How to Set up and Use the "Customer as a Vendor" (Barter) Feature

How to Set up and Use the "Customer as a Vendor" (Barter) Feature

​​​​It sometimes occurs that you purchase parts or service from a business that also uses you to repair his or her vehicles or that purchases parts from you. If both parties agree, the charges for the repairs can act as part of the payment for the purchases you make, a form of bartering.

For this to work, both the customer and the vendor must be set up in advance. Effectively, you will set up the customer to also be a vendor, or if you prefer, you can set up the vendor to be a customer.  If one or the other already exist, it's very easy to create the other.  However, if both already exist, separately in your data base, that will require a different tack.  We'll address that at the end of the article.

For our purposes here, we will act as if neither currently exist, and will proceed through the process from scratch.
1. Create the customer (and vehicle if work is to be done on a vehicle.)

Notice the icon at the upper right corner of the customer master record.  This indicates this is a customer only at this point.
2. Click on the Customer Options button and find and click on View and Edit Record Type.

3. Click on Make a Vendor.  This will immediately open a new vendor record with the customer's information already filled out.  You will need to give the record a Vendor Code, then Save it.
You will be returned to the customer master record and will notice the icon in the upper right corner now represents both Customer and Vendor.


4. You are now ready to use the barter function.
      Assuming you have posted a repair order for work done on the vendor's vehicle and posted it to Accounts Receivable.  The customer master record would now show a AR balance of let's say $221.94.  Also, you have made a parts purchase for $300 from the vendor.  You now show a $300 balance in your AP for that vendor, and you wish to pay it off.
5. Open the vendor record, click on Vendor Options and choose  Pay A/P Transactions (or click on Vendors and on Pay Bills).
6. Initially, your pay screen will look like this:


7. Only your AP charges will show, until you place a check mark in the box Show open AR transactions that can be applied as payment.


8. Tag both the charge and the AR transaction.


9. Click Next


10. Choose your method of payment to pay the difference, set the correct date of payment and Finish.
11. Your AP balance and customer's AR balance will now both be reduced by the amount of the credit you used.

What to do if both the vendor and the customer already exist in your database, and both have current balances?
1. Open the Vendor record.
2. Click on Vendor Options and choose View and Edit Record Type.
3. Click on Make a Customer.  You will now have duplicate customers, one with a history and one without.
4. Open the "original" customer record.  If the customer has a vehicle or multiple vehicles with repair histories, you will need to transfer those vehicles from the "original" customer to the newly created customer, (highlight a vehicle, click Vehicle Options and choose Transfer Vehicle.  Do them one by one till all vehicles are now attached to the new customer.)
5. If the original customer has an AR balance or credit, you will have to "migrate" that or those balances over to the new customer.  
6. If the customer has a positive balance owed to you, you will click on Customer Options and choose Create a New Credit.  (Likewise, if the customer has a credit balance, you'll choose Create a New Invoice.)  You can choose to create a single transaction to match the full outstanding balance, or one credit for each individual charge.  Most would do a single transaction. The offset GL Account for the invoice or credit transaction should be 19900 (could be any account number, so long as when you do the next step, you use the exact same gl account.)
7. Post the transaction.
8. Click on Customer Options, choose Pay A/R Invoices, tag all open charges and credits and click Next
9. Credit Available should be flashing Red.  Click on Use Credits for Payment. Tag the credit(s) to use.
10. Click Save, then Finish.  That original customer should now have a zero balance in A/R.
11. Open the new customer's master record.  We'll do the opposite of what we just did.  In other words, if you wrote a credit for the original customer, you will now Create a New Invoice for the same amount, and again post to the same GL account (19900).  Your "conjoined" vendor/customer will now have the same balance the original customer did.  Delete the original customer now.

    • Related Articles

    • How to Find Vendor History

      Click on Vendors Select Accounts Payable Vendor List Double click on the Vendor from the list Click the Options button on the left Select View A/P Transactions Use the Show drop down box to select the time frame to view. It defaults to Open Invoices ...

    • Customer Record / Customer Options

      The Customer Record Options procedure explains how to use the various features available with the Customer Options buttons. The main function of the Options button in the Customer Record is to manage the Accounts Receivable transactions for the ...

    • Digital Inspection Feature

      Create unlimited Digital Inspections to assign to your techs for various tasks including vehicle inspections or other checklist-type functions Be mobile! Perform the Inspections anywhere in the shop using Windows tablets or laptops. Easily mark items ...

    • Vendor Quick Check

      From time to time you might have to give a vendor a check before you can enter the restock ticket for the part or sublet purchase.  For this you would create what we call a “Vendor Quick Check”.  This will put a credit on their Vendor Account in ...

    • How to Set Up a Vendor in MaxxTraxx

      Click on the Vendors menu  Select  Accounts Payable Vendor List  Click the Add Vendor button at the bottom Fill in Company Name and Vendor Code (required) Click the blue Account link, select the Use Special Account radio button in the A/P Account ...