How do I set up the cash on delivery handling for reservations in RetailVista?

RetailVista has the ability to deliver reservations to customers that have not been fully or partially paid. It is always essential that the revenue is generated in the POS (or back office on account) before delivery. The issuing app will not give permission to hand over a reservation until the revenue has been generated. By doing so, the inventory is also definitively reduced, but that's beside the point. 

When "Checking out" a reservation, a webshop cash register is set by default so that the total amount on the (only) payment method 'cash' must be 0. The minimum and maximum of that payment method must be set to 0 euros. This means that the cash register checks that the reservation has been fully paid. However, there are customers and situations where only a partial payment has been made, or even none at all. The customer wants to pay when the reservation is delivered. However, the cash register environment will not handle reservations that have not been sufficiently paid by default.

The solution lies in creating a parcel service where it is indicated that cash on delivery is allowed for that parcel service. Below is an example of that setting.

As can be seen, an article must also be specified for cash on delivery for the parcel service. When a reservation is imported into the POS with insufficient payment and a cash on delivery parcel service is assigned, a question will be asked stating that there is insufficient payment and asking if the remaining amount can be handled via cash on delivery. If that question is answered with 'Yes', an additional sales line will be added to the imported reservation in the POS with the amount to be paid for cash on delivery.It actually concerns a 'sale' of a cash on delivery rule. Since every sale rule in POS requires a product number, it is mandatory to specify that product in the above screen. That product must be of type 'Cash on Delivery' and then does not count as a revenue product but as a 'balance' product.

After the package service has been created, a transport type must be created in which the previously created package service is linked. Below is an example of own transport where cash on delivery is allowed.

The code for this transport method is 'ITR' (abbreviation for Internal Transport Cash on Delivery). In case of a webshop integration, this transport type must be offered as a possible shipping method. A consumer can then choose the shipping method 'Delivery with cash on delivery', after which this type of transport will be sent along in the webshop order message. It is then no longer necessary to enforce a payment in the webshop.

If reservations with this type of transport are imported into POS afterwards, a notification will be generated if there is insufficient prepayment and it can be chosen to still deliver the reservation via cash on delivery.

In the back office, after processing by RetailVista POS, a cash on delivery amount will be stated on the reservation. The example below shows an amount of 74 euros to be paid as cash on delivery costs.

The advice is to use the issuance application in RetailVista Mobile when issuing the reservation. This will indicate a yellow box for this reservation and indicate that the reason for the yellow indication is that a cash on delivery amount of 74 euros must still be paid to the delivery person. Once that has been done, the reservation can be handed over and a check mark will automatically appear in the above screen example for 'Cash on delivery shipment has been paid by customer to delivery person'."

The last thing the delivery person needs to do after the delivery is deposit the money. Until then, the delivery person essentially owes the store 74 euros. In the accounting, the amount of 74 euros is recorded as an open balance post with 'still to be received cash on delivery funds'. In RetailVista POS, under the 'Payments' menu, there is a menu option 'Deposit cash on delivery payment'. After selecting this option, the following screen will appear where the deposit needs to be entered. RetailVista POS will then calculate the amount to be received for cash on delivery and display it as a display field. It is not possible to change the cash on delivery amount, the delivery person simply needs to pay 74 euros in this example. This cash will be included as physical money in RetailVista POS and will be part of the cash reconciliation at the end of the day. If a payment terminal was used, a deposit also needs to be made, although it does not involve physical money. In that case, select 'Mobile EFT' as the payment method.

After these actions, checkmarks will appear in the reservation indicating that cash on delivery shipment has been paid by the customer and that cash on delivery has been deposited (by the delivery person).

This completes the process of issuing a cash on delivery reservation.