The list of fields below represents the iMerchant default settings for the Book industry of Product Properties.

• Other industries, such as General Merchandise, will have a very similar default screen.
• Some book-specific fields listed below for the Book industry will not be present, but the overall look and feel of the other industries' default screen will be quite similar.

The default settings in the upper left of the Product Properties screen fall under the Product section.

The ten default fields in this section include:

Product Number: You need to know the difference between Products and Items.

• A specific product can only have one Product Number.
  • For example, if the Product Number for a book is that book's ISBN, then that Product Number needs to be unique for this book throughout iMerchant.
  • No other Product can have a duplicate Product Number.
• However, multiple Items can exist under this Product Number.
  • Taking the example of a book, only one Product Number can exist for this specific book title.
  • But there might be a new edition, along with a used copy, or several used copies.
  • Each of these represents a different Item.
  • All of these Items will have the same Product Number, but they can be segmented under this parent Product Number.

Store Number: the code for your store

Description: store description

On Hand:  

• To change an onhand quantity:
  • Press F10 on your keyboard while in Product Properties for the selected product.
  • The Adjust Inventory window opens.
  • Here, if you have security access, you can alter the onhand amount, along with the other fields listed in the window. The Cost and Discount fields listed here will calculate automatically once you make a change in any of the fields
  • Click on the Calculate button.
    • iMerchant Tip: Be careful here. When you change onhand amount and click on Calculate,
      • The system will automatically update the Cost, Unit Cost and Discount fields as needed.
      • But you may not want these fields updated, just the onhand quantity.
      • If this is the case, be sure to manually change the fields back to the way you want them after clicking Calculate.
      • Update Last Cost: is a checkbox field, and it's safe to leave this checked.
        • The system will update the Last Cost automatically and ensure that the Last Cost will be updated correctly regardless of the manual adjustments you might make to Cost or Unit Cost.
      • Reason: at the bottom of the window.
        • Based on how you set the default in Tools > Options you may be forced to enter a reason when you adjust an onhand amount or it will be an optional field
        • This is a free-form field, and you can key in anything you want.

Retail Price: the price your store charges for a product at the POS

Create Date: the date the product was added to your system

Manufacturer: list the product's manufacturer (or publisher if a book)

Product Type: directly tied in with Vendor Properties

Industry:  a default industry will already be filled in if it has been established in Tools > Customize

Accounting Category: is an important field.

• One of the functions is to designate a product as non-tracked inventory.
  • This means the product will not have an onhand value, nor will it have a cost value in Product Properties.
  • You may put in a retail price, but it is not necessary.
  • When the POS clerk scans a non-tracked product without a retail price, they will need to key in the price at POS.
    • When scanning a non-tracked product with an established retail price, the price will automatically appear at POS, as it does with other products.
  • Sales Promotions can still apply automatically to non-tracked inventory with a retail price on file, but not to products with no retail price on file.
  • Customer Discounts will also be applied to non-tracked inventory, even if no retail price is on file for the product.
    • In that case, the discount will be taken off whatever the cashier keys in for the selling price.
  • Non-tracked products are essentially products for which you do not want the system to keep track of onhand amounts.
  • If a product is tagged as non-tracked, the system will prevent you from entering an onhand quantity or a cost value.
  • If you want to run a G/L Export for your inventory, be sure to assign each product with an Accounting Category

Author/Role: found in the upper right of the default Product Properties

Customer Orders: box found below Author/Role contains three fields, which are informational and automatically filled in by the system:

• Total Allocated: is the total number of copies allocated to fill outstanding Customer Orders.
• Total Needed: is the total number of copies still needed to fill outstanding Customer Orders.
• Total Ordered: is the total number of copies that have been ordered to fill outstanding Customer Orders.

The bottom half of the Product Properties screen, the Details section, is segmented by tab buttons.

When accessing Product Properties, the Basic Detail tab is automatically selected.

The default tab buttons are:

• Basic Detail:
  • Department Category
  • Bindings
  • Copyright This Year
  • Publication Date
  • Book Class
  • Condition
  • Label Type
  • Edition
  • Formal Description
  • The To Be Ordered Box
  • The Publisher/Vendor Box
• Cost/Price
  • Retail Price
  • Cost
  • Discount
  • List or Net
  • Manufacturer Price
  • Buying Price
  • Tax Code
• Purchasing
  • Manufacturer
  • Reorder Rule
  • Manufacturer Price
  • Retail Price
  • On Hand
  • Available Date
  • Buying Price
  • SKU
  • Product/POs Window
  • UPC/ISBN
• Sales
  • The Product Sales Window
  • First Received Date
  • Last Received Date
  • First Sale Date
  • Last Sale Date
  • Lifetime Sales
• Returns:
  • To Be Returned: lists the To Be Returned quantity.
  • New: will call up the To Be Returned Properties screen, where you can adjust the quantity to be returned, among other things.
    • If you do alter the TBR quantity, the new value will be reflected in the To Be Returned field here in Product Properties once you are brought back to this screen.
  • Show: will take you to the To Be Returned Find screen for this product, and each TBR entry will display in the grid at the bottom of the screen.
    • Close out of this screen to return to Product Properties.
  • The Returns Window
  • Life Returns

No matter which fields you choose to place on the Product Properties screen, each user can establish default values within the applicable fields for each industry.

• e.g. let's say a user wants to establish default values for the Book industry.

