Friday 15 June 2012

Calculating Sales Tax

Following the release of version 1.1, Beadia can now calculate sales tax for your sales automatically. Each sale has a tax rate field which holds the percentage you need to charge for sales tax. Beadia calculates the required sales tax as a percentage of the total value of jewelry items sold plus the postage fee. Find the Sales tax rate field on the detail pane of the Sales library.
The Create Sale Wizard also calculates sales tax for you in the same way.

Default Sales Tax

You can also set a default sales tax which is applied to all sales you create. here's how to set it:
  1. Click the Document entry of the Settings group of the source list on the left of the window.
  2. Click the Financial tab.
  3. Enter a default sales tax percentage.
  4. All sales created will now have the specified tax rate by default.

Exporting Data to Financial Packages

Beadia contains a lot of financial information relevant to your business, information which you may need to transfer to financial or other applications. The new Export feature in version 1.1 handles this for you, by exporting sales and purchase data to a QIF file. This file is suitable for importing into financial apps such as QuickBooks, Moneywell or iBank. You can also export to a CSV (comma-separated values) file for import into spreadsheet apps like Numbers or OpenOffice.
Each library has it's own set of export formats, and you can export either all of your data or the results of a filter. To use the export feature:

  1. Set up a filter or folder to display the data you want to export.
  2. Click the Action button below the grid and choose Export... from the popup menu.
  3. Choose an export format from the list which appears. You can select a format by double-clicking it.
  4. In the Save sheet which appears, specify the filename you want to export to and click Save.
All export files are simple text files which you can view in Textedit. Refer to the documentation for the application you want to import data into for instructions on what to do next.

Exporting Contact Information

You can export contact details to a CSV file too. This is great for producing mailing labels: the resulting CSV file can be used by apps such as OpenOffice as data for form letters or address labels.

Wednesday 13 June 2012

Multiple Currency Support

Beadia version 1.1 now supports multiple currencies for sales, purchases and contacts. Beadia is configured with the full list of ISO standard currencies.

Here's how it works.

Sales

Each sale can have its own currency, separate from your system currency. All values for the sale will appear, both on screen and in reports, in the chosen currency.
The detail pane of the Sales library has a Currency field, which displays the chosen currency for each sale, or "Default" for sales using your system currency:

Click the Choose currency button to the right of the field to select a currency. The Choose currency sheet displays the currencies you use the most at the top of the list:


Purchases

Each purchase can also have it's own currency, for when you purchase parts inventory from international suppliers. The chosen currency will appear in the details for a purchase with a different currency, but the parts themselves will still display your own currency.

Contacts

Finally, you can specify a currency for each contact.  Whenever you sell jewelry items to, or buy stock inventory from a contact with a different currency from your own, Beadia will use the correct currency automatically.

Tuesday 12 June 2012

Beadia 1.1 Released


Beadia 1.1 has been released, containing numerous enhancements and bug fixes.

Here is a list of the changes for this new release:
  • Added multiple currency support:
    • Each Sale and Purchase can have a different currency than your system default - prices and amounts will appear in the new currency both on screen and in reports. Click the currency button to the right of the Items value field to choose a currency.
    • Contacts can have their own currency - when you buy from or sell to them Beadia automatically chooses the correct currency for you.
    • Note: Beadia does not convert currencies, only display prices with the relevant symbol.
  • You'll find new Currency fields in the Sale, Purchase and Contact detail panes.
  • Added sales tax/VAT support to sales. You can now specify a sales tax rate and Beadia will automatically calculate the sales tax amount (based upon the value of items plus postage cost). You can also specify a default sales tax for all your sales in the Financial tab of the Document Settings view.
  • Added ability to view favorite Contacts when choosing a contact in the Create Sales Venue wizard.
  • Added ability to view favorite and supplier Contacts when choosing a supplier in the Create Purchase wizard.
  • Added ability to view favorite and low-stock Parts when choosing parts in the Create Purchase wizard.
  • Added ability to view favorite Parts when choosing Parts in the Create Piece wizard.
  • Improved user experience when creating a new Contact in the Sale, Purchase and Sales Venue wizards.
  • All wizards now highlight the item they have created in the relevant library.
  • Added ability to create a new Contact when choosing a Contact in the Sales Venue, Sale and Purchase detail panes.
  • Parts now have two size fields.
  • Parts now have five custom fields which work in the same way as those for Pieces.
  • The Create Sale Wizard now sets the status of sold pieces to Sold.
  • Added an Export feature to all libraries. Allows exporting of data to predefined export formats including CSV (comma-separated values), and Quicken Interchange Format for the Sales and Sales Venue libraries. To export data click the Action button (with the Gear icon) in any library and choose Export... to select an export format.
    Contact us if you need an export format not already provided and we can design a format for you.
  • Corrected structure errors in example data created by the New Document Wizard which resulted in the example Sales Venue not indicating the example Piece had been sold.
  • Added Suggested buttons next to the four price fields in the Valuation tab of the Piece library. These buttons copy the suggested value to the relevant price field.
  • Fixed a problem which prevented Lookup lists from being loaded and saved correctly.
  • Improved searching for photos attached to Pieces and Parts.
  • Implemented saving of reports as HTML files.
  • Made the font size in reports larger to produce more readable text on printouts/PDFs.
  • Corrected the Payment Method and Sales Platform fields both being connected to Sales Platform.
  • Added scroll bars to the Contact detail pane so it can be viewed properly with smaller window sizes.
  • Reformatted all detail panels so they look consistent.
  • Corrected Sales library to display the total sale price in the list and not the item total.
  • Added Description tab to the Parts library.
  • The Piece library now indicates that a piece is in an active sales venue by displaying a small Sales Venue logo.
  • Added a View Sale button to the piece library detail pane which only appears for sold pieces. Clicking it shows the related sale in the Sales library.
  • Corrected an issue with filters containing a dash token to exclude words not returning the correct results.
  • Custom fields for pieces and parts can now be filtered.
  • The Low Stock report in the Parts library now correctly displays only parts whose stock is below their re-order level. If parts appear incorrectly, click the Action button (with the Gear icon) in the Parts library and choose Update Stock Information.
  • Various stability improvements.
Installation Instructions
To install this upgrade, download Beadia from the downloads page, double-click the DMG file and drag the Beadia icon to your applications folder. Click Replace when warned about the existing file of the same name.
Warning - documents opened in version 1.1 will be upgraded to a new format and will no longer open in previous versions of the software. Back up your data files before installing this upgrade.

