Inventory removed again without finishing sale, plz read & help.

[Courtright]

Hello Ronald,

If you'll remember correctly I made a topic stating that a sales associate figured out a way to remove an item from inventory without ever finishing the sale.  Well it has happened again, but this time I have not cleared it.  I did an inventory count yesterday morning and our count for Oakley's was perfect, then at closing my Manager did another count and we had 1 more in the cases than the system said we should have, so we were plus one.  The scary thing with that is an employee could simply steal it and I would never know.

So today, I quickly was able to find out by going to product control and searching quantity that our "Oakley Frogskin: White w/ Ruby Lens" was -1 (negative one).  I go into sales control and I see that at 10:39 PM she actually sells a "Oakley Frogskin: White w/ Ruby Lens" and completes the sale, but at 6:14 pm the system shows that she rings up a customer for the same pair, "Oakley Frogskin: White w/ Ruby Lens" but never finishes the sale.  Unlike a finished sale that shows the majority of the touchable boxes grayed out (so you have to enter a password to edit or void the sale) this earlier attempt at 6:14pm has none of the boxes grayed out.  They are still all clickable and in color.  I can simply hit the "CLEAR SALE" button and it would all go away.

(continued below)....

[Courtright]

To help diagnose this issue I keep having, what do you want me to do/try.  I also can take screenshots to better help show the issue.  I am going to review the camera footage right now to make sure it was a legitimate ring-up at 6:14 and perhaps the customer at the last minute did not want them, but clearly the sale is not finished, it is marked *not paid* even, but yet it did remove it from inventory.  I had a count of plus 1 and this morning it showed -1.

Thanks for helping me diagnose this.  I am scared if an employee learns how to do this trick they can start stealing merchandise and I would probably never find out and some of these glasses are hundreds of dollars each.  Thanks

[Courtright]

Here is a picture showing the *not paid* in the Sales Control, the one above it after 10pm is when they actually were rang up and sold, 4 hours later.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i252/business-spice/POS%20System/salescontrol_zpsc8722a2e.jpg

[Courtright]

Here is when I click on the *not paid* sales at 6:14 pm, this is what the screen looks like.  Notice I can simply "CLEAR SALE" but yet I 100% know that whatever happened during this transaction has deducted 1 item from inventory.  I had +1 in the morning, this transaction took it to zero and then the real sale after 10pm took it to -1.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i252/business-spice/POS%20System/NotPaidSale_zpsf70ed141.jpg

[ronaldrwl]

Nothing is removed from inventory until the sale is Finished.  Try it.  You have to press Finish and then select a payment method.  Until then nothing is removed from inventory.

[Courtright]

I know that is what is claimed but I am honestly letting you know that it has happened somehow twice with us.  I did an inventory count in the morning (twice with Ray Ban and Oakley) and they were spot on.  We do this every morning and every night.  And then for that 1 pair it dropped to negative 1 although we only had 1 of them to sell.  It has to be some bug/glitch because it does not do it 99% of the time but has definitely done it twice this year.

The proof is in the attached pictures and doing the inventory count, and like I said Product Control (which I only have access to) said -1.  I am unsure how else you can explain that.

[Courtright]

I am linking 2 photos.  1 of me clearing the sale and the other one is that message that I told you I get when trying to clear a sale that has not been finished, but has removed an item from inventory.  I got this exact message the last time a sale was not finished but the item was removed from inventory.  It has been the only time I have gotten this message.

Me clearing sale:
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i252/business-spice/POS%20System/meclickingCLEARSALE_zps7d73e35a.jpg

The pop-up message I get when trying to clear the *not paid* sale:
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i252/business-spice/POS%20System/popupbox_zps706e5839.jpg

It states "Some Items May Have Printed Already! Clearing This Ticket Will Be Recorded In The Managers Log"

[ronaldrwl]

Those messages are not saying anything about inventory being changed.  Just that the items are being removed from the sale.  If you find out how it's being changed let us know but I don't know of anyway.  One question I have is why was the sale printed before being paid?  that's a red flag for employee theft.  I would hide the menu bar so they can't print a sale first.

[Courtright]

The weird thing is I watched the entire sale on the camera system and I was even going to upload the video so you could watch it.

