Make a seperate "tab" for Puchases
Okay, this is one big feature that we currently are using random work-around's for; and I hate it.
We buy laptops and equipment from customers all the time. They may have a bad HDD and don't want to spend $100 to fix it, but gladly take $50 for the dead machine and it's worth $300 fixed up. Otherwise, if they abandon their property for 60 days - it's ours. The issue is, we have no way to track, process or pay for "customer purchases".
I know there is a basic "allow purchasing from the public" feature, but that barely scratches the surface of the issue. There is so much with just that one subject, it really needs it's own tab with options and settings like there is for leads, pos and field jobs, etc.
Some features we need:
A way to track "paying" for the equipment. Cash, store credit, abandoned, etc. We need an audit system for purchases. Did we pay $0 for $150 for it? We have to be able to make sure we're making the appropriate profit on purchases.
Tracking parts and costs to repair units for resale. On top of spending money on a unit, we may need to track other expenses like a hinge or HDD we needed to resell it. Sometimes it takes a week to get in, and then we have to scramble to calculate cost/retail on it.
One-time-use Inventory. This part is HUGE! We need a type of revolving inventory item called "1-time-use". Under that one item code, anything entered into the "purchased equipment" module would be added to that inventory item like a "pool" of unique items for sale. Further, it would track actual (unique) inventory.
Example: If we purchase a Toshiba laptop for $50, it gets added into "1-time-use" inventory. When someone wants to buy it, we choose that specific item (Toshiba L305-S1244) from the list of 1-time-use inventory, and then that item no longer exists in the list.
Bottom line: We have 3 retail stores each with 10-15 refurbished laptops in each. It would be great to see our entire inventory of "1-time-use" items that we currently have available in RS. Then when a customer calls asking about laptops we have this week, we can reference the "pool" of 1-time-use items in RS instead of calling each store and asking what they have. It would also make selling the laptops quicker, as the prices/specs/descriptions would already be entered into the 1-time-use item fields.
Need it. Need it. Need it. @Chuck wants it too...
With our new “add to existing” feature for Customer Purchases, the new Category system, and the new Customer Purchases tab, we’re going to mark this as complete. There are a few additional items on this request that we’d love to do as well (e.g., a specific one time use type item) so feel free to break these out as new requests.
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Ryan (CTO, Pinellas Computers) commented
@Robert - We aren't just talking about the ability to track repairs, but also to be able to audit our current "customer purchased inventory on hand". This topic was centered around having a separate area to be able to view all of the customer purchases, random parts, misc equipment we have available for sale across all locations. Like, we just retired an old NAS the other day so we'd like to add in that as something for sale, but only the one-time, not permanent inventory. :)
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Definitely planning to add tracking for repairs on customer purchases.
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Deanna commented
Really need this feature, where are the developers at in regards to creating a one-time use item/category/system. This is great for musical instruments that we buy off customers, repair and then sell again.
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Eddy Abdelaziz commented
This would be a really useful feature..need
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Ryan (CTO, Pinellas Computers) commented
If I could rename this topic, I would call it: UNIQUE ONE-TIME-USE PARTS MODULE
This idea is really the “in between” of Inventory (parts you regularly keep in stock/track) and Logistics (parts that you special order on demand). This module would be perfect for the following scenarios:
1. You have a bunch of parts/accessories/components you want to be able to reference as for sale; but you need a way to reference what exactly is available, how much you paid for each item, how much to sell that item for, where the item is located, etc.
2. A customer abandons their equipment past your “holding period”. The equipment now becomes store property; and you would like to resell it to recoup your time/investment spent fixing it. You need a way to reference how much time/money you have invested in it, how much to sell it for, etc.
3. You purchase a laptop just for the parts inside of it (the unit is not worth repairing, but the parts have value). You need a way to track the parts you are “purchasing” and what is available to be sold. You need to know that you have several parts available, how much to sell each part for, where each part is located, and what the parts are compatible with, etc. The store can then enter in multiple one-time-use parts into the module. Here are some examples of what would be entered: Ordered as (Category) "Description" (cost) (price) (store)
-(charger) "HP 120w 18.5v 6.5a power charger ac adapter" (cost $0) (price $20)
-(screen) HP "15.4 CCFL LCD screen display" (cost $0) (price $35)
-(bezel) HP dv6-6100t outer bezel housing for screen black" (cost $0) (price $15)
-(keyboard) HP dv6-6100t keyboard with backlight silver" (cost $0) (price $29)All of these scenarios would be one-time-use items that are tracked and reported just like regular inventory items; but I'm a different module than inventory. The difference between these and regular inventory is that they would not have an "item name", because they would be one-time-use; so making up a unique name would be pointless. They would have a category type, an extensive description, acquisition cost (sometimes nothing for abandoned/recycled), sale price, and location. [SEE MOCK UPS]
Just like regular inventory items, you could search by keyword, or sort by category, or sort by location. This would make it very easy to keep track of every random part each store has, and be extremely useful when looking for a specific part before ordering it. It would almost completely cut out any need for stores to collaborate about parts on hand.
I really think this is a majorly hopeful idea that would be reasonably easy to implement; as it is based on existing inventory system. Another RS user (Chuck) and I have had conference calls discussing the thousands of dollars of miscellaneous parts we both have at our stores, and how we have NO IDEA exactly WHAT we have (but we do know that it's worth SOMETHING when we finally get around to classifying and reselling it).
