A customer asks you to order in something you don't stock, and the question that follows is almost always the same one: should you take a special order deposit first, how much should it be, and what do you do if they never come back for it?
To answer it, I looked at how one point of sale system (RICS) handles the deposit, and at one retailer (VLEDS) that sells its non-refundable deposit as a product on its own website.
Below, I'll walk through four things: what a deposit protects you from, how much to take, what to say at the counter (with a policy you can fill in), and how to record the money so your books stay right.
In short
Key takeaways
A special order deposit is money you hold, and it only becomes a sale when the customer picks the item up.
You can set it as a percent of the price (the way RICS does) or as a flat amount (the way VLEDS does).
Write the refund rule down before you order, so nobody argues about it when the item arrives.
1. What a special order deposit protects you from
When you order something in for one customer, you usually pay the supplier before that customer has paid you anything. The risk sits with you from the moment you place the order.
If the customer changes their mind and the supplier won't take the item back, you are left holding stock you didn't want. You use shelf space for it and spend your own time calling someone who has stopped answering.
A deposit puts some of that risk back on the person who asked for the order. It gives them a reason to come back, because they already have money in it.
2. How much to take, and when to make it non-refundable
The two sources show two common ways to set the amount. Pick whichever fits how you price.
A percent of the price: in RICS, the minimum deposit fills in automatically from a percent the store enters once in its special order setup screen, and staff can edit the amount on the ticket if they need to.
A flat amount: VLEDS sells a "Non-refundable deposit for special order products" in $10 units, and the customer adds as many as they need to reach the required amount (their own example is quantity 10 for $100).
If the item can't go back to your supplier, that is the order where a non-refundable deposit makes the most sense. A refund there comes straight out of your pocket. VLEDS is one real example of a seller that says so in plain words on the product page.
If you decide to skip the deposit for a regular customer you know well, write that exception into your policy too. Your staff won't make it up at the counter one order at a time.
3. What to say at the counter
The ask goes better when it sounds routine. Say it the same way every time and point to the written policy while you say it. Here is a starting script with blanks for you to fill in (it's a template, not anyone's real wording):
Counter script
- 1
The ask
"For anything we order in specially, we take a deposit of [amount or percent] today, and you pay the rest when you pick it up."
- 2
The refund rule
"Because [supplier] won't take it back, the deposit is [non-refundable / refundable until we place the order]."
- 3
If they push back ("can't I just pay when it comes in?")
"I understand. The deposit is what lets me place the order for you, and it comes off the price when you collect it."
- 4
The close
"I'll call you when it arrives, and we'll hold it for [number] days from that call."
And here is a policy to copy onto your order slip, receipt or a sign by the till, once you have filled in your own numbers:
Special order deposit policy (template)
Special orders need a deposit of [% of the price / $] when the order is placed. The deposit comes off the final price at pickup. We will contact you when your item arrives and hold it for [] days. Deposits are [non-refundable / refundable until the order is placed with our supplier]. Items not collected within [] days of our call [will be returned to stock / may be sold], and the deposit [is kept / will be refunded minus any supplier restocking fee].
4. Recording the deposit so your books stay right
Follow the RICS rule: until pickup, record the deposit as money you are holding for that customer. Only count the sale (and the stock leaving) on the day they collect the item and pay the balance.
If you count it as a sale on day one, your sales look higher than they are. When an order is cancelled you end up reversing a sale instead of simply settling a deposit.
In Octabiz, the closest thing today is in Goods on Approval: release v1.20.344 made a closed approval slip show what happened to the deposit and the items, which is a related flow and not a special order deposit feature.
A clear refund rule also protects your reviews. When we counted billing complaints in our restaurant billing study, "a deposit that was never returned" was one of the things customers complained about.
If you take big-ticket special orders (rugs are a good example), our AI guide for rug retailers and the rug retailer sales tactics study cover more of how those sales tend to go.
Your next step is small: fill in the blanks in the policy above and get it printed on your order slip this week, before the next customer asks you to order something in.
Common questions
P.S. If you run a shop and take special orders a different way, I'd like to hear how you set your deposit and what you say when someone wants their money back.
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Where this came from
The research, methods, and photos behind this article.