in Redeem change on account. A "Redeemed" entry is added.
See Making a sale for the full steps.
Paying a customer out
- Open Customer Accounts and click Record Change on the customer's row. (Or open the customer and click Record Change Entry.)
- Set Entry type to Paid Out to Customer.
- Type the Amount, and in Method write how you paid, for example "Cash" or "EcoCash".
- Click Save. You return to the customer's page with the new balance.
You can also record a "Change Given" entry here by hand, for change you kept without recording a sale.
The customer's page
Click a customer's name to open their page. It shows:
- Change owed to this customer: the current balance.
- Change Ledger: every entry, oldest first, with who recorded it and the balance after each line, like a bank statement. Entries from a sale show the receipt number. Click it to open the sale.
- Account History (Owners and Managers): every change made to this customer and their entries, including deleted ones.
Fixing a wrong entry
- Entries marked via sale came from a sale. Fix them by editing or deleting that sale. See Fixing mistakes.
- Entries made by hand can be edited or deleted by an Owner or Manager, from the customer's page. A Sales Person can record entries but not change them afterwards.
Tell customers their balance when they come in. Owners and Managers can see the total change owed to all customers on the Dashboard.
Only Owners and Managers can delete a customer.