Webinar: Going In-Depth on the Financial Update

Overview: What are we talking about?

This article contains a recording of the webinar that we provided to go in-depth on the upcoming financial feature update coming to your application on August 1st, 2019! We recommend sharing this webinar with any user in your application that needs to know higher-level processes like handing refunds, overpayments, and revenue reporting! 

Q&A: Let's talk about it.

Q: What is the best way to do an estimate in Gingr for a customer that does not have an account in Gingr.

A: Pricing in Gingr can be affected in a number of ways depending on settings specific to the pet (their altered status, age, weight, etc). Because of this, and in order to save a reservation for a customer, we always recommend registering the customer in Gingr so that you can create a reservation and generate an estimate for them. If you don’t have animal-specific pricing, you could consider creating a “dummy” account to use to create estimates. In that case, you’d need to go through the reservation creation process to get an estimate with the "dummy" account, and either print or verbally explain the estimated charges to the customer. At that point, if the owner decided to go ahead and take that reservation you’d need to create an account for them and re-make the reservation on their profile to generate an actual estimate.

Q:  Are we be able to add two different cards on file to an owners account? 

A: Not yet! We are hoping to bring you this ability someday in the future! With this release, you would need to store one of the cards on file for the owner, and process the other as an individual credit card transaction.

Q: Is there a report that shows our owner credit and or debt balance as of a date?

A: Your Owner Balance report is the best way to get this data, but it does not have the ability to go historical—it will display the data as of the date that you run the report. This report can be accessed from Left-hand Navigation: Reports and More Icon » Reports » Owner Balance Report.

Q: If a customer has a store credit on their account can I use that for a specific future reservation?

A: Absolutely! If a customer has an outstanding store credit balance, you can use the store credit payment method to apply that as a prepayment directly to the estimate for their upcoming reservation! This will remove that amount of store credit from the owner's account, and show that it has been applied directly as a payment towards that estimate.

Q: When will we be able to integrate with Quickbooks Online?

A: This release lays all of the groundwork that we needed to be able to offer a meaningful quickbooks integration for you all! Which this integration is not part of this release on August 1st, we are excited to bring you the functionality that will allow for a QuickBooks Online integration in the future!

Q: How would we handle it if we keep half of a forfeited deposit for a cancelled reservation?

A: To do that, you’ll go ahead and cancel the reservation and mark that deposit as forfeited as part of your normal processes. Once those steps are complete, you’ll view the invoice for that reservation and you’ll see a line item for the forfeited deposit. Here, you’ll be able to partially refund that charge to give a partial amount of that forfeited deposit payment back to the customer.

Q: How do the estimates handle services where we set the price after the service is completed? I don’t want customers to think that the services are free.

A: Estimates will calculate their charges in the same way that they do today, so if there is not a price set for a service, it will show as $0.00 on the estimate. We would recommend using the Estimate Custom Text setting in Admin » Locations to remind your customers that estimates might not include the full charges for first-time services.

Q: Can we email an invoice to the customer with a link to pay? I want to make it very easy for our customers.

A: I would recommend editing your New Invoice Email Template here. This email will be sent when you email the invoice to the customer when viewing the invoice, and will include a link to view the invoice. They will just need to log in and apply a payment on the invoice. This template can be adjusted to your liking from Left-hand Navigation: Admin » Email Templates.

Q: On the revenue by date report, where would forfeited deposits go? 

A: You can expect to see detail of forfeited deposit charges under the Invoice Charges » Charges by Type section of the Revenue by Date report under the Forfeited Deposit section. You can also expect to see these charges under the Charges by Account Code section. Forfeited deposit charges will follow the Account Code of the reservation type that the deposit was collected for. 

Q: What will customers printed invoices look like with this update?

A: They will look exactly the same as the views that you will see—without some of the the abilities that you have, like the ability to process refunds. 

Q: Can we indicate why a refund was performed on an invoice?

A: We recommend customizing your Admin » Return Reasons to give staff an opportunity to indicate why a refund was performed.

Q: Can we see how much was collected by account code on the revenue report?

A: Because Invoice Charges are recorded separately from your payments, it is not possible to reconcile payments to an account code.

Q: Can we see a breakdown of individual service charges on the revenue report?

A: Sure! Reference the Charges » Charges by Type » Services section to see those charges.

Q: How can we print the revenue by date and end of day reports.

A: To print either of these reports, you’ll want to view the report in Gingr and open any sections that you’d like to print. Then, key Command/Control + P to print the screen from your browser. You can also export the sections to CSV and print the spreadsheets as well! 

Q: Are we able to refund a payment made in error and still leave the invoice open for a different payment?

A: It’s important to remember that you must refund both a line item and a payment when processing refunds. It is not possible to refund a payment by itself at this time.

Q: What happens to my existing transactions prior to 8/1?

A: You’ll be able to see all of your previous transactions from the Owner’s profile without trouble! These will be indicated on the owner’s Invoices section with the POS: 1234 in the invoice number column.

Q: What will the pre-8/1 revenue report look like?

A: Revenue reports run for dates prior to 8/1 will look just like you are used to today! It’s important to remember that it’s not possible to run a revenue report for dates that span the release date here, so you’ll want to split your reports accordingly! 

Q: Are prepayments applied to an account code in open invoices?

A: Payments are not applied to account codes, only charges.

Q: If we have a client that attends multiple locations, will the owner balance reports be split based on location?

A: If you have multiple locations in your application, all locations will share the same owner database. This means that an owners’ account balance is reflective of all locations. The Owner Balance report can be run by an owner’s home location, to see a list of owners for a single location if you’d like! 

Q: What do cancelled reservations look like now that we can apply payments to an invoice before checkout?