A customer walked in and picked out a pair. My employee rang them up and the customer stood at the counter for a couple minutes and decided she would think about it since it was a big purchase and that she would be back tomorrow.  My employee then left the sale sitting there on the screen and walked away.  After about 15 minutes she came back to the system and exited out of it so she could ring someone new up. 


Also, you stated "One question I have is why was the sale printed before being paid?  that's a red flag for employee theft.  I would hide the menu bar so they can't print a sale first."  Can you explain to me how an employee could possibly steal that way? 
 
Also if you look at my screencap (http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i252/business-spice/POS%20System/meclickingCLEARSALE_zps7d73e35a.jpg what part are you calling the "Menu Bar" and how do I go about hiding it?  I take it that is the top bar "File, Products, Sales, etc."
 
Thanks Ronald, if you can address those questions in RED that would be a huge relief.  Right now I'm kinda getting that queezy feeling that an employee is trying to "do something"

[Courtright]

Ronald, found something.

Here is what I did if you want to try on your end.

1) Create a New Product.  Gave it a price of .01 and a stock of 1.

2) Go to the Sales screen and ring up the product but don't complete the sale.  I went to the Menu Bar and clicked "Print Sale".  I then checked Product Control and my inventory level went to a stock of 2 for some reason.

3) I then tried it again, but this time I clicked the button to change the quantity and put in negative 2.  Then, I printed another receipt without finishing a sale.  I checked product control and the stock went to a qty of 4.  Drawer was never opened, no sale was done.

4) I tried it a 3rd time.  I rang up 1 "test" for a penny and printed the receipt again without finishing the sale.  Even though the qty. was just 1, andt he stock on hand is now 4.  After the ticket printed I checked Product Control and the stock was now at 2!

I am unsure why it is jumping around like that but it is showing the stock can be adjusted without ever finishing the sale or taking money.

Any ideas?

[ronaldrwl]

I'll check it out.
They steal by not Finishing the sale, print a copy of the receipt, keep the payment and then clear the sale.
The Windows menu.  Settings / General, "Hide Windows Menu bar".

[Courtright]

"They steal by not Finishing the sale, print a copy of the receipt, keep the payment and then clear the sale."

Ahhh, very smart.  I tell you what they will work around anything!  I am hoping that has not happened yet. =/

I have removed the "Menu Bar" as well as a lot of access they actually don't need.  But give what I stated above a try.  I was able to manipulate inventory levels but it didn't seem controlled.

I don't think there is a way to track "Printed Receipts" in the Activity Log is there?  I see I can track CLEARED SALES but I wanted to go back and see if there were any printed receipts, then I could check them with the camera system to see if I find something fishy. 

[rjsmeyer]

I was intrigued by this, as I often worry about the same thing.  So I tried it - entered an item, changed "stock" to "1", then entered the item in the "sales window", and printed a receipt without finalizing the transaction.  I even started a different transaction.  Then I checked the item in the "Product" section, and the "stock" was unchanged (still "1").   In the "sales window" the transaction showed up with "no" for "paid", since it hadn't been finalized. 

Then I wondered if it had been put on layaway, and did that.  The "stock" value went to "0", as I'd expect.

 We've been using this system for a good couple years now, and I can't say we've had anything like this.  We've had other oddball things happen, but nothing that usually seems reproducible (i.e., meaning someone just screwed up).  I'll be interested in hearing what the outcome of this is!

[ronaldrwl]

I can't reproduce this either.  I did your procedure and the stock never changes.  You are only using the File / Print Receipt?

[Courtright]

Yes, I think what may be best is to actually videotape what I am doing and upload it to YouTube for viewing.  Very strange that it is just happening on my end.

I also did a test and put in a product (Ray Ban sunglasses) that has commission and tracked inventory and then didn't finish the sale, but also didn't clear the sale right away either.  I left it in sales control as UNPAID.  I then waited after a few sales (I never printed a receipt at all, just let it sit there) and then CLEARED the sale (just hit clear sale) I got the message saying "Some Items May Have Printed Already! Clearing This Ticket Will Be Recorded In The Managers Log"

But yet I never printed anything.  Don't understand why I got that?  I was the only one working that morning.  That isn't much of a big deal but I found it curious I still got that when I never printed anything at all, just let it sit then cleared it later.