What Orchid Does With This File
Orchid POS imports your open layaways and special orders so the customer-side commitment carries forward: customers can come in after cutover and pay the balance on merchandise they put down a deposit on at your legacy system. Each layaway/special order in Orchid POS links a customer, a held SKU (or list of SKUs), and the deposit ledger (amount paid to date, amount still due).
Required File Format
Excel (.xlsx) or CSV - one row per layaway/special-order line item
Required Fields
- Layaway/SO Number (legacy system's reference)
- Customer Name (must match a row in your Customer List export)
- Customer ID (legacy system's customer ID, for reconciliation)
- Customer Phone / Email (for re-contact if name match is ambiguous)
- UPC (must match a row in your Inventory export - this is how we link to the held product)
- Manufacturer Part Number (MPN) - fallback if UPC is missing
- Description (the item description for customer-facing receipts)
- Quantity
- Serial Number (REQUIRED for firearms - must reconcile to your A&D bound book open inventory)
- Sale Total (the full price the customer is committed to)
- Amount Paid To Date (sum of deposits)
- Amount Due (the remaining balance)
- Original Sale Date
- Last Payment Date
- Pickup Hold Until Date (some systems track an expiration)
- Notes
Reconciliation Rules
- Amount Paid + Amount Due MUST equal Sale Total. Orchid will flag any layaway where this doesn't reconcile.
- For firearms: the Serial Number on each layaway line MUST also appear in your A&D bound book Open Inventory export. The firearm is still on your A&D book until the customer takes possession.
- Customer Name (or Customer ID) MUST match a record in your Customer List export. Otherwise we can't link the layaway to a customer in Orchid POS.
- UPC MUST match a record in your Inventory export. Otherwise we can't link the layaway to a held product.
Before You Start
- Decide your cutoff date and time. Layaways and special orders should be exported at the same moment as your final inventory and bound book exports.
- Make sure all payments received up to your cutoff are entered in your legacy system BEFORE you run the export, so the Amount Paid figures are current.
- Special orders that are awaiting product arrival (not yet in stock) need a slightly different treatment - flag those to your consultant.
How to Export from Your Current System
QuickBooks POS
Reports menu > Sales > Layaway Report (or Special Orders Report). Click the Excel button to export. The default layaway report may not include all the columns Orchid needs - use the customization option to add Customer ID, UPC, Amount Paid, and Amount Due if they're not in the default view.
Connected Data Systems (CDS)
Reports > Layaways or Reports > Special Orders. Export to Excel. CDS does not publish a public KB - confirm the exact menu path with CDS support at 1-800-944-2998.
Celerant
Reports > Layaway / Special Order > Open Layaways. Export dropdown > Excel. On Cumulus or Stratus, the Custom Report Designer can produce a more complete extract.
Coreware / coreSTORE
Open the Layaway view (left menu) or run a Layaway report. Click the '...' (More) button > Excel Export. Special orders are tracked similarly - check both views.
Trident 1 POS
Reports area > Layaways / Special Orders. Export to Excel. Trident 1 does not publish a public KB - confirm with Trident 1 support at (661) 384-7070.
Bravo
Reports > Layaway reports. Export as Excel. Bravo is pawn-friendly so 'layaway' may overlap with other deferred-payment structures - confirm with your Orchid consultant which Bravo data structures map to Orchid POS layaways.
Cervelle / Merchant Magic
Reports menu > Layaways. Export as CSV. Cervelle does not publish a public KB - confirm with Cervelle support.
Watch Out For
- Layaways involving FIREARMS require extra care: the firearm's Serial Number must reconcile between three places - your Inventory export, your A&D Bound Book Open Inventory export, and this Layaway export. Orchid runs a cross-file reconciliation report to catch mismatches.
- If a customer has multiple items on layaway, those usually appear as multiple rows (one per item) sharing the same Layaway Number. Orchid handles this correctly.
- Some legacy systems track 'restocking fees' or 'cancellation fees' as separate ledger entries. Orchid treats these as part of the Amount Paid figure - if your system separates them, your consultant will help merge them.
- Special orders (customer-requested items not yet received) are sometimes in a separate table than layaways. Export both.
- Per the spec, layaways and special orders are loaded by the Orchid development team via Jira (not self-service). Your consultant submits the file - allow time for the dev team to process before cutover.
This file may contain sensitive information (customer addresses, pricing, costs). Send it to Orchid using the secure upload link your consultant provided. Do not email exports as unencrypted attachments.
Questions about this export? Reach out to your Orchid implementation consultant, or email implementations@joinorchid.com with the subject line "[Migration] [Your Store Name] - [Legacy System] [File Type] export."