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PC Compatibility? Windows: All OK |
PC + = OK |
Native Mac Compatibility? No. Mac+Parallels+Windows: All OK |
Mac + + = OK* |
* Some customers who use Mac+Parallels have issues with Receipt Printers. We do not support the Mac side of this configuration, which means that if your Receipt Printer cannot be made to be "seen" by the Windows side, then you are going to have to get a Mac technician or call Parallels Support for assistance. |
Quick Answer: You will need a PC that runs Microsoft Windows.
GoAntiquing! Point of Sale is a Windows program and has been tested to work on all versions of Windows beginning with Windows XP and continuing with Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 (and 8.1), Windows 10 and Windows 11.
As far as specific recommendations on computer hardware requirements, any computer running Microsoft Windows that you purchase new today or have purchased new within the last 3 years will be fine. We recommend that you put worries about getting the wrong PC out of your mind when shopping and do so based on price and size for your counter area ... though you may want to consider getting a decent flat panel monitor.
PC Compatibility? Windows: All OK |
PC + = OK |
Native Mac Compatibility? No. Mac+Parallels+Windows: All OK |
Mac + + = OK* |
* Some customers who use Mac+Parallels have issues with Receipt Printers. We do not support the Mac side of this configuration, which means that if your Receipt Printer cannot be made to be "seen" by the Windows side, then you are going to have to get a Mac technician or call Parallels Support for assistance. |
The first copy of the sofware to be used at a given location* is at full price, additional copies are discounted.
Here is the full pricing schedule:
If you need additional temporary registers, we can offer a monthly price of $50.
We are committed to your success with our product. We will respond to all support requests, either by phone or by email, or Remote Support typically within an hour, though at times response might be longer (weekends are not as quick response time), for example it can be longer depending on how many customers are ahead of you or who might have a more urgent issue. Our bottom line commitment to response is 3 days, this accomodates weekends and holiday periods. We are retail oriented, just like you are, so we know that not everything can be handled during business hours. Much support is handled via the GotoAssist Customer remote support tool and much is handled off-hours.
Since January 2010 we have required that customers have a paid-up Annual Fee of $99 which covers License Renewal, Support, Updates, and Maintenance. We use the term 'good standing' for customers who are paid up for this fee. New customers, for the initial 30-days after purchase, will receive any sort of telephone based technical assistance (POS program, PC, or networking), and after the 30 day period, only GoAntiquing! Point-of-Sale program support. We use Remote Support sessions, telephone, Facebook groups, and generic Q&A via 'Support Request' and email, as support tools. Support also includes password resets, re-activation of software on your existing PC, or on a replacement PC. Essentially anything that might cause you to contact and ask for any sort of assistance qualifies as a support incident and if the Annual Fee is due or overdue will mean the current fee as well as any past year fees that are unpaid must be paid at that time.
NOTE: The first year of this Annual Fee is included in the initial purchase of the license for the software.
Incremental program updates are free. Updates to the software are handled automatically by the program. Each day, or more or less frequently, the program will check the website for any updates. Note that you can control this from the "Settings / Internet / Application Update" page. The update notification is shown to you and you have the option to read the Release Notes, update the program, or skip the update. Please be aware that support will only be offered to people who are up to date on the latest version of the software.
FUTURE SHOCK: At some time in the future we may invest so much time and development into a new major version of the program that it will be a new major version number, at that point this will not be considered an update but an upgrade. For example right now we are at major version 3. It is possible that when we reach major version 4 that an upgrade fee of $99 per location* (regardless of the number of copies you purchased), will be required. However, since 2002 we have not requested such a fee. We are simply reserving the right to do so.
* A location is defined as a street address where the software is used. If you are operating an enterprise with multiple locations or stores, then each store is considered a location. If a location has more than 1 copy of the software running the upgrade fee is $99 per location - not per computer. For example, if you operate an enterprise with 3 stores, then the upgrade fee would be $297.
