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Q: Recently, a single transfer update transaction that was completed in DEAR to update stock for five (5) SKUs was successfully completed for only four of the SKUs in Vend (while all five were successfully updated in DEAR). We would like to know why Vend did not completely update all SKUs for that particular transaction. 

A: There is probably a mapping problem with the SKU that was not successfully updated. Make sure that the DEAR and Vend SKUs are the same – you can check them in DEAR and Vend. If the SKUs do not match, use the Unlink action on the product in DEAR and relist it to Vend.

 

Q: I have products that show a supply price in Vend but not the average cost value, which we used for valuation purposes and COGS. How do I refresh the average cost for these products from DEAR to Vend?

A: If your products were bulk-listed from DEAR to Vend, the average cost should have been updated in Vend. Subsequent changes in average costs in DEAR are not pulled into Vend though. If the average costs are not updated in Vend during the bulk listing process, check that the DEAR products are linked to the correct products in Vend (you can do this from the Additional Descriptions tab on the Product page – see screenshot below).



If you find incorrectly linked products, remove them from the Vend Integration page in DEAR before adding them back again.


Q: I'm encountering errors with a few products when uploading them from DEAR to Vend. It's particularly odd since the products were all created simultaneously. Please advise.

A: Based on the error log, it seems that these products are variants or belong to families in Vend but are defined as simple products in DEAR. You will not be able to upload them to Vend if this is the case.


Q: I'd like to download my suppliers from Vend. However, I'm being prompted to enter a tax rule for purchases before I can do so. Where can I set this tax rule?

A: An active tax rule for purchases is required prior to downloading suppliers from Vend. You can set this rule in Settings > Reference Books > Taxation Rules.


Q: If I add a variant to a product in Vend, will this be enough to ensure that the products are taken out of DEAR when bought?

A: DEAR fully supports product families or variants in our integration with Vend. You can create products with variants in Vend, download your catalogue to DEAR and link your products (including those with variants) with DEAR products.


Q: When we complete an inventory count/adjustment in VEND, it pushes it through to DEAR, but DEAR does not complete it. We have to go in and manually complete the adjustment. If we don't catch it and complete it straight away, it causes issues with our inventory being off. Is there a way for DEAR to complete the adjustment automatically?

A: If the stock adjustment is marked as complete in Vend, it should be imported to DEAR and reflected as stock adjustment. However, DEAR will only automatically complete adjustments in the following cases:

  • All products being adjusted are existing and active in DEAR. If a product in adjustment does not exist, has been deleted, or is not active (deprecated) in DEAR, automatic adjustment will fail.
  • All products in adjustment don't utilise non-FIFO costing methods. This is because batch-related information is NOT available in Vend. If a product in adjustment utilises a non-FIFO costing method, automatic adjustment will fail.


Q: Does DEAR Inventory integrate with both Vend and Xero together? My client is using Unleashed and Xero currently and wants a POS option, and Vend is generally the best option available when using Xero. Unleashed and Vend integrate, but Unleashed is quite expensive, and so I am looking for an equivalent system that allows manufacturing abilities but also talks to Xero.

A: DEAR Inventory does integrate with Xero and Vend together. We strongly suggest that you speak with one of our consultants and book a convenient time with us at https://dearsystems.youcanbook.me/ so we can discuss how DEAR would work with your existing system. Feel free to utilise the two-week trial to test and see if our system suits your business needs before committing. We have plenty of helpful guides at http://support.dearsystems.com/support/solutions and video tutorials at https://www.youtube.com/user/DearSystems/playlists.


Q: I was thinking of changing my Vend integration to Daily Consolidation, but it seems that Returns and Refunds for walk-in sales are not supported by Daily Consolidation mode. So because we do returns through a walk-in customer, does that mean we won't be able to do daily consolidation? Or will it just separate the returns rather than consolidating?

A: Currently, returns are catered to in DEAR via Credit Note functionality, so for every return, a credit note is created for the corresponding invoice. If you choose Daily Consolidation, the returns will not be allocated as credit notes to the consolidated invoice. Thus, daily consolidation is not recommended if you regularly deal with customer returns.


