Sales Orders

A sales order (also called a quote or QP order) reserves or pre-sells merchandise that is not yet available — either because it is on back order from a vendor, or because it needs to be specially ordered for a customer. WinSale stores the order with a unique QP###### number and holds it open until you are ready to invoice it as a completed sale.

The sales order lifecycle

Sales order vs. special order

These two terms are related but refer to different things in WinSale:

1. From the main WinSale screen, click the Register menu and select Generate Sales Order. The transaction type bar will show Sales Order.
2. Enter the customer number in the Customer Number field. A customer number is required for all sales orders. If the customer does not exist yet, add them first using Quick Add on the customer field.
3. Enter each item the customer is ordering. For items already in your inventory, type or scan the item number as usual. For items not in your system, use the special order process described in Section 3.
4. Adjust quantities, prices, and the shipping amount as needed. The Shipping field at the bottom of the screen should reflect any freight charges that will apply when the order ships.
5. Press F9 or click End Sale when all items are entered.
6. WinSale will ask: “Allocate the Inventory to this Sales Order?” — choose Yes to commit the on-hand stock to this order (so it cannot be sold to another customer), or No to leave inventory uncommitted. For back-ordered items with no stock, either option is valid.
7. If your store is set up for A/R or shipping questions, a dialog may appear asking for a PO Number, Ship Via (shipping method), and A/R Reference. Fill these in as appropriate and click OK.
8. A sales order receipt is printed. The order is saved with its assigned QP###### number. Give the customer this number for reference.

A special-order item is a product that is not currently in stock or does not exist in your inventory file at all. These items are added to the sales order using the F2 key while the cursor is in the item number field.

Item already in your inventory system

1. With the cursor in the item entry field, press F2.
2. WinSale asks: “Is this Item Number already in the System?” — click Yes.
3. The inventory lookup table opens. Search for and select the item.
4. The item is added to the grid with its normal pricing. The special-order column in the grid is flagged to indicate this line is a special order.
5. Continue entering any other items, then press F9 to finish the order.

Item not in your inventory system

1. With the cursor in the item entry field, press F2.
2. WinSale asks: “Is this Item Number already in the System?” — click No.
3. The Special Order Item Add form opens. Fill in the item details: item number, description, vendor, cost, and selling price.
4. Select an initial action from the Action dropdown (e.g. Back Ordered) and click Accept to log the first status entry.
5. Click the close button or press F10 to return to the register. The new item is added to the sales order grid.
6. Continue adding more items or press F9 to complete the order.

When a customer orders more units of an item than you have available, WinSale can handle the shortfall in several ways depending on your store’s configuration. The back-order option is presented automatically when the quantity entered exceeds available stock.

Back-order options

Viewing back-ordered quantities on an order

When a sales order is loaded via Work With Sales Order, the grid shows both the total ordered quantity and the back-ordered quantity for each line. Items that have arrived show an available quantity greater than zero and will be picked up for invoicing. Items still on back order remain on the QP record after the conversion.

When the ordered merchandise is ready for pickup or has arrived, you convert the open QP order into a completed sale using Work With Sales Order.

1. Click Register → Work With Sales Order. The transaction type bar shows Work W/ Sales Order.
2. Enter the customer’s QP###### order number in the transaction type field, or look it up by customer number.
3. WinSale loads all items from the order where the available quantity (ordered minus back-ordered) is greater than zero. Items still fully on back order are skipped.
4. The customer information, shipping amount, and any PO or reference notes from the original order are restored automatically.
5. Review the loaded items and adjust quantities or pricing if needed.
6. Press F9 or click End Sale to proceed.
7. The tender screen opens. Collect payment from the customer as with any regular sale — cash, credit card, charge account, etc.
8. A sale receipt is printed. Any lines that still had a remaining back-order quantity are updated on the QP record. Once all lines reach zero, the QP record is fully closed.

WinSale maintains a log of actions taken on each special-order item — phone calls made, items received, items returned to stock, and so on. This gives you a full audit trail of what happened with each outstanding order.

Logging an action

1. Click Register → Work With Sales Order.
2. Load the order by entering the customer number or QP number and clicking Load.
3. Click the special-order line you want to update to select it.
4. Choose an action from the Action dropdown. Available actions include:
   • Called Customer and Left Message
   • Customer Picked Up
   • Returned to Stock
   • Back Ordered
   • Customer No Longer Wants
   • Can Not Get in Touch With Customer
   • Item No Longer Available
   • Drop Shipped to Customer
   • Shipped to Customer
5. Click Accept. The action is recorded with today’s date and appears in the action history grid below.

Looking up orders by customer or date

The Work With Sales Order screen lets you load orders two ways: by customer number, or by date. Use the search by customer to find all open orders for a specific customer. Use the search by date to see all special order activity that was logged on a particular day.

• 🧾
  Always give the customer their QP number. It is printed on the sales order receipt. Without it, looking up the order requires searching by customer number. Encourage customers to keep it as their reference for pickup.
• 📦
  Use “Allocate Inventory” for items you have in stock. If you are writing up a sales order for in-stock merchandise being held for a customer, choose Yes when WinSale asks about allocation. This prevents the same items from being sold to walk-in customers before the order is picked up.
• 💲
  Add shipping charges before pressing End Sale. If the order involves freight, enter the expected shipping amount in the Shipping field before finishing. The amount carries forward when the order is converted to a sale, so the customer is charged correctly at pickup.
• 🔖
  Log an action when you call the customer. Use the Work With Sales Order screen to record every contact attempt and outcome. This protects you if a dispute arises about whether the customer was notified that their order arrived.
• 🔢
  The same QP number handles multiple partial shipments. You do not create a new order number each time part of the back order arrives. Always re-enter the original QP###### when converting — WinSale will correctly load only what is available that day.
• 🔍
  Use the back-order report to stay on top of open orders. WinSale’s back-order report shows all outstanding QP lines by item or vendor. Run it regularly to identify orders that need follow-up with suppliers or customers.
• 👤
  Customer number is required — no exceptions. A sales order cannot be saved without a customer number. If a customer refuses to provide one, create a generic “WALK-IN” customer record as a workaround, though this is not recommended for orders that will take time to fulfil.