We had an inquiry from someone about Atlanta thriftshops. They wanted to know about which consignment tags were the best. If a shop prefers to log sales at the end of the day, hang tags are best. They are very professional in appearance and are highly recommended. The consignment sales tags have a perforated section that can be torn off. This makes logging sales at the end of the day a breeze.
It seems everyone is catching the consignment business fever. Today the question was presented regarding using the Best Consignment Shop Software program for RV sales. There is definitely no reason you could not. You would set up the RV owner with a consignment ID and commission amount and enter their vehicles as inventory. The consignor agreement would need to be amended.
What is the standard consignors sales percentage? This topic seems to be in constant debate in the consignment business. Most consignors earn an average of 45% to 65% depending on the consignment shop. Some shops also charge what it called a pick up fee or handling fee (for dry cleaning etc.) on top of inventory value. Those shops generally give their consignors a higher percentage so the extra fees do not hurt their settlements.
We are having a 20% off sale should the consignors take the deduction too? Grand opening or special item discount sales are always fun. The question is should the consignor take a percentage deduction to when a shop decides to have a sale? Most consignment shop owners feel like they should, since the sale will increase the chances, of a consignor selling those hard to move items. Some consignment shops take the burden of sales discounts upon themselves, but if the consignor agrees, that this is okay then the sale should be felt, by all.
Consignment Sales - Ray
From Ray currently a BCSS customer: He called because his wife is using CCE consignment sofware program and they have had some problems with his software. When they called for their PAID support he was rude to their daughter telling her she should just read the manual. The daughter hung up telling her parents about how rude he was, so Dad called back only to have Hawkins tell him the same thing.
Ray was kind enough to let me know some of the Hawkins restrictions with his current Deluxe version. You can not check a consignors balance during a sale without completely closing the New-Sale Screen. You can not use existing inventory numbers without program failures. You can not enter a discount % on a New-Sale Screen. You can only enter a dollar amount which will only take away from the shop's share automatic discounts are not possible.
Consignment Sales - Marilyn
She has been using Hawkins Deluxe type version too. She called me today out of complete frustration stating she wanted to know support charges and do we offer a kind support staff. She stated she wanted a software program that the company was willing to support, stating that she was tired of being spoke to like a child, that she did not appreciate any tech support staff member making her feel like an idiot. Marilyn stated that when calling for help today, because her program kept shutting down while trying to edit inventory, that the support staff more or less stated she was not using the program correctly and it was her error that was causing the program to fail. She stated she has been using our demo for 2 weeks and loved it already and when she called for my assistance to get purchase instructions she could not have been happier to hear a friendly voice, at the other end.
Consignment Sales 12/6/05
Today resulted in another BCSS Diamond sale! I had several callers today regarding the Deluxe version. Most were very simple inquiries and were also addressed in the manual. Like pulling a list for one consignor, what is the discount rules for, how to print labels for just one consignors inventory, etc. I also had 2 Deluxe updates today and 1 Diamond. All went smoothly! No need to return anything, which I can not thank you enough for!! The one diamond sale for today is a little stressing. I am trying to issue their unlock code, but the lady who purchased the program flat out refuses to use email, to do this. We went over 4 different unlock codes based on variations of her serial number. I was ready to pull my hair out. She had a meeting so she stated we would take this up again tomorrow trying to unlock.
Consignment Sales 12/12/05
I have emailed my blank Gift Certificates so many times today I can not count them all. New customers and old getting geared up for Gift Certificates sales galore. Customers are reporting people are specifically asking if they offer them. Might be something we want to put on our website? It would definitely pull more visitors that may not have even considered software for their shops. Demo users calling like crazy wanting to know about financing, hardware compatibility, exporting to Quick Books, and sales recaps for IRS purposes. Feedback states they love the program just needed a little assistance showing them how to use them. The website covers all of the above, but people just do not read the print. They look for flashy buttons directing the details. This brings up a whole new ?. Is there any way we can create a button, that has in bright colors "Download Demo". I had 6 calls today of people just wanting to know how to download the demo. Meaning where to find the demo download page. We currently have words that state "Free Demo" which they are obviously not reading!
Sales Feedback
This is an email we received by mistake regarding Bill Hawkins and his mimic of our product name. His user's comments: "I talked with you about 3 weeks ago about problems we were having cleaning up an old software package--deleting old invoices, consignors, etc. Since that time, the Best Consignment package crashed on her computer while I was sending old invoices to storage and compacting the databases. I was lucky that I had backed up everything prior to beginning. We used the second copy of Bestv6 that you told me to download, restored the data, and it is working fine. Susan still doesn't want you to assist with clearing the old items. So, we decided to simply download another Bestv6 and start fresh--entering all new consignors, inventory, and everything. However, when I went to the web site yesterday, I discovered you have created a brand new version. I can't say I like the new version (very hard to read) and I can't get my backup copy to restore to this version. The new software kept sending me to the Internet and then closing. Can we still get a copy of Best v6 so we can begin again? I believe this is the best way for me to straighten out the files; and, I believe, it is the only idea Susan will agree to. Believe me, we have had plenty of hot discussions over this software and I am trying my best to keep Susan working with this program instead of buying another package."
Fair Play
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