Tracking Alterations in CloudBridal

CloudBridal offers three ways to track alterations. Pick one below, then follow that section start to finish - each one is a complete path, so you can ignore the other two.

Which Approach Fits Your Store

Charging one flat fee regardless of the work? Use the single alteration fee. No setup.

Want each service priced consistently and itemized for the bride? Use the itemized menu. This is what most stores want.

Also need to know who performed each alteration, track each one's status separately, or report on revenue by alteration type? Only inventory items do that. It's the heaviest option, so choose it for those three things specifically - not for the itemization, which the menu already gives you.

Starting with the menu and moving later is safe: every service name and price is stored on its orders, so your history stays intact.

A Single Alteration Fee

Uses the built-in Alterations charge on the order. Ideal when your seamstress totals up the work and you don't need it broken down.

On the order form, click Other add-ons under the price and choose one of three built-in charges:

• Alterations - the alteration charge
• Additional work - non-alteration work such as steaming or pressing
• Additional fees - miscellaneous charges

It joins the Add-ons section, where you enter its price and notes describing the work. The amount joins the order total automatically. To take it off, remove it from the section, which clears its price.

If You Don't See the Option

Which charges are offered is set per item type, and the types created at signup already differ:

To offer it elsewhere, go to Settings → Items, open the item type, and under On orders tick Show for Alteration price.

An Itemized Alterations Menu

A price list your staff check off on the order. Each service ticked becomes its own line on the ticket and receipt.

Setup

Five steps, once.

1. Find your store's vendor record. Go to Vendors. A record named after your store was created when you signed up - that's the one your alterations menu will live on. If it's missing, click Add Vendor, enter your store name, and save.

2. Pick an item type. Go to Settings → Items. The Service type created at signup already fits - no stock tracked, kept off purchase orders - so most stores use it as-is.

Create a dedicated Alterations type instead if you also sell steaming, preservation, or rush fees and want those kept apart. Click Add item type, name it "Alterations", leave Track stock off, and turn off Let staff add it to purchase orders.

3. Point that item type at your store. Still in the item type, set Default vendor to your store's vendor record, and save.

Don't skip this one. Your menu only appears once an order has a vendor, and this fills it in the moment staff pick the item type. Without it the menu looks like it isn't there.

4. Build the menu. Go to Vendors, open your store's record, and select the Add-ons tab. Click Add group, name it "Alterations", and set:

• For: the item type from step 2, so the menu stays off dress orders
• Charge tax: untick if alteration labour isn't taxed where you are
• Discounts apply: tick if percentage discounts should apply

Then click Add add-on once per service - hem, bustle, take in bodice, straps, cups - giving each a Retail price. Wholesale is optional, for when you pay a seamstress per job. Drag to reorder.

Add-ons have no variants, so price tiers become separate entries: "Bustle - French, 1-3 pts" and "Bustle - French, 4-6 pts".

5. Create an alterations item. Go to Inventory and click New item. Choose your item type from step 2, set Vendor to your store, name it "Alterations", and in the item's Add-ons field select every service you just built. Save.

This is what makes the menu land open and ready on the order rather than tucked inside a collapsed [your store] add-ons group.

Using It on an Order

1. On the bride's ticket, click Add item and choose your "Alterations" item
2. Open the Add-ons field - your menu is listed with prices
3. Check off each service she needs. Each one is listed in the order's Add-ons section
4. In that section, adjust a price if this order is a special case, and add notes to any service for the seamstress

For something not on the menu, type its name in the Add-ons field and add it as a custom add-on, or choose Other add-ons › Custom add-on. One-offs like this apply to that order only.

Running a second group - "Embellishments", say - lets you mix tax and discount treatments, since each group carries its own.

Alterations as Inventory Items

Each alteration becomes a service item in your inventory, and each one added to a ticket becomes its own line. That's what buys you per-alteration seamstress, status, and reporting - and it's why entry is heavier.

Setup

1. Set up the item type. Follow steps 1-3 of An Itemized Alterations Menu above, with two additions when configuring the item type:

• Set On an order with other items to Has its own status so each alteration carries its own status
• Under On orders, tick Show for Seamstress

The Service type won't do here - it has neither setting - so create a dedicated Alterations type. To tax alterations, tick the new type under Item types on your tax rate in Settings → Sales tax; leave it unticked if they're exempt.

2. Create an item per service. Go to Inventory and click New item for each one:

• Item type: Alterations
• Vendor: your store
• Item name: e.g. "Bustle Installation"
• Price: your default for this service

3. Add variants for the pricing options within each service:

Bustle Installation

Hem

Using It on an Order

1. On the bride's ticket, click Add item
2. Search for the alteration (e.g. "Bustle")
3. Choose the variant (e.g. "French Bustle (4-6 points)")
4. The price fills in from your variant pricing
5. Repeat for each alteration needed

Four alterations means four lines to add rather than four checkboxes, and a price change means editing each item's variants rather than one list. That's the cost of the extra detail.

Same Ticket or Separate Order

Either approach works on the dress ticket or on its own order.

On the same ticket - one order number covers dress and alterations, payments apply to the combined total, one receipt. Use Add item on the existing order. This suits most stores, especially when alterations are agreed at the time of the sale.

As a separate order - its own order number, payments, receipt, statuses, and sale date. From the customer's profile, click New order. Choose this when you run a separate alterations department, bill alterations independently, agree the work long after the dress sale, or might need to refund alterations without touching the dress.

Sales Tax on Alterations

Tax treatment varies by location - check with your accountant before configuring.

Additional work and additional fees have their own switches beside the alterations one: Charge tax on additional work and Charge tax on additional fees.

If your prices include tax (common in the UK), turn on Prices include tax in Settings → Sales tax. CloudBridal then calculates and shows pre-tax amounts, and tax-exempt items display at the price you entered.

FAQs

I built my menu but it doesn't appear on the order.
Almost always step 3 of the setup. Your menu belongs to your store's vendor record, and add-ons only appear once the order has a vendor - so an order with none, or with a dress designer as its vendor, won't show it. Setting Default vendor on your alterations item type fills it in automatically.

My menu appears, but collapsed under "[your vendor] add-ons" with a "Verify first" badge.
That's how add-ons render when they aren't selected on the item on the order. Complete step 5 and select your services on your alterations item.

Why does the menu live on my own store's vendor record rather than on my dress designers?
Add-ons belong to a vendor, and add-ons on a vendor are added to purchase orders to that vendor by default. Put alterations on a designer and a hem lands on your next PO to them, needing unchecking every time - plus you'd maintain the same menu once per designer.

Can I change a price for one bride without changing my menu?
Yes. Adjust it on the order; your menu is untouched.

Can I report on revenue by alteration type?
Only with alterations as inventory items, which report at item and variant level. Add-on amounts are included in order totals but aren't broken out by service.

I started with the menu and now want the detailed version. Do I lose my history?
No. Every service name and price is stored on its order, so past work stays intact - you'd start using items going forward.

Related Documentation

• Vendors - vendor records, where add-on menus are configured
• Inventory Management - item types, items, and variants
• Making a Sale - building orders, the foundation for every approach here
• Sales Tax Setup - taxes and tax-exempt settings
• Orders Setup - order statuses and order form configuration

Updated on: 19/10/2026