How to Enter Product Costs and Customer Pricing in Elite Core
After products, variants and quantities are added to a project, the next step is to enter the product cost and customer price.
Accurate pricing is important because this information may later appear on presentations, estimates, Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, commission reports, margin reports and invoices.
Incorrect costs or sell prices can affect project profitability, customer totals, sales commissions, supplier purchasing, internal reporting and final invoices. Review pricing before adding decorations or generating an estimate.
Before you begin
Confirm that:
- The correct project is open
- The correct product is selected
- The supplier and SKU are correct
- Product variants, colours, sizes and quantities are complete
- The project currency is correct
- Supplier pricing is available
- Customer pricing has been approved or calculated
- Special customer pricing rules are known
- Extended sizes have been identified
- Decoration pricing will be added separately or included intentionally
Do not guess at supplier cost. Use a confirmed supplier price, quote, contract rate or approved internal cost.
Understanding cost, price and margin
Supplier or Net Cost
The amount Elite expects to pay the supplier for the product before customer markup.
Customer Price
The amount charged to the customer for the product.
Margin Dollars
Margin Dollars = Customer Price − Product Cost
Margin Percentage
Margin percentage is based on the customer price.
Margin Percentage = (Customer Price − Product Cost) ÷ Customer Price × 100
- Product cost: $20.00
- Customer price: $35.00
- Margin dollars: $15.00
- Margin percentage: 42.86%
Markup and margin are not the same. Markup is based on cost, while margin is based on customer price. Follow Elite’s approved pricing method rather than substituting a personal formula.
Step-by-step instructions
Step 1: Open the project
Open the Sales, Projects or Orders area. Search using the customer name, project name, project number or contact name, and confirm that the correct project is open.
Step 2: Open the project cart
Open the area containing the project products. Depending on the current interface, it may be labelled Cart, Project Cart, Products, Order Items, Product Workspace or Edit Project.
Step 3: Open the product
Select the product that requires pricing. The action may be labelled Edit Product, Edit Item, Product Details, Pricing or Configure Product.
Step 4: Review product and quantity details
Confirm the product name, supplier, SKU, selected variants, total quantity, currency, extended sizes and quantity-break information.
Warning: Do not price the wrong product or quantity.
Step 5: Locate the pricing section
The pricing area may be labelled Pricing, Pricing Breakdown, Cost and Price, Product Pricing, Item Pricing or Price Details.
Step 6: Enter supplier or net cost
Enter the supplier cost in the appropriate field. Confirm whether the field expects a per-unit cost, total cost, cost by variant or cost by quantity break.
Step 7: Enter the customer price
Enter the customer-facing price. It may be per unit, per variant, based on a quantity break, inclusive of selected charges or exclusive of decoration and other services.
Step 8: Review calculated totals
- Unit cost
- Unit sell price
- Total product cost
- Total customer value
- Margin dollars
- Margin percentage
- Quantity-break selection
- Currency
Step 9: Save the pricing
Select Save, Update Product, Apply Pricing or the equivalent action.
Step 10: Reopen and verify
- Cost remained saved
- Customer price remained saved
- Totals are correct
- Margin is correct
- No variant price changed unexpectedly
- The project total updated correctly
Entering supplier or net cost
Supplier cost may come from supplier catalogue pricing, a supplier quote, contract pricing, EQP pricing, customer-specific pricing, internal production pricing or a manually entered custom-product cost.
Confirm the currency, quantity level, supplier, SKU, unit of measure, whether freight is included, whether setup charges are included, whether decoration is included and whether the pricing is current.
Do not enter the customer price in the cost field.
A zero cost should only be entered when it is intentionally correct. Do not use zero because the supplier price is unknown.
Entering customer price
Customer price should reflect the product cost, approved margin, customer agreement, quantity, market pricing, contract pricing, extended-size surcharges, included services, decoration method and any shipping or other charges included in the product price.
Customer price may be entered per unit, per quantity break, per variant or as a fixed amount for a custom product.
Avoid copying cost directly into customer price, entering a total into a per-unit field, forgetting currency, pricing one variant differently by mistake or leaving old pricing after the quantity changes.
Understanding quantity breaks
Supplier and customer pricing may change at different quantity levels.
- 24 units: $18.50 cost
- 48 units: $16.75 cost
- 96 units: $15.25 cost
The correct break should match the total quantity being quoted. Review the total quantity, supplier break, customer break, whether all variants combine for the break and whether decoration quantity is calculated separately.
Using the wrong quantity break can reduce margin or create an inaccurate estimate.
Reviewing the pricing breakdown
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Quantity | 50 |
| Unit cost | $20.00 |
| Unit customer price | $35.00 |
| Total product cost | $1,000.00 |
| Total customer value | $1,750.00 |
| Margin dollars | $750.00 |
| Margin percentage | 42.86% |
Verify both unit values and total values. A correct unit price can still produce a wrong total when the quantity is incorrect.
