Sale Calculations

The Sale Calculations screen decides how the pricing part of a sale is worked out: the sale price, trade-in, discount, tax, customer charges such as an admin or documentation fee, and finally what the customer pays. Each dealership has two calculations: one for a Dealer sale (the dealership owns the vehicle) and one for a Consignment sale (the vehicle belongs to an owner and the dealership earns a commission). Dealersip picks the right one on the sale screen from the vehicle's purchase.

This screen is for admin users.

Warning: the calculation decides the accounting entry of every new sale: what is credited to sales revenue, to tax, and to each charge account. A wrong formula posts wrong figures. Make changes in a new version, check them, and consult your accountant if you are not sure how a charge or tax should be treated.

Opening the screen

1. Expand the Admin sidebar and select Setup.
2. In the header bar at the top of the Setup page, select the Sale Calculations tab.

The tab lists each calculation of the current dealership, with one table of its versions underneath. Each row shows:

If the dealership has no calculation for a sale type yet (for example, a newly created dealership), a green Create Dealer Sale Calculation or Create Consignment Sale Calculation button appears above the tables. It creates the calculation as a copy of the one in use at another dealership. A charge that posted to one of that dealership's own accounts comes across without an account, so open it and pick the account again.

Versions and locking

A calculation is kept in versions, so sales that were already saved never change when the calculation does.

• A version is locked while any sale uses it. It cannot be edited or deleted. If every sale on it is deleted, it can be edited again.
• A saved sale keeps its version. Editing and saving an old sale later still uses the version it was saved with, even after another version is put in use.
• New sales use the version that is In use. Only one version of a calculation is in use at a time.
• To change a locked version, open it and press New Version. This makes an editable copy, numbered next. Change it, press Save, then press Activate so new sales use it.

If you try to change a locked version, Dealersip refuses with This calculation has been used in sales, hence cannot be changed. Create a new version instead. A locked version cannot be deleted (This calculation has been used in sales, hence cannot be deleted.), and neither can the version in use (The active version cannot be deleted. Activate another version first.).

Editing a version

Select the pencil on a version's row. The version opens in a side panel on the right, titled with the calculation and version number, for example Dealer sale, version 2.

At the top of the panel:

• Change Note: a short note on what this version changes. It shows in the version list.
• Sale price includes tax: tick it when your sale prices already include tax. See Sale price includes tax below on this page.

Below them is the list of Lines. Lines are worked out from top to bottom, in the order shown. Each line shows its number, its name, its type, and how it is worked out, for example = Gross Total − Discount amount or Value entered manually, default 8. Charges also show the account they post to.

Each line has these buttons on the right:

• Up and down arrows move the line.
• The pencil opens the line's settings inside the list. Press it again (it turns into an up arrow) to close them.
• The bin removes the line. A line that another line's formula uses cannot be removed until it is taken out of that formula: 'Trade in Value' is used in the formula of 'Gross Total'. Take it out of that formula first.

To insert a line, hover over the list where the line should go. A green Insert Line button appears on the top edge of the line under the pointer (and on the bottom edge of the last line). The new line is added exactly there, as a charge, with its settings open.

Changes are kept only when you press Save at the bottom of the panel. Until then, a changed line shows Changed, not saved, a new line shows New, not saved, and the footer shows Changes not saved. Closing the panel with unsaved changes asks first: You have changes that are not saved. Close without saving?

The footer buttons are:

• Save: checks the whole calculation and saves it. The checks are listed under What Dealersip checks on this page.
• Activate: makes this version the one new sales use. It is shown only on a version that is not in use. It asks for confirmation first, and runs the same checks as Save.
• New Version: makes an editable copy of this version.
• Close: closes the panel.

Line settings

Open a line with its pencil to see:

When you are finished with a line, press Done. It checks that the line has a name, that a charge has an account, and that a calculated line has a formula, then closes the line. The change is still kept only when you press Save.