Wednesday 30 May 2012

Pricing Pieces and Parts

Pricing Pieces

Pricing jewelry pieces is one of the most important aspects of running your handmade jewelry business - making sure you know exactly what you have spent on a piece and taking that into account when deciding on a price. Beadia helps you with this task in a number of ways.
There are two values for each piece which provide valuation information:
  • Parts value: Parts you have added to a piece have a unit cost - by recording how much you use of each piece you can see at a glance the total component value of a piece. You can either specify a unit cost for each part yourself, or Beadia can suggest a unit cost based on either the maximum or average price you have paid for your inventory of that particular part.
  • Sundry Costs value: Sundry costs, such as packaging, consumables or time, also have a unit cost. You can specify how many of each sundry item you have used and the unit cost for each one.
Beadia takes the Parts and Sundry Costs values of a piece and applies a markup percentage you specify to the total to suggest a value. You can either use this suggested value in up to four different pricing levels, or you can use your own price.

Pricing Parts

Each part in your inventory has a default unit cost. This can be one of three values:
  • Specified - a specific unit cost you enter in the detail pane for the part, in the Default cost field;
  • Purchase maximum - the maximum price you have paid for the part, taken from the purchase records associated with it. This is useful for parts whose value fluctuates owing to changes in commodity prices, and whose value at the time you use them may not the what you paid for them;
  • Purchase average - the average price you have paid for the part, taken from the purchase records associated with it. This is useful for parts whose values does not change as a rule, but which you may have paid slightly different prices when purchasing them.
When you add a part to a piece Beadia uses the default unit cost. You can accept this cost or change it to your own as required.

Download Beadia now and see how it can help you run your jewelry business.

Sunday 27 May 2012

Features


Here is an in-depth look at Beadia's features.

Pieces

  • Pieces hold details of a single piece of jewelry or a related set of pieces, such as a necklace and earrings set.
  • Group related pieces with a user-defined list of categories. Categories let you define lists of predefined example values for style and size.
  • Add parts to a piece to indicate the components you have used to make it. When you add a part you specify how many you used and the unit cost. You can also add parts which do not affect the value of the piece.
  • List any sundry costs associated with a piece – additional costs not related to components used. This might be packaging, consumables or labour. Sundry costs can also be added which do not affect the value of the piece.
  • Price pieces based on parts used and sundry cost.  Each piece has a markup percentage – Beadia will apply this to the total cost of parts and sundries to produce a suggested value. You can then use this value in one of four different pricing levels or use your own price. When a piece is sold you indicate the final pricing level used.
  • Add multiple photographs to each piece. Photos are embedded into your Beadia document so if the originals are moved or go missing you can still view them. Adding photos is as easy as dragging them onto the document window. You can even add Pixelmator images or PDFs!

Parts

  • Parts represent the individual components you use to make your jewelery – beads, chains, settings, clasps, etc.
  • Group parts together using a heirarchy of categories and sub-cateories.
  • Specify color, shape, size and finish for each part. Beadia uses these to describe each part – for example, the description 8 mm Round Cobalt Crystal Bead is built from the Size, Shape, Color and Category fields respectively.
  • Part categories supply example values for color, shape, finish, material and size. Grouping categories by manufacturer lets you choose from relevant values only, so creating a Swarovski bead will only show you Swarovski colours, shapes and finishes.
  • Monitor stock levels by adding purchased stock or stock already owned. Parts whose stock level is at or below a user-defined level are highlighted and can be filtered.
  • Clone parts with the option to apply new colors or sizes.  Did you just buy the same bead in eight colors?  Enter the details once and clone the resulting entry, giving each clone a new color.

