Setting Up Service Items at the POS
How to add non-physical service items to AskBiz POS — fitting fees, delivery charges, installation costs, and other services that need to appear on till receipts alongside physical goods.
Key Takeaways
- Service items are products with no physical stock — they don't trigger stock alerts or appear in stock counts.
- Adding a fitting fee or delivery charge as a service item keeps it on the till receipt and in your sales reports.
- Service items can be added manually by cashiers at any price using Open Price items.
What is a service item?
A service item is a non-physical product that you charge for but don't stock. Examples: a fitting fee for blinds or curtains, a delivery charge, an installation service, gift wrapping, a consultation fee, or a repair charge. In AskBiz, service items are set up almost identically to physical products, but with stock tracking disabled. This means they don't consume inventory when sold and don't appear in stock counts or low-stock alerts.
Creating a service item
Go to Operations > Retail > Products > Add Product. Enter the service name (e.g. 'Standard Delivery', 'Blind Fitting Service', 'Gift Wrapping'). Set the price. Set VAT rate — most services in the UK are standard-rated at 20%. In the Product Type or Unit field, select Service (or the equivalent option in your AskBiz configuration). This disables stock tracking. Leave the stock quantity and minimum stock fields blank or at zero. Save. The service item is now available at the till.
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Start for free →Open price service items
Some services have variable pricing — a bespoke installation where the charge depends on time taken, for example. Create a service item with a price of £0.00 and enable the Allow Price Override option (sometimes called Open Price). At the till, when this item is added to a transaction, the cashier is prompted to enter the price before it's added to the basket. This is much cleaner than manually applying a discount or creating a new service item for every price point.
Adding services to a sale
Service items appear in the till's product search alongside physical products. Search by name or assign a quick-access button on the till's home screen for frequently used services. Add the service item to the basket just like any physical product. If it has an open price, enter the amount when prompted. The service appears on the receipt with its own line, price, and VAT amount — giving the customer a clear breakdown of what they paid for goods vs. services.
Reporting on service revenue
In POS Reports > Products, service items appear in the product list. Filter by category (create a 'Services' category for all your service items to make filtering easy). Service revenue often carries a higher margin than physical goods — there's no cost of goods for a fitting service except labour, which may not be tracked as a cost in AskBiz. Track service revenue separately from product revenue to understand the real contribution each stream makes to your business.