New Robust Accounting Software Program for Consignment, Resale, Retail and Thrift Shops Inventory Sales

Fraudulent Consignment Software Marketing Practices

The ten-year cost of owning our software is well below ONE-THIRD that of two of our competitors. They counter with a variety of underhanded techniques intended to cloak their real costs. They falsely advertise on the Internet, lie on their websites, play pricing games and generally attempt to convince you to buy their product without first being honest with you.

Each instance of unfair marketing practice noted herein is documented with a picture taken of the offense at the time it existed. Publishing this information may tip these rogues to become more crafty, but it is their dishonesty and willful intent to deceive that are being exposed. You will be dependent upon your software provider for reliability and fair play in the future. Unethical behavior alone should be enough to deter savvy consumers.

Note: We receive complaints weekly about our competitors' unstable programs. Put their demos to a real test. Ask each provider for a sample database that contains as many consignors and inventory items as you expect to have so you will be able to see how unstable the program is before buying it and before entering all that data! Some vendors know their programs are unstable but they will let you discover that - hopefully after the 30-day money-back guarantee expires.

Important! What is the total cost of owning a software program over 5-10 years, including support, updates and tacked-on fees? Our competitors want you to pay them every year, otherwise your software will not be supported and you will not be allowed to upgrade to new releases. Our support and updates are free.

Here we present the documented facts of their modi operandi:

ConsignPro Compare BCSS to ConsignPro.

False Advertising

These are ConsignPro advertisements in Overture and Google promoting ConsignPro to be 'free'. The program actually sells for several hundreds of dollars. (Overture and Google, search term 'consignment software', 1/5/2005)

Here's an outright lie about having the 'lowest price'. (http://www.vhsoftware.com/compare.htm, http://www.vhsoftware.com/message.htm, 1/5/2005)

Price Trapping

Wilson knows that some consignment stores will expand and will need to purchase additional software licenses for additional computers, so he poses the question, "How much are additional [Consignpro] copies?", then conveniently avoids answering the question while attempting to appear to be issuing a helpful warning. (screenshot)

The trap? Consignpro costs $995. Additional licenses are $295. Wilson refers to this as a 'discount', suggesting a 'bargain'. Those who buy Consignpro now and discover the need for additional licenses later will find they are trapped into paying outrageous networking fees! Additional copies of our software are $100 each.

Annual support fees will also increase from $125 to $195!

Additionally, quoted Consignpro prices DO NOT include additional charges such as License Transfer Fee $50, Label Customization $75/hour, Replacement CD $25, Replacement User Guide $25, Database Repair $69, Data Conversion $200. These lofty prices and add-on fees are, however, an indication of this vendor's pricing strategy. He also falsely claims that "some competitors" charge up to $100 per hour for support! (screenshot)

In this caption: "In the spirit of total disclosure, we present all our fees and charges below."

In this caption: "Software and Packages (prices do not include UPS shipping); POS and related hardware options (prices do not include UPS shipping)" Shipping charges are not revealed until late in the ordering process. (http://www.vhsoftware.com/pricelist.htm, https://nt27.securedata.net/vhsoftware/order.htm, 1/5/2005)

Moreover, Wilson attempts to cover up the high cost of his hardware offerings by comparing his high prices to even higher 'List Prices' which in reality, don't exist. (screenshot)

Like Hawkins of Consignment Success, Wilson plays charades with the cost of updates, outwardly promoting them to be 'free' - when in fact you must acquiesce to paying $125/$195 for annual support to get updates. Otherwise updates (and support!) are totally unavailable!

Deception

Wilson claims to be doing visitors a favor: "To save you some time and energy we've spent some time last Spring comparing ourselves to other popular software..." and asks, "Why do we give you all this information about our competitors?", suggesting that his comparison is a thorough representation of all competition. Representation of our software is conspicuously missing along with several others.

