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How can I use inventory with variations?

I have several items which have multiple price points based on the amount purchased. So I was thinking about creating variations with different prices. But Square requires an inventory be entered for each variation (as far as I can tell) so it will require separate math to keep my inventory. does anyone have a way do do this pricing differently so I can get inventory to work.  Currently I have different items for each peice point. FYI - I do not want to do the discount thing on each sale because it is too cumbersome with multiple item sales (which I have a lot of).

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Hello @cpl, I've done some testing around this to try and find a work around for you. 

 

Currently I think the best option is still using the item variations. Alternatively you could create an item with based on the smallest amount you allow for purchase. At the time of the sale you would just add the same items until you reach your customers desired purchase amount. Upside to this is you have one item and one inventory to track, but the downside would be dividing your inventory into smaller amounts. 

 

If you have any questions please let me know! 🙂

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Best Answer

Hello @cpl, I've done some testing around this to try and find a work around for you. 

 

Currently I think the best option is still using the item variations. Alternatively you could create an item with based on the smallest amount you allow for purchase. At the time of the sale you would just add the same items until you reach your customers desired purchase amount. Upside to this is you have one item and one inventory to track, but the downside would be dividing your inventory into smaller amounts. 

 

If you have any questions please let me know! 🙂

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Thanks Chad. I did set up variations for all my items, with 4 different price levels. I will see how it works out. After todays sales I am not sure. I am a winery and sell bottles at bottle price, case price, 2 case price and then record bottles I open for tastings. I did an inventory and put all the inventory as the bottle variation. The inventory for case, 2 case and tasters was set at 0. I did this for each of my wines. I was hoping to see the total inventory for each wine to be the sum of all the variations. But today after a case sale I noticed the inventory for the case variation did not go to -12 as it should have. I also looked at variations where I sold single bottles and while the inventory history says one is sold the stock level did not drop. Am I missing something? Do I have to wait until the end of the day for the stock numbers to be updated? Can the inventory go below zero?

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Hey @cpl, thanks for giving this a try and for circling back with this information.

 

I can see how your situation is a bit more complex, especially with bottle pricing vs. case pricing per wine item sold.

 

To be sure I'm on the same page, when you sold the case—what variations were applied to it?

 

I also wanted to surface that we've partnered with a handful of inventory services that may offer more streamlined tracking. To have a look and determine if there's a fit, sign in to your App Marketplace and head down to the Items & Inventory section.

 

Following up on your last questions, inventory will update momentarily (should not take until end of day) and, yes, the count can go below zero. For more information on this and setting stock reminders, have a look here: Manage Inventory and Alerts In Bulk.

 

Hope this helps clear things up a bit more. Definitly let us know if this still doesn't resolve your inventory needs.

️ Tom | he/him
Seller Community Manager | Square, Inc.
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Tom, I have 15 different wines. For each one I have the main item, which is just the bottle price (for example - "Chambourcin"). Then I have a variation called "Chamb - Case Price), one called "Chamb - 2 Case Price, and one called "Chamb - Taster".

 

The wierd thing is I just looked things over and for all the wines (except one) which I had sales in the last few days no changes in inventory are indicated, even though the Inventory History shows sales. (capture 3 and 4)

 

Then there is one wine which had sale the total inventory seems to be correct for all the sales and tasings - but the variations inventory has not changed from zero. (Capture 1 and 2)

 

Capture 2.PNGCapture 1.PNGCapture 4.PNGCapture 3.PNGIs it possible to discuss this over the phone and let me share my screen so you can see it?

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Now this is really strange. I went away and came back about 40 minutes later that the inventories now seem to be working. See Capture 5 below. Why would it work like this. I thought Inventory was supposed to be updated near continuously. FYI - my store closed over 4 hours befor my previous post.Capture 5.PNG

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Hey @cpl, thanks for your reply and sorry to keep you waiting. That much of a delay for inventory does sound strange.

 

Are you still encountering the lag? If so, I would suggest getting in touch with our Support Team. They'll be able to take a deeper dive into your account. Otherwise, feel free to reply here and I'll escalate internally for further review.

️ Tom | he/him
Seller Community Manager | Square, Inc.
Find step-by-step help in our Support Center
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Hi Tom:

    I am another winery following the same path. Can I define a case discount that will calculate case prices from the bottle price so I do not need to price the case options individually (that would be prone to error due to duplicated data...)

    For a more complicated option - how would you support a case discount on a mixed case e.g. 3 of this, 4 of that and 5 of another wine? I would still like the case discount applied.

    I plan on dumping transaction data to an external database for inventory tracking & TTB report generation so I am less concerned about mapping case counts to bottles - in the end I have to report in gallons anyway so there's another layer of conversions required anyway.

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I sell necklaces with different finishes.  There are different prices for different finishes of the same style.

Slate, Silver, Gold, and Rose Gold each have different prices and I can't seem to figure out the simplest way to enter them as items. Do I just create separate items?  Can I use modifiers?  Thanks in advance for your ideas.

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Hey @alissagardner! I'd probably use variations like Chad describes here.

 

Let us know if you have other questions!

Bea_
Beta Community Manager, Square
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