Lacking in functionality. Much better software is available.
May 31, 2021
Lacking in functionality. Much better software is available.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Brightpearl
Brightpearl has run my company's online sales for the last 6 years but I am now leaving them. I was initially attracted to Brightpearl because it had accounting built in, but that turns out to have been a big mistake as there are other companies with more marketplace integrations and much more functionality that have integrations with accounting software that simply exports all the necessary data into relatively low cost accounting software such as Xero or QuickBooks or Sage. So in fact there is no need to have built-in accounting software at all. You get far more by using software that does a better job of handling all your online sales and of facilitating more sales by making it super-easy to list on even more marketplaces.
- Support is very good.
- Supports only a small number of marketplaces and in a limited way only. When I signed up with Brightpearl they claimed that you could list directly onto eBay from within Brightpearl but this turned out to be untrue as Brightpearl did not support eBay postage policies (eBay's semi literate way of saying shipping tables).
- Not only can you not list directly onto eBay, you cannot list directly from within Brightpearl to any marketplaces whatsoever. With other software you can list directly to all the marketplaces they integrate with.
- Brightpearl is abysmal at VAT. Brightpearl calculates VAT on Channel Islands and Canary Islands orders even though there is no Vat in either of them. So when you pay HMRC you will be paying them a bit extra unless you check all your orders which makes the software somewhat redundant.
- When I signed up they advertised Brightpearl as the software to automate your online selling. But it didn't really do that. A couple of years later at considerable extra cost they released an add-on app called Brightpearl Automation that does seem to deliver on automation. However other software offers that at no extra cost.
- Brightpearl claims that it integrates with Amazon, but this is only partially true as they have completely ignored the new marketplaces that Amazon have opened. If you list on those marketplaces you have to input the orders manually and Brightpearl will not update the stock, putting you at risk of negative feedback. Other software integrates fully with all Amazon marketplaces.
- Now that I am leaving it was suggested that I might benefit from read-only access so that we could easily double check things like warranty claims. They offered me a year's read-only access for £10,080 which is more than double my yearly contract for full use of the software. Now, if that isn't taking the mickey, I don't know what is!!!
- It has been beneficial but now I realise that other software can do so much more.
- Efficiency is improved because orders are imported automatically but that counts for all the other software I have looked at.
I certainly wouldn't select Brightpearl now. With Cloud Commerce Pro you can list directly onto all the marketplaces/website software that it has integrations for (more integrations than Brightpearl has) plus you have Google Translate Professional integrated to help you with foreign language listings. Brightpearl cannot do any of that, so not easy to expand your sales due to the limited number of marketplaces where you can sell.
Do you think Brightpearl by Sage delivers good value for the price?
No
Are you happy with Brightpearl by Sage's feature set?
No
Did Brightpearl by Sage live up to sales and marketing promises?
No
Did implementation of Brightpearl by Sage go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Brightpearl by Sage again?
No
Using Brightpearl
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
None | Do not like to use Not well integrated Inconsistent Slow to learn |
- Bank reconciliations - the transactions don't come into Brightpearl in logical order (better now than it used to be but doing reconciliations in Brightpearl is not a pleasure).