Purpose
Use Customers to keep contact details, addresses, account terms, pricing, messages, and sales history for people and businesses. A saved customer lets staff find the account and use its usual pricing during a sale.
Where to find it
- Open Customers from the merchant workspace.
- Search for a person or business, then select the row to open the profile.
- Use tabs such as Details, Tax documents, Messages, Loyalty, Earned Pricing, Negotiated Prices, Orders, Work Orders, and Recurring when available.
- An administrator can choose Custom Fields to set up extra customer details.
Product locationMerchant workspace > Customers
Prerequisites and availability
- Sign in with a merchant role that can use Customers. Manager or administrator access is needed for customer status changes and negotiated prices. An administrator manages custom fields.
- Text consent and the Messages tab appear only when Text Messaging is set up and ready.
- Work Orders, Loyalty, Earned Pricing, portal access, and saved-card actions depend on the feature and payment setup.
- Address search depends on the address service. You can enter an address by hand if search is unavailable.
Create and manage a customer
- Choose New Customer. Enter a name or company. Choose a Type: Retail, Contractor, or Wholesale.
- Set the customer’s Pricing tier if needed. Leave Use customer type default selected to use the tier that matches the Type. A saved Pricing tier takes priority over Type. For example, a Contractor customer assigned to a saved Garden Center tier uses Garden Center prices; a product without a Garden Center price uses Retail. See Pricing to compare the tiers.
- Add phone and email. Set Net Terms, Credit Limit ($), and Discount (%) if they apply to the account. Use Tax Exempt or Resale only when you have the matching record or certificate.
- Add the main address, then save the customer. In the profile, use the addresses area to add billing and delivery addresses. Check street, city, state, ZIP, and county before saving.
- To add other customer details, an administrator opens Customers > Custom Fields. Choose a field label, type, and whether it is required. Add choice options when needed, then save and order the fields.
- Fill in active custom fields on the customer form. Use the customer list filters or Report Builder to find accounts by a saved custom value.
- In the contacts area, add a contact name and role. Turn on Receive order emails only for contacts who should receive those messages. Deactivate a contact when they should remain in history but stop receiving mail.
- For portal access, add a portal email and choose Add & Send Invite. Save the main account email before sending invoices or account notices. Use Resend Invite if the person did not finish setup.
- If messaging is ready, review the consent notice and confirm permission for the phone number on the account. A number change needs fresh consent. Use the Messages tab to review the customer thread.
- Use the customer’s Orders tab to review order history. Use Loyalty and Earned Pricing to review the account’s reward or pricing progress when those programs are available.
- Choose Deactivate to stop new orders for a customer while keeping history. Choose Reactivate to restore the account. Delete only when you want to remove the record and have checked the confirmation.
Custom fields can be text, long text, number, date, yes/no, or a choice from a list. You can keep up to 20 fields active and 50 total fields. A choice field can have up to 100 options. Turning a field off hides it from entry forms and filters, but staff can still view its saved values.
For a price exception, use the customer’s Negotiated Prices tab. Enter the final price for one product per base unit. For example, a negotiated $8 price for mulch changes that customer’s mulch price only; their other products still use their regular tier. This does not change the customer’s saved tier.
Field and action reference
| Field or action | Meaning and guidance |
|---|---|
| Search and filters | Search by name, phone, address, customer number, or debt. Filter by type or status. The list starts with Active Customers. |
| Name, Company, Type | Enter a name or company. Type defaults to Retail and sets the usual customer group unless you choose another Pricing tier. |
| Phone and Email | Keep the main contact details current. Staff can use them to find the customer, send receipts, set up portal access, and check messaging consent. |
| Pricing Tier | Choose a saved tier or leave Use customer type default selected. A negotiated price for a product is managed separately in Negotiated Prices. |
| Net Terms, Credit Limit, Discount % | Net Terms offers Due on receipt, Net 15, Net 30, or Net 60. Credit Limit accepts $0 or more. Discount % accepts 0 through 100 and applies only in eligible pricing workflows. |
| Tax Exempt, Resale, and certificate numbers | Choose the status that matches the customer’s records. Add the certificate or resale number when shown. Tax documents and expiration are managed in the Tax documents tab. |
| Disallow COD | Warns staff to collect payment before scheduling a delivery. |
| Billing and delivery addresses | Store billing and delivery addresses. Check street, city, state, ZIP, county, address label, and delivery notes before saving. |
| Customer contacts | A contact needs a name and role. Email is optional. Receive order emails is selected for a new contact; turn it off when they should not get order messages. |
| Customer Portal Emails | Add an address with Add & Send Invite, resend an invite, or remove an extra address. Save the main account email before relying on invoices or account notices. |
| Text consent and Messages | Consent needs a ready text service and a valid phone number. A new phone number needs fresh consent. An opted-out customer cannot be messaged until they opt back in. |
| Past Due, Total Open Debt, Credit Limit, Store Credit | The profile shows account balances. Open the store-credit tile to add or remove credit. Enter an amount over $0, a reason, and no more credit than the current balance when removing it. |
| Deactivate, Reactivate, Delete | Deactivate a customer to keep history but remove them from active selectors and new orders. Reactivate to use the account again. Delete requires confirmation and cannot be undone. |
| Orders, Work Orders, Recurring | Orders shows history and filters. Work Orders tracks service jobs when enabled. Recurring appears when the payment processor supports saved-card billing. |
| Custom Fields | An administrator can set up up to 20 active fields, with up to 100 choices per choice field. Field types include text, long text, number, date, yes/no, and single or multiple choice. |
| Customer custom values and filters | Active fields appear on create and edit forms. Use field values to filter the customer list or supported Report Builder reports. Inactive fields keep their saved values but no longer appear in entry forms or filters. |
| Custom field CSV columns | Customer exports include a stable ID column for each field. For imports, map that ID column to keep values connected if you rename a field or choice. A display-only column shows current choice labels. |
| Negotiated Prices | Manager or administrator access is needed. A saved final price applies to one customer and product. Remove the row to restore the customer’s usual tier price. |
Expected results
The saved customer appears in active selectors with the chosen Type, Pricing tier, account details, addresses, custom values, and status. The profile’s tabs show the customer’s current messages, rewards, earned pricing, and order history when those features are enabled.
Troubleshooting
- Customer cannot be created: enter a name or company, then save again.
- Customer is missing from a selector: check the status filter. Reactivate the customer if staff should use the account for new orders.
- Custom field is missing: ask an administrator to check that the field is active. A store can have up to 20 active fields.
- Custom value does not import: check the active field type and current choice options. Map the stable-ID CSV column when available.
- Text consent is unavailable: confirm that messaging is ready and the phone number is valid. Get consent again after a number change.
- Portal invite has no destination: save the customer’s main email, then send the invite again.
- Address warning appears: review or enter the street, city, state, ZIP, and county by hand.
- Store credit cannot be removed: enter an amount no larger than the current balance and include a reason.