Deceptive Pricing Strategies Backfire on Consignment Software Companies

Brighton, Tennessee December 13, 2006 - Some consignment software vendors employ deceptive marketing strategies to hide the high costs of owning their programs. They herald misleading low purchase prices on their website home pages and purposely avoid placing equal or great emphasis on all fees prior to purchase. Exposure is bringing pressure to bear upon these perpetrators to disclose, or close.Consignpro and Liberty (resaleworld.com) outwardly promote purchase prices (of $995 and $695 respectively) on website home pages but scatter considerable fees on sub pages or not list fees at all. As one Liberty rep stated, "We do not list all fee's [sic] on our website." Prior to purchase, many software users won't know their future needs. As their computer skills and businesses grow, they may require additional software features, more licenses for more computer stations, attentive customer support. It is not until these discoveries are made (often well after the short 30-day money-back period) that users also discover aggressive fees that total far more than the original highly-publicized purchase price.Liberty users will pay $295 for a second license. They will add $199 and $245 for QuickBooks and X-Charge compatibility, another $897 to network 5 computers. Consignpro practices similar charades with 10-year costs double that of Liberty. All told, the ten-year cost of Consignpro adds up to over $10,000; Liberty: $5,000 plus - far more than the misleading claims on their home pages of "Lowest price" and "We won't be undersold".At Consignpro fees continue to expand over time with creative additional charges for such things as 'data repair', 'data conversion' and 'printer support'. The latest strategy is to offer new features but with ongoing monthly fees.Both vendors deny updates if annual support fees aren't paid. Both sell hardware at over-inflated prices and tack on shipping fees at the end of the ordering process. Both have plans to reap more money when a user wishes to transfer the software to another owner. They also attempt to rush purchasing decisions, offering 'discounts' with alleged imminent expiration dates (which never arrive because the expiration date keeps rolling forward)."The issues are price gouging and deceptive marketing practices," said Steve Henning, marketing director for Best Consignment Shop Software. "Participants in our industry should be held to the same disclosure requirements as those in the banking and securities industries, but they are not. Regardless, consumers have a right to fair and full disclosure of total cost before purchasing."For additional information visit For additional information visit http://www.bestconsignmentshopsoftware.com/competitors-hidden-costs.htm..

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