Layaways

March 15, 2024


(Lay-by in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa)

Benefits of Layaways 

Pick up now, pay later
Layaways encourage shoppers to follow through with a purchase by allowing them to pay in increments. Give customers even more options by setting flexible prepayment rates. Erply’s automatic inventory processing ensures a smooth payment collection to keep you and your customers on the same page.
Pro tip: You can set up payment plans as a flat dollar amount, or a percentage of the total cost.

Deeper purchasing insights
Layaway orders must be associated with a customer, making them an excellent tool to gather important customer data. Erply allows you to view layaway orders alongside one-time purchases, giving you a stronger picture of your customer’s purchasing habits.
Layaway orders are created at the POS, and all layaways must be associated with a customer. 

When creating a layaway, Erply allows you to set:

  • A due date that represents the time frame that the items will remain reserved.
  • Prepayment amounts, as a flat amount or as a percent of the total cost.
  • Items do not leave stock until the prepayment invoice is entirely paid off.

Save as Layaway

Select customer and add product(s) to the shopping cart. Click on the Save as Layaway button in the POS grid.
Note: You cannot create a layaway payment for a default POS customer

This pulls up the layaway creation screen where you can customize the layaway terms and payment.

Prepayment %

Define intervals as a percent of the total cost which the layaway must be paid in. If filled out, this automatically populates the “Advance payment” field.

Advance payment

Define intervals as a flat dollar amount which the layaway must be paid in

Start date

The day the layaway began. This is automatically set as the current date.

Expiry Date

Define the day where your item will be returned to your inventory list.

Invoice total

The total cost of the layaway (Non-editable on this screen).

Outstanding amount

The amount owed on the layaway (Non-editable on this screen).

Paid

How much money has already been paid towards the layaway (Non-editable on this screen).

Set the specific percent into the prepayment % field or price into the Advanced payment in currency. Save the form.
Note: the prepayment is always required for layaways, that needs to be paid so that the products will be reserved for the customer)

After this, the payment dialog opens, where it is possible to pay for the prepayment. Select the payment type, add the amount and Confirm the payment (green checkmark button).
Once paid, the layaway and its prepayment will be saved in the back office as a prepayment sales invoice.

More about the prepayment invoice workflows can be found here.

Created Layaways

All the created layaways will be displayed in the layaways list if you click on the Layaways button in the POS grid. The previously created layaway should be on the top of the layaways list (or it can be found by the document number)

When you click on the layaway, the POS will offer three options:

Fully pay the layaway

  1. Click on the selected layaway - there would be three options available
  2. Select the “Fully pay the layaway” option - payment modal is opened
  3. Apply any payment
  4. Click Confirm (green check mark button) - sale was finalized and will be displayed under the Recent Sales. Shopping cart is empty. The layaway will no longer be in the layaways list. Now a new Receipt is created and linked to the Prepayment invoice.

Partially pay the layaway

  1. Select the Partially pay the layaway option
  2. Layaway payment window appears
  3. Add a prepayment and edit other information if it is needed, then save changes
  4. In the opened payment modal apply any payment and confirm the transaction
  5. Once a transaction is finalized the payment modal will be closed, the shopping cart will become empty. The previously edited layaway is displayed with a new “paid” amount. In the BO prepayment invoice is in status “ready” and payment status is “unpaid”.

Cancel the layaway

  1. Select the “Cancel the layaway” option - payment modal is opened and total amount is negative
  2. In the payment modal select any payment tender how customer would like to get a refund
  3. Once the tender is selected confirm the payment
  4. Payment modal is closed and the layaway cancellation process is finished. Shopping cart is empty and the previously canceled layaway is no longer in the Layaways list. The prepayment invoice now has a status “canceled” and payment status is “unpaid”.

Layaway Configuration 

If you would like to have notes for layaways, you can enable the Detailed Layaways in POS Settings -> Configuration -> General.

To print layaway receipt 2 times, toggle the Print layaway receipt 2 times setting in the POS Settings -> Configuration -> Printing.

The user is able to set the default discount for layaways, which will be entered automatically in the layaway prepayment window. This way the user does not have to enter the prepayment amount every time if the company has a set mandatory definite prepayment percent. Despite this, the prepayment field remains editable.
Enable the Default layby discount percentage setting in POS Settings -> Configuration -> Sale.

Editing existing layaways

The layaway is a initially created as a confirmed document. It means that it can not be edited at all. By default the user is not able to edit layaway document shopping cart by adding new products and change product quantities. 
But sometimes it happens that a layaway editing function is necessary in some cases. The Brazil POS has a setting which allows editing product quantities and even to add other products to existing ones.

It can be enabled in POS Settings -> Configuration -> Sale -> Allow editing existing laybys

Remove a layaway

The following guide explains how to remove a layaway. This will remove layaway stock shown on stock replenishment reports as well as its respective inventory page.
In the back office, navigate to Purchase -> Stock Replenishment -> Stock Replenishment Report.

Take note of the quantities in the following columns:
- In stock
- Layaway
- Available

Click on a product’s code in the replenishment report to open it’s inventory page. You also can open this page by clicking the main Inventory module in the Erply back office, selecting Inventory, and searching for the item.
Inventory information is available here, and you’ll notice the item’s “layaway” and “available” quantities will match what was shown on the stock replenishment report.

On the bottom menu bar, go to Warehouse report -> Reservations and lay-bys -- all locations -> Document column. Click on the order document linked in that section to open the layaway document.
Alternatively, you can find this layaway document by going to Sales -> Invoices and searching for the document number or its associated customer.

Click the Cancel button on the bottom menu bar to delete the layby. 
Erply will send you a warning before cancelling the layaway. If you are sure you want to cancel the document, click the Cancel button. Please note this action cannot be undone.

The layby amount will be removed from the customer’s balance and the item’s “layby” quantity will be removed from stock replenishment reports and its respective inventory page.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I remove layaway payments from the POS?
HERE is a guide to removing buttons from the POS.

What is the difference between a layaway and an order?
Layaway: A layaway is a reservation of an item where the customer makes incremental payments towards its purchase before taking possession of the item.
Order: An order is a reservation of an item made by a customer without immediate payment, with the intention to pick up and purchase the item at a later time.