Comments on: ChannelAdvisor buck the recession to make a profit

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:16:26 +0000

I’m surprised that they’ve only just turned a profit with the ridiculous fees they charge.

In my opinion it’s good if you’re disorganised and/or lazy. If you’re not, spend a bit of time finding and managing other solutions, as you’ll save a packet.

By: Bigpoppa

Bigpoppa — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:58:06 +0000

The costs are obviously a main concern, especially in these uncertain times. However, not taking that into account and ignoring the lack of customer support post signup and the aggressive way they try to get you into a longer contract…

…Have you ever made a purchase using Channel Advisor, not knowing or expecting it to be Channel Advisor…

An absolute nightmare, your lost carts will rocket.

The technology simply isn’t user friendly enough to warrant the expense..IMO

By: JP

JP — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:44:13 +0000

I was a customer of CA for a short time as I wanted to find a solution for my inventory management and submit my inventory to ebay and amazon. After experiencing the (rather complicated software); paying £500 for training (if you can call it that), I cancelled prior to having to go with the 12 month contract.

I found their commercial tactics to sign me up very distasteful. It requires a VAST investment of time and technical expertise – none of this is discussed prior. They would not let me see / have a demo of the software prior, only a powerpoint demo (which had selective information).

I do think the software is potentially very good, but there is no way of knowing unless you sign your life away, and it will cost you thousands of pounds (not hundreds) to find out.

By: Debs

Debs — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:34:35 +0000

Bigpoppa, can you elaborate a little as to why?

I made a brief, initial enquiry but baulked a little at the costs.

By: Liz

Liz — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:29:05 +0000

ChannelAdvisor is GREAT – if you know how to use it. I *have* clients because they couldn’t use it properly, a direct fall out of its complexity. But now it runs, you can basically leave it be.

I wouldn’t recommend the solution to anyone who was not going to make significant investment in training for staff to use it to its full potential.

You need a software savvy body on board. If not, something like inkfrog or auctiva (Dare i say) would be best.

In my time at Frooition I trained 45 businesses to use ChannelAdvisor, and honestly only around 10 of them used it to its full potential and benefit due to their previous knowledge.

By: Lino

Lino — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:44:30 +0000

Thanks Chris, would be great to hear a few examples, good and bad. Have to admit, “a start up fee, a monthly subscription and a % of sales” instantly worries me.

By: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:56:01 +0000

Happy to go get you a warts and all case study from a CA customer telling what’s good and what’s bad. Leave it with me.

By: northumbrian

northumbrian — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:49:35 +0000

we agree it does compromise impartiality a little

By: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:42:12 +0000

Got an answer for you – it’s the minimum they’d expect to earn from contracts over the next 12 months but doesn’t include any percentage on sales as that’s an unknown variable (although I’m sure they have a pretty good idea of what to expect!)

By: stuart

stuart — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:40:37 +0000

We had issues with them to, if you are considering it ask for a months trial or the very least 6 months contract.

I would only advise if you are a big business that can have someone working with channel advisor all the time as the tech stuff is very complicated.

Stu