Xola’s Merchandise allows you to sell physical and digital products—like branded apparel, souvenirs, and packaged goods—directly from your account. Merchandise can be sold as a standalone purchase or bundled with experiences and packages.
With Merchandise, you can create products with multiple variants, such as size, color, and material, making it easy to manage different versions of the same item. You can also track inventory across SKUs, with additional inventory features coming soon. Merchandise can be sold through web checkout or back-office purchases, giving you flexibility in how and where items are sold. You can attach merchandise to bookings, fulfill and track delivery, and run reports on sales, inventory, and adjustments to better monitor performance and manage operations.
User Access: Administrator or Curator roles have access to set up and manage merchandise in Xola.
Administrator, Reservationist Lite or Reservationist roles can make, view, and modify merchandise purchases in Xola.
Accountant roles can access the merchandise report in Custom Reports.
To grant access to users, click here.
What's covered in this article:
- How to enable Merchandise
- How to create a Merchandise
- How to purchase Merchandise
- How to Manage Merchandise
- Merchandise Report
How to enable Merchandise
- Log into your Xola account.
- Go to App Store.
- Find Merchandise> Click Install.
How to create a Membership Pass
Once enabled, head to Products > Merchandise, then click the + Create Merchandise button to get started.
Descriptive Content
-
Title: The product name (displayed in checkout, back office and emails).
-
Excerpt : Describe what the Merchandise is. This text will only show on checkout and not on any email communications.
- Attachments: Upload supporting files (e.g., sizing charts)
Photos
As part of creating your merchandise product, you will need to upload photos. The image you select as your Primary Photo will appear as the thumbnail in the back office and will also be displayed during online checkout and in the shopping cart.
Click the Upload Image button to add photos to your product. Each merchandise item can include up to 10 images in .jpg or .png format, with a maximum size of 5 MB per image.
Note: The recommended image size is 1024 × 768 for the best display quality.
Payments, Channels, & Fees
Down Deposits
By setting up Down Deposits, you provide your customer the option to pay only a deposit at checkout, with the remaining balance due at time of fulfillment. A deposit can be set up as a fixed amount per person, per purchase, or a percentage of the purchase.
- Toggle on the Enable Down deposit.
- Choose your Deposit Amount:
- Set a dollar amount Per purchasable item
- Set a dollar amount Per Purchase
- Set a percentage amount Per Purchase
- Checkout Preference
- Allow customers to choose between paying in full or deposit amount: This means that the customer will have the option on the payment screen to pay the deposit amount or the full amount.
- Require customers to pay deposit amount only: This means the customer will only have the option to pay the deposit amount and will have a balance due when they arrive. Alternatively, you can set up sending invoices to the customer with a balance due before arrival.
Item Available to Purchase From
Choose where the merchandise product can be sold:
- Office: These are purchases made in your Xola account from the Make a Purchase button
- Checkout: These are purchases made on your website through the Xola book now button.
- Kiosk: These are purchases made through the Xola Kiosk App.
- Apps & Integrations: These are purchases made through apps and integrations connected in Xola.
Taxes & Fees
If you’ve already set up taxes and fees under Settings > Taxes & Fees and want to use those same settings for your merchandise, click the + Taxes and Fees button. A list of all existing taxes and fees will appear. Select the one you’d like to apply, and it will be added to the Taxes and Fees grid for this merchandise item.
If you need to create a new tax or fee specifically for merchandise, click the + New Taxes and Fees button. For detailed steps on configuring a new tax or fee, please refer to this article.
- Edit: Click the
icon to make changes.
The Edit and Delete action are for the global tax and fee. Any changes you make will impact all products this tax is applied to. If deleted it will delete it globally. If you are wanting to remove the tax from this merchandise product simply edit the tax or fee, and remove it from the applies to section, and then it will be removed from the merchandise product.
Inventory & Variants
Inventory
-
Toggle on Track inventory for this item
- This will be set up under the Items tab.
Variant groups define how your merchandise product can vary—like Size, Color, or Material. Each combination of options across your variant groups creates a unique item with its own SKU, inventory, and pricing.