Q: I am in the process of implementing DEAR with Vend to an existing Xero account. Just wanting to clarify the process flow between Vend and DEAR and into Xero. When a sale is made in Vend, the order is created in DEAR and, once fulfilled, the invoice is sent to Xero. I want to confirm if there will be any transactions going directly from Vend to Xero, or if they all will be going from Vend to DEAR and then into Xero. 

A: The integration should work as you describe, that is, Vend should not be connected to Xero directly, and all transactions should first be imported into DEAR and subsequently synced to Xero. This includes customer invoices, payments, credit notes, stock adjustments, etc. No transactions will go directly from Vend to Xero.


Q: I'm still working on getting the hang of this new workflow. We entered in some new products that are composites. I pushed the list up to Vend yesterday, but the composites didn't go through, only their parts. So I checked on it today, pushed the catalogue listing again, and now I have duplicates? For some reason, the system pulled all the dashes out of the handle (SKU?) and created a duplicate of each. Any ideas?

A: When DEAR lists products to Vend, it has to generate a unique handle. Currently, the only way to do this is to strip all non-alphanumeric characters from the DEAR product SKU. If you already have these products in Vend with different handles, this will create duplicates. You can remove duplicates from Vend and simply download the catalogue to DEAR again to re-establish correct mapping to DEAR products.


Note that due to limitations in the Vend API, it is not possible to create composite products correctly in Vend via API (it is not possible to associate components with the composite product). If you need to have composites in Vend, it is required to create them directly in Vend before downloading the product catalogue to DEAR. The correct Bill of Materials will then be created in DEAR for the Vend composite product.


Q: I have just been loading products from DEAR to a Vend store for a client and received the following error: Failed to execute a call to Vend after 3 attempts. How do I resolve this error? Do I need to reload all products in order to get all my products listed in Vend?

A: This error means that Vend imposed throttling on API calls due to an ongoing activity in DEAR (we try to wait as specified by Vend but some other parallel process was probably running on your store which blocked the listing process). Try to load the products again. To increase chances of success, you can reduce the number of products to be listed at the same time by specifying filters for family, tag or category.


Q: A client of ours has a sale in Vend, which was not reflected in Xero. On further investigation, this sale was pending in the integration with Vend. Any idea why?

A: Try to delete the pending sale entry from the DEAR Vend log and reload it from Vend. The most likely reason for the failure is that there might be a collision as a DEAR product with the same SKU/name might be linked to another Vend product (not the one sold), which prevents the sale from being correctly captured by DEAR. You can unlink any product from DEAR Vend catalogue (not remove, just unlink) and reload the sale from Vend.


Q: We are running a promotion at stores where we are sending customers gift vouchers (not gift cards) – they do not pay us for these. When it comes to mapping the Vend payment type for Voucher to QuickBooks Online, what are the available accounts that can be mapped to? We would prefer an expense account, but that doesn't seem to be an available option from the dropdown menu.

A: In QuickBooks Online, an expense account can't be used to accumulate payments. You can create a separate bank account for the vouchers and then just write off the balance to an expense account. 


Q: I am trying to apply a Gift Card liability account to a Vend integration but I do not have any items in the dropdown menu to select from. I've created the account in QuickBooks Online under Current Liabilities > Other Liabilities, as well as other combinations with no luck. Could you please advise on the COA setup required for the GC liability?

A: Unfortunately, QuickBooks Online has certain limitations in regard to accounts usage. A workaround would be to create a Credit Card type account for Gift Cards Sold and select it as a Gift Card liability account in DEAR, then create a Bank type account for Gift Cards Redeemed and select it as a gift card payment method. Then each month, you can make a transfer to move the balance from Gift Cards Redeemed bank account to Gift Cards Sold Credit Card account. Gift cards from eCommerce are reflected as additional charges on a sales invoice.


