PaySimple vs. ShopKeep

PaySimple has made it next to impossible to become PCI compliant unless we purchased a separate computer for the sole purpose of invoicing. We switched to Chase Bank who does not store sensitive info on our computers allowing us to accept credit cards and still remain PCI compliant. Our money is available much faster by not using the 3rd party. Additionally, a simple company name change required more paperwork than closing the account and setting up a new one even when the same bank account was going to be used. This was the primary reason to shop around. We happily contacted Chase Bank and now save $125 a month and receive access to our funds faster. I cannot believe I stayed with PaySimple as long as I did. It's amazing anyone would jump through the hoops of PCI compliance when the technology exists to keep sensitive information off your small business computers. If this review stops anyone from paying those monthly fees, the time was well worth it! PaySimple, requires business owners to fill out forms that make no sense in laymens terms. Chase Bank fills them all in for you and highlights the areas that need to be signed and initialed. PaySimple, charges excessive fees and in my opinion has very emotional customer service reps. Chase Bank, was eager to help and get things rolling so you can focus on your business. I would never recommend PaySimple.

ShopKeep can maintain up to 10,000 individual stock items. This is perfect for a cafe, coffee shop, wine bar, small retail store, etc. If you're inventory exceeds the 10,000 items then it may not be a fit for you. Also, ShopKeep works with Apple tablets only (iPad 2 or later). If you prefer Android or PC based tablets then this won't work for you.

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• PaySimple is awesome for recurring payments. It's easy to set one up and make changes as needed. Without this feature, our business would be dead. Being able to easily set up recurring payments for our retainer is a must and PaySimple does it beautifully.
• The payment portal feature is also really good fro collecting payments of differing amounts. We setup a single portal where customers enter the payment amount accessed from a link in the invoice email. This feature has transformed out collections and cut down our time to get paid significantly.
• If you do have product type offerings, it's easy to setup individual products or an entire store.

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• ShopKeep provides solid pre-sales support. They did a pre-sales screen-share demo that helped us ensure that their system would handle the needs of the business, and they assisted us in making decisions around which hardware would be appropriate.
• ShopKeep's hardware seems well thought out and well integrated. One exception is issues with the connection between their recommended iCMP credit card scanner and the register. Other than that, the hardware works well together.
• The register has excellent configurability and customization capabilities, and handles a large variety of products easily. High-volume products can have their own buttons on the register. Products can be added to a purchase by using these buttons, by scanning a bar code with an integrated bar code scanner, or by doing a live text search.
• The register is also easily configurable to handle product options - either multiple options like pizza toppings, or exclusive options like regular or decaf coffee.
• The ShopKeep system can handle hybrid retail/quick serve/restaurant scenarios with grace. This was a factor that eliminated many other systems that are optimized for one or the other, or where the products for handling retail are completely separate from the products for handling quick serve/restaurant operations. Since this customer has a location where there is a quick serve counter, a restaurant, and a retail gift shop all in the same location, ShopKeep's ability to handle all of these kinds of transactions from the same platform is a powerful advantage. ShopKeep also recently added functionality to transfer open tickets between registers, so that if a customer starts out with a cup of coffee at the quick serve counter, their ticket can be picked up and added to at the gift shop if they wander in there to purchase items.
• ShopKeep has a Back Office system that can be accessed through any Web browser, or through their mobile app. The Back Office system is used to import and export data, manage inventory, configure the iPad registers, set up product options, manage employees, and report transactions, sales, product costs & margins, and other data.
• Discounts, returns and credits are relatively easy to handle from the register, and the system can be configured to require a manager to approve these kinds of transactions, or not.
• Bulk imports and exports are handled well by ShopKeep's Back Office. When setting up initial inventory, products can be added through Excel, then imported as comma-separated values (CSV) files by uploading them through the Web browser. Once inventory is established, adding or modifying items can be done directly through the Web interface.
• ShopKeep has a mobile app that can be used by owners or managers to remotely access real-time snapshots of sales and other important data whenever they wish.

• More proactive and empowering role in merchant fee's and alternative processors. Transparency is challenging in understanding Paysimple's role and relationship to the processors.
• Identifying areas for further value to clients.
• More targeted small to mid-size business perspective to anticipate growth challenges and prevent blocks on funds for legitimate sales and growth.

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• They are completely understaffed in the engineering / product development.
• They are a disaster in inventory control.
• Financial reporting is inadequate.

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Because we expect the current issue with the credit card reader disconnecting from the register to be solved with an upcoming software update, and we like many of the features of Shopkeep.

The register functionality is excellent, both from a learning standpoint and an operations standpoint. Cashiers learn how to use the register quickly, and the registers can be configured with hot buttons for fast-moving products. Setting up product variations and additions is straightforward. The web-accessible Back Office has good features, but lacks enough granularity to provide a store manager with the ability to modify inventory settings without giving them access to all of the financial reports as well.

Occasional long waits [5 minutes or more] or call-backs needed for telephone support. Email support replies usually take several hours. Support personnel are generally friendly and knowledgable.

If moving from a "dumb" cash register system, spend all the time needed to get starting inventory and product costing and pricing correct. Shopkeep has good tools for reporting inventory, margins, and other critical business info, but the information is only useful if the starting figures are accurate.

Authorize.net and a handful of other merchant processors and gateways. Most payment gateways (online portals to process payments) are rudimentary and not extremely intuitive. PaySimple is not and they are constantly coming up with new ways to improve upon an already very impressive platform.

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ShopKeep is an inexpensive choice iPad POS system that comes with all of the tools needed to do business without any long-term contracts or expensive fees. It also offers free 24/7 phone and email support along with online live chat during business hours. Coffee Shop Manager offered some of these items, but they also tied you into a long-term contract and you were charged fee after fee for support, etc. Also, the CSM system was big and took up a lot of space compared to ShopKeep's integration with an Apple iPad tablet.

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• Because we've got a really awesome rate with them it's definitely a positive ROI. I can't say what that figure is but it's pretty good. Also, our customers have a huge ROI over their prior way of getting payment from their customers.

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• I was unable to manage inventory
• ShopKeep didn't integrate with my accounting software. I had to double enter all financial data.
• Without inventory controls, all of my financial information was inaccurate. It is impossible to grow a business without accurate financial information.

Incentivized

Independently Invited by TrustRadius

A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info