Sale of small goods piece by piece: how to sell?

Probably, some of you have encountered the problem when selling small items individually. The price per unit of the item, taking into account the discount, contains more than two decimal places, and during rounding, the final amount turns out to be more or less than necessary. And Ukrainian legislation allows only two decimal places in the "price" column - this can lead to misunderstandings.

For example, the price of screws in the warehouse is 0.10 UAH. Since the customer has a 3% discount, the retail price in "Trade with invoice issuance", taking into account the discount, is 0.10 UAH - 3% = 0.097 UAH. Let's round this value to the nearest hundredth, i.e., to pennies. For example, rounding up 0.097 = 0.10, or rounding down 0.097 = 0.09. As a result, we get:

• 0.097 UAH when rounded up to hundredths equals 0.10 UAH * 1000 pcs. = 100 UAH. (Fig. 1).

• 0.097 UAH when rounded down to 0.09 UAH * 1000 pcs. = 90 UAH.

Fig. 1. Retail item receipt

In this case, if you print an invoice, the "Price" column will incorrectly display the cost of a single item, taking into account the discount (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Incorrect invoice.

To avoid such issues, we offer you the following solutions according to current legislation:

1. According to Instruction No. 2 "On Approval of the Instruction on the Procedure for Indicating Retail Prices for Consumer Goods in Retail Trade Enterprises and Restaurant Facilities" dated No. 02 of 04.01.97, paragraph 7 in price indicators for non-food small individual items (perfume, haberdashery, etc.) you can specify the weight or capacity, price per piece or unit of packaging.
 
2. According to Part 2 of Article 15, paragraph 3 of the Law of Ukraine "On Consumer Protection". The price of the goods can be indicated per package of such goods, and if the goods are supplied without packaging - per unit of measurement commonly used for such goods.
 
3. Order No. 1307 provides that the value indicators of the tax invoice must contain no more than two decimal places, but there are no restrictions on the number of decimal places in quantity indicators. The necessary number of decimal places in the quantity indicator is considered to be such an amount as is sufficient for the correct calculation of the value indicator. The calculation of the value indicator, in which as a result of the multiplication of the invoice indicators, a number is obtained where the number of decimal places exceeds two, is considered correct if for the purpose of reducing such a number of places to the second decimal place, rounding does not lead to an increase in such a place by "1" (one). Since the tax invoice is prepared on the basis of the invoice, these rules also apply to the invoice.

Fig. 3. Receipt of goods in packaging of 100 pcs.

For example, a package of screws in the amount of 100 pcs. costs 10 UAH. In this case, with a discount or markup of 3%, it turns out that 1 package costs 9.7 UAH. If it is 10 packages, then the cost will be 97 UAH. (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. Invoice for the sale of goods in packaging.

Another way is to sell goods by weight, in which case you can specify the cost of goods per 1 kg or 100 g, and this will not violate Ukrainian legislation (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5. Receipt of goods by weight.

For example, 1 kilogram of screws costs 10 UAH. In this case, with a discount or markup of 3%, it turns out that 1 kilogram costs 9.7 UAH. If it is 0.253 kilograms, then the cost will be 2.45 UAH. (Fig. 5).

If in your "price" column, after dropping the 3rd decimal place, the cost of the item per unit, when increased by the total amount, does not match the total, you can specify 3 or even 4 decimal places in the "quantity" column. This is necessary to ensure that the amount of the item multiplied by the cost equals the total (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6. Invoice for the sale of goods by weight.

In the Torgsoft program, when using the additional function Metric characteristics of the item, there is a value called "quantity of pcs. in a package", which is displayed in the invoice. Accordingly, you can create a column "calculated price for the quantity of pcs." (Fig. 7).

For example, if you have 100 pcs. in a package, the calculated price for this quantity will be 9.7 UAH.

Fig. 7. Receipt of goods using the "Metric characteristics of the item" function.

When using the "Metric characteristics of the item" function, you need to configure the invoice template (Fig. 8).

Fig. 8. Configured invoice template using the "Metric characteristics of the item" function.

For information on how to set up the invoice template, you can watch the video tutorial, or contact the technical support service for assistance (Contacts).