Selling Labour at the Till
A haircut, a phone screen fitted, a key cut, a bicycle serviced. The till rang them up only if they had stock. Now a service sells at the counter the way it does in real life: you did the work, you charge for it.
Every counter business sells some labour. The phone repair shop sells the screen and charges for fitting it. The salon sells a bottle of conditioner and the cut that went before it. The tyre shop sells the tyre and the balancing.
A till built around stock had one answer for the labour: make it a product and give it stock. So "Screen fitting" carried a stock level of 500 that somebody had to remember to top up, and the morning it ran out, the cashier could not ring up work that had already been done.
What the till does with a service now
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It is found like any item
Search, scan or tap it from the catalogue. It carries its catalogue price.
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It is never checked against the shelf
No "insufficient stock", no availability count beside it, no warning when the quantity goes up.
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It posts no cost of goods
The sale books revenue. Nothing is taken out of stock value, because nothing left a shelf.
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A return never restocks it
If you refund a fitting, the money goes back and no phantom unit of labour reappears in stock.
That fourth step is the one that catches people out when services are faked as products. A refunded "fitting" with stock goes back on the shelf, so stock of labour rises with every refund, and the next count finds a number nobody can explain.
Refund a fitting and the money goes back. Nothing goes back on the shelf.
The goods beside it are unchanged
The screen in the same sale is still a stock item. It is checked against the shelf, its serial is captured if you track serials, it is issued from stock and it posts a cost of goods. A sale can carry both and each line behaves as it should, the same way a mixed invoice does in the back office.
For the rest of how the till handles prices and refunds, five things a price has to be and the refund that balanced the drawer and broke the books are the background reading.
Moving off the fake product
If "Screen fitting" exists today as a stock item with a made-up quantity, it can become a service once the made-up stock is cleared. Adjust it to zero, then change the type. The rule and the reason are in when a product becomes a service. Its sales history stays with it.
For counters that sell a lot of labour
The till sells a service correctly today. These extend it for businesses where the labour is the main event.
Who did the work
Attach the stylist or technician to a service line at the till, for commission and productivity reports.
Services on the phone till
The same service behaviour on the mobile till, offline included.
Prepaid service packages
Sell five washes up front and redeem them one visit at a time.
How it works: you describe the requirement, we return a written scope, timeline and cost, and once agreed it is built into your workspace and maintained with the product.
Talk to us about the tillFour checks at the counter
Sell a service with nothing in stock.
What should happen
It sells.
If it does not
It is still a product with stock. Clear the stock and change its type.
Raise the quantity to ten.
What should happen
No warning.
If it does not
The till is reading a shelf that should not exist.
Refund it.
What should happen
Money back, stock unchanged.
If it does not
Labour is accumulating in stock with every refund.
Look at cost of goods for the day.
What should happen
Only goods.
If it does not
A fitting is carrying a cost it never had.
In one line
Ring up the work you did. A service sells at the counter with no stock, no shelf check and no cost of goods, and a refund never puts it back on a shelf.
What AWRA OpsHub does today
- Services sold at the web till with no shelf check and no availability count.
- No cost of goods posted for a service at the till.
- Refunds that never restock a service.
- Goods and services in one sale, each line following its own rules.
More we can add to your workspace
- A technician or stylist on each service line, for commission reports.
- Service items on the mobile till, offline included.
- Prepaid service packages redeemed visit by visit.
Where we point you to a specialist
- How you pay commission on labour is your policy. We would record who did the work and report on it; we do not set the rate.
Each item in the middle column can be scoped and quoted for your workspace.
Ring up a service today
Every workspace has a sample service you can sell at the till right now. The feature page has the rest.
See how service items workFrequently asked questions
Can I sell a service at the till without stock?
Yes. A service item sells at the till with no stock, no shelf check and no availability count.
Does a refunded service go back into stock?
No. A refund returns the money and leaves stock unchanged.
Can one sale include a product and a service?
Yes. The product is checked, issued and costed as usual and the service line is not.
Is a cost of goods posted when a service is sold?
No. Only goods post a cost of goods.
