Advances and prepayments of VIP clients: how to use an internal deposit for new purchases

When working with regular (VIP) customers, situations often arise when a customer leaves change in the store cash desk «for next time» or intentionally makes a prepayment (advance payment) for future purchases. 

Entrepreneurs often face the following problem: the money from the customer has been physically received, the customer’s overall balance is displayed correctly (as an overpayment), but during the next purchase the product remains in the status of «unpaid», or the program requires payment again. 

This happens because of an incorrectly selected settlement mode or because the cashier does not know the correct sequence of actions: how exactly to link previously received money to a new receipt. 

This article explains in detail how to configure the program so that advance payments are written off correctly, and what algorithm of actions the seller must follow.

1. Configuring Torgsoft for correct work with advance payments

In order for the program to understand that the money received is an advance payment that can be used to pay for specific products, you need to use the correct settlement method with VIP customers in Torgsoft.

1. Go to the main menu item Settings — Parameters — VIP Customers tab.

2. In the Payments from VIP customers field, be sure to select one of the modes from the list:

• Link payments to sale
• Partial payment with product breakdown (recommended)

3. After selecting one of the modes, the switch Use customer advance payment to pay for products will appear below — it must be enabled.

In Torgsoft, an advance payment means the customer’s money received into the store cash desk, which is displayed as debt with a negative value (for example, debt: -500 UAH).

2. How to accept an advance payment (prepayment) from a VIP customer

If a customer comes to the store and simply wants to deposit money to their «internal deposit» (or leave change), the seller must perform the following actions:

1. Open the form Document — Sale.

2. Scan the VIP customer card or select the customer from the list (shortcut Ctrl + K).

3. On the "Sale" form, click the "Deposit money to cash desk" button.

4. In the "Deposit money to cash desk" window, select the parameter "Receive money from customer" and click "Continue".

5. In the «Cash order» window, enter the amount the customer is depositing and confirm the operation.

Now this amount is recorded for the customer as an advance payment. In the customer’s balance, the debt will become negative (for example, if the customer deposited 1000 UAH, the debt will be -1000 UAH).

3. Scenario: paying for a new purchase with a previously deposited advance payment

When the same VIP customer comes next time and takes a product, the program allows them to pay for it instantly using funds from the deposit.

Cashier’s action algorithm:

1. On the Sale form, select this VIP customer. In the top panel, you will see the customer’s current negative debt (advance payment).

2. Add the products selected by the customer to the sale.

3. Click the Pay button.

4. In the «VIP Customer Payment» window, click the Pay receipt button (this button links the money to the specific products of the current sale).

5. If the third settlement method with VIP customers in Torgsoft is used, an additional window with a list of products from the current invoice will open. Select the product the customer is buying and click «Pay».

6. Program message: an information window will appear informing the cashier that part of the receipt amount (or the entire amount) has been paid from the customer’s advance payment for a certain amount.

7. Click Continue to close the «VIP Customer Payment» window.

If the purchase amount is greater than the advance payment

If the customer had 500 UAH on deposit and selected products worth 800 UAH, the program will write off 500 UAH from the advance payment, and for the remaining amount (300 UAH) the standard «Payment» window will open. In this window, the cashier simply enters the amount (300 UAH) that the customer pays additionally in cash or by card and completes the sale.

4. Typical cashier mistakes and how to avoid them

Mistake 1. The product was given to the customer, but the sale is still «hanging» in unpaid sales.

Often, when selling a product to a VIP customer, cashiers click the «Receive money» button instead of «Pay receipt». What happens in the system:

• The «Receive money» button simply puts the money on the customer’s balance (creates an advance payment).

• Since the products were not linked to this payment, the sale remains in the «Unpaid VIP sale» status.

How to fix it? 

For the sale to be considered paid, after the «Receive money» action, you must also perform the «Pay receipt» action. Then the program will take the newly created advance payment and automatically use it to pay off the outgoing invoice.

Mistake 2. Attempting to return a product that was partially paid with a certificate or an advance payment.

If one invoice contains products that were not paid for (taken on credit) and products paid from an advance payment, the return is processed through the «VIP Customer Payment» window. When returning an unpaid product, money is not given to the customer (the Continue button is clicked). If the customer wants to return money for a product paid from an advance payment, click the Return money button and specify the required amount to be returned to the customer’s deposit.

 Please note that it is forbidden to return products with and without a breakdown in one invoice at the same time.

Mistake 3. Printing a fiscal receipt for a VIP customer advance payment.

When an advance payment is made or an unpaid sale from a VIP customer is paid (when the product is taken on credit and the money is deposited later), fiscal receipts for the product are not printed because the product has already been released. Instead, a receipt with a service deposit of money is printed on the fiscal registrar (or pECR). This is needed so that the cash amount in the fiscal cash desk matches the actual amount of money in the cash drawer. This does not affect the tax amount.

Brief summary for the seller:

1. The customer gives money in advance $\rightarrow$ Sale $\rightarrow$ Pay $\rightarrow$ Receive money.

2. The customer takes a product using the deposit $\rightarrow$ Add product to Sale $\rightarrow$ Pay $\rightarrow$ Pay receipt $\rightarrow$ The program writes off the funds from the advance payment automatically.