20 replies to this topic

[a1promo]

I would like to know if SAGE is really worth the $495.00/yr for research. Would appreciate comments on this site, Thank.

Kay

[a1promo]

Thanks for your input.

Kay

[steveb]

I second Pete's emotion.

[gil levitch]

Awardmasters said:

Yes, it is worth the money, but it is not without problems mostly in the area of incorrect pricing and/or outdated pricing.

The only incorrect pricing is because of the supliers furnish it incorrectly or not at all. There is an area now that pops up if a suppliers price is guaranteed by the supplier. If it isn't there then the supplier is at fault. Not allsuppliers care if their prices are up to date with either SAGE or ESP.

[BarbC]

We love Sage and could not do without it. The benefits for the $495.00 are so worth it. If you need a website set up keep in mind it is included in that price.

I have the basic set up now and waiting to expand my site again when they come out with new templates.

Go to sageworld.com and sign up for 30 days free. Check out the daily
education classes too. Try others too before you decide for sure.

Let us know how you make out.

[Chris Miller]

That's because SAGE isn't too bright... reverse engineering a paper catalog that started as a digital spreadsheet? Let's move this industry along folks... our service providers aren't setting any good examples.

[a1promo]

Thank you all for your comments on SAGE.

Kay

[abaker64]

I am in the process of moving to sage and dropping ESP, we got set up about three weeks ago and i am now doing everything in Sage.

The search engine works slightly differently from a users perspective, just need to get used to them. Sage works much faster and seems to be more robust, do not get the lock outs and aborts that i get with ESP.

So far i have only found one of my suppliers not in SAGE. I havnt had any issues with pricing yet. I like the ability to filter by rating and the supplier ratings seem to be more accurate.

The presentation tool is far superior in Sage, options to reverse the price grid, add totals, include additional charges (but be careful it will add all additional charges including extra colors). Reordering the items is very much faster in SAGE, there is a reorder by price button and you can move an individual item around very fast. I like to group like items in a presentation, with ESP it takes an eternity with frequent lock outs. Sage is a breeze so much faster.

It does take a bit of time to get used to everything.

We were running ESP while we transfered over and to keep all the presentations and searches we had done in ESP, we have only used it once! So will be dropping ESP this month.

hope this helps

Adrian

[Russ]

SAGE is worth twice the price imo.


Russ

[gil levitch]

Awardmasters said:

Gil,
SAGE enters the pricing from supplier catalogs. It has been my experience that SAGE often makes errors if the product is priced in any way other than per each. That is if it is priced by the 1000 or by the square inch etc. It seems that when that is the case it is usually beyond the comprehension of the person that calulates the price. It is true that the supplier can verify the pricing and SAGE will mark it as verified. However, that does not make the supplier at fault if their catalog is correct and SAGE screws it up. Virtually all of the mistakes we find on SAGE (and we find several every week) are SAGE's fault. It is extremely rare that a supplier provides incorrect pricing, and extremely common that SAGE screws up the data input.

Then I suggest that you call SAGE and tell them of their errors. I find them to very responsive to anyone that calls them.

[BarbC]

From Adrian: So far i have only found one of my suppliers not in SAGE.

Hi Adrian,

Please be sure and talk to your supplier about getting listed on Sage.
A few years back so many never heard of Sage and it helps when we educate them.

Also, here are a few tips:
Call the supplier to confirm all pricing, specials and set ups.
Fax a hard copy of any sample or orders to the supplier. For some reason
suppliers do not get it time to time from the Sage system.

Thanks for sharing your good experience.

Barbara

[JON]

I used them for years. You just have to check if the catalog is up to date. Every now and then I will see that's it's a 2007 catalog. Not to often. Also very easy to send out quotes to customers.

[kristiy]

I absolutely LOVE using Sage! It is worth twice the price to me as well!
I have only found an error in pricing ONE time, and I reported that directly to the supplier, and used the "request sample" button to do so on that comment field. I got a thank you phone call too.
Only Tradenet and Ashworth have not gotten my sample requests, but they may have some outdated fax or email info on file with Sage.
Tradenet seemed to already know that they "never get" the sample orders from Sage, but they didn't pick up the overnight charges for the samples either! :) Maybe they should look into getting that corrected, but the supplier probably needs to call Sage to get the problem corrected.

[gil levitch]

Awardmasters said:

Gil,
I don't have to call them, they provide a little button to report errors and I use it several times a week.

Thanks of the tip.

I'm happy that this works for you. I have always found that a one on one conversation with a person works much better for me.

[BarbC]

Hi Kay,

Did you sign up for the free 30 days with Sage? If so how do you like it?

Take Care.

Barbara

[a1promo]

Yes I did Barb, but I have not had to use it very much.

Kay

[BarbC]

Thanks. I hope you get to use it more as it does take time to learn like anything else. I know it helped me to attend the online classes to gain more experience.

All the best and Happy Holiday!

Barbara