Products & pricing

Use one stock identity for each SKU

The canonical product identifies the sellable or stocked SKU. Its base unit provides the common quantity used for availability, purchasing, production and fulfillment. Store and online descriptions can differ without creating separate pools of the same stock.

A product style groups related items for the range, while a variant identifies the particular sellable choice. The relationship must resolve to the intended SKU rather than creating another quantity balance under the style or channel listing.

This distinction matters when a customer chooses a size, color or pack. Staff need the exact item to pick and bill, not only the family description used to browse the range.

Match barcodes and channel listings deliberately

Barcode records map recognized identifiers to the intended product and unit. A label does not grant a new stock identity or prove that an item was physically received, sold or returned.

Channel product mappings retain the channel’s listing identity and the canonical SKU it represents. Conflicting or missing mappings require review before they generate operational quantities. A listing change cannot redirect a previously accepted order line to another product without an approved change.

• Keep product, variant and channel identities distinct.
• Resolve each selling identifier to the right SKU and unit.
• Preserve mappings used by historical orders.
• Investigate ambiguous identifiers before using them for stock work.

Keep buying, selling and stocking units aligned

Products may be bought or sold in packs while stock is held in individual units. A reviewed conversion establishes how transaction quantity becomes base quantity. Two packs of six reserve twelve base units, not two or an assumed quantity from the product description.

The transaction keeps the conversion version it used. Later pack changes cannot rewrite received quantities, finished output, customer handovers or the units eligible for return.

Conversions must be meaningful for the particular product. Quantities from different SKUs cannot be added as though they were one interchangeable item, including the components that go into an assembled kit.

Preserve net amounts through partial work

Line discounts and any allocated order discount reduce the agreed net amount once. The invoice and credit use their eligible share of that accepted amount instead of subtracting the original discount again.

Partial quantities retain deterministic rounding. When an agreed net total is split across several fulfillments, the final eligible allocation receives the remaining cents so the parts still reconcile to the agreement.

Tax treatment and its effective rate evidence remain separate from the product’s display price. Missing tax or currency evidence cannot be replaced with zero. A valid zero rate or zero price needs its explicit reviewed basis, not a fallback caused by missing data.

Introduce changes without rewriting history

Product, unit, mapping and pricing changes follow the relevant independent domain review. Preserve before-and-after content, effective boundaries and affected unexecuted work. Posted stock and accepted commercial history remain traceable to the versions actually used.

Production recipes and standards have their own technical and finance authority. Editing a retail description cannot change the component issue, finished quantity or cost of an already released job.

A physical kit and a sales grouping also need different treatment. Actual assembly consumes materials into WIP and receives finished stock; simply grouping sellable items must not produce that same kit balance a second time.