Sales Venues

  • One of Beadia’s most powerful features, sales venues let you record a number of your jewelry items being made available for purchase. This might be in an online shop, a craft fair or an art gallery.
  • Each venue has a commission percentage and optional entry fee. Beadia will automatically calculate the commission owing on each piece you sell at a venue.
  • Report on the income from a sales venue, with fees and commission accounted for.
  • Link venues to a contact so you know who organised them.

Sales

  • Sales record the sale of one or more jewelry items to a customer.
  • Each item sold is priced independently using any of the four available pricing levels.
  • If a sale was made at a sales venue, you can link them. Beadia will calculate commission rates for you automatically.
  • Use Discount and Other costs fields to adjust sales totals down or up if required.
  • Record postage costs and sales tax.

Purchases

  • Purchases record new parts inventory you have bought.
  • Specify amounts and unit costs for each part purchased. Beadia can use the maximum or average price you have paid when calculating the costs of parts when you use them.
  • Link purchases to suppliers. You can see at a glance where you bought your inventory from, or what you have bought from a given supplier.
  • Add stock to you inventory without recording the purchase – for stock you already have or for if you can’t remember where you got it.
  • Add postage cost, sales tax and a discount as required.

Contacts

  • Record full details of customers, suppliers and sales venue organisers.
  • Fetch contact details from your Mac Address Book.
  • Record primary and secondary email addresses and phone numbers, as well as website URL
  • Produce a shipping label instantly, including your return address and customers address.  Beadia even prints the FRAGILE warning for you…

Filtering

  • Apply a filter to any of the libraries to view just the information you need.
  • Filter by providing examples – “silver” will locate any item containing the word silver.
  • Use advanced tokens to exclude values – “-sterling” will exclude items containing the word sterling.
  • Create folders containing items you specify. Add or remove items as you need to, then view the contents of a folder just as if it were a library.
  • Save filters as a Smart Folder, just like a Smart Playlist in iTunes. You can view the contents of a Smart Folder and even apply another filter to them.
  • Favorites let you record and view favourite items – parts you use the most, pieces you are working on or suppliers you purchase from the most.

General

  • Easy to use Wizards guide you through the process of creating new items. Simply click a button on the toolbar to use a step-by-step process to create pieces, parts, purchases, venues and contacts.
  • Reference numbers – everything has a reference, whether it’s a product code or your own numbering system. Use the search field to find any reference instantly.
  • All items can be locked – click the padlock button in any library to protect an item against accidental changes. Beadia locks sold jewelry pieces for you when you sell them.
  • Export and Import your part categories – share them amongst different Beadia documents or even your Beadia-using friends. We’ll be adding a facility soon which will allow you to download predefined categories – such as Swarovski elements and other well-known brands – and import them into your document automatically.
Download the demo now and see these features for yourself. Or, if there’s a feature you don’t see, contact us – we’ll see what we can do about adding it.

Saturday 26 May 2012

Welcome to Beadia

Beadia brings affordable, easy to use jewelry business management to Mac OS. Existing jewelry software solutions are usually Windows-based, and while they can be run on a Mac, it's not ideal. You want a system designed from the ground up as a true Mac application; you want it to look and feel familiar and run alongside your existing Mac apps.  That's where Beadia comes in.

Features

Here’s an overview of some of the features Beadia provides:
  • Organize your handmade jewelry and other craft items.
  • Keep details of your parts inventory, including stock purchased and which pieces parts were used in. Parts can be grouped with an extensive list of categories – use the predefined ones or create your own.
  • Record sundry costs against jewelry items – packaging, consumables, and time/labour.
  • Customized pricing – specify a markup percentage and Beadia will suggest a value for you based on parts used and sundry costs you have defined. Price jewelry for retail, wholesale or direct sales.
  • Add photographs to your parts and jewelry pieces; view them with Quick Look or Preview.
  • Create sales venues – galleries, shops or events where you have jewelry for sale or on display. Venues let you record a location, jewelry displayed, commission rates and fees.
  • Record details of your sales, including customer contact details, items purchased, pricing and sales venue.
  • Quickly and easily create filters to display information matching your criteria.  Smart Folders let you save filters and recall them later, just like a Smart Playlist in iTunes, or you can create standard folders which contain just the items you want.
  • Record customer information including contact details, items purchased, etc.
  • Easy to use wizards help you create items, guiding you step-by-step through to the finished article. 
  • Create customized lists of jewelry styles, part shapes, sizes and colors, all grouped by categories you can create yourself. We also give you a set of predefined categories with example values, including many familiar brand names and materials such as Swarovski Elements, Miyuki, Bali fine silver, etc.
  • Generate reports which can be printed or saved as HTML or PDF files.
Want to know more?  Head over to beadia.net where you'll find an in-depth feature list, screenshots and a demo you can download and play with.  Our demo is not time-limited, it just limits the number of items you can create, so you can take your time judging if Beadia can help you. We think it can, and if it can't, tell us why!

Contact Us

We intend to develop Beadia using your feedback, so if you have a question or suggestion, contact us here or at our Facebook page.