The Gateway service is sold on a membership 'seat' basis. Basically, a shop pays for the membership for a certain number of dealers to have access to the Gateway service via on-line sales reports and/or emailed daily summaries or details (Sales Alerts).
The pricing is based on a monthly model of '$2 per dealer per month'. This is a bit open to interpretation, so to be more specific, it is '$2 per seat per month'. Remember, you can use the 'Fees & Rules' module to setup a flat fee called 'Gateway access' that can be charged to your dealers if they are enrolled in the Gateway (via the 'Allow Gateway Login' checkbox on their dealer record). The minimum time period for a membership or renewal is 2 momths, and the minimum dealer count is 10 (if only 5 dealers want the service you have to pay for 10).
A seat is considered to be a person who logs in using your shop name and their Dealer ID, or who receives an emailed Sales Alert at least once in a month - that login or email consumes a seat and each time that this dealer logs in or receives an email in that month it is the same seat.
So if you buy 25 seats you can have 25 unique dealers use the Gateway per month. To protect us from potential for abuse we do not allow you to recycle the seat from a dealer who may leave the shop mid-month and use that for another dealer. That would mean you are trying to double dip a seat for that month. The next month the seat count starts over, so those dealers who have left the shop and will not use the Gateway again are no longer counted as a consumed seat.
To try and help shops with growth, we have always run a monthly audit and allowed up to 10% overage of seats consumed vs. seats purchased (we call this the 'flex' plan). You are responsible for any overage fees which we will notify of either at renewal time or if we see a large increase before renewal. This means that a shop who buys 25 seats can use up to 28 before the audit triggers an emailedinvoice or an overage fee at renewal time. Our website renewal page will suggest the same level for renewal as the previous period, though when we audit usage if we see an increase you will be invoiced for it.
Although we currently have the 10% 'flex' plan as default for all customers, we do reserve the right to strictly enforce the exact seat count on a case-by-case basis. We also reserve the right to increase or change the pricing model or minimum subscription period as necessary (any such changes would be effective on your Annual Support or renewal date).
NOTE: GoAntiquing! supports you the shop owner or manager, not the Dealers directly. So if a Dealer has an issue of any sort with Gateway, be it Sales Alert delivery or how to use it, or passwords, it falls on you to assist them. If you find you need assistance, we will assist you, but cannot talk directly to a Dealer. Note that there are some tools you can use, such as the 'Sales Alert Blacklist Check' report, available under the Admin login 'Shop Reports' page.
The GoAntiquing! software is owned by GoAntiquing LLC, the company that develops, markets, and supports the GoAntiquing! product line. You have the right to use the software in accordance with the End User License Agreement, you do not have the right to sell it separately or as part of the purchase of the computer on which the software is installed.
For all licenses purchased on or after 9/1/2022:
Integrated Credit Card processing is accurate, fast, and secure.
We are partnering with Cardpointe to offer integrated credit card processing using Point-to-Point-Encrypted (P2PE) devices. The devices themselves are independently connected to the internet and GoAntiquing! communicates with them through a server, this prevents GoAntiquing! from being affected by Payment Card Industry "Data Security Standards" (PCI/DSS). Technically GoAntiquing! is "out of scope" of PCI concerns as the software never actually handles the secure credit card information - we simply ask the machine through the Cardpointe server to authorize an amount and we are then told by the Cardpointe server either Accepted or Declined.
If you would like to go live with this you will need to first be a paid customer and current with the $99 GoAntiquing! Annual Fee and then work out the details with Cardpointe for device and
contracts.
NOTE: If you sign up for credit card services before you purchase a GoAntiquing! license, you may end up paying for credit card services or equipment you will not end up using. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that you wait to sign up for credit card services until after you have completed your GoAntiquing! evaluation period. You can always decide to purchase the license to use GoAntiquing! before your trial period ends in order to be able to signup with Cardpointe sooner. Payment for credit card services and equipment is independent of payment for your license for GoAntiquing! |
You may need to do this for various reasons, perhaps staff forgot to do so, perhaps a problem uploading data to the Dealer Gateway due to server error or internet outage at the shop.
