Sage 100

Credit Cards - Century Business Solutions - I thought any MD overriding SPS was to be kicked out of MD program. I would think with that threat no MD would continue down this road. A customer called me asking if they can switch to get better rates. I am not sure to advise as I would not think a long term solution - what are you guys hearing? Has Sage ruled any further?

They are currently with SPS and want to switch away? If so, can they do some rate shopping and then ask SPS to match? I haven't had to do that yet but would think SPS would have to stay competitive. As far as other integration options, I get the feeling Sage is kicking the ball down the road without making a decision (kind of reminds me of Job Cost and WO). I hope I'm wrong.

Eric - if you can only use SPS in2013 - what incentive does SPS have to stay competitive?

I have fired an email to Sage waiting to hear - My SPS contact did come back with 20% discount. But my client seems still headed to switch so the rate may even be better. I am inquiring as to what rate they got from Century and get Sage to match. The problem I have with SPS is that the rate seems good for a few months and then customer notices bill creeping up. They contact SPS and ""oh"" we did not think you would notice we were screwing you again.

the threat of switching off of SPS. You can always tell them that the client doesn't feel like the integration warrants the additional cost and they are looking at other merchants. I haven't tried that yet but I'm sure they don't want people to drop off and if you were able to get some quotes for lower rates my expectation would be that they'll match. Maybe that's wishful thinking? If that's not the case I think they will have a customer and partner revolution down the road a bit. We have a lot of clients on SPS and haven't heard anything about a rate creep - but maybe they're just not paying attention.

I haven't been able to get a straight answer out of Sage. I asked Erik Kaas at Summit and he tap danced. My impression is that Sage would like to enact the ""no CC integration"" rule but is not sure how to do it without alienation or lawsuit.

Could be a wink-wink arrangement with the MD community.

still no reply from Sage

;)

Have you told the customer we and Sage make a lot of money off of their credit card accounts? (Oops, we're not supposed to tell them that?)

I'm not a fan of Sage holding all the CC business direct integration yet I would think that it came out of the PCI DSS requirements. By controlling that integration and only allowing SPS they control their compliance as a Validated Payment Application. An MD product can also become a Validated Payment Application - they just need to go through the validation process. If they do that, then I can't see how Sage can stop them or threaten them. https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/approved_companies_providers/validated_payment_applications.php?agree=true

@JohnHoyt I did say SPS has you and probably charges more because they think they can. This is a cash cow for them.

I had a client move to Century (Against my direction). I asked them a couple weeks ago how they like it and they said it is great. Note :this client is on V44 and are now off plan. BTW, Be careful with the SPS renewal it is automatic and it cost $500 to cancel. (Based on the number of years left on renewal... it is an automatic 3 year renewal)

@JimWoodhead - has this client gone through a PCI compliance since changing over to Century? Thanks for the heads up on canceling SPS - never knew about the penalty to cancel, probably was in the fine print.

Just had a customer call complaining of SPS's rate creep. He wanted to know if it was something they were doing incorrectly or if Sage is just increasing it. Emailing my rep to see what his response will be.

SPS has lowered rates for my clients once I have called them on it. Not sure why we have to call.....

His response: ""I will see if I can find out who the account executive is that signed them up and they would be happy to do the evaluation."" So do I contact them about ALL of my SPS customers or only those that notice/complain?

Do you want to be proactive???

What is the word with Century? Client wants to investigate Century Business Solutions. I recommended that he wait until we get v2014 live. Based on the number of hits discussing Century, they are a competitive player in the Sage arena. How are they doing it post v2013????