Layaway vs Installment Sale

A layaway is when you reserve an item for a customer.  A layaway may involve a despit collected to hold the product aside for the customer.

An installment sale is when a customer makes a series of payments on a item held for the customer.

Both layaways and installment sales are managed through the Customer Order module in MicroBiz. Once an item added to an order and the status of an order is changed to 'Open' any items on the order are removed from Open Stock and moved to Committed Stock.  This will help prevent the item on the layaway from being sold to another customer.  Open orders are displayed on the Customer Order grid until the order is completed or cancelled.

Steps to Create a Layaway

Below are the steps to manage a layaway: 

Step One - Start a customer order

From the register screen, click on the Orders button at the top right.

Open Register tab->Orders

Step Two - Mark Order as 'Open' to commit item to the customer order

If you create an order and save as 'Open', the status of items on the order will be changed to 'Committed'.  This will remove the item from Open Stock and reserve the item against this order.

This would be your layaway.  The Order with the layaway will be displayed on the Order table.

Step Three (optional)- Collect a deposit or installment payment on the order  

You can collect a deposit or multiple payments on the order.

Step Four - Complete or Cancel the Layaway

If the customer makes full payment, you can mark Complete when the customer picks up the item.  Or if they do not show up and did not make any payments, you can cancel the order and the item(s) will be added back to open stock. 

Payment History on Installment Sales with Multiple Payments

You can use the Collect Payment > Take Deposits button to take multiple payments on an order or installment sale.  

To view the payment history on an installment sale or order with a single or multiple payments, from the Action Menu in an order record, go to Order > Payment History button.  This will display the payment history on the order.