Here is what she would do:

• Find any product within the Book industry.
• In the the Product Properties program,
• Set the applicable fields the way she wants them.
  • Select Tools > Default Settings > Update Saved Settings.
  • The default values are now updated.
  • Until changed at a later time, each new product the user adds within the Book industry will include these default values for the applicable fields.
  • If no default values are set, the fields will come in empty for each new product and will need to be filled in manually.

The default values can be updated at any time.

They can also be removed.

• To remove default values
  • Select Tools > Default Settings > Remove Saved Settings
  • If the user does this, all applicable fields will be empty when she adds a new product within the Book industry

Setting default values is fluid (you can constantly change the defaults) and user-definable.

One user can have an entirely different set of default values from another user within the same industry.

Setting defaults really comes in handy if some fields will always be the same when adding new products.

It can be a time saver if used wisely.

The following fields are applicable to setting defaults:

• not all of fields appear on the default screen described above
• Binding
• Stop Type
• Accounting Category
• Can Transfer
• Discount
• Label Type
• Reorder Rule
• Tax Code
• Accompanying Material Present
• Condition
• Department Category
• Dust Jacket Condition
• New Used
• Problem Code
• Shelf Under
• Status Code
• Accompanying Material
• Dust Jacket
• Slip Case
• User-definable fields

You can select any of the applicable default fields above on an individual basis.

To set defaults this way:

• With the appropriate product displayed (while in that product's Product Properties page)
  • Select Tools > Default Settings > Select Fields to Default and Set Values.
  • This calls up the Select Fields for Defaults box.
  • This box lists the applicable fields (the ones you can set defaults for).
  • Check the box to the left of each field for which you want to set up default values.
  • These are the fields that will be set to the default values you select.
    • Unchecked fields will not be used as defaults.
  • When you have placed a check beside all of the fields you want to establish defaults
  • Click on the Next - Enter values for the selected fields button.
    • If you want to back out without establishing defaults
      • Click on Quit - exit and do not save defaults
  • This calls up the Set Default values box.
  • All of the fields you checked at the previous screen will be listed here.
  • For each field, select the default value you want to use.
  • When you're through, click on the Next - Update Defaults button, and the fields will be set with the default values you have chosen
  • You will be brought back to the Product Properties screen.

If you need to go back to the Select Fields for Defaults box

• Click on the Previous - select fields to update button
  • If you want to abort the process entirely
    • Click on the Quit - exit and do not save defaults button

The advantage of this method for selecting product default values is that you can go through the fields one by one.

The advantage of the generic method (described at the top) is that the process is quicker and more fluid.

Choose whichever method works best for you.

Remember, default values can always be changed and/or readjusted at any time.

You can also tag a particular item to be a product's default item when scanned at the POS.

• If you don't explicitly select a default item for a product, the system will simply choose the first item.

To tag an Item to be the Product's default:

• While in Product Properties for the item in question
• Select Edit > Set as Default Item.
  • Checked =  this item will be the default item for this product.
  • Unchecked = item is not the product default

On the Task Bar at the top of the Product Properties screen you will see:

Save: Saves your Changes.

Undo: deletes all unsaved changes that you have made.

Print Label: has a down arrow next to it.

• The down arrow calls up a submenu with two choices:
• Print Now: If you click on the Print Label icon itself, it is the same as selecting Print Now
  • Print Now calls up the Label Printer Selections window
  • From here you can print the barcode label for the selected product.
    • To learn how to create your store's barcode label using the Label Designer click here.
  • Review the information in the Printer Selections window
  • Make any necessary changes.
    • You can preview what the barcode label will look like by selecting the Preview button.
  • When you are ready to print the label
  • Click on the Print button
• Add To Batch: you can also batch labels, and then print the batch.
  • Batching labels means that you send the labels to a batch queue to be printed later.
  • This is convenient if your label printer is not nearby and you want to print labels for a variety of products.
  • In this case, batch the labels, then print them later.
  • To batch labels and print,
    • Click on Add To Batch
    • When you are ready to print the batch,
      • Select Reports >Print Labels from the menu at the top of the screen.
      • This will open the Printer Selections window, which looks the same as when you print labels without batching them, except there is no Preview button and there is a Label Stock field
        • within this field, a number will appear, showing you how many individual labels exist within the batch
      • Click on the Print button when you are ready to print the batch.
    • After printing a batch of labels, the system will ask if you want the batch deleted.
      • Unless there was a problem printing the batch (and you need to reprint it), have the system delete it.

iMerchant Tip:

• You can set the Label Type for each product within your system. If you want to print labels, then you should choose a Label Type for each product here in Product Properties.
• If you fail to do this, the system will choose the Label Type that is defaulted for your store, in Store Maintenance.
• The Label Type field will display a pulldown menu of label names that have been created in the Label Designer.
• Choose the one you want for the product in question.

If you scan a product into the system, iMerchant will automatically convert the product number to a 13-digit ISBN.

Likewise, if you hand-key the ISBN as a 10-digit ISBN in the product number field, the system will automatically convert it to a 13-digit ISBN.

If you really want the ISBN to be formatted as 10 digits:

• After the product has been added to the system
• Go back in the product number field and change it back to a 10-digit ISBN.

However the product number is formatted in Product Properties (10-digit vs. 13-digit ISBNs) will determine how that product number will display on printed forms and reports.

If the product number in Product Properties is formatted as a 13-digit ISBN, for example, then that same number will always print as a 13-digit ISBN on printed reports and forms.

For already-existing products within iMerchant, you can also convert 10-digit ISBNs to 13-digit ISBNs.

For instructions on how to do a sweeping conversion of all of your applicable products, click here.