This is actually an idea I had a long time ago, but never was able to successfully implement before we had RS. We tried to make it happen with a shared Google spreadsheet, but things constantly weren't deleted or updated, and it became futile to try. This would make a huge difference in keeping track of miscellaneous parts.
I feel like this would be its own module – just like Inventory. I think “Parts” is very fitting for the module name, because parts are really just miscellaneous items; whereas inventory is stocked items. The only issue is that “Parts” is already what RS uses in place of “Logistics” for non-big chains. (In my opinion, Logistics is the same for small shops as it is for big; it’s for transfers and special ordered parts. Whereas “Parts” are inventoried items you do not plan to re-stock; kind of a mix of Inventory and Special Orders. I would change the current “Parts” in non-big chains to match Logistics, and then add “Parts” as a new module.)
[SEE CONTINUATION MESSAGE BELOW...]
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Ryan (CTO, Pinellas Computers) commented
Okay, so you know how I love making mock ups… Here's my concept of how the "One-Time Use Parts / Customer Purchases" module would work, and what it would look like...
The first attachment is the old, inferior way we were trying to do this (and failed miserably at): http://i.imgur.com/LOVmfoH.jpg
The second attachment is my new mock up of what this "Parts" module would look like: http://i.imgur.com/K4lJp5T.jpg
In the new mock up, you’ll see that “Item name” is not the link where you can edit information and details. This is because it would be possible to have parts one time and then never again after the one is gone (like a Sony slim-line BD rom drive or something) while other parts would be somewhat common (like an HP 65w charger). Therefore, there may be duplicate parts, but likely not duplicate descriptions.
Next, costs would be able to be set by any technician (security group add rights), but once added and saved, the cost would NOT be editable (unless global admin or security group edit rights). The same thing would go for price. This would be a security feature so if we buy a part for $15, someone can’t easily change the cost to $0 and sell it for $5, or some bullcrap like that.
Condition and area would be updatable by anyone, why not, right? Location would be set to the location where the person adding the part is currently checked in. Then, you could use logistics to transfer the part from one store to another.
You can see in the search box that these would be the results displayed if you searched for “HP laptop DV6”.
And instead of “View Disabled”, you would have the option to view the history of parts that were available, but since became sold or deleted.
Also, the option to “Disable” is replaced by “Delete”, because these parts are one-time use, and once they’re gone, they’re gone. Therefore, if a part because damaged or lost, you’d simply delete the part from the list.
Lastly, I feel like this would be its own module – just like Inventory. I think “Parts” is very fitting for the module name, because parts are really just miscellaneous items; whereas inventory is stocked items. (The only issue is that “Parts” is already what RS uses in place of “Logistics” for non-big chains).
In my opinion, Logistics is the same for small shops as it is for big; it’s for transfers and special ordered parts. Whereas “Parts” are inventoried items you do not plan to re-stock; kind of a mix of Inventory and Special Orders. I would change the current “Parts” in non-big chains to match Logistics, and then add “Parts” as a new module.
THIS IS ONE OF MY BEST IDEAS AND ANYONE WHO DISAGREES IS WRONG - BECAUSE REASONS! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!
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Clay Vaughan commented
Sounds good to me, Count me in too!
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Ryan (CTO, Pinellas Computers) commented
Just wanted to tie this topic into my other "old" topic that was overlapping in similarity:
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Matt commented
Def need this feature. Seriously useful. Pleeeeeease
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Jeffrey Johnson commented
I also agree that something like this would be very useful and is needed!
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Dean Ingraham commented
Wow, I actually thought for a second there that one of my techs wrote this because this is exactly what we need for our stores. I would like to add something though, as you have already mentioned, these items we are purchasing often times require refurbishing, which means they need repairs. During this process, it would be helpful to be able to log all this information like you would a repair, especially if the process takes time between testing, purchasing, order parts, repair hardware, wipe out software and troubleshoot things like drivers.
Also, the "Customer Purchases" that is currently available is not useable for this use at all unfortunately. The only time we can even use this feature is when everything is already is purchased and refurbished. For instance, if a customer wants to sell us a laptop that needs work, we do not give a price for the laptop right away until we test everything and assess its value. At this point, we would create a ticket for customer purchases, test everything, then make our offer. If the customer accepts, we would then use this same ticket to continue repairs until finished and then add to inventory.
Instead, what we have to do is track all this on paper or create another account (so it does not affect our reports on our actual account) specifically for this purpose until we know whether or not we are going to purchase the item. Once we know we can purchase the item, then we enter it into RS Customer Purchases. But since we were logging everything in a different account, we have two choices, either keep logging all the relevant information in that account and then use two accounts for the whole process or manually copy over all the logs. Regardless of what we choose to do, we still have to recreate the ticket in our normal system for the customer purchase.
I propose that the customer purchases be done like this.
1. Create Customer: Like normal
2. Create Customer and Customer Purchase: Another button below the "Create Customer and Ticket"
3. Create Ticket: Like normal
4. Track testing, repairs and purchasing process in ticket
5. Once customer approves price, there needs to be a button to purchase item
6. Ticket gets marked as purchased
7. Print receipt: This is preferable to an invoice.
8. Track refurbishing process with custom fields and logs
9. Add item to inventory and automatically close out ticket -
TechPros commented
I think that we all need this functionality!
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August commented
This would be amazing especially if there would be some sort of way to show off that one time use inventory online. I know that is a crazy dream but it sure would be pretty amazing.
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Chuckles (Instigator, RS User) commented
+ 1 billion :)
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Asim commented
I can see this as being really helpful at my cell phone store as well. definitely look into it guys!