Prices, customer groups and currencies

In Consho a price is a row of its own on the product. Each row applies to one currency, optionally to one customer group, from a quantity on and within a period. Group, tier and promotion prices all come from the same building block.

In the back end

In the product list through the Prices operation.

Currency	only currencies a shop sells in.
Enter as	gross or net. Net is always what is stored; a gross amount is converted with the tax rate of the home country. Switching does not convert an amount already entered.
Country	only visible when a currency belongs to several home countries: its tax rate is used for the conversion.
Customer group	empty: the base price, which applies to everyone.
From quantity	the tier; 1 is the base case.
Valid from / until	date and time; the start is included, the end is not.
Sold as	one-time sale or a subscription rule.

A variant without a valid price row of its own takes the rows of its main product.

Which price applies

What decides is how precisely a row fits – not which one is cheaper:

customer group and tier
customer group
tier
the base price

Anyone in several groups gets the cheapest group price. Where the rank is otherwise equal, a row with a period beats one without; between two rows with a period, the later start wins.

Lowering a price or a promotion: a row with a period that is cheaper than the row without a period beside it is a promotion – with the “Sale” badge and the strike-through price.

Permanently cheaper, right away	change the amount of the row without a period.
Permanently cheaper from a date	set “Valid until” of the existing row to that date and create a new row “Valid from” the same date, without an end. A new row with only “Valid from” beside the existing one would be a promotion.
Promotion for a limited time	an additional row with a period beside the base price.

Net prices for business customers

In the shop configuration, in the “Customer groups” section, you set the Customer groups with net prices. Their members see prices without VAT, followed by “plus VAT”; guests always see gross prices with “incl. VAT”. The field only controls the display – which amount applies is still decided by the price row.

With the switch Verified VAT ID → net price groups in the same section, a member whose VAT ID VIES confirms joins these groups automatically – on registration, when saving “Personal data”, when the member is saved in the back end and when an account created from a guest order is opened. It is off by default. Groups are only ever added, never taken away; the member shows when this happened. Saving the member in the back end confirms the groups as assigned by hand. The checkout never assigns a group: a VAT ID typed there belongs to the order.

Note: the groups also unlock their group prices and discounts. VIES only confirms that the number is valid – not that the customer should get these prices.

Several currencies

In the shop configuration, the “Currencies” section holds the Accepted currencies. Which one a visitor sees is set by the start point, in the “Currency” field – it belongs to the way in, like the language. If the shop accepts only one currency, Consho sets it by itself. A product needs a price row of its own for every currency.

Findings and pitfalls

Two prices of equal rank at the same time: which one applies is down to chance. Limit one row in time or delete it.
Group price above the base price: usually the base price was lowered and the group price forgotten. If it is intended, there is nothing to do.
Product without a price in the shop's currency: it is missing from lists and the sitemap.
Customer group with net prices deleted or disabled: in the shop configuration under “Customer groups with net prices”, remove the entry or choose the group that took its place. Until then its former members see gross prices.
Net price groups assigned automatically, without a valid VAT ID (warning): the member's VAT ID became invalid or was removed. The groups stay until you decide: remove them under “Members” – or save the member, and they count as assigned by hand.
“Always load from cache” on catalogue pages while there are group prices: a logged-in member would then get the page a guest left in the cache. It is recommended to switch the setting off for catalogue pages to avoid wrong prices.
For filters and sorting, Consho keeps a list price. If something was written past the back end, consho:price:rebuild puts it right.

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