A: When you cancel a reservation, you’ll see that the charges on the invoice zero out. The system then reviews any applied payments, and will either open or close the invoice depending on if something needs to be done with the payment. If there has been a payment, you’ll see that a line item will be added to the invoice to purchase store credit for the overpaid amount. That amount can be refunded or left on the account to use towards a future purchase.

Q: Will we need to make adjustments to our payment methods?

A: Only if you have a multiple zero-payment methods configured in your app! If you have multiple zero payment methods, please reach out to our support team for assistance! 

Q: How do invoices work when we don’t do checkout without taking payment? All balances are paid at pick up time for all dogs at our facility?

A: You will see the same format and will just need to instruct staff to use the “Check Out With Payment” button in the cart at checkout.

Q: Is the “Can add store credit” user permission different than allowing users to take prepayments?

A: Yes! 

Q: We take deposits on our boarding and training programs. They are not refundable—should we process them as a prepayment or as a deposit?

A: It depends on a few things. If these deposits are required for every customer, the amount is always the same, and there is only one payment event required, we’d recommend using deposits. If they are a little more free-form, you can use prepayments. 

Q: How is the new revenue report going to help match daily bank deposits?

A: You’ll want to reference the Payments by Payment Method total for Credit Cards charged during the date range. Depending on your set batch time, the number that you see on your Revenue Report might be different from what your Left-hand Navigation: Reports and More Icon » Reports » CardConnect Batch report shows. For example, you may see that a credit card payment processed on the customer portal after your batch closed for the night reported on the revenue report on the calendar day that the payment took place, whereas it would not be batched until the following day.

Q: Can I remove certain payment methods from the new revenue report?

A: You will not be able to remove payment methods from the report in the new world. You will see all payment methods figured into your summaries. To break out and see payments and refunds split by payment methods, you’ll review the Payments and Refunds by Payment Method sections of the revenue report.

Q: Can customers purchase packages from the customer portal?

A: Yes! They can do this today. Check out this article to learn more about enabling this feature.

Q: How should we use admin comp with these new updates?

A: In the new world, Admin comp still exists as a payment method, and you’ll see any payments made with that method on your revenue by date and end of day reports. As a reminder, we always recommend using coupons to comp items or amounts for customers in the shopping cart! This will make it so that you don't have to manually factor out any comped charges. You can learn more about setting up coupons here.

Q: When I set up account codes should I be considering what I have set up in QBO?

A: Definitely! This will help you in the future when we are able to offer you an integration with that platform and is a great way to keep things consistent. You can learn more about setting up account codes here.

Q: Should we announce anything to our customers about this release?

A: If you are planning to allow them to pay for invoices on the customer portal, you might consider doing that, yes! :) It all just depends on what options you want to allow them to use on the portal. 

Q: If a deposit is taken on Monday and the pet checks out on Wednesday what should I expect to see on the revenue report?

A: You will expect to see the deposit collected under the payment summary on the Monday when you run the report for just that date. The deposit payment will stay in this section until it is either forfeited, consumed, or refunded. Keep in mind that you will not see a corresponding invoice charge for this payment on Monday because the reservation has not yet checked out. 

If you run the report for Wednesday after the reservation checks out, you’ll see the invoice charges reported from the invoice, and you’ll see that the deposit shows up under the payments section on the report since it has been converted to a payment at this time.

If you ran the report for a date that spanned both of these dates, you’ll only see the paid deposit under Payments, and then you'll see your corresponding Invoice Charges as well. 

Q: Are packages like deposits? Are the unused credits a liability unutil they are used or expired?

A: They are, yes! You can see outstanding package credits and their value from the Left-hand Navigation: Reports and More Icon » Reports » Outstanding Packages. 

Q: Does store credit purchases include tax?

A: They are a flat dollar amount, and while store credit balances can be used to pay for tax, they are not taxable themselves.

Q: Can I transfer a deposit from one reservation to another?

A: Sure! To do that, you’ll forfeit the deposit on the cancelled reservation, and then refund the charge on that reservations invoice to Store Credit. Once on the account, you can use that store credit to pay for another reservation as a deposit or prepayment.

Q: How can I tell if someone has store credit or not?

A: You’ll see their store credit balance from a few places like the owner details page and the shopping cart. Additionally, in places where you can apply payments, you’ll only see the Store Credit payment method if the owner has store credit to use on their account.

Q: Do store credits show up on the revenue report when they are purchased or when they are used?

A: Both! You can see purchases of store credit from the Revenue Report under the Invoice Charges » Store Credit Purchased section of the revenue report. You can see uses of store credit via the Payments and Refunds section of the report under Payments by Payment Method.

Q: Can you expand on how existing debit balances will be transferred to an open invoice? Will the balance be on one invoice or on multiple?

A: Great question! These will all be combined on to one open invoice to be paid off.

Q: In the revenue by date report, is there an easy way to reconcile the invoice total to the payment total?

A: Because there are so many different ways that you can take payment with this release, it’s entirely normal for the totals on between charges and payments not to match. Generally, the Invoice Charges summary total should be equivalent to your total Payments (excluding prepayments and collected deposits), less Total Refunded Payments (excluding refunded deposits). This does not include, however, any invoices that were opened without applied any payment during the date range. These can be seen from the Left-hand Navigation: Point of Sale Icon » View Open Invoices.

Q: On the end of day report, it looks like there is a section for payments and refunds. Is there a way to see a net of payments and refunds by payment method?

A: Sure! You’ll review the Payments by Payment Method and Refunds by Payment Method sections to calculate that net total by payment method.

Q: Can I limit the ability to do refunds to just admins?

A: Sure! You can use the Left-hand Navigation: Reports and More Icon » Groups permission for Can Process Refunds/Returns to restrict that! This permission controls the ability to do refunds, as well as the ability to edit payments on invoices.

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