Line types

Each type except Buying price or other amount, Charge to customer, After-sale expense and Other can appear only once in a calculation.

Building a formula

Choose Calculated under How is it worked out?. The formula builder opens:

1. The dashed box at the top shows the formula, with each line as a green chip, for example Gross Total − Discount amount.
2. Under Lines above, press a line's button to add it. Only lines above this one are offered, because lines are worked out from the top down.
3. Under Signs and numbers, press +, −, ×, ÷ or a bracket, or type a number in the Number box and press Add (or Enter).
4. Undo removes the last piece; Clear empties the formula.

Example: a discount amount worked out from a percentage is Gross Total × Discount ÷ 100.

Adding a charge (for example, a documentation fee)

1. Open the version in use and press New Version (or open a version that is not in use and not locked).
2. Hover over the list just above Net Sale Price and press Insert Line.
3. Enter the Name, for example Documentation Fee. Leave Type as Charge to customer.
4. Pick the Post To Account, or press + to create a new income account for it.
5. Leave Value entered manually, and enter a Default Value such as 499 so every new sale starts with it.
6. Press Done.
7. Open Net Sale Price with its pencil and add + Documentation Fee to its formula. If the fee is taxable, also add it to the formula of Tax amount.
8. Press Save, then Activate.

Step 7 matters: the charge is credited to its account, so the customer must pay it through the Net Sale Price. Save refuses a charge that is left out (see What Dealersip checks on this page).

Sale price includes tax

This tick does not change any figure on the sale screen; the formulas do that. It changes how the sale is posted to accounting:

• Not ticked (tax on top of the price): the whole sale price is credited to vehicle sales revenue, and the tax to the tax account on top of it.
• Ticked (tax included in the price): the tax is taken out of the sale price, and only the rest is credited to revenue.

For a sale price of 20,000 with tax of 2,300:

The formulas must agree with the tick. When it is ticked, Net Sale Price must not add the tax again, and the tax formula takes the tax out of the price, for example Sale Price × Tax ÷ (100 + Tax). When it is not ticked, Net Sale Price adds Tax amount once.

Save and Activate check this by working out a sample sale (sale price 10,000, every other entered value 0) with a 13% rate and with 0%. If Net Sale Price does not behave as the tick says, the save is refused (the messages are listed below). The check cannot tell whether the tax is worked out on the right base, for example the price or the margin, so review the tax formula itself.

What Dealersip checks

Save and Activate refuse a calculation, and say why, when:

Ask Bella

On a version that is not locked, the Ask Bella button next to Lines opens Bella in a window you can move aside. Tell her what to change in plain words, for example:

• Add a documentation fee of 499 that is taxable.
• Our prices include tax. Fix the tax.
• How is the tax worked out?

Bella puts her changes straight into the editor as unsaved changes (marked New, not saved or Changed, not saved) and says what she changed. Review them, open any line to adjust it, then press Save. Save runs every check above, so nothing Bella proposes is stored unchecked. If a charge's account is unclear, the line shows No account and you pick it before saving. When a request is unclear, Bella asks a question instead of guessing. Each version has its own conversation; previous chats are in Bella's history. To use Bella on a locked version, press New Version first. See Bella Virtual Assistant for Bella in general.

What happens on the sale screen

• The sale screen shows the lines of the version in use, in order. An existing sale shows the version it was saved with.
• Each Charge to customer is credited to its account in the sale's accounting entry. If a charge has an amount but no account, the sale is not saved: Charge 'Documentation Fee' has no account to post to. Set its account in the sale calculation.
• If the lines do not add up (for example a charge not included in Net Sale Price in a version saved before the checks above), the sale is not saved: This sale does not balance by 499.00. The Net Sale Price formula of the sale calculation must include every charge.
• After-sale expenses are saved with the sale but not posted.

For the default accounts the sale entry uses, see Accounting Settings. For the tax fields on the sale screen, see Tax Calculations.