Product types are how TORO organizes your inventory into categories — Cigars, Pipe Tobacco, Accessories, Beverages, whatever makes sense for your shop. But they’re more than just labels. A product type carries pricing rules, compliance settings, reward eligibility, and (as of v810) default packaging types. Set them up right and every new item you add inherits the correct defaults automatically.
Creating a Product Type #
Head to DASHBOARD → PRODUCT TYPES and click New Product Type.
You’ll land in the Product Type Editor. Here’s what you’re working with:
Product Type Name — What you’ll see everywhere: the main menu, reports, item editors. Keep it clear and concise.
Is Active — Toggle this off to hide the product type from menus and dropdowns without deleting it. You can’t deactivate a product type that still has active items — TORO will let you know.
Minimum Age — If this category requires age verification at the register (tobacco products, for example), set the minimum age here. Leave it blank for unrestricted categories like accessories.
Returnable — Whether items in this category can be returned. Toggle it off for things you don’t want coming back.
Default Eligible For Rewards — Whether items in this category earn loyalty points by default. Individual items can override this, but the product type sets the starting expectation.
Pricing and Discount Settings #
These fields control how TORO calculates retail prices for new items in this category:
Markup to MSRP — The default markup percentage applied when pricing from the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.
Markup to Store Pricing — The default markup when calculating from your store’s existing retail pricing model.
Default Max Discount — The maximum discount percentage anyone can apply to items in this category. This is a ceiling — even if an employee’s personal discount limit is higher, they can’t exceed this product type cap.
Auto-Discount on Master SKU — If you want TORO to automatically apply a discount when a customer buys a full case (master SKU), configure the percentage here. You can also set a minimum items-per-SKU threshold so the discount only kicks in for packages above a certain size. There’s even an option to apply this discount when printing price labels, so your shelf tags reflect the case pricing.
Packaging Defaults #
This is the big addition in v810, and it’s a real time-saver.
Every product type can now specify default packaging types for both the Master SKU (the case, box, or bulk unit) and the Transaction SKU (the individual unit customers buy). You’ll find these at the bottom of the Product Type Editor:
- Default Packaging — Master SKU — What the bulk package is called for this category. “Box” for cigars, “Tin” for pipe tobacco, “Case” for beverages.
- Default Packaging — Transaction SKU — What the individual selling unit is called. “Single” for cigars, “Ounce” for pipe tobacco, “Each” for accessories.
What happens when you create a new item #
When you add a new item and assign it to a product type, TORO automatically sets the packaging types to match. Create a new cigar? Master SKU defaults to “Box” and Transaction SKU defaults to “Single” — or whatever you’ve configured for the Cigars product type. No extra clicks.
What happens when you change an item’s product type #
If you reassign an existing item to a different product type, TORO checks whether the new product type has different packaging defaults. If it does, you’ll get a prompt:
> “The new product type has default packaging types of [Box] (Master) and [Single] (Transaction). Would you like to update the packaging types on this item’s SKUs?”
Click Yes to update, or No to keep the existing packaging. TORO only asks when there’s an actual difference — if the packaging already matches, it skips the prompt entirely.
Custom packaging types #
TORO comes with seven built-in packaging types: Box, Single, Case, Pack, Tin, Ounce, and Ounces. But you’re not limited to those. If your inventory uses packaging that doesn’t fit the defaults — Bundles, Sampler Packs, Gift Boxes, Cartons — you can create custom packaging types and use them as product type defaults.
Custom packaging types are managed in the Packaging Type Manager under your settings. You can create new types, deactivate ones you don’t use, and drag-and-drop to reorder how they appear in dropdown menus throughout the system.
Reordering on the Main Menu #
The order of product type buttons on your main POS screen matches the order in the Product Types list. To change it, just drag and drop rows in the Product Types table to the order you want. The change takes effect next time the application starts.
While you’re at it, click Change Coloring on Main Menu to customize the button colors. Giving each product type a distinct color makes it faster for your team to find what they need during busy periods.
Online Store Settings #
If you use the TORO online store module, each product type has its own online pricing and inventory configuration:
Retail Pricing — Choose between using your in-store retail prices directly, or applying separate online markups for master SKUs and individual SKUs. The automatic pricing model lets you price your online store independently from your physical store.
On Sale Pricing — Mark products as on sale for the online store with percentage adjustments. You can set different sale pricing for master SKUs versus individual SKUs.
Quantity on Hand — Either pull actual inventory counts from your system, or manually set a fixed QOH number for the online store. The manual option is useful when you don’t want online availability to fluctuate with every in-store sale.