Example:
Let’s say you offer a product in two sizes—Small and Large—and two colors—Black and White.We’ll automatically create all the combinations for you:
- Small / Black
- Small / White
- Large / Black
- Large / White
No need to set these up one by one—we handle it for you.
You can create up to 3 variant groups per product, and each group can include as many options as you need.
To create a variant group:
-
Click + Create Variant Group
-
Enter a Name for the group: Like the example above your names would be Color and Size
-
Add Options: These are the options under the label.
-
Size: Small and Large
-
Color: White and Black
-
Note: You can type multiple options separated by commas or line breaks (e.g., "Small, Medium, Large") and this will add each option separate
-
Click Save.
Variant Groups
- Reorder: You can drag and reorder the variants to appear in the order you would by clicking and holding down the three lines on the left side of the variant and dragging it to your desired order.
- To edit or delete a variant, click either the
icon for editing or the 
icon to delete.
- If you edit a variant, you can also do the same actions for the Options under the variant.
Items
- Name: Name of the variant or product you created.
- SKU: Xola will create a unique SKU for each item. Click on the SKU to edit.
- Barcode: Click Add Barcode to add a bar code number for your item. If a barcode is already created, click on it to edit the barcode.
- Price: Click in the box to add a price for the item. If a price is already set click in the box to edit it.
- Inventory: If you set up the toggle in the last section to track inventory, under this column you will see how much inventory each item has.
icon to edit the item. In the pop up you can:- Publish this product: Toggle off to hide this variant from checkout and search without deleting it.
- SKU: Xola will create a unique SKU for each item. Click on the SKU to edit it.
- Barcode (Optional):Add a bar code number for your item.
- Price (Cost to Customer): Add a price for the item.
- Show compare-at price: Display a secondary “compare-at” price on checkout so customers can see the original price alongside the current price.
- Notify me if inventory falls below: When toggled on, you can set a threshold in the dropdown. Xola will then notify the primary email address when inventory falls below this threshold. (Only shows if you have inventory toggled on)
- Continue selling when out of stock: When toggled on, you can sell merchandise even if you have no inventory. (Only shows if you have inventory toggled on)
- Upload Image: Upload more images to display to your customers for this item.
These override product-level photos in checkout.
At the top of the grid you have the option to select all items or some items, and then click the 
icon to perform the following actions on the selected items:
-
Set Price: Enter a price for the selected items.
- Set the low inventory alert: We will notify you when inventory falls below the value you set here. (Only shows if you have inventory toggled on)
- Publish: Make visible in checkout for the selected items.
- Unpublish: Do not display the selected items in checkout.
Every item will have a draft icon next to it until you publish the item.
Manage Inventory
Once you have variants set up and saved for your merchandise items, you can manage it at any time by clicking the Manage Inventory button. This opens an inventory drawer that slides out from the side of the screen and displays all of the products and variants (SKUs) you’ve created for that merchandise item in a single, consolidated view.
In this drawer, you’ll see your items listed in a grid along with their current inventory counts. Any number that appears with an underline is clickable—this indicates that the value can be adjusted. Click the underlined number in either the Available or Unavailable column to open the inventory adjustment popup for that specific item.
From there, you can:
-
Set Available Inventory: This is the quantity that can actively be sold through checkout, back office, or any connected sales channels. Updating this number allows you to restock items, correct counts, or move units back into sellable inventory.
-
Set Unavailable Inventory: This is the quantity you’re holding back from sale—for example, items that are damaged, reserved for a special event, being inspected, or otherwise not ready to be sold. Adjusting this number lets you move units out of circulation without deleting them from your records.
Use these controls to keep your stock levels accurate and to clearly separate what’s actually sellable from what’s on hand but temporarily unavailable.
Under the Adjustments field in the pop-up, you can choose an action. These actions can include:
-
Add Inventory: Increases the quantity of inventory available for sale by adding new stock to the system. This is typically used when receiving new merchandise, restocking items, or correcting inventory counts.
-
Move to Unavailable: Changes inventory from an available (sellable) status to an unavailable status, making the items temporarily unavailable for purchase while still keeping them in inventory. This can be used for damaged items, reserved stock, or items under review.