Wilson is fully well aware of the many consignment software providers, yet he and Hawkins limit their comparisons of their competition between themselves and one or two other vendors, while lying about having made exhaustive and extensive efforts in comparing their software programs to others. They patronize their visitors, claiming that these comparisons have been made for the visitor's benefit! The obvious intent is to steer potential buyers AWAY from the many other software providers - any number of which are priced well below these profit mongers. Here patronization and lies are used in combination: "We've taken a lot of time to compare our program to our competitors to make sure that you, our customer, receive the best value for your money." It doesn't take 'a lot of time' to determine than Consignpro is just the opposite - highly over-priced. This claim might better be stated as, "We only compare our product to the same two competitors who compare their products to ours. We are lying when we say this is an extensive and thorough comparison. We provide this limited information in hopes that you will not feel compelled to look beyond these three choices." (http://www.vhsoftware.com/faq.htm, 1/5/2005)

False Claims and Exaggerations

Wilson says his paid membership in NARTS (National Association of Resale & Thrift Shops) is "Your Assurance of Professionalism". Anyone can become a member by paying a fee. NARTS did not evaluate Wilson or his business practices and they refuse to disclose their reason for designating him as 'Vendor of the Year'. Moreover his mother is the founder of NARTS. (http://www.vhsoftware.com/message.htm, 3/5/2006)

This outlandish claim is unsubstantiated and highly suspect: "ConsignPro - The Industrys [sic] Favorite consignment software!!" (http://www.vhsoftware.com, 1/5/2005)

Consignpro is a small operation attempting to impress with hyperbole and misrepresentation. This caption on the main page attempts to suggest that ConsignPro has multiple locations in large cities. This is taken from the 'Contact Us' page showing that in fact their location is in New Jersey - not 'New York'. (http://www.vhsoftware.com/contact.htm, 1/5/2005)

A common strategy of those highest in price is to belittle competitors, baselessly claiming "you get what you pay for". Wilson goes so far as to claim that buyers of his software "will save money in the long run". Really? Compared to what? (http://www.vhsoftware.com/message.htm, 1/5/2005)

Vendors can and do claim superiority in product, but none ever have proof of their claims. To refute Wilson's implication that our software is 'cheap', we can honestly state that our program has several hundred satisfied users. He is left to contend with the FACT that our software is simply very competitively priced:

Assessment of ConsignPro

Wilson at ConsignPro misrepresents his product in advertising claiming it is free when in fact the full version of the program is not only not free, it is unavailable as a demo. The truth is only the demo version is 'free' but it is severely limited in use. There is no "Free Consignment Software" as advertised.

He misrepresents his competition and lies about his motivation for providing very limited information. He posts lies on his web site about us even after he has been apprised of the facts. (http://consignpro.com/compare.htm, 1/5/2005)

His strategy is to patronize and deceive. He attempts to portray having a 'big-business' presence in multiple locations in large cities, borrowing prestige from the name 'New York' when in fact he is located in Florida. He makes unsubstantiated claims on his web site about being the "best" and "favorite".

The ultimate goal of the false claims and sensationalism is of course to distract from the real issues of his unstable expensive software. Updates are essential and Wilson represents them to be 'free' when they are not. He hopes to generate a permanent stream of income by charging users annually for customer support and for ongoing services such as: License Transfer Fee $50, Label Customization $75/hour, Replacement CD $25, Replacement User Guide $25, Database Repair $69, Data Conversion $200.

Both Wilson and Hawkins of Consignment Success scheme to trap their customers into paying endlessly to use their programs. Over time they plan to make more money bilking their clients for inflated 'service charges' than they make from the initial sale of the software!

Most recently we received a complaint that Wilson had allegedly hacked into a user's computer and removed the registration code and their data. Does he have access to your computer? Were you advised of this capability when you purchased the program? Require a written statement from Wilson that he does not have access to your computer.

As a matter of full disclosure we are now publicly posting comments from those who are dissatisfied with Wilson.

Fair Play

Please help us create a fair playing field by reporting negative comments made by our competitors to us. This information will be used in the future in our actions against them. Please include date, time, method of communication, person's name and direct quotes (if possible).

