Pricing, Credit & Schemes
Understand how prices reach an order, how free cartons are earned, and how unpaid balances are tracked — in one place.
This is the reference page for everyone who deals with money on an order, whether you sell in General Trade (GT) or Modern Trade (MT). It explains the price you charge, the free stock an outlet earns, and the two outstanding figures you'll see on every outlet card. (GT and MT are the two retail channels — see the Glossary.)
The price-list policy: prefilled or type-it-in
Your organization picks one of two ways prices appear on an order line. This is a single setting (see Pricing policy).
- Prefilled rate (price list on) — the catalog's standard price fills in automatically on each line. This is the default, and it's best for organizations with one fixed price list. The rep can still adjust a line if allowed.
- Type-it-in (price list off) — no price is filled in; the rep types the price on every line. This suits organizations that negotiate a price per outlet.
Note: When the price list is off, an order line has no price until the rep enters one. The order can't be confirmed until every paid line has a price.
Best practice: Reps — when you type prices, double-check each line before confirming. There's no standard price to fall back on, so a typo becomes the charged price.
📷 [SHOT: pricing-credit-1] — mobile — Order line sheet with the price field, in type-it-in mode — caption: "When the price list is off, you type the price on each line."
Free-carton schemes and earned-free
A free-carton scheme is a "buy X of A, get Y of B free" deal that a manager sets up (see Free schemes, must-sell lists & form templates). Schemes are scoped to outlets or territories and reach reps automatically — there's no per-rep setup.
When a rep builds a qualifying order, the system calculates the free quantity earned from the paid quantities on that order. The rep doesn't have to work it out.
Example: A scheme says "buy 10 cartons of Product A, get 1 carton of Product B free". The rep orders 20 paid cartons of A, so the order earns 2 free cartons of B. (Example only — your schemes and products will differ.)
Tip: Earned-free is calculated from what's actually on the order. If the rep changes the paid quantity, the earned-free updates to match.
Discretionary free
Separately from schemes, some organizations let a rep add a free item at their own discretion — for example to close a deal or replace damaged stock. This is discretionary free, and it's a setting that's off by default. Where it's turned on, the rep can mark a line as free even when no scheme earned it.
Note: Discretionary free is different from scheme-earned free. Scheme free is calculated automatically; discretionary free is a deliberate choice the rep makes, and only when the organization allows it.
Credit cartons: the unpaid part of an order
Not every order is paid in full on the spot. An order line carries both its total carton quantity and its unpaid carton quantity — and the unpaid part is the outlet's credit in cartons.
When a line is left unpriced (because it will be settled later in cartons rather than money), it's treated as all-credit by default, so the carton ledger builds up correctly for a later carton payment.
Example: An outlet takes 12 cartons but only settles 8 right away. The remaining 4 cartons sit as credit until a later payment clears them. (Example only.)
For how reps record those later payments — in money or in cartons — see Collecting payments.
The two outstanding figures
Every outlet shows what it still owes in two forms. Both are calculated by the system, so you never add them up by hand.
- Outstanding money = everything billed minus everything collected.
- Outstanding cartons = unpaid order cartons minus carton payments, shown as "N ctn" — for organizations that settle in cartons rather than cash.
Example: An outlet has been billed and has paid down most of it, leaving a small money balance — and separately owes 4 cartons that haven't been settled. You'll see both figures on the outlet card. (Example only.)
Warning: The two figures are tracked separately and don't cancel each other out. An outlet can owe money and owe cartons at the same time. Clear the right one with the right kind of payment.
📷 [SHOT: pricing-credit-2] — mobile — Outlet card showing both outstanding money and outstanding cartons — caption: "Each outlet shows what it owes in money and in cartons."