Audience
Admin, Sales, Accounting, Purchasing
Pricing
This chapter explains where the price on a sales order line comes from, how to set prices for customers and units, how formula prices work, and who can see cost and margin.
The examples use a fictional product, Product-01, counted in pieces (PCS) and sold in cases (CASE, 24 pieces) and master cases (MASTER_CASE, 360 pieces). Your company may use other units, such as dozens or pallets, with other factors. DockingWare never assumes a unit; it uses the conversions you set on each SKU.
1. The short version
When you add a product to a sales order, DockingWare looks for a price in this order and stops at the first one it finds:
- Private customer price: a price for this customer only.
- The customer’s price list: a shared list, such as “Distributors”.
- Pack price: a wholesale price for one unit of the product, for every customer.
- Catalog price: the retail or wholesale price on the SKU, converted to the unit on the line.
- Unpriced: nothing matched. Type the price yourself.
The sentence under the unit price tells you which one was used, for example Price list: Distributors $9.00 / PCS or Pack price $24.99 / CASE.
Once the line is saved, its price stays. A later change to the catalog, a list, or a formula prices new lines only.
2. Catalog price
Every SKU has two catalog prices:
- Retail price, in Basic information.
- Wholesale price, the first row of Wholesale prices by unit, labeled Catalog (base). You choose the unit this price is for (for example, per CASE).
Each customer has an Assigned Price Level (Sales > Customers > the customer). Wholesale uses the wholesale catalog price. Retail uses the retail price.
Conversion to the unit on the line
The catalog price is converted to whatever unit the line is sold in, using the SKU’s package conversions:
| Catalog price | Line unit | Unit price on the line |
|---|---|---|
| $27.00 per CASE | CASE | $27.00 |
| $27.00 per CASE | PCS | $1.125 (27.00 / 24) |
| $27.00 per CASE | MASTER_CASE | $405.00 (27.00 x 15) |
- The unit price is kept to 4 decimals. The line total is rounded to the cent once.
- If the SKU has no active conversion for the line unit, the line is unpriced. DockingWare never guesses a factor. Add the conversion in Package conversions > Manage UOM first.
3. Pack prices (wholesale price per unit)
A pack price is a wholesale price for one specific unit of a product, for every customer. Use it when a unit has its own price that is not a straight conversion of the catalog price. For example: the case is $27.00, but a master case is sold at $350.00, not $405.00.
Where: Catalog > SKU Management > the SKU > Wholesale prices by unit. Choose the unit, the rule, the price, the minimum quantity and the dates, then Add row.
Important: a pack price applies only to a line in the same unit. A master case price does not change the price of a line sold in cases or pieces. Those lines keep using the catalog conversion.
4. Price lists and private customer prices
Where: Sales > Price Lists.
- Price list: create a list (code and name), then add rows: product, unit, minimum quantity, rule, price, dates. Assign the list to customers in Sales > Customers > the customer > Price list. A customer has one list.
- Private customer prices: on the same screen, choose a customer and add rows. A private price applies to that customer only and beats their price list.
Like pack prices, a list row or a private row applies only to a line in the same unit as the row.
Volume breaks
The minimum quantity is counted in the row’s unit. When several rows qualify, the one with the highest minimum quantity the order meets wins.
| Row | Minimum quantity | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Distributors, CASE | 1 | $26.00 |
| Distributors, CASE | 10 | $25.00 |
An order for 12 CASE gets $25.00. An order for 4 CASE gets $26.00, and the line shows the next break: From 10 CASE: $25.00. The caption on a volume row includes · volume.
Warehouses
A row can be for one warehouse or for all of them. A row for the order’s warehouse beats an “All” row at the same level. Today the Price Lists screen saves every row as All.
5. Dates, ending a price, and price history
- Valid from is the first day the row applies. Valid to empty means the row stays open.
- End stops a row. An ended row no longer prices new lines. To change a price, end the old row and add a new one.
- Prices are never deleted. Use Show ended prices to see the history of a SKU’s rows.
- Two rows with the same customer or list, product, unit, minimum quantity and warehouse cannot overlap in dates. DockingWare names the row that conflicts.
The price each customer actually paid is kept on each sales order line and invoice.
6. Formula prices
Instead of a fixed amount, a row can calculate its price. Choose the Rule when you add the row:
| Rule | What it does | Who can use it |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed | The amount you type. | Anyone who edits prices |
| Percent off catalog | The customer’s catalog price, converted to the row’s unit, minus a percent (0 to 100). | Anyone who edits prices |
| Cost plus percent | The product’s cost, converted to the row’s unit, plus a percent (0 to 1000). | Owner and Admin only |
Rows are labeled in words, for example Catalog - 10%, ends .99 or Cost + 10%.