Since GoAntiquing! is 32-bit traditional Windows software it will not install if your Windows 10 or Windows 11 computer is operating in S Mode. Here are some steps to help you switch to normal traditional Windows mode.
Actually, you can keep OR delete the data you have been entering in during the Free Trial / Evaluation period. The benefit of using GoAntiquing! Point-of-Sale is this, the Free Trial is fully functional. After you are confident it is the right program for your shop, just purchase it and you keep right on working with no interruption. Also, if you want to wipe out transactions/sales you may have been putting in as test data, there is an option from the program main menu "Tools" called "Delete Old Data" which allows you to do exactly that - delete old test data and keep your Dealers and other configuration data.
Yes we do! The demo we have available is a total of 19 minutes and 40 seconds long and is comprised of 3 clips. Additional videos are listed after the third demo clip.
The default user 'ADMIN' has no password, just click Login.
You need to go to Settings and click the General module. Fill in company information and then go to the Rates tab and enter in Local tax info as well as default commission and consignment rates (these are used when adding a new dealer and are changeable when adding a new dealer).
First you need to setup at least one Dealer. Click the People group and click Dealers. Add a new dealer with the Add button, fill in the dealer ID number, name and phone number, and the commission % for this dealer (typically between 10% and 15%), and use the Rent management to setup their monthly booth rental fee (you can skip rent for testing or if dealers do not pay rent). Finally click Save. Then click the Sales group header and the cash register screen appears. Enter sales information into the grid, when sufficient information is entered the Complete Sale button will be available.
Here are some quick highlights of layaways in GoAntiquing! Point of Sale:
The most common mistake made in ringing up a sale is to enter the wrong Dealer ID. Other mistakes can be made of course, such as wrong Item ID, wrong Description, wrong form of payment, or in the worst case, something that affects the actual Total.
For cases where the mistake does not affect the Total:
Rent is essentially a periodic fee. To setup the frequency of the rental period go to the Settings group, the General Settings module, and the Settlement tab page.
On this page you can specify the rental period. To the right is a picture of the page with the Rent Frequency area inside a blue rectangle. In it you will see 3 selection boxes, ones from which you can click a dropdown arrow and select an item from a list. These 3 lists control how rental periods are defined. In the first box you select the basic measure of time, the options are currently limited to WEEKLY, SEMI-MONTHLY, and MONTHLY. You can then select when the rent is due in that period, the two options are BEFORE FIRST DAY OF and BY LAST DAY OF, which are then combined with the third option of either THIS PERIOD or NEXT PERIOD. What this means is that you can setup rent to be either due for the period that the current date falls within, or for the next period. The common model for most antique malls with rent-paying dealers is to charge monthly rent in advance, which would be 'MONTHLY' 'BEFORE FIRST DAY OF' 'NEXT PERIOD'. |
Here's an example of how to setup a dealer with two different rent amounts:
Now if you have some sales entered for this Dealer you can run reports that will show those sales and rent. First, let's make sure the 'next month' model is active:
Now run the monthly dealer report for December:
TIP: If you change the rental frequency from monthly to weekly, but leave the amount the same in the examples above, the rent becomes a weekly amount, which would mean that you would have a $100 or $200 weekly rent! So it is important to plan your rent and to be aware how the rental periods and date ranges work.
Example 1 - Add New Dealer with Rent Setup In the screen-shot we have an example, Joe pays 15% commission, pays $120 per month rent, and started up mid-month:
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Example 2 - Add New Dealer with Rent Setup and Rent Payments Let's take another look at this, this time we will take First and Last Month's payments:
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The purpose of this is to set some rates that are used when a new Dealer is added in the Dealer module.
You should use just one of these default rates here, and it should be the rate that best describes your
shop and how you do business.
