Discounts & Surcharges

Take money off a quote, or add a little on, in one of two ways: quietly, by adjusting the prices themselves, or openly, as a discount or surcharge line in the quote totals.

Where to Find It

Discounts are set on the first page of the quote, with the event details. Turn on Add Discount / Surcharge and two panels open side by side:

Hidden adjustment changes your prices without showing a separate line. The customer sees the adjusted prices and nothing else.
Visible adjustment shows a discount or a surcharge in the quote totals, so the customer can see exactly what you took off or added.

You can use either one, or both on the same quote. A short summary of what is set shows beside the switch, so you can tell at a glance without opening it.

Hidden Adjustment

Use this when you want a better price without advertising a discount, or when you want to lift a whole quote for a premium date or venue.

Type a percentage in the box, or drag the slider. Below zero is a discount and shows -Discount; above zero is a surcharge and shows +Surcharge.
Under Apply to, tick what it should change: Packages, Menu, Beverages, Equipment, Misc and Staff. Untick anything that should keep its normal price.
Carry on to the items page and save the quote as usual.

Each line is recalculated from its catalogue price, so a 10% discount on a $5.00 canape makes it $4.50 on the quote, the PDF and every quote template. Nothing on the quote says a discount was applied.

Manually priced items keep their price. If you typed a price on a line yourself, the hidden adjustment leaves that line alone. The panel lists those lines in red before you save, so you know which ones will not move.

Visible Adjustment

Use this when you want the customer to see the saving, or when a surcharge should be shown as its own charge.

Choose Discount or Surcharge. None turns it off.
Under Calculate by, choose Amount for a fixed figure, or Percentage.
Enter the amount or the percentage.

The adjustment is worked out on the quote’s subtotal, which includes the delivery fee, and is applied before sales tax. The customer sees it as its own line in the totals, on the quote and the PDF.

Which One Should I Use?

Hidden adjustment for a negotiated price you would rather not spell out, a loyalty rate for a regular, or a seasonal uplift across the whole menu.
Visible adjustment for a promotion, a goodwill gesture you want recognised, or a surcharge the customer has agreed to, such as a public holiday rate.

Card processing fees are handled separately, at payment time. See Credit Card Surcharges.

Discounts in Xero and QuickBooks

If your account is connected to accounting software, the panel reminds you how a visible adjustment is sent across:

Xero: discounts are shared across the invoice lines before tax is calculated, so a percentage discount may show as a dollar amount on each line. Surcharges appear as separate lines.
QuickBooks: with prices including tax, discounts are shared across the invoice lines so the total matches the quote. With prices excluding tax, they use QuickBooks’ invoice discount field. Surcharges appear as separate lines, split by tax code.

A hidden adjustment is already part of each price, so it reaches your invoice as the adjusted line prices. See Connecting with Xero and Connecting with QuickBooks.

Discount Codes

Customers ordering online can enter a promotion code at checkout. A code lands on the order as a visible discount, exactly as if you had set it yourself. See Discount Codes.

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