How Departments Work
Access requirements. You'll need edit access to "Departments" to create or change one — this is a merchant-wide setting, not scoped to a single store, so it's separate from most other product-related permissions.
A department only has the settings shown on its form — there's no hierarchy. You can't nest one department inside another or set up sub-departments; every department sits at the same level.
Some sections only appear once a department has already been saved. Gift card setup in particular doesn't show up on the form until after you've created the department for the first time.
You can't delete or deactivate a department from Back Office. Once created, a department stays around — there's no button anywhere in the app to remove or turn one off.
Changing certain settings doesn't take effect instantly everywhere. Updating a department's target margin, or excluding it from pricing rules or credit card pricing, kicks off a background update across every item in that department — it can take a few moments before everything reflects the change.
You MUST select a Tax Category: Currently, Departments will default to none if a non-tax or Tax Category is not selected
Note: changing a department's tax category only affects items going forward. Any product that already has its own tax category set keeps it — only items with no tax category of their own will pick up your new setting automatically.
Where to Access Each Feature
To… | Go to |
See all your departments | Products → Departments |
Create a new department | Departments → "+ New department" |
Edit an existing department | Departments → click its name |
Creating a Department
Step 1
Click on "Products" in the left-menu bar, then click on "Departments."
Step 2
Click "+ New department."
Step 3
Enter a "Name" and choose a "Product type" — Beer, Wine, or Spirits. This controls which style options (like beer styles or wine varietals) are available on products filed under this department later.
Step 4
Click "Save." This creates the department and takes you straight to its full settings page to finish configuring it.
Configuring a Department
Step 5
Under "Sales setup," decide whether this department should have a margin requirement. Turn on "Minimum margin" and set a "Margin requirement" percentage if you want items in this department flagged when their margin drops too low. Separately, set a "Target margin" — this is used to suggest fixes when the Data Cleaner spots a pricing issue, and doesn't require "Minimum margin" to be turned on.
Important: a margin requirement is a warning, not a hard limit. You can still save a price that violates it — it just gets flagged in the Product list and sent to your terminals as a warning, rather than blocking the sale.
Step 6
Turn on "Age restriction" and set a "Minimum age" if items in this department need age verification at checkout, like alcohol.
Step 7
Turn "Discountable" on or off. When it's off, items in this department can never be included in a promotion — sales (one-off price overrides) still work regardless of this setting.
Step 8
Turn on "Sell as liability" if items in this department represent money you're collecting on someone else's behalf rather than revenue — a bottle deposit, for example.
Step 9
If your account has pricing rules turned on, you'll also see a "Pricing rules" section, where you can exclude this department from pricing rules or from credit card pricing entirely. Either of these can also be overridden for an individual item if you need an exception.
Step 10
Under "Accounting setup," choose a "Default tax category." This becomes the tax category for any item in this department that doesn't already have one of its own set.
Step 11
Choose a "Revenue type" — Sales, Gift Card, or Deposit. This determines how items in this department show up in reporting and how certain transactions involving them are recorded internally.
Step 12
Click "Save."
Setting Up a Gift Card Department
Step 13
Save the department first if you haven't already — the gift card option doesn't appear until it exists.
Step 14
Set its "Default tax category" to one that has no tax rates attached, and set "Revenue type" to "Gift Card."
Step 15
A "Purchasable as Gift card" toggle now appears. Turn it on — every product filed under this department becomes a gift card.
Important: the gift card toggle stays hidden until both the tax category and revenue type conditions above are met — if you don't see it, double-check those two settings first.
Troubleshooting
You can't find a button to delete or deactivate a department: there isn't one — departments can't be removed or turned off from Back Office once created.
You changed a department's tax category, but existing products didn't update: that's expected — only items with no tax category already assigned pick up the department's new default; everything else keeps what it had.
You set a margin requirement, but a price below it still saved: that's expected — a margin requirement only flags items for review, it doesn't block a price from being saved.
You don't see a "Pricing rules" section on the department form: that feature isn't turned on for every account — ask an admin if you believe it should be available to you.
You can't find the "Purchasable as Gift card" toggle: save the department first, then set its tax category to one with no tax rates and its revenue type to "Gift Card" — the toggle only appears once both of those are set.
You changed a department's target margin and the Data Cleaner didn't update right away: give it a moment — that change updates every item in the department in the background, not instantly.