How to sell products without creating an appointment
Ring up a retail purchase in Desk with New sale. Add products and quantities, choose how to collect payment, then check the transaction and stock.
Desk Team
3 min read
To sell a product in Desk without booking a service, open Payments → + → New sale. Add the items and quantities, choose the payment method, and complete checkout. For an in-person sale, you can leave the client field blank; a Payment link requires a client.
For example, someone might stop by your salon to buy shampoo without getting a haircut. Use a sale for that purchase so you can record the products sold without creating an appointment just to collect payment.
Prepare the products and payment setup
Open Business Settings → Items and check the products you plan to sell. Each item has a name, description, stock quantity, price, and optional image. Tap + to add a missing product. Use a clear name that distinguishes the size or version, then check the price and quantity against the shelf.
The business owner must connect Stripe before accepting payments. For in-person card payments, complete Desk's setup checklist: connect Stripe, add a business location, and set up Tap to Pay or a physical reader. Tap to Pay requires a compatible device and is available in supported countries.
Stripe processing charges and Desk's platform fee apply. Review the current payment fee details before choosing how to collect payment.
Create the sale
Before using SMS for a payment link or receipt, check documented permission and any opt-out. Check sending settings and available credits too. If permission is missing, turn receipt texts off and use a permitted channel. Check message status before relying on delivery. SMS credits are charged separately.
- Open Payments, check that you have selected the correct business, then tap + → New sale. You can also start from the Dashboard's Sale quick action.
- Choose In person or Payment link under Payment method. A payment link opens a Stripe-hosted page where the client can pay.
- Choose a Client, or leave it empty for an in-person purchase recorded as Walk-in customer. Select a client if you use a payment link.
- Add the Items and set the quantity for each product. Check the selected product against what the buyer is taking.
- Apply Discounts if appropriate. Review the quantities, prices, discount, and total before continuing.
- Complete checkout using the selected payment method. For an in-person payment, the tip screen appears first if tips are enabled.
These steps follow Desk's New sale documentation.
Check payment, stock, and the sales total
After checkout, open Payments and find the matching transaction in the correct business. Check the amount, client or walk-in label, and payment status. Succeeded confirms a successful payment; a processing or failed status needs attention before you treat the purchase as paid.
Creating or sharing a payment link does not confirm payment. If the buyer says they paid but the record looks unpaid, inspect the matching payment before asking them to try again. Avoid creating another charge while the first payment's outcome is unclear.
Desk's retail-sale documentation says sold items come off your stock counts. Reopen Business Settings → Items and check the remaining quantity. If the count looks wrong, compare the product and quantity on the sale with what left the shelf before making a correction.
To review retail turnover, open the Dashboard's Turnover card and choose Sales. This view shows the sales total and average separately from appointments. Use it to review product sales rather than looking for a retail-only purchase in the appointment calendar.
Use the right workflow for the purchase
New sale is the product workflow: you select items and quantities. Card payment takes a one-off amount entered manually. Choose New sale when you need to record which products were sold, rather than entering only a total.
If you need to bill a client for an agreed amount with a due date, see how to send a client invoice. That is a separate task from ringing up a retail purchase.
If you charged the wrong amount, open the matching payment and review the refund instructions. Refunds cannot be undone. The documentation does not establish whether a refund automatically restores product stock, so check the item quantity separately.