Plain Talk About
Consignment Software
There are 2 distinct groups of consignment software vendors:
Group 1: Honest and reputable. Group 2: Not.
Group 2 is basically 3 individuals left over from the late 90's who are still trying to hang on to old profit margins and antiquated policies which disfavor their users. They are:
Liberty, Consignpro and 'CCE'
If you read Group 2's websites and emails and tolerate their sales speels, you'll get the intended impression that it costs about the same to own their software as any. Shoppers for software get confused (understandably) and discouraged and often end up reverting to 'home page prices' and don't dig deep for hidden costs. (Potential customers shouldn't have to 'dig' for the truth. It should be right up there on the home page along with all the sales hoopla.)
Group 2 exploits this situation by posting information on their home pages (and in all other correspondence) with statements, banners and quotes which give the appearance of competitive pricing. 'We won't be undersold!' 'Lowest price!' - when in fact these 3 are the most expensive of all.
Once you have a list of their post-sale add-ons however, you'll have a much clearer picture of the agenda - get you in and get your money after the sale - far more than you thought you would pay based upon their pre-sale (mis)representations.
Within Group 2 there are 2 individual programmers (Bill Hawkins of CCE and Brian Wilson of Consignpro) attempting to come off as 'software companies'. Your future software support is critical and will be gone when these two are gone.
Six years ago, Liberty, CCE and Consignpro enjoyed little competition and conspired to keep prices high (around $1,000). They imposed 'rules' which disfavored their customers like, 'If you don't pay us annual service fees we won't fix your software or give you updates.' (Nice trap - Our software has bugs. They need to be fixed. We won't fix them unless you give us more money.) - 'You can't resell our software unless special conditions are met and even then, more fees.'
New competition showed up in 2002, with significantly lower prices, no annual hidden expenses and a better product. Of course they (Best Consignment Shop Software) were a big hit. In the ensuing years they gained a large market share with their refreshing honesty, fairness and fair pricing.
Hawkins and Wilson have thought they could maintain their high profit margins by maligning BCSS and they have regularly and often in public forums, emails and phone conversations - another reason to avoid these unprofessional individuals.
Ask these 3 to provide written disclosure of all their fees (not just the ones they think you 'might' pay - the fee traps are there for anyone to step on). They will twist, turn and spin to avoid giving you a straight answer, because they know if you know what the plan is (to get thousands of dollars (really) from you over time), you won't buy! While you're at it, ask for a list of their customers who have stopped using their inferior software. You won't get that either.
On your own, given information as they present it (on sub web pages or not at all), this is what you are likely not to find:
Liberty: Fees are not all listed on one page. Over 20 clicks are required to view all fees. They also advertise $85 'to get started' but there is no $85 software. At one time they tried 'Liberty Lite' which was stripped of essential features. Those who wanted to use the program had to upgrade to the full version. That didn't go over well so they tried removing QuickBooks ($199) and a free home copy of the program ($295) so they could present a lower price ($695 vs. $995). More: copies of the software: $295, annual support: $180 to $2,339 per year, phone call: $100, X-Charge: $245, printer/scanner help: $75 per incident, Hardware mark ups are substantial and add on for cables and shipping.
Consignpro: This is the biggest snake in the grass. In 2009 Wilson was exposed in a public forum for feeding an 'free update' to users who had not paid OPTIONAL service fees for a number of years. The update disabled their software and he refused to remove the planted bug until he was paid off.
Also, ask Wilson if his software can be resold. He will probably say "Yes!". Here's the catch: Someone must buy your store, uses the same business name at the same location with the exact same address and phone number. See if you can find where this important adverse provision is disclosed.
"I had to tell three people this week that, just because they bought a computer with ConsignPro on it, doesn't mean they own ConsignPro. They were not happy."
Brian Wilson, TGTBT Forum, 1-11-2008
Recently (Feb/2008) someone fell into the trap. A lady asked in the TGTBT forum if she could sell her Consignpro (purchased 6 months earlier and unused) because they had to close their business. (Her husband had been diagnosed with cancer.) Not only did Wilson not offer his condolences, he refused to respond, refused to allow her to resell her software and allowed someone else to inform his victim she had been snared. True story - search TGTBT for the word 'cancer' and you'll see the thread - and a good representation of Brian Wilson. She wasn't asking for a refund. She just wanted to sell what she thought was hers, which would have been the case had she bought software from just about anyone else on the planet except good neighbor Wilson.
If you visited consignpro.com in the past you would have seen 'Visual Horizons Software, LLC, offices in New York and Miami, Brian Wilson, CEO'. Wilson is a programmer with some administrative help operating a one-legged business out of a condo in Florida. There is no corporation or NY office or a 'CEO' unless it stands for 'Chief Extortion Operator'.
Consignpro expenses: Annual service: $125-250, copies of the software: $295, data conversion: $200, "data repair" - a new invention and a recurring fee: $69 each time; printer help: $45, upgrades (est): $400, data backup (usually free): $72 PER YEAR. Oh, and you can pay 'Brian' $4,000 more over 10 years for a website.
CCE: Bill Hawkins - doesn't know quite what to call his product: Best Consignment Software, Consignment Shop Software, Best Software - Hawkins was canned by 'Best Consignment Shop Software' in 2002 for stealing and a few months later got the bright idea of mimicking their name in hopes of pilfering more business from them.
'Bill' has also tried a few cover-ups to keep prices high. He uses the Liberty trick of stripping out features to show a price of $395 (down from $695) then charges $60 each to add the 3 features back which brings the price back up to $575. He complains regularly how stupid his users are and tries to extort them with provisions like "$45 PER INCIDENT" service charges and traps like locking new users into the $45 service calls if they don't opt for the lesser of 2 gouges ($100 annual service) within a brief period of time after purchase. Gotcha.
Competition has increased dramatically for these 2 shysters. Their high prices and lack of ethics have cost them considerable revenue and reputation. Deservedly so. Their desperation is shining through and it's only going to get worse as competition increases. Why pay hundreds of dollars for software when it will become worthless when these 2 are forced out of business?
Group 1 is just about anyone else you'll find searching Google. You won't find charades to hide high prices on their websites or in their communications because there are no high prices and most don't have ongoing assessments. You won't hear bashing of BCSS. There's WACI Consignment Software and Best Consignment Shop Software... The latter is the only company that is not one-programmer dependent. They have the lowest prices and arguably the best service.
|
