Clients and discounts — Paloma365 Classic (Windows POS)

This article is about Paloma365 Classic, the POS program for Windows: selecting a customer in a bill, discount cards, creating a customer at the POS, and how discounts are applied. Basic bill operations: Sales and orders.

Overview

Attach a customer to a bill so the POS automatically applies their discount, price type, deposit and points. Discounts are configured by the administrator in the web dashboard — the POS only applies them. See also Client deposits and Payments.

How to select a customer in a bill

Manually (F2 key). Tap the customer field on the sale screen (F2 — "Manual customer selection"). In the selection window, use the search field with the "Search type" switch (name, card, "Phone number"), highlight the customer and press "Select" (Enter); "Cancel" (Esc) closes without selecting. Below the list the POS shows the customer's contact details, purchase totals, deposit and points. Selection can be restricted by employee rights or an outlet password.

Search details: the POS remembers the last used search type; name search matches any part of the name; phone search ignores spaces, brackets and dashes and accepts a partial number; switching to card search automatically flips the keyboard to the English layout so the scanner input is not garbled. By default a card matches only by the full code — partial card codes work when the local POS setting "Partial match for customer search" is enabled.

With the local setting "Customer's image" enabled, the selection window shows the highlighted customer's photo (tap to enlarge, a button retakes the shot), and after creating a customer the POS offers to photograph them. This needs the photo module (clientPhoto.dll); the POS downloads it automatically when the setting is turned on, and reports "clientPhoto.dll library was not found..." if it is missing.

Extra buttons of the window: a customer-debt button (shown when the local setting "Request customer debt" is on; internet required — offline it reports a failure, with a debt it shows the amount and in a shop offers to take the money into the till right away, otherwise it just shows the customer's balance), purchase-history printing, a temporary customer code panel (find a customer by code or bind a code; "Прочитать с ключа" reads the code from an electronic RFID key — binding it in one mode, instantly selecting the bound customer in the other; temporary codes are kept for one month, and if the button does not react, the reader module RFID.dll is missing — no error is shown), and linked customer cards (internet required).

By discount card (F6 key). F6 ("Customer selection by card code") opens the "Enter the customer code" window — scan the card or type its code. A single match is attached to the bill immediately; otherwise the POS shows "Customer not found".

Creating a customer at the POS

Press the add-customer button in the selection window; the POS may ask for the outlet password or deny the action by employee rights. In the "Enter information about the new customer" window choose "Individual" or "Entity", fill in "Group", "FULL NAME", "Phone number" and scan the discount card into the "Card code" field (an entity also gets company details such as "BIN/TIN"). Press "Accept" and confirm. Internet is required; the group and name are mandatory. The POS also validates the birth date (it must be earlier than today — "Enter another date of birth!") and the phone: the field accepts digits only, and a number shorter than 10 characters typed on the on-screen keyboard is rejected with "Invalid format...". The new customer is attached to the bill right away.

How a discount is applied

• Customer discount. On selecting a customer, the POS applies the discounts assigned to them (respecting outlet, weekday and time limits); if several match, a selection window lists them.
• Price type. If the customer has a different price type, the POS asks: "Chosen customer has different price type! Recalculate the receipt body?" A customer with several price types gets a "Price type" selection window — pick one or the "By default" row.
• Manual discount. The "Discount" button opens "Enter the discount percentage"; sum-based and per-item discounts are also available. Manual discounts require an employee right or the outlet discount password; every change is logged in the bill history.

Types of customer discounts

All mechanics are configured by the administrator; at the POS they look like this:

• Percent on the whole bill — the usual discount.
• Fixed-sum discount — a money amount is taken off the bill and spread across the items proportionally.
• Cumulative by purchase sum — the discount has accumulation thresholds: the more the customer has spent (the per-discount total shown in the selection window), the higher the discount tier applied. Accumulation counts only the outlets the discount is attached to.
• Cumulative by quantity — buying a set quantity of a promo item earns a bonus item. The POS warns in advance ("when purchasing N or more…") and, once earned, offers: "Attention!" … "Issue now?" — see Gifts, certificates and loyalty.
• Per-item discounts — the discount applies to specific items only, each with its own discount percent and even its own service percent, so different lines of one bill legitimately show different percentages.
• Who it applies to — a specific customer, a whole customer group (folder), or all customers at once.
• Where it applies — the discount is enabled separately "for cafe" (the "Waiter", "Hall manager" and "Tariffs" interfaces) and "for fastfood" (the quick-sale/shop and "Salon" interfaces). If a discount does not fire, check that it is enabled for the mode the POS runs in.

Common problems

• "Ошибка при добавлении клиента!" (error while adding the client) — the client was not saved; the reason is on the next line. Check the required fields and retry.
• "Ошибка при создании фотографии клиента" (error while taking the client photo) — the camera shot failed: check that the camera is connected and not used by another program. The client can be saved without a photo.
• "Permission denied!" — the action is disabled in the employee's rights.
• The POS asks for a password — the "Enter the password to" window expects the outlet password, not the employee's. "Wrong password!" — check it with the administrator.
• "To use discounts you need to set the password!" — manual discounts are blocked until the discount password is set or the discount right is granted.
• "Customer not found" — the card is not linked to any customer; check the card code or create the customer at the POS.
• The discount disappeared after changing the customer — expected: manual discounts reset and the new customer's discounts apply.

FAQ

Why did no discount appear after selecting the customer?

Discounts may be limited to certain outlets, weekdays or hours — ask the administrator.

Can I issue a discount card at the POS?

Yes — create the customer at the POS and scan the card into the "Card code" field.