How To: Setup and Use Free Item Reasons
Table Of Contents
Free Item Reasons allow you to record why a stock item has been supplied free of charge or at a reduced price on a sales order.
Using Free Item Reasons helps maintain a clear audit trail and improves reporting by recording the business reason behind discounted or zero-value items.
When a reason is not selected, Khaos Control applies the reason marked as the Default Reason.
Note: The Free Item Reason column is hidden by default. Before you can use this feature, unhide the column using Configure Grid from the Grid menu.
Set Up Free Item Reasons
Before Free Item Reasons can be used on sales orders, they must be created in System Data.
- Open a System Data screen (show me how).
- Press Alt+E or click Edit to enter edit mode.
- Press F3 or click Add to create a new reason.
- Complete the required fields:
Description
Enter a clear description explaining why an item may be supplied free of charge or at a reduced price.
Default Reason
Tick Default Reason if this reason should automatically be applied when no specific free item reason is selected.
Commercial Sample?
Tick Commercial Sample? if the items should be treated as commercial samples for reporting purposes.
This option affects how items are reported in EC-related reports, including:
- Press Ctrl+S or click Save to save your changes.
Example Free Item Reasons
Common examples include:
- Normal Sale (Default)
- Complaint
- Damage Replacement
- Manager Goodwill
- Marketing Purposes (Commercial Sample)
- Missing Parts
You can create additional reasons that match your business processes.
Apply a Free Item Reason on a Sales Order
Once the reasons have been configured, they can be assigned to individual sales order lines.
- Add the free or reduced-price item to the sales order.
- Locate the Free Item Reason column.
- Press F4 within the field.
- Select the appropriate reason from the list.
- Continue processing the sales order as normal.
Result
The selected Free Item Reason is recorded against the sales order line, providing a clear explanation for the discounted or free item.
Reporting on Free Item Reasons
Free Item Reasons can be analysed using the:
report.
Use the filter:
Free Items - Show orders containing free items with the specified Free Item Reason recorded
This filter allows you to:
- Select a Free Item Reason from a drop-down list.
- Review orders containing free or discounted items.
- Analyse the reasons why products are being supplied free of charge.
- Track goodwill, marketing samples, replacements and other business activities.
Tips
- Create clear and consistent Free Item Reasons to improve reporting accuracy.
- Use a Default Reason to ensure all free or reduced-price items are categorised.
- Regularly review reports to understand the impact of promotions, replacements and goodwill gestures.
- Mark genuine samples as Commercial Sample where appropriate to support EC reporting requirements.