Q: When listing products on Vend, Vend uses the Supplier Product Code as the handle, leading the products and variations to be grouped incorrectly. Within DEAR, each product and variation has a unique product code and barcode as well as a product description. Why is the Supplier Product Code used as the method for grouping the product?

A: Generally, supplier product codes are not exported to Vend and used in the integration at all.


Q: We are an importing business with thousands of products, including variations. We sell through our own retail shops as well as directly to wholesale customers. We also sell retail online and our website allows wholesalers to log on and see their own prices in our catalogue. We are looking for an inventory management software that can handle importing as well as multiple locations, POS systems, and online for both retail and wholesale. Can your software do this? If not, does it integrate with Vend/Shopify or do you have something that can do this?

A: We perform all the functionalities that you've mentioned. We do integrate with both Vend and Shopify, as well as many other platforms. We encourage you to try out our features and functionalities during your trial. Here's a link to one of our Intro Webinar recordings which will help you to get acquainted with the system: https://youtu.be/HEIjnFWnvLM. If you would like to speak to someone to discuss your needs or questions, you may schedule a call here: https://dearsystems.youcanbook.me/.


Q: Do my prices have to be tax exclusive? If so, will I need to change all my product prices when importing from Vend to DEAR? Would this have to be done via the CSV file? Or will DEAR pull the products over and take the tax off accordingly?

A: Your prices in DEAR should be tax exclusive. This can be done on the CSV file under the price tier column. Make sure you enter the amounts exclusive of taxes.


Q: If I have my DEAR prices as tax exclusive, how do I make this work with Vend being tax inclusive? I tested adding a product from DEAR to Vend with a Tax exclusive price and when in Vend it has that price but set as Tax inclusive. So my price is then wrong in Vend as it’s not then adding on the tax; so how do you suggest I work around that? Our retail prices have to be inclusive on our barcodes/advertised prices as I cannot change Vend to be exclusive.

A: Please read through this article: Vend integration. As stated in the article regarding the Sale Price Tier: 'Sale Price Tier – This setting determines which Product Price Tier to use in DEAR Inventory when publishing products from DEAR to Vend. Prices used within DEAR MUST be tax exclusive. Otherwise, incorrect tax calculations within Sale Orders might subsequently be imported to your accounting application'.

Please ensure prices used within DEAR are tax exclusive before publishing your products. Whether your Vend store is tax exclusive or inclusive depends on your country – stores in the USA and Canada are tax exclusive while those in New Zealand, Australia and the UK are tax inclusive. Thus, if your store is tax inclusive, you need to create a separate Price Tier with tax inclusive pricing and assign it to your Vend store.


Q: Once we are integrated with DEAR, will we still be able to do transfers through Vend and will it then update DEAR stock levels with the transfers?

A: Yes, on the Vend Integration page in DEAR, you can set DEAR to automatically import stock operations from Vend. Turning on this option will enable the periodic polling of Vend stock operations and their automatic import into DEAR.


Q: Can Shopify still be linked with Vend until I have stock levels in DEAR and allow DEAR to update Vend stock levels?

A: Yes, you can keep them linked but you need to set a cut-off date for when your inventory in DEAR is 100% correct. You can then unlink Shopify from Vend, connect DEAR and Shopify, and update the stock level in Shopify from DEAR. On both the Vend and Shopify Integration pages in DEAR, you can set DEAR to update the sales channel. You can have this set for Vend, once Vend and DEAR have the same quantity. Linking DEAR with Shopify can be done when you are confident of the stock level figures in DEAR. Pay attention to unique SKUs in Vend and Shopify, as all linking is done using SKUs.


Q: In regards to our Vend and Shopify integration, currently our products in Vend and Shopify have the same SKUs. Is this ideal?

A: Yes, this is correct. Shopify and Vend SKUs must match.


Q: Most of our products have synced over from DEAR to Vend by 'listing them in the catalogue'. However, I have a couple more items that we want to add to the Vend app on our iPad, but it's not showing up on the Vend app's Products Page. I've tried updating the item in the DEAR catalogue and I've tried refreshing and syncing the Vend app. Is there anything else I can try?

