Containers you get back
Track bottles, crates and cylinders you expect back
Mark an item as one that comes back. Charge a deposit when you sell it. See who still holds it. Pay the money back when the empty comes in.
Some of your stock leaves the shop but stays yours. A beer crate. A water jerrycan. A gas cylinder. Outlyz keeps that stock on the customer's name until it comes back, and holds the deposit money against it.
It is one loop. You mark the item once in the product form. The deposit gets charged at the sale. The app remembers who holds what. A return puts the item back on your shelf and the money back in the customer's pocket.
Do this setup before you start selling the item. A sale made while the item was still a plain product charges no deposit. It also puts nothing on the customer's record. Turn this on only for items that really come back. The rest of your stock works just as it did.
Step by step
1. Name the product, then add a variant
Open Inventory, then Products, then "Add Product". The page starts with no variants. So all you see is "Basic Product Information" and a note saying none have been added yet. Fill "Product Name" first. Then press "Add Variant". Now "What is it?" opens up. Fill "Item name" and "What is one piece called?". Under "How will you keep track of this item’s stock?" pick "Just count them" for bottles and crates. Pick "Each one has its own number" for gas cylinders.
2. Answer Yes when it asks if they come back
Keep going down the card. The form asks "Do they come back?". It uses your own word for one piece, so a bottle shop reads "Do the bottles come back?" instead. Press "Yes". The deposit boxes open up under it.
3. Set the deposit
Type the money you hold per piece into "Deposit per bottle". That box reads "Deposit per unit" if you left the piece name empty. If you also sell packs, a second box shows up, named after your pack. Something like "Deposit per crate". Tick "Deposit required on every sale" and a cashier cannot skip it.
4. Say whether you refill, then save
Answer "Do you charge to refill them?" with "Yes" for gas and drinking water. Then fill "Selling price for a refill". Leave the "Track filled / empty" switch on. It keeps empties on your shelf out of the stock you can sell. Now press "Save Product".
5. Put the stock in
Open the product. Numbered stock goes in on the "Units" tab, with "Single Unit" or "Bulk Units". You need a serial prefix before either one works. With none on file the dialog shows a warning and the "Serial Prefix" box is greyed out, so you cannot pick one. Make a prefix under Settings, then Business, then the "Serial Prefixes" tab, using "Add Prefix". The warning in the dialog links straight there. Back in the dialog you set "Serial Prefix", "Start Number", "Quantity", "Initial Location" and "Filled or empty". Counted stock goes in on the "Batches" tab with "Add Batch". A "Batch Label" like CRATE-001 follows one crate. Leave the label empty and it goes into loose stock.
6. Charge the deposit when you sell
Go to Sales, then Orders, then "New Sale". Pick the customer first. A sale with no customer cannot carry a deposit or a tracked item. Refillable items show a "Price Type" choice of "New" and "Refill". Counted returnables show an "Expected back" tick. The deposit itself is the "Charge Deposit" box. It lands on a "Deposit" line in the total.
7. See who is holding what
Open Sales, then Customers, then the customer. The "Items with Customer" card lists what they hold and the "Deposit liability" you owe back. "Containers & Loose Stock Held" adds the crates and loose empties, with the days they have been out. On the product page the "Units" tab shows "Current Holder", "Container State" and a "Days" count. Past 30 days that count turns red. "View Journey" opens the "Container Journey" for one serial number.
8. Take the empties back
On the customer page press "Receive Returns". Put the good ones in "Good condition". Put the rest in "Broken / Missing". Add "Notes" if you want. Then press "Confirm". At the counter the POS header has an "Item Return" button. If the customer is buying at the same time, use the "Returned Items" button inside the sale.
9. Check the deposit money
Open Sales, then Payments, then the "Deposits" tab. The cards read "Total Collected", "Total Refunded", "Written Off" and "Net Outstanding". The "Transaction Type" filter cuts the list down. One customer's own trail sits under "Deposit History" on their page.
Worth knowing
Broken means no refund
Anything you type into "Broken / Missing" stays on the customer's balance. The deposit does not come back to them. The dialog warns you before you press "Confirm". It shows in the deposits list as "Written Off", and reads "Broken" on the customer's "Deposit History".
The New price carries no deposit
On a refillable item, "New" means the customer is buying the container itself. So the "Charge Deposit" box goes away on that line. "Refill" is the one that keeps the deposit. There is no separate box for the new price either. It is the selling price you typed back under "What is it?".
Numbered items come back a different way
"Receive Returns" only settles counted stock. When a customer holds nothing but numbered units, the button greys out. The page then points you to Stock Movements. There you record a move from the customer back to a location. The POS "Item Return" button handles them too.
The report section is there, but off by default
On the Reports page the "Sections" button opens a list of tick boxes. The returnables one is named with your own word for one piece. A gas depot reads "Cylinders and deposits". A business that never set a word reads "What is still out" instead. It shows how many are out, and that count uses your word too, plus "Deposits held" and "Overdue over 30 days". It only turns up once you have something out or a deposit on record. It cannot be cut down to one branch, because the items sit with customers, not at a branch.
Questions
A customer took 24 bottles, brought back 18 and says six broke. What do I record?
Press "Receive Returns" on their page. Type 18 into "Good condition" and 6 into "Broken / Missing". Press "Confirm". They get the deposit back on the 18 only. The six clear off their record and show as "Written Off" in the deposits list.
Can I let a trusted customer take crates without paying a deposit?
Yes. Untick "Charge Deposit" on that line. Or flip "Waive deposit" to clear the deposits for the whole order. If you ticked "Deposit required on every sale" when you set the item up, the box is locked and the cashier cannot skip it.
Do I need serial numbers on beer bottles?
No. Pick "Just count them" for bottles and crates. The app then tracks totals per customer. Keep "Each one has its own number" for gas cylinders, and anything else where you follow every single piece.
Outlyz does this
Outlyz tracks your stock, orders and deliveries, and every container you expect back. UGX 20,000 per person per month. The first month is free and no card is needed.
Or call 0780 784870 and we will set it up with you.