Draft sales: how not to lose the receipt in case of failures and postpone the sale

Unexpected situations often occur during sales: while creating a large receipt in a store, the power may suddenly go out, the computer may freeze, or there may be a connection error with the bank terminal or the tax service server (pECR). It also happens that the customer remembers they left their wallet in the car or decides to go back to the sales floor to choose another item.

To prevent the cashier from having to scan all items again, especially if there are dozens of them, Torgsoft provides mechanisms for saving unfinished receipts. Depending on the program settings, such "postponed" or "interrupted" sales are saved in two different sections: «Sales drafts» or «Unpaid sales for regular customers».

Below is a complete instruction on how to use these tools to save the cashier’s time and maintain accurate accounting.

Where do "stuck" receipts go? The main setting

Where exactly the program sends the scanned items in case of a failure or postponed sale depends on one setting.

Go to the menu Settings — Parameters — Document.  Pay attention to the switch «Remove goods from stock when adding them to the "Sale" form»:

1. If the switch is OFF (goods are not removed from stock immediately). In case of any emergency termination of work (power outage, computer shutdown, etc.), goods from the unfinished receipt are automatically saved in the mode File — Sales drafts.
   
   

2. If the switch is ON (goods are reserved immediately). As soon as an item is added to the «Sale» form, it is immediately removed from stock. If a failure occurs or the computer suddenly shuts down, such a receipt is moved to the section Payment — Unpaid sales for regular customers. A sale is considered unpaid if the debt on it is more than 0.09 UAH.

Scenario 1. The computer shut down or froze (restoring from «Drafts»)

If the instant stock removal setting is turned off, all interrupted sales will wait for you in drafts. This is a useful tool if a pECR error occurred during payment, the internet connection was lost, or the computer simply restarted.

Step-by-step recovery instruction:

1. Go to the main menu item File — Sales drafts.

2. In the window that opens, you will see a list of interrupted receipts. For convenience, there are columns «Seller» and «Modified by», which help identify which cashier sold the goods and who made changes to the sale.

3. Select the required draft and click the «Restore sale» button.

4. After that, go to the sales form. You will be able to continue the sale by selecting the restored unpaid sale from the list of existing sales.

5. Complete the sale in the standard way: enter the payment and print the fiscal/sales receipt.

A practical example from Torgsoft support:

There are situations when payment through the bank terminal is successful, but due to a connection failure between the computer and pECR, the receipt is not recorded in the program. In this case, specialists restore the receipt from «Sales drafts» and process its payment in the unpaid sales form to balance the records.

Scenario 2. The customer went to get money or is choosing more goods (working with «Unpaid sales»)

If instant stock removal is enabled, interrupted receipts are moved to unpaid sales. This is convenient if the customer asks to "postpone" the scanned goods at the checkout while they go to the car for their card or return to the sales floor for another item. The cashier can close the sale form to serve the next customers in the queue.

Step-by-step instruction for completing a postponed sale:

1. When the customer returns, go to the menu item Payment — Unpaid sales for regular customers.

2. The form «Payment control for sales to regular customers» will open, showing a list of all unpaid receipts.

3. Find your customer’s receipt.

4. Click the «Pay» button. The program will prompt you to enter the funds, after which the receipt status will change to paid, and you will be able to print the fiscal receipt.

How to clear the list if the customer does not return?

If the customer does not return, or if the cashier unknowingly scans all goods again into a new receipt while the old one remains "stuck" in the system, this unpaid sale must be deleted. To do this, select the stuck receipt and click the «Delete» button. If this is not done, the goods will be considered sold/removed from stock twice, which will lead to a shortage and negative stock balances.

Hiding unpaid sales:

If you have old unpaid sales that cannot be deleted for certain reasons, you can hide them. To do this, select the sale and click the «Hide» button. Such receipts will not be displayed in the general list. To view them again, enable the «Show hidden» switch: they will be highlighted in gray with strikethrough text. If necessary, they can be returned to their normal state using the «Restore» button.

Summary for cashiers and administrators

• Never scan goods again if a failure occurs during payment: power outage, pECR error, or the computer freezes. Your receipt is saved!

• Depending on the settings, look for it in File -> Sales drafts or in Payment -> Unpaid sales for regular customers.

• Always delete "stuck" duplicate receipts to avoid creating "negative stock" in the warehouse.