Price endings
A formula can round its result up to the next price ending in .99 or .49. It never goes below the calculated price, and a price that already has that ending stays.
| Calculated price | Ending | Price on the line |
|---|---|---|
| $24.30 | .99 | $24.99 |
| $8.20 | .49 | $8.49 |
| $8.50 | .49 | $9.49 |
| $10.99 | .99 | $10.99 |
How a formula is calculated
- Start from the catalog price (percent off) or the cost (cost plus), converted to the row’s unit.
- Apply the percent.
- Round the unit price to 4 decimals, once.
- Apply the ending, if any.
Example, percent off catalog: catalog $27.00 per CASE, 10% off, ending .99. 27.00 x 0.90 = 24.30, which becomes $24.99 / CASE.
Example, cost plus: standard cost $0.083 per PCS, MASTER_CASE of 360, plus 10%. 0.083 x 360 = 29.88, x 1.10 = $32.868 / MASTER_CASE. The line total for one master case is $32.87.
Which cost a cost-plus formula uses
- If your company uses cost basis (profitability) and the product has a current cost basis above zero, that cost.
- Otherwise the product’s standard cost.
- If neither is above zero, the formula is skipped and DockingWare keeps looking down the list (catalog, then unpriced). A missing cost never produces a $0.00 price.
Fixed rows win
At the same level (private, list, or pack), a qualifying fixed row always beats a formula row, even if the fixed price is lower. A formula is used only when that level has no fixed row for the line. Only one formula row is allowed for the same customer or list, product, unit, minimum quantity, warehouse and dates.
7. When the price is set, and when it changes
- The price is set when the line is priced: when you add it, and when you change its quantity or unit on a draft order.
- After that, the line keeps its price. Changing the catalog, a list row, a cost, or a formula does not change saved lines. It prices the next lines.
- If you type a price over the suggested one, DockingWare keeps your number and removes the source sentence. A salesperson can type over a line price even without access to edit price lists.
Example, with the 10% off and .99 rule above: a line saved at $24.99 / CASE stays $24.99 after the catalog goes from $27.00 to $30.00. A new line for the same product now gets $27.99 (30.00 x 0.90 = 27.00, ending .99).
8. Cost, margin, and who can see them
Cost is visible only to Owner, Admin, Accounting manager, and Procurement manager. Sales and the other roles never receive cost from the server, not only on screen.
| What | Owner and Admin | Procurement manager | Accounting manager | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit price, list, discount, net, totals | Yes | No sales orders | No sales order screens | Yes |
| Standard cost, supplier prices, cost basis | Yes | Yes, on the SKU | Where Accounting screens show cost | No |
| Margin on the line and the order | Yes, for example Margin -$9.88 (-49.40%) | No | No | No |
| Below-cost warning | Below standard cost ($29.88 / MASTER_CASE) | No sales orders | No sales order screens | Below cost, no amount |
| Cost-plus rows | Cost + 10%, editable | No | No | Formula (restricted), read only, not available to create |
| Price source sentence for a cost-plus price | Pack price: cost + 10% $32.868 / MASTER_CASE | No sales orders | No sales order screens | Pack price $32.868 / MASTER_CASE |
How margin is calculated
- Line margin = the line’s net amount minus its cost (cost per piece x pieces on the line), rounded to the cent once.
- Margin percent = margin / net amount.
- The order margin adds up the line nets and line costs first, then calculates margin and percent from those totals.
Example: 1 MASTER_CASE sold at $20.00, standard cost $0.083 per PCS. Cost = 0.083 x 360 = $29.88. Margin = 20.00 - 29.88 = -$9.88 (-49.40%).
9. Standard cost and supplier prices
Where: Catalog > SKU Management > the SKU > Cost (Owner, Admin and Procurement manager only).
- Standard cost: the cost you set, per a unit you choose. DockingWare stores it per piece. $29.88 per MASTER_CASE is saved as $0.083 per PCS.
- Until the product has receipts, the screen says
No receipts yet: margin uses standard cost. - If your company uses cost basis, the section shows the current cost basis and a Use as standard cost button. Cost basis history lists earlier values.
- Supplier prices: what each supplier charges for this SKU and unit, with minimum quantity and dates.
Price on a purchase order line
When you add a product to a purchase order, DockingWare suggests a price in this order:
- That supplier’s price for the same unit.
- That supplier’s price for another unit of the same product, converted.
- The last price paid to that supplier on an issued or received purchase order.
- Standard cost.
- Unpriced. Type the price.
10. Quick answers
The line says “Unpriced”. The SKU is missing a conversion for that unit, or nothing matched and the catalog price is empty. Check Package conversions and the catalog price.
I set a pack price for MASTER_CASE but the CASE line did not change. Correct. A pack, list or private row applies only to lines in the same unit.
My formula is not being used. A fixed row at the same level wins. Or, for cost plus, the product has no cost above zero.
I changed a price and an old order did not update. Correct. Saved lines keep their price.
Sales cannot see margin. Correct. Margin on sales orders is for Owner and Admin.