Your accounts are defined. Now it's time to stock the store. Campminder organizes your camp store into three levels:

Departments → Categories → Items.

Think of departments as your broad groupings (clothing, snacks), categories as the subcategories within them (T-shirts, candy), and items as the individual products.

This structure drives how staff navigates the cash register and how your reports are organized. Set things up in order — tax rates first, then departments and categories, then items.

What you'll learn:

Set up tax rates, departments, categories, and items in the correct order
Configure account settings so families can fund accounts and view balances
Set up low inventory notifications so your team knows when to restock

Video Tutorial

Tax Rates

If you charge sales tax, define those rates first. Some camps keep it simple with one rate, while others create combinations depending on how items are taxed.

Navigate to Accounts > Setup > Billing Items.
Select your season and the account you want to work in.
Click the gray Tax Rates button, then click Define New.
Enter the tax group name and rate.
Click Save.

💡 Tip: You can assign a default tax rate at the category level and override it for individual items as needed.

Departments

Departments represent different types of items for sale in your store, similar to a store. For example, you might have a department for men's shoes and another for girls' dresses.

Click the gray Departments button. Click Define New.
Enter the department name and select a tax rate group.
Click Save.

Add Items to your Store

Now add the products you're selling. You'll enter the cost, retail price, inventory, and more.

Click Add Item under the department where you want to add the product.
Select a category from the dropdown.
Enter the item name.
Enter the wholesale price (for reporting only — not visible to families).
Enter the retail price (what families and campers see).
Review the tax rate — it defaults from your category but can be overridden.
Enter the barcode if you use a barcode scanner.
Set the status to Active or Inactive.
Enter your starting inventory quantity and purchase date.
Click Save or Save + Add Another to continue.

🎯 Try it now: Go to Accounts > Setup > Billing Items, build out at least one department, one category, and one item. Come back when you've saved your first item.

Account Settings

Control how the account appears to families, set up low inventory alerts, and enable funding so families can add money.

📋 Note: Funding must be explicitly enabled here before families can add money through CampInTouch. Don't skip this step if online funding is part of your setup.

Click the Account Settings button on the right side under Definitions.
Rename the account if needed (example: "Snack Shack" instead of "Camp Canteen")
Set whether parents can see balances, transactions, or both.
Limit the account to specific sessions if needed.
If families will fund accounts online, enable Funding and set your minimum and maximum amounts.
Click Save.

🎯 Try it now: Open Account Settings for your account, confirm funding is enabled if families will add funds online, and save. Come back when it's done.

Low Inventory Notifications

Get alerts when popular items are running low so you know when to restock. You'll control these notifications in a few places depending on what you're setting.

In Account Settings, check Send Threshold Notification (Override).
Enter the default quantity that triggers an alert for all items (example: 5 remaining).
Click Save.

To set a custom threshold for a specific item:

Click the yellow Edit button next to the item.
Uncheck Use Default Threshold Qty and enter a custom quantity.
Click Save.

To set up who receives notifications:

Click the blue Edit link next to "Low Inventory Notifications will not be sent" at the top of the Billing Items page.
Choose tower or email notifications for each recipient.
Add any additional email addresses (such as your inventory distributor).
Click Save.

Before you move on, check yourself:

Do you know the correct order for setting up your store — and why it matters?
Is funding enabled in Account Settings so families can add money online?
Have you set a default inventory threshold and identified who should receive low-stock alerts?

Ready for the next step?

Accounts: Add Funds and Record Transactions — enable family funding and record manual credits and charges
Accounts: Use the Cash Register and Record Sales — ring up purchases against camper balances in real time
Get to Know: Barcode Scanners — set up a scanner to speed up cash register transactions

Accounts: Set Up Your Camp Store