SimpleConsign

Avantages

The overall record-keeping​ of consigned items is excellent. Tracking inventory is very simple. With the ability to print labels with barcodes, it makes it easier to track inventory and prices.

The flexibility of the reporting system is excellent. A helpful feature is the ability to download the report as a CSV file. Having that data as a CSV allows me to upload it to another software package that we use for e-commerce.

If you have reporting to do to comply with local second-hand property laws, SimpleConsign can download a CSV file that can be uploaded to Leads Online. The company should add this to their feature list because it is a​ crucial business feature!

Inconvénients

Many of the printing issues are a bit of a pain in the behind. No matter how much I try to adjust the labels, I cannot get them to print precisely right on the page. I finally figured out how to deal with product/price labels by cutting off only a little in the middle column.

SimpleConsign doesn't adjust the print widths. It's one width fits all receipt printers. Since I have a wide format receipt printer, the receipt does not fill the entire width. By not allowing the width to be user-configurable​, SimpleConsign does not allow us to save money by buying printers on the used market.

For formatting output, they are relying on Chrome's layout capabilities. However, if you are not using Chrome (because Google cannot be trusted), then you cannot finely tune margins and other layout issues.

Avantages

Where do I begin? Let me start with their OUTSTANDING customer support. They are fast at responding, patient as they walk you thru solutions ( teach you as they do) and truly know their product features. Probably the most outstanding service I have received from any vendor. As for the software itself- tremendous! I feel like I could not do my job without this software (and their support). It provides me with all the necessary features I need to make the shop run smoothly, informed and convenient. My consignors love it because it gives them access to their account 24/7.. and it saves me from having to answer phone calls about accou8nt info. It is right there for each client. I truly cant speak highly enough about this company, its people and its products. The best value and the "item" that helps me the most.

Inconvénients

There is nothing I dislike. When I run into a problem, all I have to do is call customer support and BINGO- they walk me thru a solution. There was 1 occasion when I wanted to do something and that particular function could not be done HOWEVER with the help of the support crew, they came up with an alternative that worked perfect. They go the extra mile 7 days a week/ 24 hours a day

Avantages

The best thing about this software is the ability to run reports for my vendors at the drop of a hat. I have a vintage collective and have 40 vendors who sell at my location. I do all the book-keeping for them and some of them are very disorganized. As long as I have put good and thorough information into the system at the time of the sale, including notes if necessary, I can go back at any time of the year and look up the sale and see what the circumstances surrounding the purchase were. I also love the online look up tool that the vendors can use themselves. Saves me TONS of time in phone calls answering questions about daily sales. Total lifesaver. Plus I push that expense back onto my vendors so I don't have to absorb that cost.

Inconvénients

some of the terminology absolutely doesn't apply to my business model and there is no flexibility in changing it. I also would like a bit more options when it comes to running a custom report. I have a very limited capability to define my own parameters for sales reports other than the "canned" reports already built into the software. MAIN COMPLAINT: NEEDS AN APP FOR THE PHONE /TABLET ETC~!!!

Avantages

Simple Consign helped me stop running my retail shop like a "multi-family garage sale". I no longer had to keep tags, tally consignor accounts manually using paper tickets and manually calculate and write checks at the end of each month. Game changer for me.

Inconvénients

I don't love the fact that I have to pay for this service every month FOREVER for as long as I'm in business. But I realize it's become part of the cost of doing business and is the way the software industry is headed as a whole. I also still feel the aesthetics and functionality of the online is cumbersome to customers and not as seemless as I thought it was going to be when I added that service. Reports and sales data are not truly integrated together. I still have to run separate reports to get total sales data. I like that it's tied to the same inventory bucket but it would be even more helpful if those sales also showed up when I run sales reports through simple consign. It's also not as clean and shopper friendly as it could be in the way it sorts and places inventory into the category buckets. It still feels somewhat like more of a glorified Craigslist site, than a fully modernized professional online store. Not having the ability to have drop down menu items for customers to select apparel in different sizes or items that have multiple color options is not ideal. Having to do a complete separate listing for literally every single color and size of an item junks up the online store, makes shoppers have to scroll through a lot of the "same" to see unique items. Perhaps the answer to this is more categories in the long run, but that isn't ideal either. Perhaps since my shop isn't a typical consignment shop, I'm the only one with this issue?

Avantages

I love the bar coded price tag system that allows the consignor to enter their items into their inventory themselves. Love the bar code price tags (much more accurate and faster checkout process). Love the online account for the consignors to monitor sales. Love that it is a web based system so we don't have to rely on an in house computer (that could crash). Love that the software is accessible anywhere. This feature is particularly helpful for the business owner who has the capability to check sales reports, etc.. when not at the store.

Inconvénients

There really needs to be a Simple Consign iPhone app both for the Consignors and for the business owner. The current system is only accessible through an internet browser on a cell phone (which limits the size of the pages size and is also very slow). A cell phone app would be very helpful especially when introducing the system to a new consignor.
It would also be nice to be able to set a discount on a consignors account (by the day and by the hour) instead of just by the day. It would also be nice if items that are entered into inventory by the consignor would have the exact time they were entered for each item and it wold also be nice if the items that have had the tags printed out were able to be marked somehow so that we could tell were a consignor left off when entering and printing out there tags. When a consignor pulls out: it would be nice if there was a way to classify that consignor as "inactive". It would be nice if consignors who are currently in the store are classified as "active" and those not in the store are inactive. Would also be nice if there was a way to email all of the "active" consignors at once through the software or Cell Phone App (if there was one). When looking up a Sales Report or a Transactions stat it would be nice to have a "Today" button that would take you straight to todays sales and transactions instead of having to go in and pick the beginning date off the pop up calendar and then pick the ending date off the popup calendar. The Cost.