Typically, if you are an antique mall, you will should set the 'standard' rate
to a relatively low level because you would also likely be charging Dealers floorspace rent.
If you are a consignment shop you would typically charge a much higher commission rate as you are usually not
also charging rent.
That said, as you add a new Dealer you can change their individual commission rate as well as rent. Furthermore,
at sale time, on an item-by-item basis, you can set a 'consignment' rate for the item which is used instead of
the rate that is setup in the Dealer information. This gives you maximum flexibility!
The shop can subscribe to the Gateway and the Dealer Managed Inventory (DMI) service and that then provides the Dealer a web based form to Add/Edit/Delete items, and to print their own labels. That is the most convenient approach.
A tutorial on the DMI system: Click to access the tutorial
Another way to do this is to fill in a Google Documents Sheet (see below) and provide that to the shop to import. We provide the template that if kept in its original format can be readily imported at the shop by the manager or staff. Please click the link below to access the template - you must use 'File / Make a copy' and then 'Share' that to the shop. Be sure and read the instructions sheet on how to proceed.
Template - Dealer Item Inventory Worksheet
Using the Item Master module under the Tasks group you can enter in dealer specific items with many parameters. Included are the absolutely necessary Dealer ID, Item ID, Item Description, Price, and Quantity, among many others. The software maintains the Quantity, meaning that as you sell an item it decreases the inventory count, and if the item were to be returned it would increase the inventory count. There is a Reorder report which uses a Reorder Quantity value to determine if the item needs to be reordered.
There is a fairly extensive inventory capability in the program. Find the Item Master module under the Tasks group.
It is important to understand some basics of barcodes and scanners before getting too deep into how we handle them.
It's very straightforward, assuming inventory has been setup in the Item Master on a Dealer specific basis. GoAntiquing! can print to either Avery style sheet labels or true label printers. For either type, we support only specific formats or dimensions. The full list is available when in the Reports module.
The Avery style labels are printed onto standard 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper and have no
special requirements. If this is the type of label / tag for you, just go to the
Reporting module and look at the various 'Barcode Label - Avery' and 'Item Label -
Avery' reports. These use the 'Default' windows printer on your system as output.
If you need to print on 'hang tag' style stock look at the Reporting module and
the 'Barcode Hanging Tags' or 'Item Hanging Tags' reports - there are 1-across
and 2-across styles in specific dimensions. These use the 'LabelPrinter' named
windows printer (see below).
If you need 'peel-off' style roll labels, which are all 1-across in several different dimensions. These use the 'LabelPrinter' named windows printer (see below). If you need 'Jewelry' or 'Butterfly' style peel-off labels you have two options for reports, one that finds the top of the label by a simple measurement, and one that finds the top by a black mark on the reverse of the paper. For the measurement style you will use the report that does not mention 'marks', for black mark style you will select the report with 'marks' mentioned. When using 'marks' the report will look for a printer named 'LabelPrinterWithMarks' (see below). NOTE: Please be aware any hardware recommendations may change over time. In general any label printer should work, though some work better than others. Past recommendation was the Zebra LP 2824 and LP2824 Plus, the direct replacement for this printer is the Zebra ZD410. Also, many shops had the Zebra LP 2844 as it was commonly available due to it being the hardware used by UPS Worldship, the direct replacement is the Zebra ZD420. Also tested in the past are Cognitive Advantage LX and several Dymo printers - though Dymo printers are low-end printers and not recommended. Label printers are specially handled as they have non-standard size paper requirements, and there are a few steps you must validate:
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It's very simple to setup. First, of course, you have to buy a license for
each computer that will run the software. Each of these computers will need
to have the software installed and activated. Then simply open the database
using the menu option File / Open.
The typical configuration will
be for one of the cash registers to act as a MAIN or 'server' computer and
that computer will have the database file in a 'shared' folder. Each
computer will refer to that shared folder to find the database file and open it.
From then on each cash register will know where to look for the database.
