Getting started
How the sales cycle works
From quotation to invoice, delivery, return and refund — what each sales document does to your stock, your books and the customer's balance.
3 min readLast updated
In this article
The Sales menu covers everything you sell: offers you send, invoices you issue, goods that come back and the prices you charge. Every sales document is tied to a customer and to the branch you are working in, and the system posts its effect on stock and on the books for you. This article shows how the documents fit together so you can pick the right one.
The documents and what they do
Document | Where | Stock | Books and customer balance |
|---|---|---|---|
Quotation | Sales › Sales Quotations | No effect | No effect |
Sales invoice | Sales › Invoicing › Sales Invoices | Leaves the warehouse | Revenue, tax and cost of sales are posted; cash goes to your cash box or the amount is added to the customer's balance |
POS sale | Sales › Invoicing › POS | Leaves the warehouse | Same as a cash sales invoice |
Customer return | Sales › Customer Returns | Goes back to the warehouse it was sold from | Sales are reversed and the customer's balance is credited |
A typical flow
Send the customer a quotation. It reserves nothing and posts nothing.
When the customer accepts, convert the quotation into an invoice, or create the invoice directly.
Saving the invoice posts it immediately. There is no draft or approval step.
If your branch delivers through the warehouse, a withdraw order is created for the invoice and the warehouse issues the goods from Inventory › Withdraw Orders. Otherwise stock leaves the warehouse when you save the invoice.
If the customer pays later, record the payment from Accounting › Receipts › Receive from Customer.
If goods come back, record a customer return. Money is paid back separately, from Accounting › Payments › Customer Refund.
For walk-in customers at a counter, use the POS register instead of the invoice form. A POS sale is a sales invoice too, so it appears in the same list and the same reports.
What decides the price
The price on each line comes from the price list you choose on the document, and a customer discount can apply on top. A user can only sell from the price lists assigned to them. See How prices and discounts are set.
Before you sell for the first time
The customer exists. Customers are created under CRM › Customers › Customers.
At least one price list is set up and assigned to the user.
Payment terms exist under Administration › Organization › Payment Terms.
A user who issues cash invoices has a cash box assigned on their user record under Administration › Access Control › Users.
Common questions
Can I edit a sales invoice after saving it? No. A saved invoice is already posted. You can delete it while it has no returns and enter it again, or record a return for the wrong lines.
Why can I not see a menu item described here? Each screen needs its own permission. Ask your administrator to check your group's permissions.