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POS Software

EFTpos outage

Thursday, 27 July 2017 3:25:00 PM

I do not know what happened today but we had a major EFTpos outrage today, at first I thought it was just Tyro but clients rang up about Westpac too. I later heard that NAB and ANZ had problems too. Anyway it should all be okay now.

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If you do repairs do not loses thousands Per Year

Thursday, 27 July 2017 1:33:07 PM

The biggest loss of revenue in repair shops is that people do not enter in all the details as paper gets lost and people forget to enter in all the details. We have a client that once they computerized their bike repair section in the shop suddenly picked up about two thousands dollars a month from correct billing. Plus they have the added benefit, by using a point of sale system of better customer accounting, better communication through SMS and email and access to a VIP marketing system so hopefully leading to more customers, and higher revenue.

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Point of sale user meeting Townsville

Wednesday, 26 July 2017 5:02:38 PM

We will be running a User Meeting in Townsville next week.

Monday 31st July 2017 @ 5.30pm

Where: Vincent Newsagency.

Shop 12 Vincent Shopping Centre,

249 Fulham Road,

Vincent QLD 4814

The Agenda

Bpay Payment

Learn how to integrate Bpay into Posbrowser and process bill payments for any Bpay bill!

Website Integration

Find out about our great new integrated Webstore integrated using Webtail. Stock control, processing orders and managing customers from your webstore is now all possible through Posbrowser!

Magazine Reconciliation

Learn how to use our unique reconciliation report to make sure your returns are on track!

General questions

You chance to ask any questions you have.

Please reservations are essential, so please contact us if you wish to attend.

We look forward to seeing you on Monday.

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Weight scales

Wednesday, 26 July 2017 4:57:47 PM

If you need them, these can be a terrific time saving in the shop, particularly if you can put in the price per weight and out pops a price. There are two basic types - label scales and scales, we can help you with both as we can link them into our point of sale system. In operation, label scales will be faster as the items can be weighed in advance, and the items prepared to go. It also speeds up processing at the till.

However, if you are considering getting a scale, here are some quick points that I think you should consider.

- Some have this irritating habit of jumping between two values until it finally settles on a weight. Do you really want to keep waiting while it decides?

- Can it handle the weights systems you require. Some people still require imperial as they get products from the US. Some US scales can only read imperial, and you do not want one of those.

- Also check the design, run your fingers along the edges, one problem some report with their scales is if they are not careful and hit it on the edge it can cut them.

- It can be a problem if you need to switch a scale on before using them, and they are one of those that take forever to boot up. This would not matter if you intend to leave them on all day.

- Check the display is large and clear. The idea after all is that while weighing it, no only you but the customer can read the display too.

- Check that the design can take punishment. It has to last for years. That is why I think the cheap plastic scales are worthless. Retail often is a slap, bang and whack. It needs to be able to take it. Water and drink splashed too. I have seen a scale after coke got spilt on it, and coke and electricity did not get on well together.

- Check the scales regularly, particularly on the high amounts, I have seen scales that underestimate on the top end. Do not trust the supplier, check to see what is the reliable limits of your scale.

- Lastly they need some TLC, and they should if you get them from us last for years.

Hope this helps.

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Lots of problems with Windows 10 updates

Tuesday, 25 July 2017 4:30:49 PM

Fortunately most of our users took our advise and only did delay the latest Windows 10 upgrade to Monday or Tuesday. Although most had no problems, a few did.

If you are not running Microsoft Defender which is what we suggest, then please turn off your antivirus program before doing this update.

The most important problem was that many complained how long it took to do the upgrade. As long as its moving there is not much you can do but wait it through.

The other big problem was not as such a Microsoft problem but a hardware issue, particularly with USB devices. We have been busy today reinstalling hardware devices. Some there is little we can do although so far no-one has gone down, but a few are reporting problems like the screen not quite being right.