Handling extended-size pricing
Larger sizes such as 2XL, 3XL, 4XL and 5XL may have higher supplier costs.
Review whether the supplier charges more, Elite Core applies the surcharge automatically, the price must be entered manually, the customer price should also change, and the surcharge should be shown separately or included.
Do not charge every size the extended-size price, and do not overlook genuine extended-size cost increases.
Handling included and separate charges
Some costs may be included in the product price, added separately, included in decoration, added as a setup charge, added as shipping or entered as another service.
Examples include screen charges, digitizing, setup fees, packaging, freight, rush charges, artwork and internal production charges.
Confirm whether each charge should be included or separate. Entering the same charge in two places can double-bill the customer, while omitting a charge can reduce margin.
What happens next
- Review product margin
- Add decorations
- Upload artwork
- Add setup charges
- Add shipping and other services
- Review the full project
- Generate an estimate
The next Knowledge Base guide will cover decorations and artwork.
Common problems
Supplier cost is missing
Check supplier data, review the supplier quote, confirm the SKU and quantity break, and enter the cost manually when appropriate. Avoid using zero unless zero is correct.
Customer price is missing
Confirm approved pricing, review pricing rules, check whether pricing is calculated automatically and enter it manually when required.
Margin is negative
Negative margin usually means the customer price is lower than the cost. Review cost, customer price, quantity, currency, included charges and extended-size pricing.
Margin is unexpectedly low
Review supplier cost, selected quantity break, customer price, decoration costs, shipping, setup charges and discounting.
The total is too high
Check whether a total was entered in a unit field, a charge was added twice, quantity is wrong, extended-size pricing was applied to every variant, or decoration is both included and separate.
The total is too low
Check for incomplete cost, missing customer price, omitted extended-size charges, missing decoration, omitted shipping or services, or the wrong quantity break.
Pricing changed after quantity was updated
Quantity changes may affect supplier breaks, customer breaks, margin, decoration pricing and setup charges. Review pricing after every quantity change.
Pricing does not save
Check validation messages, confirm values are valid numbers, confirm the project is editable, save again, reopen the product and confirm it is not locked by a later document.
The estimate still shows old pricing
Generated documents may preserve an earlier snapshot. Regenerate the estimate after approved pricing changes.
The user cannot edit pricing
Confirm the correct instance, role permissions, editable project status, document-locking rules and whether finance or administrator approval is required.
Best practices
- Confirm supplier and SKU before pricing
- Verify currency
- Use current supplier pricing
- Match the correct quantity break
- Review unit and total values
- Review margin dollars and percentage
- Check extended-size costs
- Avoid entering charges twice
- Recheck pricing after quantity changes
- Reopen the product after saving
- Regenerate documents after approved changes
- Keep supplier quotes attached to the project
- Do not use zero cost as a placeholder
Pricing checklist
- ☐ Correct project is open
- ☐ Correct product is selected
- ☐ Supplier and SKU are correct
- ☐ Variants and quantities are complete
- ☐ Currency is correct
- ☐ Supplier cost is entered
- ☐ Customer price is entered
- ☐ Quantity break is correct
- ☐ Extended-size pricing was reviewed
- ☐ Included and separate charges were reviewed
- ☐ Margin dollars and percentage were reviewed
- ☐ Total cost and customer value are correct
- ☐ Pricing was saved and confirmed
- ☐ Estimate regeneration will be completed if required
Related Knowledge Base articles
- Getting Started with Elite Core
- How to Create a Customer in Elite Core
- How to Create a Project in Elite Core
- How to Add Products to a Project in Elite Core
- How to Add Product Variants, Colours, Sizes and Quantities in Elite Core
- How to Add Decorations and Artwork in Elite Core
- How to Generate an Estimate in Elite Core
Previous and next guides
Previous: How to Add Product Variants, Colours, Sizes and Quantities in Elite Core
Next: How to Add Decorations and Artwork in Elite Core
Notes for Future Expansion
Screenshots to add
- Project cart
- Product edit action
- Pricing section
- Net cost field
- Customer price field
- Pricing breakdown
- Quantity-break selector
- Margin display
- Extended-size pricing
- Saved product summary
Interface details to confirm
- Exact pricing-section label
- Whether pricing is per unit or total
- Whether margin or markup is shown automatically
- Whether supplier and customer breaks are imported or separate
- Whether extended-size surcharges are automatic
- Whether zero cost is allowed
- Whether currency can be changed per item
- Which roles can edit cost and customer price
- Which project statuses allow pricing changes
- When pricing becomes locked
- Whether regeneration prompts appear automatically
- Whether included decoration pricing is supported
Future articles
- How to Review Product Margins
- How Quantity Breaks Work
- How Extended-Size Pricing Works
- How to Add Decorations and Artwork
- How to Add Setup Charges
- How to Add Shipping and Other Services
- How to Regenerate an Estimate After Pricing Changes
- How to Correct a Negative-Margin Product
