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Record special sales prices and discounts

Note

2020 release wave 2 introduced new, streamlined processes for setting up and managing prices and discounts. If you're a new customer using the latest version, you're using the new experience. If you're an existing customer, whether you are using the new experience depends on whether your administrator has enabled the New sales pricing experience feature update in Feature Management. Learn more at Enabling Upcoming Features Ahead of Time in the administration content.

Business Central supports various pricing strategies, such as:

  • One-price-fits-all models where an item is always sold at the same price.

  • Special price agreements with specific customers, or groups of customers.

  • Campaigns when a sale meets the criteria for a special offer. For example, you might have the following criteria for an order:

    • It meets a minimum quantity
    • It's before a certain date
    • It includes a certain type of item

To use a basic pricing model, you only need to specify a unit price when you set up an item or resource. That price will always be used on sales documents. For more advanced models, for example, when you want to offer special prices for a sales campaign, you can specify criteria on the Sales Prices page. You can offer special prices based on a combination of the following information:

  • Customer
  • Item
  • Unit of measure
  • Minimum quantity
  • Dates that define the period for which the prices are valid.

After you set up special prices, Business Central can calculate best prices on sales and purchase documents, and on lines on projects and item journals. Learn more at Best Price Calculation.

For sales discounts, you can set up two types:

Discount Type Description
Sales Line Discount Add an amount on sales lines that have a certain combination of customer, item, minimum quantity, unit of measure, or starting and ending date. This type works in the same way as for sales prices.
Invoice Discount A discount percentage that is subtracted from the sales document total if the sum of all lines on the document exceeds a certain minimum.

Tip

If an item should never be sold with a discount, leave the discount fields on the item page empty, and do not include the item in any line discount setups.

To set up a sales price for a customer

These steps differ, depending on whether your administrator has turned on the New sales pricing experience feature update. If the feature update isn't turned on, follow the steps on the Current Experience tab.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Customers, and then choose the related link.
  2. Choose the customer, and then choose the Prices action.
  3. Fill in the fields on the line as necessary. Hover over a field to read a short description. Fill a line for each combination that will grant a special sales price to the customer.

Using sales and purchase price lists

Note

Using price lists requires that your administrator has enabled the New sales pricing experience feature update in Feature Management. Learn more at Enabling Upcoming Features Ahead of Time in the administration content.

Most of the new sales pricing experience is similar to the current experience, but there are a few differences. Those differences are described in the following sections.

The Applies-to Type and Applies-to No. fields let you choose what a price list will apply to, such as customer or customer price group. Using View Columns for, you can show or hide columns relevant for setting prices, discounts, or prices and discounts.

Converting existing prices when you turn on the pricing feature update

When you enable the New sales pricing experience feature update on the Feature Management page, the Feature Data Update guide opens. Use the Use default prices toggle as follows:

  • If you want to work with all prices on a single page, turn it on. Existing prices will be converted to one default price list for each of the following documents:

    • Sales
    • Purchases
    • Job sales
    • Job purchases

    You can edit all prices for these areas on the Prices Worksheet page. The default price lists will be set on the Sales & Receivables Setup, Purchases & Payables Setup, and Projects Setup pages.

Note

If prices are set only on item or resource cards, default price lists will not be filled in with those prices during the data update. However, you can open any of the default price lists or the Price Worksheet page and use the Suggest Lines action to add the prices set on item or resource cards.

  • To use sales price lists, turn it off. Existing prices will be converted to a new price list for each combination of the following things:

    • Customer
    • Customer group or campaign
    • Starting and ending dates
    • Currencies

If you have many combinations, you'll have many price lists.

If you've already enabled the New Pricing Experience, you can create default price lists manually or specify an existing price list as the default. To set an existing price list as default, turn on the Allow Updating Defaults toggle on the price list. Then, on the Sales & Receivables Setup, Purchase & Payables, or Projects Setup pages, set the price list as the default.

