At-cost and cost-plus services

Overview

Some services have no known price until they happen: duties, third-party freight, check advances. Two rate bases are made for them: At Cost (you bill what it cost) and Cost + % (what it cost plus a fixed markup). In both, whoever invoices enters the cost and the system calculates the rest.

Before you start

Manage Pricing permission to set up the service; Manage Billing to enter it on invoices.
The third party’s cost receipt, to attach to the invoice.

Set up the service

In Admin › Configuration › Services, click Add Service.
Pick the Rate Basis: At Cost or Cost + %.
For Cost + %, enter the Markup % (0 to 100). The catalog shows it as “+7%” in the price column.
Pick When is it charged? — usually Manual capture or Quote only.
Save.

Enter the cost on the invoice

In the invoice detail, click + Accessorials & charges and pick the service.
For Cost + %, the window warns: “Enter the COST — the invoice adds the N% markup automatically”.
Enter the quantity (usually 1) and, as the rate, the cost per unit.
Add it.

The line comes out with the rate already marked up: cost × (1 + markup ÷ 100). The original cost and the markup are kept on the line for auditing. With At Cost, the rate is the cost as is.

As a charge to capture

If the client has the service on their rate card set to charge at receipt or at shipment, their invoices offer it under Charges to capture, at the agreed rate. See Services charged automatically.

And the client’s rate

On the client’s rate card, an At Cost row is read-only (“Billed at cost”).
On a Cost + % row, if you enter a negotiated rate, that flat rate replaces cost plus (“A negotiated flat rate replaces cost + %”).
The markup is the catalog’s: it is not negotiated per client. If a client agreed something else, negotiate a flat rate with them.

Example

The “Check advance fee” service is Cost + % with a 7 markup. For Sample Imports you paid 1,250.00 in duties with a warehouse check. On the invoice you add the service with quantity 1 and rate 1,250.00: the line comes out at 1,337.50. You attach the receipt as a backup document.

Limits

The markup applies when entering on the invoice; at-cost charges are not created on their own in Services to Invoice.
Editing the line’s rate later with the pencil takes it as is: the markup is not applied again.
In the new billing version, these services are not treated as “unpriced” even without a base price.

Best practices

Always attach the third party’s receipt as a backup document: it travels with the invoice email.
Use the service description to explain what is billed at cost.
If you edit a marked-up line, work out the markup yourself.

Troubleshooting

The line doesn’t carry the markup.

The service is At Cost, its markup is 0, or the client has a negotiated rate.

I edited the line and lost the markup.

When editing, the rate is taken as is. Enter the marked-up rate, or remove the line and add it again.

FAQ

Can it be captured as an accessorial?

A supervisor can capture it on a job, but without a price: the charge comes out without a rate and is completed on the invoice. The practical way is to add it directly on the invoice.

Does the client see the markup?

No: on the PDF and in the email they only see the final rate. The cost and the markup stay on the line as internal data.