Overview of pricing rules

A pricing rule is used to perform pricing adjustments to an order that will be applicable only if certain conditions are satisfied. A pricing rule is characterized by conditions and effects. When a condition pertaining to a pricing rule is satisfied, the corresponding effect is applied to the price on the order. Pricing adjustments can be made at either the order level or the line level.

The effect of a pricing rule can either be a discount or a surcharge. Discounts can be an absolute amount, a percentage amount, or a flat fee. A pricing rule that modifies the price applied to an order by an absolute amount can be applied only to a single currency. A pricing rule that modifies the price applied to an order by a percentage amount can be applied to either a single currency or all currencies.

For example, you can set a bulk discount rule to specify that an item should sell for a lesser price if the customer buys more than a specified number of the product. In the case of order rules, these actions result in pricing adjustments, which can be either discounts or charges. For item quantity rules, conditions are evaluated on the basis of either item IDs or item attributes (features).

The status of a pricing rule can be either Active or Inactive. A pricing rule will be applied only if it is in the Active state and if it is effective at the date and time when pricing calculations are performed.

While a pricing organization user can only create or modify a pricing rule, an enterprise user can only assign a pricing rule to customers.

Note: The terms pricing rules and promotions are synonymous.

Pricing rules can be administered through the Sterling™ Business Center application.

System-supplied pricing rules are one of the following 5 types:

Note: Custom pricing rules are handled by extending the system.
  • Combination: These rules are used to adjust the price of a target item ID (that is, a target item, one or more items belonging to one or more particular categories, or items with certain set of attributes) if a certain combination of source item IDs (which can also be one or more items, items belonging to categories or items with certain set of attributes) is present in an order.

    The rule is applied only if the target item ID is already in the order. Combination rules can give a discount to either a single target item, all the target items, or each combination of trigger items. Combination rules may require certain quantities of item IDs to be present, for example, buy 5 PCs and get a printer free.

  • Item quantity: These rules enable the specification of quantity-tiered pricing for items, item attributes, item quantities, and categories. You can specify the price at which an item should be sold if a customer buys more than a specified number of the product. You can either specify the item by ID, or you can use item attributes (features) or item categories to select the items to which the rule applies.

    An item quantity rule can enable a percentage adjustment or absolute adjustment on a single target item or all target items. For example, a rule can state that if a customer buys 10 or more of a target item, a 5% adjustment is applied to all the target items.

    Note: Using the Sterling Business Center application , if you configure an item with charges, the charges are always applied as chargePerLine. If you want the charges to be applied as chargePerUnit, implement the OMPGetReturnOrderPriceUE user exit.
  • Order total: These rules take an action if the total value of the order (before shipping and tax) falls within a range. Typically, the action is to reduce the order total by a percentage discount or by an absolute value specified in the currency of the rule. For example, a rule can state that if the order is over $25, a 10% adjustment will be applied to the order.

    This type of rule also supports additional criteria, such as a requirement that certain items, attributes, or categories must be represented in the order in certain quantities.

  • Shipping charge order total: These rules provide discounts on shipping charges based upon the order total. Discounts can be a fixed amount, a percentage, or a flat fee shipping charge. For example, a rule can state that if the order is over $25, a $5 discount will be applied to the shipping charge.
  • Item shipping Surcharge: These rules operate at the line item level to associate a shipping surcharge with items that have a specified feature.

    For example, let us suppose that you want to charge an additional flat fee for shipping oversized items, such as refrigerators. You can create an item attribute type (feature type) called Oversized, and then create an Oversized: refrigerators item attribute (feature), and associate it with all the refrigerators. When you create the item shipping surcharge rule, you attach the surcharge by selecting the Oversized: refrigerators feature.

    When the rule applies to a product in an order, the system multiplies the surcharge by the quantity of the item being purchased, and adds the resulting amount to the shipping adjustment.

Note: You cannot use derived, computed, or reference attributes in pricing rules.

After you create a pricing rule, you must assign it to a certain set of customers and sellers. For example, you can assign a pricing rule to only Gold customers.