Editing active price lists

To allow people to edit prices on active price lists for items, resources, customers, vendors, or other entities that use pricing, turn on the Allow Editing Active Price toggle on the Sales & Receivables Setup and Purchase & Payables Setup pages.

When the Allow Editing Active Price toggle is turned off, to update prices in a price list you must change the status of the price list to Draft, make your change, and then reactivate the price list.

The Prices Overview page provides an overview of all prices across price lists. You can set filters to narrow down the list of prices you may want to modify or add to. After you modify prices, you must use the Verify Lines action to verify the prices against other price list lines. Verifying prices helps avoid duplicates and ambiguity during price calculation.

Note

When you edit a line in an active price list the status of the line becomes Draft, and the line will not be considered during price calculation until you use the Verify Lines action. After you verify the price the line's status becomes Active and it will be considered in price calculations.

To add new prices, on the Prices Overview page, use the Add New Lines action. The Prices Worksheet page opens, and you can add price lines either by suggesting them based on criteria, copying them from other price lists, or manually entering them. Afterward, you can use the Implement Price Change action to compare the new prices with other price lists to avoid duplicates and ambiguity during price calculation.

Create sales price lines based on the unit price

  1. On the Prices Worksheet page, choose the Suggest Lines action.
  2. On the Price Lines - Create new page, fill in the fields as necessary. Hover over a field to read a short description.
  3. On the Product filter field, define filters for the selected Product Type.
  4. Choose the Defaults field to specify settings such as:
    • Which entities the price list will be assigned to.
    • Dates when the price is valid.
    • The currency code.
    • The amount type filter that defines the columns shown on the price list lines.
  5. Choose OK. New lines will be added to the Price Worksheet page with the selected settings and the unit prices from the item cards.
  6. Edit the created lines with the new unit prices or discounts. Hover over a field to read a short description.

Create sales price lines based on existing price lists

  1. On the Prices Worksheet page, choose the Copy Lines action.
  2. On the Price Lines - Copy existing page, select an existing price list on the From Price List field.
  3. On the Price Line filter field, define filters for the products on the selected price list.
  4. Choose the Defaults field to specify settings such as:
    • Which entities the price list will be assigned to.
    • Dates when the price is valid.
    • The currency code.
    • The amount type filter that defines the columns shown on the price list lines.
  5. Fill in the other fields as necessary. Hover over a field to read a short description.
  6. Choose OK. New lines will be added to the Price Worksheet page with the selected settings.
  7. Edit the created lines with the new unit prices or discounts. Hover over a field to read a short description.

To copy sales prices

These steps differ, depending on whether your administrator has turned on the New sales pricing experience feature update. If the feature update isn't turned on, follow the steps on the Current Experience tab.

If you want to copy sales prices, such as an individual customer's sales prices to use for a customer price group, you must run the Suggest Sales Price on Wksh. batch job on the Sales Price Worksheet page.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Sales Price Worksheet, and then choose the related link.

  2. Choose the Suggest Sales Price on Wksh. action.

  3. On the Sales Prices FastTab, fill in the Sales Type and Sales Code fields with the original sales prices you want to copy.

  4. In the top section of the request page, fill in the Sales Type and Sales Code fields with the type and name you want the sales prices copied to.

  5. If you want the batch job to create new prices, select the Create New Prices checkbox.

  6. Choose the OK button to fill in the lines on the Sales Price Worksheet page with the suggested new prices, indicating that they're valid for the selected sales type.

    Note

    This batch job only creates suggestions and it does not implement the suggested changes. If you are satisfied with the suggestions and want to implement them, that is insert them on the Sales Prices page, choose the Implement Price Changes action on the Sales Price Worksheet page.

To bulk update item prices

These steps differ, depending on whether your administrator has turned on the New sales pricing experience feature update. If the feature update isn't turned on, follow the steps on the Current Experience tab.