The person responsible for setting up the network might decide to place the
database on a separate computer that is not used for POS (or perhaps for anything
else). This is fine, and is an even better solution as it isolates and protects
the database from a possible accidental restart of the host computer that would
stop all cash registers from taking sales. In this scenario the server computer
would not need to have a copy of GoAntiquing! Point of Sale
installed on it as it would just be sharing a folder with a database file in it.
Please see our network setup checklist for more information.
You bet! Computer networking components have followed the trend of computers and have seen a good decrease in price along with a significant boost in available performance (bandwidth).
Here is a diagram of a typical small shop with recommended settings (and click here for a PDF of same).
I recommend upgrading to a 'gigabit ethernet' network. Most new computers today will come with an integrated network controller (NIC). You should specify a 'GigE' (gigabit ethernet) controller when you buy a new computer. Your cabling will need to be at least CAT5e or CAT6 cable. I recommend CAT6 as it is more heavily shielded, though a bit more expensive. Along with the cabling you will need a network gateway / router that is also 'GigE' ready. There are many of these on the market. I personally use Linksys products as I find them to be a very good performing product for the price in a small network environment.
You should have your shop wired by a professional networking installation company as there are environmental factors that should be taken into account when running cable, such as electrical wires and flourescent light ballasts that can cause interference with the network signal. Do not skimp on your network upgrade!
If all you have is one computer running GoAntiquing!, how you connect your computer to the router and internet does not matter, be it hard-wired or wireless/WiFi, both are OK. However, if you step up from one PC to two or more PC's running GoAntiquing!, then WiFi becomes unacceptable and you would need to upgrade to full hard-wired ethernet using CAT6 cables. So it is important to plan such an upgrade.
Why is WiFi unacceptable for a network of Point of Sale computers? Everything else is fine with WiFi, why not GoAntiquing!?
Well, WiFi networks are great for email, general internet use like website surfing, streaming audio and video, but are actaully not reliable for transactional connections such as required by Point of Sale programs such as GoAntiquing!. WiFi connections typically drop and reconnect to the router several times a day or more. And so we not only do not recommend WiFi networks for connecting your PC's to each other, we would not sell you the software for a second or third computer running GoAntiquing! if your connection between each PC and the router is through WiFi. Here's the thing, the data sent over the network is critical to your business. Even if secured, a WiFi network is vulnerable to poor signal and loss of connection. This can occur if something as simple as a filing cabinet is moved into the path of the signal or just problems with the WiFi itself. What happens when poor signal quality or loss of connection occurs? Usually "Data Corruption" occurs, which is when the information being processed becomes out of order or scrambled, and causes the database to become non-functional, and GoAntiquing! stops working until it is repaired.
What about my tablet or Square I use for credit card approval, they are WiFi and I need them for my business! Also customers and dealers (vendors) sometimes need to use my WiFi while in my shop and I allow that. Does this mean that goes away too?
No, not at all. The router can still provide a WiFi signal in your shop, but the PC's themselves will have WiFi disabled so they cannot transmit or receive wirlessly, all other devices you may want to connect through your WiFi will still be just fine, including your customers and dealers phones, your tablet, maybe even your security system. It is just the PC's themselves that must be hardwired.
Great question! All of these options are possible, though with varying degrees of success with connecting POS Hardware.
The software works with several types of optional POS hardware. The most common is a Receipt Printer and Cash Drawer. Note that you can use a regular sheet printer such as an inkjet or laser printer for receipts, though it is wasteful of paper and ink/toner. True receipt printers mainly work via direct thermal (heat) to special paper you can get at any office supply warehouse store such as Office Depot, OfficeMax, or Staples, etc. Other POS components that can be used are Barcode Scanners, Label Printers, and much more rarely, a customer facing LED Pole Display. We do have some recommendations for POS Hardware posted on the front page of the website, and also shown here:
%POSINFO%
To use a true Receipt Printer:
This is confirmed issue with Microsoft's recent update as of June 10 2021.
