Pricing & Discounts

Four-stage pricing pipeline — price categories, discount rules, surcharges, bundle pricing, deal price, and rounding.

Overview#

Signals applies pricing through a four-stage pipeline after base rates are calculated by the Rate Engine. Stages run in order; each stage receives the output of the previous one. Rental totals recalculate when lines, dates, discount categories, surcharges, or deal price change.

Admin configuration lives under Admin → Pricing (requires pricing management permissions).

Stage 1 — Price categories#

Price categories assign tiered pricing (e.g. retail vs trade) to catalogue items and rentals. Categories integrate with the rate engine so line calculations pick up the active category tier.

Configure categories at /admin/settings/pricing/price-categories. See Price Categories API.

Stage 2 — Discount rules#

Discount categories group related rules. Discount rules evaluate JSONB criteria via CriteriaMatcher and can auto-apply when a rental matches.

Discount rule changes are event-sourced on Verbs streams. Apply a category manually from a rental via Apply discount category (UI) or POST /api/v1/rentals/{id}/apply_discount_category.

See Discount Categories API and Discount Rules API.

Stage 3 — Surcharges#

Surcharge groups bundle optional surcharges (delivery, weekend hire, etc.). Operators toggle groups on a rental; individual line surcharges can be overridden.

Each surcharge carries its own tax type; surcharge line snapshots survive source deletion so historical invoices stay accurate.

Toggle a group: POST /api/v1/rentals/{id}/toggle_surcharge_group. Override a line surcharge: POST /api/v1/rentals/{id}/items/{item}/override_surcharge.

See Surcharges API and Surcharge Groups API.

Stage 4 — Volume and bundle pricing#

Bundle rules implement quantity-break and bundle pricing — for example "hire 5+, get 10% off" or fixed bundle totals. Evaluated after surcharges in the pipeline.

Configure at /admin/settings/pricing/bundle-rules.

Deal price#

Deal price sets a manual headline total on a rental, bypassing calculated line totals. Two modes:

Deal price is mutually exclusive with price lock — you cannot lock rates and override the total simultaneously. Use Recalculate to refresh lines from the pipeline, or Clear deal price to remove the override.

API: POST /api/v1/rentals/{id}/deal_price and DELETE /api/v1/rentals/{id}/deal_price.

Rounding strategy#

PricingSettings controls rounding: half-up (default) or banker's rounding (round half to even). Applied at the final minor-unit boundary for line and document totals.

Checkout interaction#

When a rental checks out to an invoice, the active pricing snapshot (lines, surcharges, deal price, tax) is frozen onto the invoice. Post-checkout rental recalculation does not alter issued documents.

Using it in the app#

Admin pricing configuration lives under Admin → Pricing (admin sidebar group pricing). Links require pricing.view; create, edit, and delete buttons require pricing.manage. Rate specifications sit in the same group but use rates.view.

There is no standalone Discount Rules index — rules are edited inline on each discount category form.

Discount categories and rules#

The Discount Categories index lists name, description, and active status. Add Discount Category opens the create form.

On the category form, the Discount Rules section holds repeatable rule blocks. Each rule defines:

• Discount %, quantity scope (per line / aggregate catalogue item / aggregate group), min/max quantity, sort order
• Valid from / valid to (datetime)
• Catalogue item groups, tags (comma-separated, all required), catalogue items, and transaction types (Rental, Sale, Service)

Empty criteria means the rule matches all catalogue-items. Rules use AND logic across criteria fields.

Price categories and tiers#

Price Categories assign tiered multipliers. The form's Tier Multipliers section lists tier number, label, and multiplier (create defaults to one tier: "Day 1" at 1.0000).

Surcharge groups#

Surcharge Groups index shows name, Default vs Optional badge, and status. The group form exposes:

• Default group (auto-enabled on new rentals) checkbox
• Repeatable Surcharges — name, percent value, fixed value (minor units), tax type, and Default (applies when group is active)

Surcharge criteria fields (catalogue item groups, tags, valid dates, and so on) exist in the backend sync layer but are not rendered on the admin form yet.

Bundle rules#

Bundle Rules configure fixed bundle price or percentage reduction modes with a required catalogue item set. Bundle Rules appear in the admin sidebar but not on the admin landing overview cards.

Account assignment#

On the account create/edit form (Tax & Pricing section, companies and venues), assign:

These feed the pricing pipeline when a rental is priced for that account.

Rental line-item editor#

Pricing effects are visible on the rental Overview tab (/rentals/{id}), which embeds the line-item editor. Editing requires rentals.edit and an open rental; rentals.unlock_rates controls lock/unlock price.

Toolbar actions:

Line presentation:

• Auto-applied discounts appear in the Disc % column
• Manually overridden discounts show a Manual badge; row menu offers Reset to category discount
• Charge breakdown popover (hover charge total) shows rental charge and Surcharge amount
• When deal price is active, the footer shows the deal total alongside the calculated charge total

Row edit modal exposes unit price override, discount %, dates, description, and substitute catalogue item.

Price lock: when locked, inline price/discount/qty edits and line removal are disabled; banner reads "Pricing is frozen — rates and tax are locked" unless a deal price headline is shown instead.

Not in Web UI yet: toggling surcharge groups on a rental (toggle_surcharge_group exists on the API only). Applying a discount category manually from the UI is also API-only — assignment flows through the account's discount category and auto-apply rules.

Permissions summary#

Related documentation#

• Rentals — line editor, Recalculate, pricing lock
• Invoicing — checkout and frozen snapshots
• Tax & Compliance — tax on surcharges and lines