By now, you already know that Conceptual Items are special tools to help you make money ex nihilo.
But did you know they are even more wonderful than that? Conceptual Items aren’t just for Flat Fees. They can be used for Percentage Fees, Flat Discounts and Percentage Discounts too!
Woohoo!
You might want to use a Percentage Fee for things like a Damage Waiver aka Equipment Protection Plan. Or your business might be built around Delivery Fees that are 25% of the Order total. We don’t know all of the ways you’ll use them, but we know you will use them.
To create a Percentage Fee, navigate to the “Items” icon in the upper left corner of your browser window.
In the left column, select the Category where you’d like your Percentage Fee to live.
In the second column, click the “+’ button.
In the New Item pop-up, enter the name of your Percentage Fee.
Under “Item Type” select “Conceptual Item” from the drop down.
Enter the Acquisition Date (remember this needs to be BEFORE any orders you plan to use it on).
Also enter a Quantity. Like all Conceptual Items, we suggest you use 1000. There’s no Cost associated with Conceptual Items.
Untick the “Apply primary sales tax” box if you don’t need to collect sales tax on this fee.
Now tick “Item is percentage.” You’ll also want to at least tick the “Applies to taxable rentals” and “Applies to nontaxable rentals” boxes (unless you only want the Fee to calculate based on one or the other). Additionally, consider if this fee should apply to taxable and nontaxable Conceptual items.
Then click the blue “Confirm” button.
With your New Item selected, click on the green “Edit Item” button.
Now, on to the Rental Price. You’ll use this field to enter the default percentage for the fee. For instance, if it is a 10% fee, simply enter 10 here.
Click “Save Item” and you’re all set.
Percentage Discounts are exactly the same as Percentage Fees but in the Rental Price field, enter a negative number. For a 25% discount, enter “-25.”
Remember that with any Item (including these), you can change the price manually on an order-by-order basis. The “Rental Price” field is just a place to put the default amount.
Flat Discounts (i.e. $200 off) are exactly like regular Fees but the “Rental Price” will be a negative number (“-200”).
We’ll talk about this again when we get to Rental Orders but keep in mind that Percentage Fees and Percentage Discounts will be calculated based on everything above them on the Order.
For instance, if you have
10 Dumbo Chairs @ $5 each = $50
10 Babar Tables @ $20 each = $200
then
10% discount = -$25
then
50 Red Linen Napkins @ $0.50 each = $25
The 10% discount will only apply to the chairs and tables—not the napkins that are below it on the Order.
Okay. So, now you know about Account Set-up, Inventory Items, Photos, Item Settings, Conceptual Items, and Percentages. Phew! We’ve covered a lot of ground. But it isn’t too complicated, right?
Now let’s talk Taxes before we move on to renting out your Items to make you some cash.