UPDATE: Star Micronics released a fix on July 13 2021. Download and install the latest driver:
https://goantiquing.net/tsp.exe
Very likely, though it will be considered a generic receipt printer without advanced features. GoAntiquing! Point of Sale
supports two "Generic Text" formats, one at 40 CPL and one at 42 CPL (CPL=characters per line). These printers can be
configured as one of the COM or LPT hardware ports, which port will be dictated by the connector type on your printer
and what ports your computer has available.
A few points:
Sure I can! First there are some concepts to go over, and then there are sections below that address Rent, Fees, and some scenarios.
WARNING: This is a fairly detailed narrative document. I go over some basics of Rent and Fees as well as details of Settlement.
SETTLEMENT CONCEPTS
There are a few very important concepts:
Yes. You can now print checks to 8.5 x 11 paper* check stock! Check out
the 'Dealer Checks' report in the Reporting module and the 'Check Designer'
tool.
Use the Check Designer tool (located under Tools | Check Designer) to specify where on
your paper the 'elements' such as Date, Dealer Name, Amount, English Amount, Memo, and even
Signature (yes, you can use a scanned signature!) are located. Simply drag the 'elements'
around the provided check design area and save it. As you use this feature you will
find it to be a good idea to photocopy some of your check stock and run some tests to
make sure the locations of the elements match up with your particular checks.
* You get the paper from either your bank, an office supply store, or an
on-line source. We decided not to try and produce the entire check image due to
some issues to do with security features that banks look for in the routing
number and account number area. Believe it or not, when you buy a stack of blank
checks from either your bank, Office Depot, Staples, or an on-line service, they
print the routing and account numbers with a special magnetic security ink or
toner. Banks verify that checks have this special feature for expediting
processing of payments.
If you get an error when trying to login to GoAntiquing!:
Operating systems after Windows XP (e.g. Windows Vista, 7, 8/8.1 and 10) come with a feature called User Account Control (UAC) which enhances security by preventing programs from automatically running with administrative level access. GoAntiquing! Point of Sale fits into the category of software that need to run with administrative access and will produce this prompt. Unfortunately UAC goes a step farther and restricts access to "common components" such as Comdlg32.ocx. The solution is to disable UAC. First we recommend that you get a high-quality anti-virus and firewall program and understand how to use it and configure it. This gives far better protection than the UAC feature, if used properly and kept up to date.
Here are the steps to disable User Account Control:
This is caused by the network printer having gone to sleep. This occurs when either the host computer (the computer where the printer is connected) goes into "stand-by" or "sleep" mode, or if the network adapter has been disabled to conserve power. You need to change two basic settings.
In Windows XP:
Your database has experienced some corruption. This could be minor, and fixable with the steps outlined below, or more serious, in which case you will need to restore from a backup (you ARE making daily backups, right?).
The most likely cause for this error is that one or more of the computers that are running GoAntiquing! Point of Sale on your network have gone to "sleep" or have entered "stand-by" mode, or that you are running multiple registers with a WiFi network connecting the computers (this is expressly not supported and you are at risk if you do so). You need to change several settings related to power management.
First, let's fix the likely cause of the error.
In Windows XP:
First, download and install the latest GoAntiquing! on your new PC. After installing it, go ahead and transfer your database and any Settlements from the old PC to the new PC. STOP using the software on the old PC! After you get the transfer completed, run GoAntiquing! and use File / Open Database to select the database you just transferred. That's it.
NOTE: We assume the standard data folder of "C:\Data Files\GoAntiquing! POS" for this example. Some customers move their database to another folder, such as "C:\POSData" or "C:\GAData", etc. We also just use the simple example database name MyShopName.mdb, but it is likely your database is named more like your shopname. Also, substitute the name 'MyShopName' for your shop name - or look for file of type MDB or 'Microsoft Access' when described below.
Detailed steps:
On old PC: