How to Add Setup Charges, Shipping and Other Services in Elite Core
Products and decorations are not always the only billable parts of a project. A project may also require setup, freight, shipping, packaging, kitting, fulfillment, personalization, rush service, artwork, duty, brokerage or other project services.
These charges should be entered before the project is reviewed or an estimate is generated. Accurate service and shipping charges help Elite Core calculate project cost, customer price, margin, taxes, estimate totals, Sales Order totals and invoice totals.
Warning: Missing charges can reduce project margin, while duplicate charges can overbill the customer.
Before you begin
- Confirm the correct project and customer are open.
- Confirm products, variants and quantities are complete.
- Confirm product costs and customer prices are entered.
- Confirm decorations and decoration setup charges were reviewed.
- Confirm required shipping destinations are known.
- Gather supplier freight information when available.
- Confirm packaging, fulfillment and service requirements.
- Confirm project currency.
- Determine whether each charge is included or shown separately.
- Determine whether each charge applies once, per product, per shipment or per unit.
Do not use a zero charge merely because the actual amount is unknown.
Understanding project charges and services
Setup Charge
A one-time charge required to prepare a product, decoration or production process, such as digitizing, screen setup, art preparation, laser setup, plate setup, machine setup or custom mould setup.
Shipping or Freight
A charge associated with moving products between suppliers, decorators, Elite or the customer, including inbound freight, outbound shipping, courier, pallet freight, customer delivery or international freight.
Other Service
A separate service such as kitting, packaging, fulfillment, personalization, folding, bagging, labelling, sorting, warehousing, rush production or artwork services.
Fixed Charge
A charge entered once for the project or item.
Per-Unit Charge
A charge multiplied by the applicable quantity.
Step-by-step instructions
Step 1: Open the project
Open the Sales, Projects or Orders area and search by customer name, project name, project number or contact name. Confirm the correct project is open.
Step 2: Open the project cart or pricing workspace
Open the area where products, pricing and services are managed. It may be labelled Cart, Project Cart, Products, Order Items, Pricing, Services, Other Services, Charges or Project Details.
Step 3: Decide whether the charge belongs to a product or the project
Product-level charges apply clearly to one product, while project-level charges apply to the overall order. Attach the charge at the most accurate level supported by Elite Core.
Step 4: Add a service or charge
Select the option to add a service or charge. The exact label may vary depending on the current interface.
Step 5: Choose the charge type
Select the most specific available type, such as Setup, Fixed Charge, Shipping, Inbound Freight, Outbound Freight, Duty, Brokerage, Artwork, Packaging, Kitting, Rush Charge or Other Service.
Step 6: Enter a clear description
Use customer-friendly wording such as Embroidery Digitizing, One-Time Screen Setup, Inbound Freight from Supplier, Customer Delivery, Individual Polybagging or Artwork Preparation.
Step 7: Enter internal cost
Enter the amount Elite expects to pay or incur. Confirm whether it is fixed, per unit, per shipment, per carton, per location, per colour or per product.
Step 8: Enter customer price
Enter the amount charged to the customer. Confirm whether it is fixed, per unit, included in another price, shown separately, estimated or confirmed.
Step 9: Enter quantity when applicable
For per-unit services, enter the quantity to which the charge applies, such as 100 units bagged, 50 employee names, six cartons shipped, two decoration locations or one fixed setup.
Step 10: Review the total
- Fixed charges are counted once.
- Per-unit charges use the correct quantity.
- Shipping is not duplicated.
- Setup is not already included elsewhere.
- Customer price is not entered as cost.
- Cost is not entered as customer price.
Step 11: Save the charge
Select Save, Add Charge, Add Service, Update or the equivalent action.
Step 12: Reopen and verify
- The description and type are correct.
- Cost, customer price and quantity are correct.
- The total is correct.
- The charge is attached to the correct product or project.
- Tax treatment is correct when shown.
Adding setup charges
Setup charges may include digitizing, screen setup, film output, plate setup, embroidery tape, laser setup, custom dies, art preparation, machine setup or colour matching.
A setup may apply once per project, product, decoration, colour or location. Confirm whether an existing setup or artwork file can be reused before charging again.
Do not add the same setup charge in decoration pricing and Other Services unless that duplication is intentional.
Adding shipping and freight
Inbound Freight
The cost of moving products from a supplier to Elite, a decorator or another production location.
Outbound Shipping
The cost of sending completed products to the customer or final destination.
Inter-Supplier or Inter-Department Shipping
The cost of moving items between suppliers, decorators or production locations.
Customer Delivery
A charge for transporting products to the customer.
Customer Pickup
A method where the customer collects the products. Pickup may still involve handling or internal transfer costs, but these should not automatically be treated as shipping.
Confirm the ship-from location, ship-to destination, method, carrier, account number, estimated or confirmed cost, cartons or pallets, whether freight is included in product cost, whether it is charged separately and whether multiple shipments are expected.
Adding other services
Other services may include artwork cleanup, graphic design, proof preparation, personalization, name or number changes, kitting, folding, bagging, labelling, sorting, fulfillment, warehousing, sample handling, rush service, special packaging, inventory handling or custom sourcing.
Each service should include a clear description, internal cost, customer price, quantity or fixed-charge basis, responsible supplier or department when applicable, and notes for special requirements.
Entering costs and customer prices
Cost is what Elite pays or expects to incur. Customer Price is what the customer is charged.
- Inbound freight cost: $65
- Customer freight price: $85
- Margin dollars: $20
- Polybagging cost: $0.40 per unit
- Customer price: $0.75 per unit
- Quantity: 100
- Total cost: $40
- Total customer price: $75
Avoid entering a total into a per-unit field, a per-unit amount as a fixed total, leaving cost blank when it affects margin, using zero as an unknown placeholder, forgetting currency or entering the same service twice.
Understanding fixed and per-unit charges
- Fixed: One-time digitizing charge of $50.
- Per unit: Bagging at $0.75 × 100 units = $75.
- Per shipment: Two courier shipments at $35 each = $70.
- Per location: Two setup locations at $25 each = $50.
Confirm how Elite Core calculates the selected line before saving.
Assigning charges to the correct product or project
Use product-level charges when the cost belongs to one product, such as product-specific packaging, freight or setup. Use project-level charges for final delivery, general artwork, overall handling or project-wide rush charges.
Attaching a charge at the wrong level can make product margins or generated documents misleading.
Reviewing tax treatment
Taxes may apply differently depending on the service and jurisdiction. Review whether the charge is taxable according to the customer, project and company configuration.
Do not manually remove tax merely because a charge is labelled shipping or service. Follow approved finance rules and ask finance or an administrator when uncertain.
Reviewing included versus separate charges
A charge may be included in product price, included in decoration price, shown as a separate customer line, absorbed as internal cost, passed through to the customer or marked as no charge intentionally.
- Including a charge and adding it separately can double-bill the customer.
- Leaving a cost unpriced can reduce margin.
- Hiding charges inside product pricing may make revisions harder to understand.
Reviewing the project total
- Products: $2,000
- Decoration: $500
- Setup charges: $75
- Shipping: $125
- Other services: $100
- Project subtotal: $2,800 before tax
Review the product subtotal, decoration subtotal, setup charges, shipping, services, taxes, customer total, total cost, margin dollars and margin percentage. Confirm each component rather than relying only on the final total.
What happens next
- Review the complete project.
- Confirm products, quantities, pricing, decorations, shipping and services.
- Review margin and required dates.
- Generate an estimate.
- Send the estimate to the customer.
The next guide will cover reviewing a project before generating an estimate.
Common problems
The charge does not appear on the estimate
Confirm it was saved, has a customer price, is enabled for customer documents, is attached to the correct item or project, and the estimate was regenerated.
The charge appears twice
Review decoration charges, setup charges, product pricing, Other Services, shipping lines and included-in-price settings. Remove only the confirmed duplicate.
Shipping is included twice
Identify whether it appears in product cost, inbound freight, customer shipping, another service or more than one product.
The customer price is zero
Zero is valid only when the service is intentionally free, included or absorbed. Do not use zero as a placeholder.
The total is too high or too low
Check fixed-versus-per-unit settings, quantity, duplicates, missing freight, missing setup, missing services, blank customer prices and included settings.
The wrong description appears
Update the customer-facing description and regenerate the estimate.
The user cannot edit the charge
Confirm the correct instance, role permissions, project status and whether a later document has locked the project.
The estimate still shows the old amount
Generated documents may preserve an earlier snapshot. Regenerate the estimate after approved changes.
The shipping destination is missing
Review customer shipping addresses, the project Ship To selection, delivery method, customer pickup selection and multiple-destination requirements.
Best practices
- Use clear customer-facing descriptions.
- Choose the most specific charge type.
- Enter cost and customer price separately.
- Confirm fixed versus per-unit calculation.
- Attach charges to the correct item or project.
- Avoid duplicate setup charges.
- Separate inbound and outbound freight when needed.
- Confirm shipping destinations and tax treatment.
- Review included-versus-separate pricing.
- Reopen saved charges.
- Review the full project total.
- Regenerate documents after approved changes.
- Keep freight quotes attached to the project.
- Do not use zero as an unknown placeholder.
Charges and services checklist
- ☐ Correct project is open
- ☐ Products, quantities, pricing and decorations are complete
- ☐ Setup charges were reviewed
- ☐ Inbound and outbound freight were reviewed
- ☐ Other services were reviewed
- ☐ Descriptions and charge types are clear
- ☐ Fixed versus per-unit basis is correct
- ☐ Quantities, costs and customer prices are correct
- ☐ Included and duplicate charges were reviewed
- ☐ Tax treatment and shipping destination were reviewed
- ☐ Project total and margin were reviewed
- ☐ Charges were saved and reopened
- ☐ 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 Enter Product Costs and Customer Pricing in Elite Core
- How to Add Decorations and Artwork in Elite Core
- How to Review a Project Before Generating an Estimate
- How to Generate an Estimate in Elite Core
Previous and next guides
Previous: How to Add Decorations and Artwork in Elite Core
Next: How to Review a Project Before Generating an Estimate in Elite Core
Notes for Future Expansion
Screenshots to add
- Project cart
- Services or charges area
- Add Service or Add Charge action
- Charge-type selector
- Description, cost, customer-price and quantity fields
- Fixed and per-unit options
- Shipping section
- Project totals
- Saved service line
Interface details to confirm
- Exact section and button labels
- Available charge and finance line types
- Product-level versus project-level behaviour
- Fixed and per-unit options
- Dedicated shipping section
- Inbound versus outbound freight handling
- Duty and brokerage options
- Automatic tax treatment
- Included-in-price settings
- Role and project-status permissions
- When charges become locked
- Whether regeneration prompts appear automatically
- How charges appear on estimates and Sales Orders
Future articles
- How to Review a Project Before Generating an Estimate
- How to Generate an Estimate
- How to Add Inbound Freight
- How to Add Customer Shipping
- How to Add Fixed Charges
- How to Add Kitting and Fulfillment Charges
- How to Review Project Margin
- How to Correct Duplicate Charges
- How to Regenerate an Estimate After Charge Changes