A: Check in the Vend Admin UI if you can search for this SKU or name. If not, contact Vend support to help you find it. On our end, we suggest completely unlinking the entire Vend catalogue and then re-downloading it from Vend. In this case, new links based on SKUs/handles will be re-established. Otherwise, you can use the Unlink action on a particular item in the DEAR Vend catalogue to remove mapping to this Vend handle and then re-list it again from DEAR.


Q: Could you please help explain when the COGS journals are posted to Xero? At what stage of the transactions? I am trying to reconcile all of our accounts and none of the figures are tallying up with what Vend thinks they should be. Any notes you can provide to help me understand the what and when between DEAR and Xero?

A: Xero is not supposed to record the COGS as of the invoice date. DEAR pushes COGS transactions to Xero as manual journals, and the date would be the shipment date in both systems. Xero will record COGS only if the inventory tracking is enabled in Xero, but DEAR does not support this and requires inventory tracking to be turned off in Xero at all times. Regarding the Vend figures, there might be shipping date discrepancies as well as difference in costs used but we can't really tell. As far as DEAR is concerned, we use the actual costs entered into DEAR, not Vend costs.


Q: Can DEAR accommodate gift cards purchased and used through Vend?

A: Yes, DEAR can do this.


Q: When a stock PO is received in DEAR, is a creditor invoice also created in Xero?

A: You need to authorise a purchase invoice – this is a bill that will be synced to Xero. To push all transactions to Xero, you need to click on the Sync Now button in DEAR.


Q: Should stock POs be received in Vend, or do they have to be received in DEAR?

A: This needs to be completed in DEAR, which can then update stock levels in Vend.


Q: Are there automatic stock level alerts?

A: DEAR has a smart reordering feature that allows forecasting of future product sales and generating of email alerts to reorder products from your suppliers. You can track inventory levels for each of your locations and configure the Inventory Velocity Report to run at scheduled intervals so that you can be kept informed when there is a need to reorder a product. For more information, see Smart Reordering.


Q: Is there a stocktake form? How are stocktakes completed?

Yes, DEAR has a special module for stocktakes. Please check out this video for more details: https://youtu.be/y502r5cC0J8.


Q: Are there audit logs to see which user changed information within the system?

A: DEAR has audit logs for purchases and sales, where you can track order updates, stock takes, adjustments and transfers by user.


Q: Can you generate and print your own barcodes?

A: We do not have a barcode generation function but you can assign your own barcode for each product. We also support barcode scanners. More details are covered in this video: https://youtu.be/VMuIM4L8WBI.


Q: I don't want every Vend sale coming in as a single order into DEAR. Why did DEAR capture a sale in Vend as a single sale order even though I didn't make any changes in the integration settings. Daily Consolidation was the initial setup from the beginning.

A: Even if Daily Consolidation is selected, On Account sales from Vend will be loaded as single orders.


Q: Sales from Vend were normal sales, should have been pulled in as normal general sales but they were pulled in as advanced sales (multiple fulfilments). No credit notes were created on their end, the software generated them, and the entire sale should have come through as one invoice. Could you check what happened on the backend? What triggered it, and how was this created?

A: This happens when you process Exchange in Vend (when processing a credit note, you also add new items to sell to the customer in the same return). This is processed in the way you see it now. In case of multiple returns for consolidated sales, a second return processed on another day will also convert the sale into a new advanced sale as multiple credit notes are allowed per single consolidated order.


Q: I have a few orders with Status=Picking in DEAR, even if Pick, Pack and Shipping mode is set to auto-pick and Vend reports these orders as having been completed. Why is this so?

A: If there is not enough stock of a product, the order status will remain at Picking, since the order cannot be fulfilled. This may lead to discrepancies in the sales reported by Vend and those in DEAR. These discrepancies will be addressed as soon as stock becomes available and the pending orders are processed.

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