-
Move to Available: Changes inventory from an unavailable status back to an available (sellable) status, allowing the items to be sold again. This is commonly used when reserved, repaired, or temporarily held items become ready for sale.
-
Remove from Unavailable: Permanently removes inventory that is currently marked as unavailable from the system. This is typically used for lost, damaged beyond repair, or discarded items that should no longer be tracked.
-
Remove from Available: Permanently removes inventory that is currently available for sale from the system, reducing the total inventory count. This is generally used to account for shrinkage, transfers out of inventory, or corrections to inventory quantities.
If you choose Add Inventory or one of the Remove options, you’ll be prompted to select a reason for the adjustment and then click Apply. Xola will automatically increase or decrease the inventory based on your selection, updating the quantities you currently have on hand.
After you’ve saved your changes, the updated counts will appear in the Inventory column in the Items grid.
-
Available: Inventory that is currently in stock and available for customers to purchase.
-
Unavailable: Inventory that exists in stock but has been set aside and cannot be sold. This may include damaged items, reserved stock, or inventory awaiting inspection.
-
Committed: Inventory that has been allocated to existing orders but has not yet been fulfilled. These items are no longer available for new purchases.
-
On-Hand: The total physical inventory you have in stock, including both available and unavailable quantities.
From there, you can sell products according to the inventory you’ve set. If you’ve enabled low-inventory alerts, Xola will also send a notification when stock for an item falls below your specified threshold.
Note: You can also manage inventory by going to Products>Inventory.
Fulfillment
Product Type
-
Physical product
-
A tangible item customers can touch and take with them (e.g., apparel, gear, souvenirs)
-
Requires shipping or in-person pickup
-
-
Digital product
-
An item delivered electronically (e.g., tickets, downloads, online content)
-
No shipping required—customers receive it instantly after purchase.
-
- Physical Products:
-
- Available for local pickup: Displays a local pickup message to customers during checkout and in their confirmation emails. This setting is always enabled by default.
- Available for shipping: This feature is not currently supported in Xola.
Note: This section does not appear for Digital products, since they are delivered to customers electronically.
Purchase Fulfillment
-
Automatically fulfill orders at the time of purchase:
-
Enabled: All items in the purchase are automatically marked as fulfilled as soon as the transaction is completed, no additional steps needed.
-
Disabled: You’ll need to manually mark items as fulfilled from the dashboard or the purchases tab. Click here to learn more.
-
-
This item can be returned for a refund: Toggle this on to indicate that the item is eligible for returns. The terms you define below will be shown to customers at checkout.
Custom Terms and Conditions
If you have Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) you’d like guests to review before purchasing merchandise, you can paste them into the text box below. These T&Cs will appear to customers during checkout and in the confirmation emails they receive after completing their purchase.
How to Manage Existing Merchandise Products
Once you’ve created Merchandise Products, you can manage it by navigating to Products > Merchandise. Here, you'll find tools to edit, duplicate, or delete the Merchandise product. Below are the available actions:
-
Edit: Hover over the Merchandise product and click the Edit button to make changes.
icons for the following: -
Delete: This permanently removes the Merchandise product from your Xola account. However, if the Merchandise product has existing purchases, they will remain visible in your reports.
How to purchase Merchandise
Back office
Click the green Purchase button from the Dashboard or Purchases tab and choose the Merchandise product under the Merchandise section. Once you select the Merchandise product the customer would like, this will take you to the Purchase page.
Product Details
-
Enter the number of items
-
Automatically fulfill orders for this product at the time of purchase:
-
Toggle on if the item has been given to the customer at the time of purchase.
-
Toggle off if you plan to provide this item to the customer at a later time.
-
-
Custom Line Items: Toggle on and click the '+line item,' and you can create on-the-fly discounts or charges, which can be taxed if needed.
-
Codes: Add a coupon or agent code by locating the code field under the purchase summary on the right. Click on the dropdown or enter the code you would like to use. Select the code you would like to use and click Apply.
