I operate an art gallery and we do a lot of layaway purchases. Here's my workaround:
After calculating the total and the deposit due, I ring the item/items and manually change the price to reflect the deposit amount. For each item I use the Note function to indicate it's a layaway deposit. I then make an invoice that splits the remaining balance into equal thirds or fourths depending on the customer's choice. We set a reminder for 2 days prior, and the day of each payment due date. The paper agreement says we prefer they use the online invoice function. If they do happen to come in to make an in-person payment, I create an item for the amount and use the Notes to indicate what it's for. Since we're a consignment gallery, and artists are paid as each payment comes in, having the invoice record helps our accounts to ensure commission payments are made correctly.
Re: How can I offer my customers a layaway option with Square Point of Sale?
Posted
04-01-2016
Great question, @wh! We don't have a specific layaway feature, but we have had some sellers use our open tickets feature to facilitate layaway sales. The workaround goes like this:
1) Create an open ticket for the item
2) When the customer makes a payment on the item, close out the existing open ticket with their payment
3) Then create a new open ticket with the updated balance
4) Follow this process until the item has been paid off
You could also create an Invoice for the upfront partial payment and more Invoices for the balance until the goods are picked up. Here’s how to create Invoices: http://squ.re/1SGkd8s.
Unfortunately your stock count will only reduce once you complete the transaction for the 1000 Red Shirts.
For Open Tickets, the inventory will remain until that ticket is closed out.
In this specific instance, the work around would be to charge your customer a $500 deposit amount, and then add the 1000 red shirts for the final charge but somehow charge them only the remaining $500.
There are a few ways to do this, however the one that comes to mind first would be to add the 1000 red shirts to the sale and discount it by 50% so the total equals $500.
My current system doesn't take the item out of stock until the balance is paid. Will need to practice how to write an order for a customer, enter an amount, deduct a payment, then scan the item when it comes in. To make a layaway we want to scan the item, enter a deposit and interim payments and have a balance. Are there two separate applications for special orders and layaways?
One another note
i have seen bar code scanners priced from $50 to $400. $50 sounds good to me since I need two. Do minis have a decent lifetime?
@oldtimer There isn't a way to do Special Orders or Layaway payments at this time, as all of the suggestions here are simply work arounds that some sellers use.
In regards to Bar Code Scanners, check out our Support Center Hardware section for more information on the Bar Code Scanners we recommend.
We don't currently offer a layaway option with the app, so you would have to track these kinds of agreements on your own. I can certainly see how layaway would be helpful for your business, as well as many other sellers. Rest assured that I'll surface this with the Retail team, who is always making improvements based on customer feedback.
Please keep in touch for updates, and let us know if you have any further questions.
Is here a way to be able to accept a part payment or deposit amount on a purchase?
For retail, if a customer spent $100 and you offered layby, they would leave a deposit - say $20 and a balance of $80 will be owed.
Is there a way to be able to process a deposit/part payment and then at a later date mark it as paid in full?
I run a party plan business and I want demonstrators to be able to process a sale on SQUARE but need to be able to process a part payment [as many only pay a deposit and balance later] So I want them to be able to enter the customers details [great new feature by the way!] and then when the balance is paid to us we can mark it as paid in full via the computer Dashboard as balances are paid into our bank account, not by individuals so we need to be able to mark it as paid 'as cash payment' later.
I hope this makes sense. If this is already possible, any help to how its done would be great.
If not, I would love to know if there is any possible chance this will be added in the future.
Having previously worked in retail, being able to take deposits, and progress payments to a final nil balance would be an excellent feature for POS.
This isn't an available feature at the moment, but our Product Team is aware of the requests from our Retail Sellers.
We're actively looking into this feature request, as you're not the only seller that's asked for this type of feature.
One work-around that I've seen sellers use is Square Invoices. You'd have them pay one invoice for part of the balance, and at a later date send another invoice for the remaining balance.
Keep an eye on Product Updates in the Community, as we'll be sure to announce if anything changes.
We are trying to figure out the exact same thing. Unless I'm just not clear on the reporting process. The suggested workaround seems like it would double inventory information and convolute reports, showing multiple items leaving the store when it's just split payments on one item.
Square Programers - Is there any future plans of creating a true layaway plan?
Our Product Team is aware of the increased advocacy for this feature, so hopefully we can get something implemented to help folks out with this in the near future.
