Order

The Order screen is the main checkout interface in Acqui POS. Use it to add items, apply catalog discounts or surcharges, and process payments for walk-in customers.

Workspace layout

The Order screen is a single persistent workspace that also hosts your open tabs. The center pane is the browse surface (items or tabs), and the right pane is the transactional summary rail — Order, Tab Summary, New Tab, or Payment context — with the primary action pinned to the bottom.

Switch between the item grid and the tab browser from the selector in the header; the cart and any selected tab stay loaded across the switch.

Server selection

Before starting an order or tab, pick your profile from the team list. The active server persists for the browser session so navigation inside the POS does not re-prompt. A compact server chip sits in the order header — tap Change to switch servers mid-shift. Downstream payments, cash-out, and remove/split actions are attributed to the active server.

Adding a discount or surcharge to a sale

Catalog Discount and Surcharge items behave just like any other catalog item on the Order screen — tap the item card (or scan its barcode) and it is added to the current order. The configured rate or amount is applied automatically.

How they affect the total

• Discount — reduces the running subtotal. A 10% discount line applied after $200 of items on the order brings the total down by $20.
• Surcharge — adds to the subtotal. A $5.00 surcharge line adds exactly $5.00 to the total, regardless of what has already been rung up.

When both a discount and a surcharge are on the order, the discount is applied first. The surcharge is then computed against the post-discount subtotal.

Percentage base

• Percentage discounts apply to the tax-inclusive subtotal, so “10% off” means 10% off the total the customer sees. A 10% discount on a R115 order (R100 + 15% VAT) reduces the bill by R11.50, bringing the total to R103.50.
• Percentage surcharges apply to the post-discount pre-tax subtotal and carry their own tax from the surcharge item’s tax rate. A 10% surcharge on a R100 ex-VAT subtotal with 15% VAT adds R10 ex-VAT plus R1.50 VAT to the bill.

Stock is never affected

Discount and surcharge items are not inventory. Ringing them up does not reduce stock levels, does not trigger low-stock alerts, and does not write a stock movement. If a discount item is included in a refund, no stock is restored.

Availability on the POS grid

Whether a discount or surcharge appears on the Order screen grid is controlled by the Show In Point of Sale toggle on the catalog item. Toggle it off in Finance → Line Items if you only want the adjustment available on back-office Estimates, Quotes, Jobs, or Invoices — not at the till.

Creating a discount or surcharge item

Discount and surcharge items are created in the Acqui App (not in the POS):

1. Open Finance → Line Items in the Acqui App.
2. Add a new line item and set Item Type to Discount or Surcharge.
3. Choose Adjustment Type — Percentage for a rate-based adjustment, or Fixed Amount for a flat value.
4. Enter the Rate (0–100) or Amount as appropriate.
5. For surcharges: set a Tax Code so the tax portion of the surcharge posts correctly.
6. Leave Show In Point of Sale set to Yes.

See Finance → Line Items in the app documentation for the full field reference.

Cash Off vs. Discount

Cash Off is a separate end-of-shift workflow for paying out staff tips. It is unrelated to catalog discount items and must not be used to reduce a customer’s bill. See Cash Management for the Cash Off workflow and Finance → Line Items for customer-facing discounts.