A layaway holds one or more pieces for a customer while they pay for them over time. It is its own record until it is paid off: the pieces stay in your stock, on hold for the customer, and nothing is sold until the last payment.
Starting a layaway
- Go to Sales → Layaways → New Layaway.
- Pick the customer, and type the envelope # if you keep the paperwork in one.
- Click Add piece and pick each piece. A piece can’t go on layaway if it is sold, out on memo, or already on hold.
- The prices come from the customer’s price level. If you can override prices, you can type a different price for each piece.
- Set the deposit, the number of payments, how often (weekly, every 2 weeks or monthly) and, if you like, the first payment date. The schedule below shows every due date and amount to the cent.
- Under Payment today, enter what the customer is paying now (at least the deposit) and how they are paying.
- Click Start layaway.
Your shop’s minimum deposit and longest layaway are set in Settings → Organization → Layaway, along with the usual cancellation fee and the terms printed on the agreement.
What happens to the pieces
Each piece is put on hold for the customer. While the layaway is open:
- It can’t be put on an invoice or memo, and its item page shows Held by layaway L-…. The hold can’t be cleared from the item page; it comes off when the layaway is paid off or cancelled, or the piece is taken off the layaway.
- It is taken off your website, eBay and Shopify. On RapNet a diamond shows as not available, and a piece of jewelry or a watch is taken off.
Taking a payment
Open the layaway and click Take payment. The amount starts at what is due next (including anything overdue). The Schedule shows each payment as Paid, Upcoming, Due today or Overdue, and the Balance card shows what is overdue and what is due next.
Layaways behind on their schedule are listed under Overdue on the Layaways list, and on the Home page: an Overdue Layaways tab on the action-items card (it appears only while one is overdue), and a row in the attention list on a phone.
A payment taken by mistake can be voided from the Payments list. To give money back, cancel the layaway instead.
Paid in full
The payment that pays the balance turns the layaway into an invoice, dated that day:
- The pieces are sold to the customer and come out of stock.
- Every layaway payment is applied to the invoice.
- The tax is the rate fixed when the layaway was started, so the customer pays exactly the total they agreed to.
The layaway page then links to the invoice.
To find a layaway, search (the magnifier, or Ctrl+K) for its number (L-12), its envelope # or the customer’s name. A customer’s layaways, open or closed, are listed in the History tab of their contact page.
Sales tax and your books
- A layaway payment is money received on the day it is taken, so it shows on your daily payment reports.
- It is not a sale yet. The sale and its sales tax are reported on the day the layaway is paid off, on the invoice.
- Until then the money is a deposit you are holding for the customer. Deposits held at the top of the Layaways list is the total held on open layaways, the figure to match your books against.
- Layaway payments don’t appear on the customer’s account balance or statements until payoff.
Canceling a layaway
Click Cancel layaway, then:
- Enter any cancellation fee you are keeping. It starts at your shop’s usual percentage.
- Choose how the rest goes back: Refund (pick how it is paid back), Store credit, or Gift card (enter the card number).
- Enter the reason and confirm.
The pieces come off hold and go back into stock. A kept fee becomes its own small invoice, untaxed, so it is counted as income. Check with your accountant how your state treats a layaway cancellation fee.
Pieces that were taken off your website, eBay, Shopify or RapNet are not listed again automatically; list them again as you would after a voided sale. A diamond on RapNet shows as available again on its next update.
The agreement
Agreement PDF prints the layaway: the pieces, the total, the payment schedule, what has been paid and your terms, with a line for the customer to sign. Email sends the same PDF to the customer. Reprint or resend it after any payment to give the customer an up-to-date statement.
Not available yet
- Gift cards and store credit can’t be used to make a layaway payment.
- Layaway payments can’t be taken on the card reader.