Consignment Success

We have had our own experiences with this dishonest vendor. He infringes upon the name of our copyrighted software 'Best Consignment Shop Software' and our website name bestconsignmentshopsoftware.com by using the domain names consignmentshopsoftware.com and bestconsignmentsoftware.com, and calling his product 'Best Consignment Software'.

The obvious deceit of this pricing ploy about 'options' (layaways, wish list, special promotions, house account) should be enough to ward off any potential buyer concerned with ethics:

"Every shop is different and has different needs, so instead of including all the options and charging you for them, we encourage you to choose just the options you think your shop will need. You can order every one of them, or none of them, you make the decision."

The truth of the matter is some of these 'options' are basic features in most consignment software programs. By removing these features from the program Hawkins advertises a lower price in hopes of luring his unsuspecting users into paying more when they later discover some or all of those options are needed. This is price trapping! Adding insult to dishonesty, he has the audacity to suggest this is done for his customers' 'benefit'!

Hawkins promotes a price of $395. The cost of adding back each of the stripped options is $60. Adding them back, the initial price is $635. Including $300 for support, the actual five-year cost is $935! Our published price and our five-year cost for the same features are the same - $395.

Hawkins refers to a simple feature in his software as a 'Chart of Accounts'. Our programmers comments: "The accounts are imported from a user editable text file. They are used to  expense disbursements. There is a lot more to a chart of accounts than that. His description suggests that his product includes an accounting package. It has no such thing."

Like ConsignPro, 'CCE' hopes to generate a permanent stream of income by charging for customer service. Their approach is as underhanded as Wilson's, outwardly promoting 'free upgrades' but hiding in the fine print that if users don't opt to pay for support ($60 annually!), updates are not free. (http://www.consignmentshopsoftware.com/support.htm, 1/5/2005)

What if you don't succumb to arm twisting and refuse to purchase annual support and then have a problem? You must pay $45 per incident! Clearly helping their users is viewed as a profit opportunity - not service to be graciously provided to their clients. CCE users are expected to subsidize CCE's inability to produce acceptable sales revenue from new buyers.

What if you don't remember to purchase 'extended support' for $60 annually within the allotted time of within 30 days of 'free support' expiring? You are permanently stuck with $45 per incident and CCE naturally hopes to assist you often.

Our support department routinely hears comments about CCE's poor attitude toward providing support. This excerpt pretty well says it all. It basically reflects this attitude: 'If you have a problem, don't call us. Read the manual, but if you do call us, don't use our toll-free number. If you have a problem not related to our software, we won't help you!' From our own experience and from the feedback provided by our demo and program users, CCE is renowned for their very poor attitude toward assisting customers. That is reflected in their many attempts to discourage phone calls and to profit endlessly by charging annually for customer support. Paraphrasing Hawkins' past comments about his customers: "They always ask such stupid questions."

Interesting that CCE also only compares its products to the same competitors as ConsignPro, here claiming they are 'the top four programs on the market today'. That is totally unsubstantiated, is highly unlikely and conflicts with our feedback from demo users and customers. (http://www.consignmentshopsoftware.com/compare_software.htm, 1/5/2005)

On the introductory page (consignmentshopsoftware.com, 1/5/2005) there's a claim to "superior technical support" but the truth of the matter is on a subpage (consignmentshopsoftware.com/support.htm, 1/5/2005) where support for helping you with problems related to your computer (namely Windows) is flatly refused.

Assessment of CCE

We started in the business of selling consignment software in 2001 by selling CCE's software (then called 'Consignment Success'). We stopped a few months later because we discovered Bill Hawkins pilfering sales from us. We feel it's important that you know his character, or lack thereof. Perhaps his obvious deceptive practices are enough to deter you from doing business with him.

If you are a current customer of Liberty, CCE or Consignpro and would like to switch to BCSS, we will convert your data for free and you will only pay the equivalent of your current support fees to us until the purchase price of BCSS ($395 or $595) is paid.

Fair Play

Please help us create a fair playing field by reporting negative comments made by our competitors to us. This information will be used in the future in our actions against them. Please include date, time, method of communication, person's name and direct quotes (if possible).