To bulk update item prices, such as increase all prices by a percentage, you can fill in the Sales Price Worksheet page by using the following batch jobs:

  • Suggest Sales Price on Wksh. suggests changes in one of two ways:

    • By applying an adjustment factor to existing sales prices.
    • By copying existing sales price agreements to other customers, customer price groups, or sales campaigns.
  • Suggest Item Price on Wksh. suggests changes in one of two ways:

    • By applying an adjustment factor to existing unit prices on item cards.
    • By suggesting prices for new combinations of currency, units of measure, and so on.

    This batch job doesn't change the unit prices on items.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Sales Price Worksheet, and then choose the related link.
  2. Choose the Suggest Item Price on Wksh. action.
  3. On the Item FastTab, fill in the No. or Inventory Posting Group or other fields with the original item prices you want to update.
  4. In the top section of the request page, fill in the Sales Type and Sales Code with the type and name you want the sales prices copied to.
  5. If you want the batch job to automatically adjust suggested item prices, enter the adjustment in the Adjustment Factor field. For example, you would enter 1.15 in Adjustment Factor for a 15% increase in item price.
  6. If you want the batch job to create new prices, turn on the Create New Prices toggle.
  7. Choose the OK button to fill in the lines on the Sales Price Worksheet page with the suggested new prices.
  8. To implement the suggestions, use the Implement Price Changes action. The batch job creates suggestions but doesn't implement them.

Best price calculation

After you record special prices and line discounts for sales and purchases, Business Central calculates the best price on sales and purchase documents, and on project and item journal lines.

The best price is the lowest price with the highest line discount allowed on a given date. Business Central calculates best prices when it adds unit prices and the line discount percentages on document and journal lines.

Note

The following describes how the best price is calculated for sales. For purchases, the calculation is similar but is based on the available parameters. For example, item discount groups are not supported for purchasing.

  1. Business Central checks the combination of the bill-to customer and the item and then calculates the applicable unit price and line discount percentage, using the following criteria:

    • Does the customer have a price/discount agreement, or does the customer belong to a group that does?
    • Is the item or the item discount group on the line included in any of these price/discount agreements?
    • Is the date within the starting and ending date of the price/discount agreement? For invoices and credit memos, this is the date in the Posting Date field on the document header. For all other documents, it's the date in the Order Date field on their headers.
    • Is a unit of measure code specified? If so, Business Central checks for prices/discounts with the same unit of measure code, and prices/discounts with no unit of measure code.
  2. Business Central checks whether any price/discount agreements apply to information on the document or journal line. It then inserts the applicable unit price and line discount percentage using the following criteria:

    • Is there a minimum quantity requirement in the price/discount agreement that is fulfilled?
    • Is there a currency requirement in the price/discount agreement that is fulfilled? If so, the lowest price and the highest line discount for that currency are inserted, even if local currency would provide a better price. If there's no price/discount agreement for the specified currency code, Business Central inserts the lowest price and the highest line discount in your local currency.

If no special price can be calculated for the item on the line, then either the last direct cost or the unit price from the item card is inserted.

Sales invoice discounts and service charges

When you use invoice discounts, the total amount on the invoice determines the size of the discount that is granted. On the Cust. Invoice Discounts page, you can also add a service charge to invoices over a certain amount.

Before you can use invoice discounts with sales, you must specify certain information. You must make the following decisions:

  • Which customers will be granted this type of discount?
  • Which discount percentages you'll use?

If you want invoice discounts to be calculated automatically, on the Sales & Receivables Setup page, turn on the Calc Inv. Discount toggle.

You can specify whether you'll grant invoice discounts when an invoice meets certain criteria for each customer. For example, when the invoice amount is large enough. Invoice discounts can be in local currency for domestic customers, or in foreign currency for foreign customers.

You link discount percentages to specific invoice amounts on the Cust. Invoice Discounts page for each customer. You can enter any number of percentages. Each customer can have their own page, or you can link several customers to the same page.