Some computers are reporting problems getting on the network, so what we are doing is re-installing the latest network card, and that seems to be fixing it.

The slowness and odds effects being seen in the startup that some are experiencing seems to fix itself after doing a few shutdowns and restarts. If that does not fix it, what I am telling people to try is rather than turn off the computer use the hibernate option and see if that works for you better. So far, it seems to be working and in a few days, I am sure the shutdown will work properly.

One point I do recommend is after the update is done, go to Settings > Privacy then check the setting there.

Other then that it looks good, most people are reporting that the computer now seems more responsive. For point of sale, the improved security is the big plus.

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Business tip: Getting professional posters free

Monday, 24 July 2017 5:45:11 PM

A while ago, I showed how to use your point of sale system to help you find what the public are interested. The idea being to try to sell to them. Then what you do is grab a few items in the shop, put them together, hang a poster up and try to sell them while they are hot.

My current example was the Game of Thrones which is very much in the public eye now particularly after the recent muck up with foxtel which caused a storm in twitter.

As you can see from this graph the interest in this, is much higher than all footballs in Australia.

The problem some people said to me, was they could not get any appropriate posters. Which sort of surprised me.

Well here is a terrific site for making posters. The software is very easy to use. You can print them yourself or get them done at some photolab professionally if you want something better.

Here is a poster that a client created using it. I think it looks pretty good.

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The legal dangers of blogging

Monday, 24 July 2017 5:09:56 PM

I spoke about this before here highlighting the legal dangers of blogging. If you need another example well this blogger said it “was a huge free speech, political communication and public interest matter” what he blogged. The courts do not see it like that and now he has been found here guilty of contempt of court and is looking at possible jail time.

If you are going to blog, please be careful.

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PLASTIC BAGS

Sunday, 23 July 2017 1:49:20 PM

With the recent announcement by Coles and Woolies that they are phasing out plastic bags, many of my clients could see this as an ideal time to access what they are going to do about their packaging too.

On one hand, by having bags it certainly encourages people to buy more, many people appreciate these bags. The other problem is that if they bring in their own bags, they are limited to how big their bags are. So I have had clients after getting rid of bags brought them back in the shop.

On the other hand, many in the public do not like it and in places like Canberra, they have already implemented bans, plus it costs. Here is an article on the ABC that estimated the cost savings to Australian supermarkets of plastic bags was $171 million a year?

Here is an idea you may want to chew on, free bags if the customer purchases over a certain amount. It may encourage them to buy more.Easy to implement such change in our point of sale system.

Anyway now is a good time for many of you to make a decision.

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Prewritten spreadsheets

Saturday, 22 July 2017 11:36:47 AM

I and many of my clients use spreadsheet all the time in business. Actually after word processing, the first popular task that computers were used for in business was spreadsheets. I find them better than calculators as I can see each step and can take notes. Add 20 numbers on a calculator and who knows if one is wrong, on a spreadsheet you can review each number you put in.

As readers here will know our software uses spreadsheets a lot particularly for reporting so unlike so many other point of sale software, our software can produce flexible and dynamic reporting. It's a big plus.

Well if you are into spreadsheets, I have just discovered a great site with some brilliant spreadsheets with functions like calendars, resumes, time planning, timesheets, general forms, etc. They are extremely professional, look good and free.

Click here and enjoy.

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An Important difference that I see between my larger and smaller clients

Thursday, 20 July 2017 4:08:48 PM

One important difference I notice between my larger and smaller clients, is that my larger clients know if they want to stay competitive they need to change. So my larger clients tend to constantly trying out new technologies and look for ways to be innovative.

I feel that while you may feel that you do not have the resources to do much different, that doesn’t mean you can’t be innovate in your company. Sometimes even small changes can do wonders for your business. You can start by urging your staff to think creative. Run a brainstorming session with them, beside being fun you may spark some innovation.

Here is a video on runing a brainstorming session with some good ideas.

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