Add a product

Product, then Product list, then Add product. Fill in the eight required fields, press Save product. Everything else on the form is optional.

The eight are Product Type, Product Name, Product Code, Barcode Symbology, Category, Product Unit, Product Cost and Product Price.

Product Type decides which of the later fields apply. The options are Standard, Combo, Digital and Service. A Digital or a Service product does not show the cost and price block in the same way, because it does not sit on a shelf.

• Product Name is what you will search for at the till.
• Product Code has a Generate button beside it that makes an eight digit code.
• Barcode Symbology is Code 128, Code 39, UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-8 or EAN-13. Code 128 is the usual answer if you are printing your own labels.
• Attach File appears for a Digital product and is the file the customer receives.

Product Cost, Profit Margin and Product Price move together. Change any one and the other two follow, so you can price from a margin or work the margin out from a price.

• Wholesale Price is separate and optional.
• Product Tax picks one of your tax rates.
• Tax Method is Exclusive or Inclusive. Exclusive adds the tax on top of your price. Inclusive treats your price as already carrying it.

If you type a price below the cost the form stops you and says that every sale would lose money. That is a real block, not a warning.

• Alert Quantity is the level at which you are warned that stock is low. It feeds the Product Quantity Alert report.
• Daily Sale Objective is the smallest quantity that should sell in a day, and you are warned on the dashboard when it does not.
• This product has variant turns on options such as size and colour.
• This product has different price for different warehouse lets one branch charge more.
• This product has batch and expired date turns on batch tracking, which pharmacies and food shops need.
• This product has IMEI or Serial numbers turns on per unit serial capture.
• Add Promotional Price reveals a Promotional Price with a start and an end date.

The last checkbox is Initial Stock, and it is the one people misread. Opening stock is recorded as a purchase, so it appears in your purchase list and in your accounts. That is deliberate: stock you own has to have come from somewhere, or your figures will never balance.

• You already have an active product with that name, or with that code. Both are checked.
• A profit margin has to be between 0 and 1000 percent.
• Fill in both the option and its value, or remove the row. That one is about a variant row you started and left half done.

Deleting a product removes it from your catalogue and from every list, and its images are deleted from the server and cannot be recovered. Its sales and purchases stay on record.