In addition to, or instead of, a discount percentage, you can link a service charge amount to a specific invoice amount.

Tip

Before you enter this information, it's a good idea to prepare an outline of the discount structure that you want to use. The structure makes it easier to determine which customers can be linked to the same invoice discount page. The fewer pages you have to set up, the faster you can enter the basic information.

For training in discounts in sales, see Set up discounts for your customers.

Calculating invoice discounts on sales

After you've added all the items on lines you can calculate the invoice discount for the entire sales document by choosing the Calculate Invoice Discount action.

The discount is calculated based on all lines on the sales document where the Allow Invoice Disc. checkbox is chosen. By default, invoice discounts are allowed. However, lines with item charges, for example, are not included in the calculation of the invoice discount. To apply a discount to such lines, enter a value in the Line Discount Amount field on the lines.

Note

By default, the Allow Invoice Disc. and Line Discount Amount fields are hidden on lines. If the fields aren't available, you can add them by personalising the page. For more information, see Personalize Your Workspace.

Tip

If the Calc. Inv. Discount field is selected in the Sales & Receivables Setup page, the invoice discount is calculated automatically. When the calculation happens differs, depending on the type of sales document you're using.

If you're using a sales order, the discount is calculated when you add a line. For all other sales documents, such as sales invoices, the discount is calculated when you do any of the following actions:

  • View statistics
  • View a test report
  • Print
  • Post

You define invoice discount terms for a customer on the Cust. Invoice Discounts page. The currency code on the sales document is used to find the invoice discount terms in the corresponding currency.

If you haven't defined invoice discounts for foreign currencies, the discount terms on the Cust. Invoice Discounts page are used to calculate the discount. The calculation uses your local currency and the exchange rate that was valid on the document's posting date.

To set up a sales line discount for a customer

These steps differ, depending on whether your administrator has turned on the New sales pricing experience feature update. If the feature update isn't turned on, follow the steps on the Current Experience tab.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Customers, and then choose the related link.
  2. Open the relevant customer card, and then choose the Line Discounts action.
  3. Fill in the fields on the line as necessary. Hover over a field to read a short description. Fill a line for each combination that will grant a sales line discount to the customer.

Note

When you open the Sales Prices and Sales Line Discounts pages from a specific customer, the Sales Type Filter and Sales Code Filter fields are set for the customer and can't be changed or removed.

To set up prices or line discounts for all customers, a customer price group, or a campaign, you must open the pages from an item card. Alternatively, for sales prices, use the Sales Price Worksheet page. Learn more at To bulk update item prices.

To set up an invoice discount for a customer

After you decide which customers are eligible for invoice discounts, enter the invoice discount code on the Customer Card pages. Then set up the terms for each code.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Customers, and then choose the related link.
  2. Open the customer page for a customer that will be eligible for invoice discounts.
  3. In the Invoice Disc. Code field, select a code for the relevant invoice discount terms to use to calculate invoice discounts for the customer.

Note

Invoice discount codes are represented by existing customer cards. This enables you to quickly assign invoice discount terms to customers by picking the name of another customer who will have the same terms.

Proceed to set up the new sales invoice discount terms.

  1. On the Customers page, choose the Invoice Discounts action. The Cust. Invoice Discounts page opens.
  2. In the Currency Code field, enter the code for a currency that the invoice discount terms on the line apply to. Leave the field blank to set up invoice discount terms in AUD.
  3. In the Minimum Amount field, enter the minimum amount that an invoice must have to be eligible for the discount.
  4. In the Discount % field, enter the invoice discount as a percentage of the invoice amount.
  5. Repeat steps 5 through 7 for each currency that the customer will receive a different invoice discount for.

See also

Setting Up Sales
Sales
Setting Up Customer Price Groups
Setting Up Customer Discount Groups
Working with Business Central

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