-
Taxes and Fees: Click on the
icon under the Payment Summary on the right-hand side to remove any taxes or fees you have set up under Settings.
You can not remove Xola's Service fee.
Organizer Details
-
Customer Name
-
Customer Email
-
Customer Phone
If you want to look up a past customer to purchase the membership, click on the Search Customer button next to the customer's name to search for your customer. This will automatically populate the customer's name, email, and phone number. It will also automatically fill in credit card details if the customer has previously used a credit card.
Payment Details
Next, choose your payment workflow:
-
Now: Take immediate payment
-
Later: This will reserve your customer's merchandise without collecting payment. When ready, you can find their purchase in the Purchases tab to collect the balance.
-
-
If taking immediate payment, select the payment method:
-
Credit Card
-
Cash
-
Check: If your customer is paying by check, we recommend noting the check number in the comment section.
-
Other: This can be any third-party payment method your business accepts, like PayPal, Bitcoin, or Venmo. You can set these under Settings > Payments.
-
Internal Notes
Optionally add a Tag or internal note for your staff.
-
Tag: A tag is a word or phrase added to a purchase that can be used for searching and filtering in the Purchases tab. When you type the tag into the search bar, it will bring up all purchases that have been tagged as such.
-
Purchase Note: This will appear on the event's roster in the Purchase Notes section.
Add Another Product
You can select the Add Another Product button if you need to add another product to the same purchase. The customer will receive separate confirmation emails for each product or experience reserved. This ensures you can make changes to one purchase without affecting another.
To complete the purchase, click Pay.
Checkout
After you create or edit an existing book now button on your site, your customers will be able to purchase a Merchandise product on your website. To learn more about how to create or edit a button, click here.
How to Manage Merchandise
Dashboard
You will see a drop-down menu that controls the view in which your events are displayed in the Dashboard. To view your purchased merchandise in the dashboard select the dropdown and click Merchandise.
The Dashboard Merchandise View will show you all your purchased merchandise in a vertically cascading list for any selected day.
Under your filter options, the bar displays the actions you can take, purchase date, customers name, balance due (if any), Items Fulfilled and Channel.
To fulfill items directly from the Dashboard, click the number in the Items Fulfilled column. In the popup, use the + / - buttons or entering the new number directly to adjust how many items have been fulfilled for the customer, then click Apply.
You can take Purchase actions for an individual guest while on the Merchandise view. All actions can be found by clicking the 
to the left of the guest's name under the actions column and include:
- Add Purchase Notes: Add a Purchase note to the purchase
- Modify Purchase: Modify the merchandise quantity of the purchase
- Charge: Adding additional charges or discounts to the purchase
- Refund: Refunding payment on the purchase
- Cancel: Cancel the purchase
Purchases Tab
On the Purchases Tab, you can view the purchase details, modify the customer's information, resend the receipt email, view fulfillment status, and even view a payment summary of the merchandise purchase.
Modify Purchase
- Update Fulfilled: Track which items have been delivered to the customer.
- Use the + / - buttons or entering the new number directly to adjust how many items have been fulfilled for the customer.
-
Change Quantity: Update how many items the customer is purchasing.
-
Use the + / - buttons or enter a number directly to adjust the quantity of each item.
-
Collect or Refund Balance: Handle any price changes from the update.
-
-
-
Refund: When you click the Refund in a customer purchase, Xola will ask you to select from one of the following options:
-
Reduce booking value and return payment: Reduces the customer's total booking value and sends full or partial payment back to the customer.
-
Return payment only: Returns payment to one customer in order to collect that money either in a new form of payment or from another paying customer. Using the Return Payment feature will always open a balance on the purchase for the amount returned.
-
Change Merchandise Quantity: Change the amount of products the guest has purchased.
-
-
Send Message: Send a message or message template to your customer.
-
Print Receipt: If your customer needs a print out of the receipt, or one emailed to them you can do this by clicking the Print Receipt button.
-
Email Receipt: Resends the receipt email to the customer.
-
Rebook Organizer: Allows you to make a purchase through the back office for the same customer.
