Dynamic Sales Tax: Order Entry Updates (US Customers)

Overview

This article reviews the latest US updates to the order entry system in GotPhoto. More details on the order entry can be found here: Input Pre-Orders via Order Entry

These changes were necessary due to the switch to Dynamic Sales Tax Calculation. More information on this change can be found here.

The updates affect both direct and batch shipping orders; however, personal orders remain unchanged. 

These updates are now live as of March 2024 for all studios based in the United States.

The Changes

1. Unsaved order adjustments

   A new confirmation pop-up has been introduced in the order entry workflow to enhance data integrity. When you either enter or edit an order and attempt to navigate away before saving, you will be prompted with a pop-up reminding you that your changes are unsaved.
   This enhancement ensures that any modifications are not lost inadvertently if you click on a different setting within the Admin area. Additionally, unconfirmed orders will now be locked and require your confirmation before processing.
   
   
   • If you would like to proceed with the order, click Proceed with order, fill in the customer information, and confirm the order. Review the shipping method and shipping address, then click Add to order collector.
   • If you still want to exit the tab, click Leave page.
     

2. Shipping Types and Tax Calculation

   In general, the batch shipping address will be used when setting up a batch shipping job. If a download is included in the order, it will now be considered a direct (rather than batch) product. In this case, the tax is calculated based on the highest tax rate between the batch shipping address and the customer-provided billing address.
   
   

3. Sales Tax Calculation

   In the Summary section, you are now advised that the calculation of taxes and shipping fees will take place dynamically at the point of checkout.
   
   

   
   

   

4. Changes to the Order Collection Overview Page

   We have also applied some changes to the order collection area.
   After clicking Send to lab, you will now have a new overview page:
   
   The updated overview now includes all confirmed and unconfirmed orders (orders with open baskets), providing a complete view of all order statuses for improved management.

5. Customer Invoice Generation

   Press the Send to lab button on the upper right in the last step. A new pop-up will give you two options:

• GotPhoto generates invoices for your orders. By selecting this option, GotPhoto will collect and remit sales tax on this sale; the sales tax billable will be added to your account balance, and we will collect it with your next monthly invoice.
• You generate the invoices yourself. GotPhoto will not create an invoice and will not do anything regarding sales tax.
  
  

Important: Please note that we still create invoices for all prepay orders that are manually added to an order collection. This means we will calculate, collect, and remit the sales tax. The sales tax billable will be added to your account balance, and we will collect it with your next monthly invoice.

When manually adding a Prepay order to a collector, a pop-up will appear to confirm actions before you can release the order(s) from the order entry.

The Takeaway 

The order entry feature in GotPhoto has been updated to support dynamic sales tax calculation for US users, initially available to those in California. This enhancement introduces a confirmation pop-up for manual order creation and editing, allowing users to choose whether invoices are generated. Personal orders remain unaffected, as they are not subject to sales tax. These changes have made the order entry process more user-friendly and provide photographers the flexibility to decide on invoicing, addressing frequent requests from our customers.