What the show made
The Takings tab answers the only question that matters on the drive home: was it worth going? It is the show's own set of books, kept whether or not you post any of it to your main figures.
The six figures
| Taken | Everything sold at the show, at the prices actually agreed |
|---|---|
| Spent buying in | What you paid sellers over the table |
| Cash expected in the tin | Your float, plus cash sales, less cash buy-ins |
| Cost of being there | The table fee, travel and everything else on the list below |
| Net profit | Your margin on what sold, less the cost of being there |
| Items still in the box | What is coming home unsold |
Cash expected in the tin only ever counts cash. A card sale never reaches the tin and a bank transfer to a seller never leaves it, so the number is the one to count against.
Counting the tin
Expected is a calculation; the record that stands up is what was actually there. Close & bring stock back asks for the cash counted in the tin (leave it blank if you did not count), and the phone's Stats tab has Count the tin for a count at any point in the day. The Takings tab then shows Cash counted and Over or Short against what the till expected, and every count is kept with its time.
Export the ledger
Export the ledger (CSV) at the top of the tab is the whole show for your accountant: one line per sale, off-ledger sale and buy-in with its time, tender, cost and margin, who rang it and on which device, anything undone marked as voided, then the costs and the totals including the cash count. Reports ▸ Trade shows does the same for every show in a tax year.
A worked example
A table fee of 120.00 and 46.50 of fuel is a Cost of being there of 166.50. You sell two cards at 100.00 each that cost you 40.00 each: Taken is 200.00 and your margin is 120.00. Net profit is 120.00 − 166.50, so the show reads −46.50. It paid for itself in stock movement, not in money — which is exactly the thing a takings total on its own would hide. All figures are in your shop's own currency.
Why net profit sometimes reads "—"
Profit needs to know what the stock cost you. If nothing that has sold carries a recorded cost, the screen says — and explains itself rather than printing a number it would be guessing at. Record cost prices on your variants, or buy the card in at the show, and the figure appears.
Cards you buy at the show are stock, not a cost. They count against profit when they sell, not when you buy them — otherwise a good buying day would read as a disaster.
By device
Once more than one phone has traded, a second table breaks the same figures down by phone — sold, taken, bought and spent for each. It is there for the end-of-day count against each helper's tin, not to keep score.
What this show cost
Table fee, travel, parking, food, a hotel — anything you paid to be there. Rows are offered when you first plan the show, and Add cost adds more at any time: before you go, from the car park, or a week later when the hotel bill lands. Each one saves as you add it, and Remove takes it back off.