-
Cancel: When a customer cancels a purchase, you can choose to issue a full or partial refund, issue no refund at all, or send the customer store credit.
Purchase Details
Under the Modification Bar, you will see the merchandise details. Here you can view:
-
Payment Summary:
-
See how much the customer paid and if any discounts or fees were applied.
-
By clicking the Modify button in this section, you can also modify the taxes and fees, any codes on the reservation, and the guest count, and add a custom charge or discount.
-
Add a code to a reservation by clicking on the Apply Code button.
-
If there is a Balance Due or Refund Excess Payment, then you will see a button below on the payment summary to prompt the appropriate workflow for you to take.
-
-
Contact Information:
-
- The contact information of the main organizer of the purchase will be shown in this section.
- Message the organizer by hitting the
icon next to their information. - Edit the contacts name, email or phone number by clicking the
icon next to the information. - See the contacts profile by clicking the
icon next to the information.
In Xola, a tag is a word or phrase added to a purchase that can be used to search and filter in the Purchases tab. When you type the tag into the search bar, it will bring up all purchases that have been tagged as such. A tag may be auto-generated by Xola or added in manually after a purchase has been made.
-
Auto-generated tags
Xola auto-generates tags for purchases in the following circumstances:
-
- A reservation is rescued via abandoned reservation recovery (“Rescue”)
- A reservation is made on a mobile device (“Mobile”)
- A reservation is made through Book Now buttons on a third-party website (URL of the website)
- Adding a tag to a purchase
-
- Navigate to the Purchases tab and search for the customer purchase.
- In the Add tag field, type in your tag.
- Hit Enter to finish tagging.
- In this section, you can see, edit, delete, or add:
- Purchase Notes
- Purchase notes are for this particular purchase. These can be notes you need your staff to know about this purchase.
- Customer Notes
- Customer Notes are for a particular customer. They will follow the customer for every reservation you make for them.
- Customer notes can only be deleted in the Customer's Contact profile.
- Click on the +Add note button to add a note.
- Click on the pencil icon
to edit the note - Click on the trash can icon
to delete the note.
- Purchase Notes
- You will see a note icon with the number of notes
next to each note when a note is present. Click on the arrow next to the type of note to expand the section to see the notes.
Timeline
The Timeline is a history of every transaction and modification made to a membership.
Transactions (charges and refunds) and usage are recorded in the Timeline. Each record contains a timestamp and the name of the Xola user who made the change, making it easy to know who did what and when.
To filter the timeline only by Communications sent, toggle off Reservation Events and vice versa.
The Email and/or SMS will show up in the message chain below.
- Customers' responses to emails will pass through Xola and be added to the message chain.
- Customer responses to text messages will not appear for you in Xola.
For SMS: Messages that exceed 160 characters will be sent as 2 separate texts. If a customer calls the contact number from the SMS message, they will receive a recording that instructs them to contact the Company that they reserved with (you!). If you're interested in hearing that automated message, you can call 415-800-1140.
Merchandise Reporting
In Custom Reports, the Merchandise Gross Sales report breaks down each product sold by variant, quantity, and revenue, so you can quickly see what’s selling and where those sales are coming from.- Go to Reports > Custom Reports.
- Choose Merchandise Gross Sales
Date Filters:
- Purchase Date: The date when the merchandise item was purchased.
What you’ll see in the table: (* column can be filtered)
- Purchase ID: A unique identifier for the overall purchase
- Item ID: A unique identifier for each individual merchandise item within a purchase
- Purchase Date: The date and time the item was purchased *
- Product: The name of the merchandise item sold *
- Variant: The specific variation of the product (e.g., size, color) *
- SKU: The unique SKU assigned to the product variant
- Item Price: The price per individual item
- Quantity: The number of units purchased
- Gross Total: The total revenue for that line item (price × quantity)
- Source: Where the purchase was made (e.g., Checkout or Back Office)
When to Use This Report:
Use this to track merchandise performance, understand which products and variants are selling best, and monitor revenue generated from merchandise sales.
Merchandise purchases will also show in your Analytics Report, Earnings Report, Payout Report and other Custom Report as transaction line items.